by Dr. Mike Evans | May 3, 2024 | Articles
At sundown on May 5th, the nation of Israel will come to a halt. Sirens will wail across the country. People will stop driving, stop walking, and simply stand silently. It is Yom HaShoah—the day when Israel renews the holy vow “Never Again.” The demonic evil of anti-Semitism did not go away when the Holocaust ended…it is still alive and active in our world today.
And it must be confronted…
The only reason Auschwitz continued in operation until very near the end of the war is that those who could have stopped it did nothing. The United States refused to bomb the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz, with boxcars transporting innocent Jews to their deaths in the ovens there. Alan Dulles, a U.S. diplomat assigned to monitor Nazi intelligence furnished the U.S. government with a multitude of Nazi documents marked “top secret.” None of the approximately 300 documents provided specifically remarked on the killing of Jews, nor did any reveal the seriousness of Hitler’s “final solution.” Neither was there any indication that the railroad tracks to Auschwitz should be bombed.
Why did America and its allies look away? The answer is anti-Semitism; as with a cancer, it mutates and takes on many forms. Today, anti-Zionism is the new anti-Semitism. To understand this, one only need look at the #1 country on which the UN vents its spleen over human rights and promotes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement: Israel.
Anti-Semitism is the reason the U.S. and Great Britain, and indeed, much of the world, closed their borders to Jewish refugees. A “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was implemented in the 1930s when the events in Germany were uncovered.
The British and the Americans combined dropped some 2.7 million tons of bombs on Germany. American planes were also used to drop supplies to Polish fighters. Such missions were commonplace during World War II. Perhaps it is not difficult, then, to understand why one of the most damning charges brought against Roosevelt and his administration was the failure to acquiesce to bombing the railroad lines that carried boxcars to Auschwitz. They were filled with Jews destined for the gas chambers inside its compound.
It was possible that by the spring of 1944 such an action would have been practicable, yet it was rejected with the official explanation that it would have taken necessary men and airplanes away from definitive operations in other areas. That was seen as a smokescreen, especially since the Allies had already marked for destruction industrial complexes near the death camp.
Historians believe that had American bombers been sent to target the railroads, thousands of Jews from Hungary and Slovakia might have lived. Sadly, polls taken during the late 1930s and early 1940s revealed more than 50 percent of the U.S. public surveyed asserted that Jews were avaricious and unscrupulous. In response to U.S. refusal to aid Jews fleeing the Holocaust, Benjamin Netanyahu’s father Ben-Zion said, “The spirit of the Swastika hovers over the Stars and Stripes.”
The German company Ig Farben actually operated its own dedicated concentration camp! As the Second World War erupted, the company was the leading manufacturer in operation in Europe and fourth on the list of worldwide corporations. An Ig Farben’s subsidiary distributed Zyklon B to Auschwitz. That was the poison gas utilized to kill over one million Jews in the gas chambers there.
Statistics reveal that more than one of six Jews slaughtered in Europe was slain in Auschwitz. Woefully, the life expectancy of the Jewish workers at Buna Werke was only three to four months. For those working in the mines, it was barely one month. Those deemed unfit to work at the facility were gassed.
Ig Farben’s massive factory near Auschwitz was built to exploit the workforce imprisoned there. That concentration camp was, from its inception, an Ig Farben undertaking. The plant supplied both synthetic rubber and liquid fuel. It also manufactured synthetic, high-performance fuels including aviation gasoline, an extremely crude version of bunker oil for ships, plastic synthetic fibers, stabilizers, and pharmaceuticals.
Before the war, Germany had been forced to import 95 percent of its rubber, but due to Ig Farben, that number soon shrank to 7 percent. Ig Farben also ran the mines that provided two million tons of coal needed each year for both its factories. They were able to do this due to the more than two million inmates that passed through Auschwitz Camp #1 to meet Farben’s labor demands.
