Israel, the U.S. and the Arab World

Iran: Imminent Revolution or Imminent Bombing?

By Don Koenig, The Prophetic Years
February 2, 2010

Like many fellow Bible prophecy students, for a couple of years, I took the position that Israel or the United States will bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities “any day now.” The bombing in my mind was imminent. If you remember, many thought that Bush would do it before the election primaries and then before the election and then before leaving office.

If anyone was going to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, the best time to have done so was before Iran acquired the nuclear know how. However, that did not happen.

If anyone should bomb Iran today it would not achieve much since Iran already has the nuclear know how, and they could rebuild their efforts in just a few years. Today we really would have to invade and occupy Iran to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Does anyone think that the American people would tolerate an occupation of Iran after Iraq and Afghanistan?

Further, in Bible prophecy we see that Persia (Iran) comes with Gog (Russia) against Israel in the latter years. This could not happen if Iran was occupied by the West.

Therefore, I no longer think it is likely that Israel or the United States will bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, at least it is not imminent (so having said that, it will probably happen tomorrow).

There are a number of additional reasons why I no longer believe that Iran will be bombed, even though I know that some fellow students of Bible prophecy will disagree with my analysis.

There is the start of a revolution going on in Iran. America is going to wait to see how it plays out before we get ourselves in another war. Many think the green movement in Iran will be crushed by the Mullahs. Others think that this will turn into a full-fledged revolution and that the end of the Islamic regime is inevitable.



Whatever the truth of the outcome, I do not think we are going to bomb Iran or allow Iran to be bombed by Israel until this Iranian green revolution fully plays out. We may get a clue where this is going when millions of Iranians take to the streets on Feb 11.

I think the United States has made it very clear to Israel that we will oppose any unilateral actions at this time. Israel is not stupid. They know they cannot fight the entire Middle East without the support of America; and the leaders of Israel have no faith in God, so don’t expect them to rely there for help either. I think Israel would have to have hard evidence of weapons-grade uranium being produced in Iran before any attack would be authorized; and if they actually did have such proof, then America would be with them.

Since Iran cannot be allowed to have nukes, and there is nothing in Bible prophecy about Iran until the Gog invasion, I am now inclined to believe that Iran will decide not to develop nuclear weapons. I believe this most likely occurs because there will be a popular secular revolution in Iran. Then, in order to become a full member of the world, the people of Iran will choose to convert the nuclear weapons program to a peaceful program and allow international oversight.

Next on the agenda for the Middle East is probably the Psalm 83 war. That war is now imminent. It will bring the destruction of most of the military forces of the Arabs. It will probably be kicked off by Hezbollah. Sure Hezbollah is supported by Iran, and Hezbollah is chomping at the bit to go at Israel, but Hezbollah knows they need Syrian and Iranian support to succeed.

If Iran has a revolution, Hezbollah will lose Iranian support and they will have to fully rely on Syria and Arab nations. Then the players of the war of Psalm 83 are fully in place. Iran is not mentioned in Psalm 83, but all the Arab nations around Israel are.

Certainly there is a possibility that the Mullahs of Iran could try to kick this war off to forestall the revolution in Iran, but doing so also might be the catalyst for the Iranian people to throw off the Mullahs rather than see their country destroyed--especially if they should see Damascus in ruins (Isa 17:1) because Syria used weapons of mass destruction against Israel or hit their nuclear reactor, spreading radiation on the people. If Iran was involved, I would expect the same fate for Tehran, but there is no hint of that in Bible prophecy. So either Damascus is a demonstration to Iran to cease or, more likely, Iran is not involved in the war at all. Remember that Iran is not Arab; in fact, the Persian people and the Arabs have no great love for each other. It will not take much for Iran to turn against the Arabs if the Mullahs are out of the way.

Today, even under persecution, the common Iranian people are becoming increasingly open to the gospel. There was an article on this in the latest Voice of the Martyrs magazine. So rather than a imminent bombing of Iran, I now expect a revolution in Iran and a window where the gospel can be preached until some future time when Russia leads a great host of nations against Israel in the Gog war.

Nevertheless, we cannot be dogmatic about these speculations; and your opinions about the fate of Iran, and how this will play out, may be better than mine. So you are invited to present your food for thought here and I intend to butt out unless I am actually asked something.

Here is some food for though from an astute Iranian about what he thinks will happen in Iran:
Is Regime Change Coming to Iran?