Pax Domini

When it comes to strife, it seems “everything that’s old is new again,”

especially as it relates to events in the Middle East. Unless a suitable
formula for peace is found soon, the ancient hatreds in this volatile region,
taken to their logical conclusion—will one day draw the world into a future
conflagration of Biblical proportions. How close we are to midnight on the
theoretical doomsday clock is anyone’s guess. But if we are to have any
hope of being saved from this fate, a new emphasis must be placed on the
only levers that have ever motivated mankind—interest or fear.

The world’s preoccupation with a Mid-East peace is based on achieving a level of stability
that ensures the continued supply and distribution of the region‟s oil reserves. The purveyors of
this fossil fuel however encircle the contested land of Israel—with the sovereignty of Jerusalem at
stake. Achieving harmony amongst these different worldviews, from a region that has spawned
the world‟s three major faiths, remains the enigma that demands the world‟s attention. Although
they share a common ancestry through Abraham, the fundamental tenets of Islam, Judaism and
Christianity cannot be reconciled—framing the real crux of these regional tensions.

The surrounding Arab regimes in this melee are sustained by self-appointed, often dictatorial rule
over a largely uneducated populace through a compulsory belief system that assails modernity.
Islam‟s once proud heritage of thought leadership in the arts and sciences, have long since been
overshadowed by the tendency of their closed societies to breed and stage terrorism. This
environment has proven ideal for those allied with insurgent movements, acting as surrogates to
covertly wage war against Israel and its chief ally, the United States. Proliferation of missile
technology by these agents to rogue states also constitutes a serious threat to Mid-East stability.
By comparison, the Arab plight that links the despot, the fundamentalist cleric dogma and the
destitute zealots—provides stark contrast to a stable, prosperous and democratic state of Israel.

As the dominant military power in the region, Israel has emerged virtually unscathed by Arab
instigated wars in 1948, ‟56, ‟67 and „73. Since its‟ reformation in 1948 however, Israel has also
enjoyed unequivocal support from successive US administrations, projecting the strength of the
world‟s only remaining super-power to the region. However, to maintain a semblance of order
between opposing Mid-East factions, Israel‟s military prowess has been bridled when confronting
the guerilla-style insurgency that has arisen from spurious claims to land-rights for emigrating
Arabs—ostensibly known as “Palestinians.” With secure access to the region‟s energy resources
at stake, the US-Israeli alliance—designed to create a unilateral deterrent, curiously acts as a
vacuum for opposing world powers as well. This chess-game of problematic issues sustains the
cycle of strife and misery for both sides here, raising the specter of new attacks from surrounding
Arab nations and their surrogate patrons.

What‟s to become of this “Gordian knot” of issues that fuels both religious hatred, as well as
secular threats to world peace? By searching the prophetic texts found in Scripture, history‟s final
chapter for this region has already been penned. According to these texts, this generation will
witness both the acceptance of a pretentious peace treaty, as well as new offensive campaigns
launched against Israel. While these events are prophesied as an inevitable course for the
nations involved, the individuals that comprise these factions are not left without personal
recourse for realizing an ultimate peace. Rescue from what‟s predicted to befall this region
though, will require the fortitude of personal introspection and the muting of cultural pride. While
the proponents of these contending faiths have debated for ages, the key determinant of any
faith‟s validity can be reduced to a simple yet profound litmus test—does it pardon, does it save?

March 1, 2002 Middle-East Commentary Roy Tanner

To provide context for this standard consider the faith of Islam, which today boasts more than a
billion adherents worldwide. The Islamic faith remains essentially unchanged from its original
th
composition by the prophet Mohammed in the 7 century. For all its noble tenets and strictures,
Islam has no precedent for personal relationship with the Almighty or atonement for personal sin.
This places the faith of Islam squarely in the camp of other belief systems that depend upon a
“works” righteousness, or human achievement to win favor from their God. Since no attainable
standard is articulated however, Muslims have no apparent means to secure their standing or
receive forgiveness—only the foreboding, eventual reckoning with Allah‟s justice. Yet this
precarious belief system is thrust upon many societies worldwide under the threat of death.

Islam in summary makes no provision for the concept of grace or mercy. Obtaining grace relies
on a theological concept found only in the Judeo-Christian doctrine of atonement, which enables
God to accomplish something for mankind that we would never achieve on our own—perfection.
The unmerited favor of grace, assumes that we‟re accountable to a sovereign Creator who
demands that justice be served, yet He provides the means to this perfect standard through His
compensating love. In deed, God‟s promise to reconcile humanity to Himself was accomplished
at Calvary, such that those who put their trust in His “saving” work are set free from both the
penalty and the power of their waywardness. This standard by grace, acts as history‟s fulcrum.

Because sovereign omnipotence by definition is an attribute of God alone, it‟s been said that all of
history is the outworking of His story. While God is not the author of chaos or evil, He has by
design entrusted mankind with personal responsibility, bound only by free moral agency. Even
though misuse of this volition is responsible for the inhumane acts visited upon this world, it was a
necessary precondition for humanity if it was to fulfill the grander purpose for which it was
created—to personally engage in relationship with the Almighty, by grace through faith.

History will record that it was Israel‟s failure to fulfill their herald‟s role, extending God‟s invitation
to the world—that brought about their subsequent judgment as a nation and dispersion
throughout the world. Today, while the Jewish state has effectively been re-gathered, it has
reemerged largely as a secular nation, still under persecution and no longer in search of the
promised Messiah. Fortunately, the promises of God to His chosen people are irrevocable, and
Israel‟s greatest days are yet future, at which time their blindness will be removed.

Like the Jewish people who preceded them, the mantle for proclaiming God‟s desire to be
reconciled to mankind was later entrusted to American Christendom, as a country founded on the
premise of religious freedom. Now in its own post-Christian era, the US too has lost the
distinctive momentum that their trust in God initially set in motion. Current policy initiatives of this
US administration notwithstanding, the pervasive secular outlook of America—if left unchecked
will surely plunge it headlong into obscurity. In fact, the eclipse of American dominance may well
be brought about by the corresponding rise of a reunified Europe.

In deed, the European Union that is in place today serves as the latest fulfillment of Biblical
prophecy. As their chronologies intertwined with Israel, the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece and Rome where displaced as prophesied, setting the stage for an end-time reunification
of Europe. From this latter-day power will come a charismatic leader who will both negotiate and
ultimately break a diabolical 7-year peace treaty between Israel and her neighboring enemies?
Challenges to this leader‟s global power at the end of this period also set in motion a final conflict,
which ushers in God‟s direct intervention, the consummation of history, and the beginning of the
millennial Pax Domini—Messianic rule from Jerusalem.

In the final analysis, world peace will ultimately be realized on God‟s terms, albeit at the expense
of nations who wage their insurrection against the Almighty in vain. Although a sovereign God
has predetermined this outcome, the choice of peace over peril has been extended throughout
history—by grace through faith. Every other approach to earn God‟s favor—whether the 5 pillars
of Islam, the iteration of religious ritual, or even Judaism without a Savior, is destined to wind-up
as a tragic footnote in the history of mankind—as another vain attempt to satisfy human pride.

March 1, 2002 Middle-East Commentary Roy Tanner