There are numerous questions surrounding Roosevelt and his refusal to at least allow the quota of 200,000 Jews to enter the U.S. Why were those places left unfilled? Why did the pleas of Jews trying to escape Hitler’s “final solution” fall on deaf ears? Why were those aboard the St. Louis denied entry into the U.S.? Why were the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz not bombed? Why did the U.S. not bomb the Ig Farben plants? Why? Why? Why?
The question is not historical. The Western world, including America is once again failing to take action to defend Israel. In fact, many are trying to tie Israel’s hands as it defends itself against the worst attack since the miracle rebirth of the Jewish state in 1948.
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by Dr. Mike Evans | Apr 19, 2024 | Articles
She was just an ordinary girl. Esther had no famous or well-connected relatives. In fact, she and her people were living as a minority in a foreign land where they had been taken by a conquering enemy army; yet, today her name is synonymous with faith and courage. The short book that bears her name tells a story of divine deliverance—a message that is very much relevant to our day when once again a plot has been hatched in Persia to destroy the Jewish people.
Esther became queen of the Persian Empire without the king or anyone in authority knowing that she was Jewish. This was on the wise advice of her guardian Mordecai, who instructed her to hide her ancestry for the sake of her future. Not long after Esther became queen, an evil man in a high government position named Haman, motivated by his hatred of Mordecai (who refused to bow before Haman because he would only bow before God), devised a scheme to destroy the Jewish people.
Haman presented the king with a distorted picture of God’s Chosen People. He falsely accused them of disobeying the laws of the Persian Empire and suggested that destroying them would promote order and stability throughout the realm. To further sweeten the deal, Haman offered to pay a large sum of money to the royal treasury to cover the expenses of exterminating the Jewish people. The king went along with the plan, setting a date for the destruction of the Jewish exiles living in the 127 provinces that made up his kingdom.
When Mordecai received this news, he began fasting in sackcloth and ashes, along with Jewish people throughout the Persian realm. There seemed to be no hope for them, but God was at work behind the scenes. Mordecai sent word to Esther that the time to reveal her heritage had come and that she should use her position as queen to plead for the Jewish people to be spared.
When she pointed out that entering the king’s presence without an invitation was a capital offense, Mordecai made his famous declaration that God had put Esther where she was “for such a time as this.” Esther courageously went before the king, and God granted her favor in his eyes, and he spared her life.
Esther asked the king and Haman to come to a private meeting. Then she asked them to return a second time, and finally revealed to the king the evil that he had unknowingly agreed to support. The king’s wrath was kindled against Haman, and he ordered the evil plotter to be hung on the very gallows that Haman had constructed to have Mordecai executed on—and provided the Jewish people the opportunity for self defense. The Jewish people were spared from destruction. Even to this day, this wonderful miracle of deliverance is celebrated as the Feast of Purim. Esther remains a wonderful example of what we can do when we fully rely on God.
As I read this story again recently, I was struck by something that doesn’t often receive a great deal of attention. Esther did not face her moment of crisis alone. Here was her response: Spiritual battles are not meant to be fought alone. Before Esther entered the king’s presence, risking her life to plead for her people, there was a massive campaign of prayer and fasting on her behalf. The deliverance of Israel depended on the power of God, and the people of God sought His face and His help together. That is a perfect description of the work of the Jerusalem Prayer Team.
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by Dr. Mike Evans | Apr 5, 2024 | Articles
Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.” —Daniel 10:10-13
In the book of Daniel, we find the great prophet and man of faith praying and fasting and seeking answers from God about the visions he had been given regarding the future. After three weeks, Daniel was visited by an angel who brought him the answer to his prayer. But the angel also revealed to Daniel a spiritual battle that had been taken place in the unseen realm.
The angel said that the answer had been sent immediately, but it had been delayed because a demonic power that he referred to as the “prince of Persia” had blocked it from being delivered. It was not until the archangel Michael, who is seen in Scripture as a great fighter for God’s people, arrived and helped win the battle that the angel with Daniel’s answer was able to come to the prophet and deliver it to him.
