Iran and Islam's Twelfth Imam

As many of you will know, Joel Rosenberg is an excellent and gifted speaker and writer. Some of the books he has written include The Twelfth Imam, The Tehran Initiative, and Epicenter.  He is one of the "watchmen on the wall" of our day. Since I am signed up to receive updates from him, today I received a rather interesting report. I would encourage everyone reading this to also get on his emailing list and visit his blog regularly for interesting and informative updates. His blog address is www.flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com

I would like to share with you parts of what Joel Rosenberg writes today in his report so the following is written by Joel Rosenberg:

IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS WAR WITH ISRAEL MEANS TWELFTH IMAM IS COMING

September 21, 2012 -- An apocalyptic, genocidal death cult is in power in Iran. The mullahs in Tehran believe we are living in the end of days and that the way to hasten the coming of their so-called Islamic messiah known as the Twelfth Imam is to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it. I've been writing and speaking about this for years, trying to help the West understand how a fanatical version of Shia End Times theology is driving Iranian foreign policy. Now we have fresh evidence that this is not fiction; it is all too true.

"For the first time, Iran's highest-ranking military official has tied the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah to the regime being prepared to go to a war based on ideology," notes Reza Kahlili, the former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officer turned spy for the CIA.
' Shi'ites believe that at the end of time great wars will take place, and Imam Mahdi, the Shi'ites' 12th imam, will reappear and kill all the infidels, raising the flag of Islam in all corners of the world."

As I explain in my two recent novels, The Twelfth Imam and The Tehran Initiative, Shia Muslim leaders are convinced that the Mahdi's arrival and reign is imminent and that the way to hasten or accelerate his return is to either: A) annihilate Israel (which they call the "Little Satan") and the U.S. (which they call the "Great Satan"); or B) to acquire the nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles necessary to annihilate Israel and the U.S. and then let the Mahdi finish the job when he arrives. These two recent novels explore what it would look like and feel like if the Iranian leadership's vision of the future were to begin to come to pass. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I know that Islam is a false religion. Thus, if someone claiming to be the Twelfth Imam emerged on the scene in the Middle East, he wouldn't actually be the true messiah. Rather, he would be a false messiah.

I can't say whether this will happen, but the Bible indicates that it could happen. The Lord Jesus warned in Matthew 24 that in the last days before His return we would see "wars and rumors of wars" as well as the rise of "false messiahs." In fact, Christ warned that the some false messiahs would come and would be able to do "great signs and wonders" in order to mislead as many people as possible, and even try to mislead Christians.

Most importantly, please pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). Please also pray for peace for everyone in the epicenter. After all, the Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." (Matthew 5:9). We don't want the mullahs in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons, but we would be so grateful if the Lord neutralized the Iranian nuclear threat in any way other than war. That said, if the Lord does allow war to come for His own sovereign reasons, then let's be praying faithfully for all the followers of Jesus in the region to be bold and courageous in such hard times.

That is  from Joel Rosenberg