The Bible teaches that there are different levels of authority in the spirit realm. Paul wrote, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. —Ephesians 6:12
One of the most important truths I have ever learned is that no battle can be won in the physical realm unless it has first been fought and won in the spiritual realm. If Daniel had not been faithful to continue praying even though his answer was delayed, I do not believe that the spiritual battle would have been won. We are not observers in spiritual warfare—we are on the frontlines of the battle. Our prayers matter a great deal, and they are powerful. The great hymn writer William Cowper said, “Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest saint upon his knees.”
We have a responsibility to be active participants in spiritual warfare. We must take this seriously, because these spiritual powers—both demonic and angelic—are actively at work in our world today. This is one of the vital lessons of this story from the book of Daniel. Each of us is facing battles against differing levels or layers of authority in the spiritual realm.
This is not just true on an individual basis; it is true on a national level as well. The demonic being referred to as “prince of Persia” had power and authority over one of the greatest empires of history. And this is not an isolated or special case. Other nations have demonic powers assigned to them. After talking with Daniel, the angel revealed that there was another evil spirit involved.
Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come.” —Daniel 10:20
This tells us that just as Persia had a demonic power working in authority over its empire, there was a “prince of Greece” as well. And it was only after the demonic power behind the kingdom of Persia had been defeated by the archangel Michael that the Greeks, under Alexander the Great were able to defeat them on the field of battle. Previous to that time the Greeks and Persians had fought a series of battles, but there was no decisive victory until the demonic power dynamic was first changed.
This matters a great deal to us today because Persia—modern day Iran—is once again involved heavily in potential conflict with the nation of Israel. We do not know whether the same “prince of Persia” that was active in Daniel’s day is the same one behind the rulers of Iran today, but there is no doubt that there is a demonic power behind the throne. Satan has hated God’s Chosen People throughout all of human history, and his demonic powers have turned many governments against them. From Pharaoh in Egypt to Hitler in Germany to Iran today, the same evil forces are at work to try to destroy the Jewish people.
The reality of spiritual warfare is that Israel cannot be defended just with tanks and planes and soldiers and intelligence services or any other weapons. The Jewish state must first and most importantly be defended in prayer. That is why the Jerusalem Prayer Team exists—to gather believers from around the world together to fight and win the most important spiritual battle of our lifetime.
As Daniel did, we must be faithful to pray until the victory is won. Only when the “prince of Persia” is defeated in the heavenlies will Israel have victory over the great threat posed against her today by Iran. And that victory will not happen unless and until we do our part to win it. That is why Operation Esther is so vitally important.
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by Dr. Mike Evans | Apr 2, 2024 | Articles
President Joe Biden is more focused on winning his election with the support of Israel-hating progressives and Muslims than Israel winning its 9/11 war on terror.
On April 1, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini proclaimed, “The first day of God’s government in Iran.” Few people know that Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution would have never succeeded without the help of a liberal American president who was hellbent on overthrowing the shah of Iran to install a cleric, all in the name of human rights.
I wrote a major book on this subject, Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos, in 2009 after interviewing more than 100 primary leaders who were aware of the plot. I met with empress Farah Pahlavi in Georgetown at her home. She had read my book and told me it was 100% true.
She said that on New Year’s Eve 1977, when Carter visited with her and her husband and signed the guestbook, he told the shah, “You will release political prisoners [and] give freedom of the press and freedom of religion. If you don’t, I will not be giving you any replacement parts for your helicopters or your planes. I can do this under a new law that suspends foreign aid over human rights.”
The shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, said to the empress when he left, “If I do what he is asking, the Russians will invade Afghanistan. Iraq will attack Iran. There’ll be an Islamic revolution in Iran with Khomeini taking over the country. And who knows what horror will come upon the earth?”
Everything that the shah predicted came to pass.
I met with the late French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who told me that Carter called for a summit on the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean with him, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl Schmidt, and British prime minister James Callaghan. D’Estaing told me that it was there that Carter shared his plan to overthrow the shah and put Khomeini in power. He said Carter believed that because Khomeini was a cleric, he would be a Ghandi-like figure. He told Carter in French, “You’re a bastard of conscience. You betrayed an ally.”
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) founder and former Mossad chief Isser Harel told me on September 23, 1980, at his home with a senior adviser to prime minister Menachem Begin, “When Ronald Reagan puts his hand on the Bible, the hostages will be released.” He also said, “The first terrorist attack would be in New York City and your tallest building, because America is developing a tolerance for terror.”
When Reagan put his hand on the Bible during his inauguration, my phone rang. It was Reuben Hecht, Begin’s senior adviser, saying, “Harel’s a prophet. It’s happening exactly as he told us.”
What I found out later was that Carter had used Cyrus Vance, the former US secretary of state, to negotiate through the Algerians to buy back hostages. The Iranians were holding back because they were using it to try to keep Carter from being reelected. On the morning of the inauguration at 4:21, Carter wire-transferred $7.9 billion from the Federal Reserve to the Bank of England to buy back the hostages.
The Biden administration is doing precisely the same thing as Carter foolishly did 44 years ago, putting enormous pressure on the State of Israel to agree to a ceasefire and not launch a military operation against Hamas in Rafah.
Israel’s crossroads with the Biden administration
THE PROBLEM is twofold if Israel agrees to the Biden administration’s demands. First, the war on terror against the Iranian proxy Hamas will be lost. Second, the hostages will die. A high-level credible source in Jerusalem told me during my recent visit to Israel that the majority of the Israeli hostages are in Rafah.
Instead of supporting Israel’s efforts to defeat terror and rescue the some 130 hostages, the US abstained in a UN Security Council vote on March 25 calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza that was unanimously passed without the precondition of a release of hostages held by Hamas.
President Joe Biden is more focused on winning his election with the support of Israel-hating progressives and Muslims than Israel winning its 9/11 war on terror.
When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 22, the Israeli leader told him that he appreciated the Biden administration’s support for five months, but there is no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah and eliminating the battalions to get the hostages back. “And I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US, but if we have to – we will do it alone,” the prime minister said.
Imagine the pain of Israelis who watched their loved ones being raped, burned alive, and beheaded, and seeing protesters screaming in the streets of America and on university campuses “From the river to the sea,” supporting Hamas on the university campuses and in the streets of America. The United States is foolishly turning its back on Israel.
Biden had better read God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “Bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” Throughout history, those who have lifted their hands against Israel have been cursed by God. The last thing America needs is to lose God’s blessings.
By MIKE EVANS
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by Dr. Mike Evans | Mar 22, 2024 | Articles
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.’” Ezekiel 38:1-6, NKJV
One of the greatest empires of ancient history, the Persian Empire, played a key role in the Old Testament story of God’s Chosen People. A careful study of Scripture makes it clear that Persia (modern-day Iran) has a key role to play in future prophetic events as well. To better understand what the Word of God teaches about these coming events, we first need to look at the storied past of this often victorious and powerful nation.
The beginnings of what would become the Persian Empire can be traced back in Iran hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. Two major tribes that became known as the Medes and Persians grew to become powerful groups in their own right. They were first under the control of the Assyrian Empire and later the Babylonians. At first, the Medes were the dominant partners in the pair, but after a period of struggle, Cyrus the Great supplanted the Medes and established himself as ruler over all of Persia.
It was the Persian army that was encamped around the famed city of Babylon the night that Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall of his palace as he celebrated a drunken feast. Belshazzar made a fatal mistake when he called for the vessels of silver and gold that had been looted from the Temple in Jerusalem to be brought in for use in their celebration. That very hour the judgment of Babylon was written on the wall. It is no coincidence that the disrespect shown by Belshazzar to the God of the Jewish people was the final act that brought his reign to an end.
The prophet Daniel was called when none of the wise men of the kingdom could interpret what had been written. He delivered the message that the words MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN meant that God had numbered and weighed Belshazzar and was about to judge him by taking his kingdom from him. Just as Daniel foretold, the city was taken that very night by the invading Persian army.
Cyrus was very kindly disposed toward the Jewish people and issued the Edict of Restoration, which called for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. This act was foretold by the prophet Isaiah more than 150 years before it happened, including naming Cyrus as the leader who would allow the Jews to return to their homeland. Skeptics scoff at the notion that the prophet could have identified by name a future pagan king who would return God’s Chosen People to their ancient capital of Jerusalem, but it is yet one more indication that whatever the Word of God says will surely come to pass. The God who knows all things has given us glimpses into the future, and when we rightly study the Word, we can learn the things He wishes for us to know to prepare for the future.
The Persian Empire expanded even more under Cyrus’ successors, the most famous of whom was Darius the Great. (This is not the same Darius as the ruler named in Daniel 6 who was deceived into signing the decree that ended with Daniel being thrown into the den of lions, but a later king with the same name.) Under Darius the reach of Persia stretched across from Europe and North Africa across the Middle East and into Asia.
As foretold by Daniel, the Persian Empire lasted until it was conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great some 300 years before the birth of Christ. From that time forward, the land we know as Iran passed from one hand to the next. Among the empires who ruled Iran were the Parthians and the Sassanids. Not long after the foundation of Islam, Iran was invaded and conquered, and it became part of the Islamic Caliphate.
The Mongols under Genghis Khan conquered Iran as part of the westward expansion of his empire. The region was a major battle ground for centuries, until the establishment of the Safavid Dynasty some 1,500 years after the birth of Christ. They settled the borders of what is now Iran and ruled into the 1700s when the Ottomans from the West and the Russians from the north took much of their land and held it until after the First World War.
In 1925, a military coup placed Reza Shah in power, and he and his son Mohammed Shah Pahlavi ruled the country for most of the next 50 years until the Iranian Revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. This revolt, which was covertly and sometimes openly supported by many Western nations, including the United States under President Jimmy Carter, installed the radical Islamist regime that still holds power today as a bitter enemy of the nation of Israel. This represented a radical change for Iran, which under the Shah had been very friendly toward the Jewish state.
This enmity is no surprise to students of prophecy. In describing the participants who will take part in the great End-Time battle against the restored nation of Israel, Ezekiel lists Persia as one of the nations that will be drawn into the conflict in defiance of God and His Chosen People. It is not hard to see the prophetic pieces being positioned when we read the news day after day.
The leaders of Russia and Iran have had a series of recent meetings, and it is known that Russia has reaped billions of dollars in profits from the sale of nuclear and military technology to Iran. These actions, taken in defiance of United Nations sanctions to prevent Iran from getting such advanced weaponry, are a clear indication that Russia is arming potential allies for a future war. Iran has benefitted greatly from the technological know-how of Russian advisors and scientists during its current build-up.
No one knows the exact timing of the war to annihilate Israel foretold by the prophet Ezekiel, but we do know that it will certainly take place. Those who oppose the Jewish state and wish to see the Jewish people destroyed have taken sides in the ancient enmity between Satan and God over the fate of His Chosen People, and their judgment for doing so is certain.
The Bible not only foretells this great battle, but it gives us the end result as well:
“And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:22-23).
Many people believe that the Bible foretells a nuclear strike against those who attempt to destroy Israel and the Holy City of Jerusalem. For example, the prophet Zechariah described the results of the battle in terms that certainly match the effects of a nuclear blast:
“And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths” (Zechariah 14:12).
Whatever means are used to bring about their defeat, there is no doubt that the enemies of Israel, including Iran, will be destroyed for their attempt to touch the “apple of God’s eye”—the Jewish people. This Bible prophecy is just as certain as the many that have already been fulfilled. Though Iran certainly poses a grave threat to Israel, and its desire to see the Jewish state destroyed cannot be denied, ultimately Iran will fail in its evil purpose because God has declared that He will do battle to defend Israel and bring glory to His name.
Spirit Wars
“Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.’ While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.’” Daniel 10:10-13
In the book of Daniel, we find the great prophet and man of faith praying and fasting and seeking answers from God about the visions he had been given regarding the future. After three weeks Daniel was visited by an angel who brought him the answer to his prayer, but the angel also revealed to Daniel a spiritual battle that had been taking place in the unseen realm.
The angel said that the answer had been sent immediately, but it had been delayed because a demonic power that he referred to as the “prince of Persia” had blocked it from being delivered. It was not until the archangel Michael, who is seen in Scripture as a great fighter for God’s people, arrived and helped win the battle that the angel with Daniel’s answer was able to come to the prophet and deliver it to him.
The Bible teaches that there are different levels of authority in the spirit realm. Paul wrote,
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
One of the most important truths I have ever learned is that no battle can be won in the physical realm unless it has first been fought and won in the spiritual realm. If Daniel had not been faithful to continue praying, even though his answer was delayed, I do not believe that the spiritual battle would have been won. We are not observers in spiritual warfare; we are on the front lines of the battle. Our prayers matter a great deal, and they are powerful. The great hymn writer William Cowper said, “Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest saint upon his knees.”
We have a responsibility to be active participants in spiritual warfare. We must take this seriously, because these spiritual powers—both demonic and angelic—are actively at work in our world today. This is one of the vital lessons of this story from the book of Daniel. Each of us is facing battles against differing levels or layers of authority in the spiritual realm.
This is not just true on an individual basis; it is true on a national level as well. The demonic being referred to as “prince of Persia” had power and authority over one of the greatest empires of history. This is not an isolated or special case. Other nations have demonic powers assigned to them. After talking with Daniel, the angel revealed that there was another evil spirit involved. “Then he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come” (Daniel 10:20).
This tells us that just as Persia had a demonic power working in authority over its empire, there was a “prince of Greece” as well. It was only after the demonic power behind the kingdom of Persia had been defeated by the archangel Michael that the Greeks, under Alexander the Great, were able to defeat them on the field of battle. Previous to that time, the Greeks and Persians had fought a series of battles, but there was no decisive victory until the demonic power dynamic was changed.
This matters a great deal to us today because Persia—modern-day Iran—is once again involved heavily in potential conflict with the nation of Israel. We do not know whether the same “prince of Persia” that was active in Daniel’s day is the same one behind the rulers of Iran today, but there is no doubt that there is a demonic power behind the throne. Satan has hated God’s Chosen People throughout all of human history, and his demonic powers have turned many governments against them. From Pharaoh in Egypt to Hitler in Germany to the leaders of Iran today, the same evil forces are at work to try to destroy the Jewish people.
I personally confronted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian political and religious leaders in New York City a few years ago. I can tell you without any question that the demonic power in these men is real. I could feel its presence when I walked into the room with them. I immediately began to pray in my spirit that the Spirit of God would bind those demonic forces and give me His power. God is greater than any power of the enemy!
The reality of spiritual warfare is that Israel cannot be defended just with tanks and planes and soldiers and intelligence services or any other weapons. The Jewish state must first and most importantly be defended in prayer. That is why the Jerusalem Prayer Team exists—to gather Believers from around the world to fight and win the most important spiritual battle of our lifetime.
As Daniel did, we must be faithful to pray until the victory is won. Only when the “prince of Persia” is defeated in the heavenlies will Israel have victory over the great threat posed against her today by Iran, and that victory will not happen unless and until we do our part to win it.
Shia vs. Sunni
There is a deep theological divide within Islam that dates back to the days just after the death of Mohammed. The great majority of Muslims in the world today follow the traditional Sunni sect. The more radical Shia trace their roots back to Mohammed’s son-in-law Ali, who they believe should have succeeded Mohammed as the head the religion. Shia is a shortened version of Shiat Ali, the party of Ali.
Most Muslim countries today are dominated by Sunni Muslims. The most notable exception is Iran. There, the Shia have held sway since the Islamic revolution in 1979 that overthrew the Shah and placed Ayatollah Khomeini in power. For the past 36 years, Iran’s leaders have been attempting to export their theology by sponsoring terrorist organizations like Hezbollah.
The Shia hold a particular end-times prophecy that closely mimics the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ. They are watching for the 12th Imam (because of this, they are often referred to as “twelvers”) to return and place the entire world under Islamic sharia law. They believe that this descendant of Mohammed will only be revealed after a bloody and violent war—all the more reason not to trust Iran with nuclear weapons.
A Friend Betrayed
In the 1970s, the Shah of Iran was a great friend of both the United States and Israel. Under his leadership, Iran was rapidly becoming part of the modern world, but during the disastrous presidency of Jimmy Carter, the U.S. turned its back on a friend and paved the way for a wave of Islamic terrorism like nothing the world had seen before in the modern age.
I had the privilege of interviewing Shahbanu Farah Diba some years ago. She recounted in detail the many ways in which the U.S. government worked to undermine her husband, and how billions of dollars were poured into the coffers of Ayatollah Khomeini to use for his revolution.
The sad reality is that most of the terrorism we are fighting around the world today traces its roots to the Carter Administration’s decision to support the Islamic revolution that took over Iran in 1979. The lessons of America’s betrayal and the fate of Iran in the 1970s are not lost on Israel today. There is no guarantee that the United States will stand with Israel with either the Iranian nuclear program or a potential United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood.
A Speech to the Nation of Israel
When I addressed the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, I talked about the four different ways of waging war in the modern era: 1) economic war, 2) media war, 3) proxy war, and 4) boots on the ground. Much of modern conflict is aimed at achieving victory before step four is ever reached. Then I said this: “I don’t need to tell you about winning military wars. Israel has won wars against overwhelming odds time and again. You have all the tools to fight and win conventional wars. What Israel needs is help fighting the spirit war that motivates these attacks.”
The truth is that while Israel’s military is amazingly well trained and equipped, and it has been proven again and again in battle, it cannot win the war. America’s military might cannot win the war. The war—the war that matters most—can only be fought and won by Believers who are willing to wrestle against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.
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by Dr. Mike Evans | Mar 8, 2024 | Articles
Supreme Leader Grand
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Born in 1939, Ali Khamenei claims to be descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin of Mohammed and the first Imam of Shi’a Islam. Within Iran, his office gives him absolute power and authority. Khamenei was a top ally of Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iranian revolution. Following the overthrow of the Shah, he served as Iran’s Secretary of Defense and was appointed to lead Friday prayers in Tehran.
In 1981, after surviving an assassination attempt that left his right arm permanently paralyzed, Khamenei was installed as president of Iran. In his inaugural address, Khamenei promised to eliminate “deviation, liberalism, and American-influenced leftists.” During the Iran-Iraq war which started in 1982, Khamenei developed close ties to the leaders of the Revolutionary Guards.
Khamenei remained in office as president until 1989, when following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, he was selected by the Council of Experts to be the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic. The office of supreme leader, as established by Ayatollah Khomeini is to serve as a “theocratic guardian” of the people. No law passed by the government may take effect without his approval. Even those who are elected to office only serve if he deems them fit for the position.
One observer described Khamenei as the “omnipotent overseer of Iran’s political scene.” Khamenei rarely speaks in public and has established a firm policy of not meeting with representatives or leaders of any Western government. He does appear on Iranian television with foreign leaders from Muslim nations and the representatives of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Under his leadership, Iran has poured billions of dollars into training and arming various terrorist organizations.
Khamenei promoted the candidacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to serve as president when he first ran for office, and again in 2009 as a bulwark against reform efforts. The 2009 election was marked by massive fraud and allegations of government interference. Following massive protests, in which a large number of Iranians were killed, the government consolidated its grip on power. The two men were once close, but reports of rifts between them followed the removal of several key Ahmadinejad allies from their government posts.
Khamenei is no fan of tolerance. His persecution of Christians, the Baha’i community, and even Sunni Muslims has been harsh. As president, Khamenei signed a declaration that called for members of minority groups to have their “progress and development blocked” and keep those who openly practice religion from attending school or gaining meaningful employment.
Among the demonstrations of his absolute power are his edict closing public music schools because music education corrupts the minds of young children, and his forbidding the parliament of Iran from even debating the laws governing the press. Khamenei also appoints the members of the Council of Guardians, who select those who will be allowed to run for office.
Khamenei once said that it is “clear that conflict and confrontation between [the Islamic Republic of Iran and the U.S.] is something natural and unavoidable.” He described the United States as “trying to establish a global dictatorship and further its own interests by dominating other nations and trampling on their rights.” In a speech to Iranian students in 2008, Khamenei said, “the Iranian people’s hatred for America is profound. The reason for this [hatred] is the various plots that the U.S. government has concocted against Iran and the Iranian people in the past 50 years. The Americans have not only refused to apologize for their actions, but have continued with their arrogant actions.”
The Iranian leader reserves his harshest words for Israel. He stated publicly that, “this cancerous tumor of a state [Israel] should be removed from the region.” In a 2008 sermon Khamenei declared that “it is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsense to say that we are friends of the Israeli people.”
President Ebrahim Raisi
The eighth president of the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Raisi was born on December 14, 1960. His father died when he was five, and Raisi attended a number of schools. At the age of 15, four years prior to the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Shah, he began studying at Qom Seminary. There is considerable dispute as to the extent of his studies. He has claimed to have a doctorate, but no records have been found to support that. He has also claimed to be an Ayatollah, but again there does not appear to be any basis for that claim.
After the revolution when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, Raisi was appointed as a prosecutor. He rose through the ranks and was moved to Tehran. Raisi has been named as one of the members of the “death committee,” which met to assign the penalties for those deemed not to be sufficiently in agreement with the new Islamic Republic. Though the government officially recognizes less than 4,000 deaths, outside groups like Amnesty International place the death toll at more than 30,000.
In addition to his service as chief prosecutor in Tehran, Raisi was later named First Deputy Chief Justice of Iran. After ten years in that post, he was designated Iran’s Attorney General. Raisi continued to distinguish himself as a hard-liner, even by the extreme standards of the government of Iran.
In 2017 Raisi ran against the incumbent president, Hassan Rouhani. Other ultra conservative candidates dropped out of the race and threw their support behind him, but in the end, Raisi received only 38 percent of the vote, and Rouhani was elected to a second term. In 2021, Raisi ran again for the open office of president. This time he received 68 percent of the vote, although there were widespread allegations of voting irregularities. Opposition candidates claimed the vote was rigged, but Raisi became president nonetheless.
Raisi made it clear from the beginning that he was committed to continuing Iran’s hostility toward Israel. He picked Ahmad Vahidi to serve as Minister of Interior in his government. Vahidi was involved in the deadly terror attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994 that killed 85 people and injured more than 300 others at a Jewish community center.
His term in office has been marked by widespread protests across Iran, and the people demand the freedoms and reforms they have been promised. But Raisi continues in power, and is expected to run for reelection when his current term ends in 2025. He has been officially named by the United States government and sanctioned for human rights violations. He has been unable to travel outside the country for fear of arrest.
In 2006 Raisi was named to Iran’s Council of Experts, the 86 member body that selects Iran’s leaders and approves all candidates for office. He began serving his second ten-year term in that body in 2016. It is widely believed that if the current Supreme Leader were to die, Raisi would become the third Ayatollah of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His hatred of Israel is well-known, and he is one of the strongest voices in defense of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Major General Hossein Salami
In April of 2019, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Hossein Salami to be the head of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution of Iran (the Revolutionary Guards). Since the revolution in 1979, this has been one of the most powerful positions in the government of Iran. Salami replaced Major General Mohammad Jafari who had held the post since 2007.
Salami was a student at the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran when the Iran-Iraq War started. He left school to serve in the army, returning after the war was over to finish both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Salami has served in Iran’s military ever since, rising through the ranks to become a major general. He carries on his country’s forty-year hatred of Israel. In January of 2019, Salami told an Iranian television station that the “Zionist regime” needed to be wiped off the map. Salami previously served as deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards and is known to be very hardline against both Israel and America.
The Revolutionary Guards are a radical group even by Iranian standards. They are the most committed to ensuring the ideological purity of the regime and enforcing the standards of strict Islamic law on everyone in Iran. The group is also a major supporter of world terrorism, and many of its top officials, including Salami have been personally sanctioned by the European Union and other Western powers.
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