Iran is poised on Israel’s border

More than 2,000 Syrians have been killed with tens of thousands injured and more than ten thousand imprisoned during the revolution that has gripped that country. In 2007 when I wrote the No. 1 New York Times bestseller, The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution while the World Sleeps, I said, “An Islamic caliphate will sweep the Middle East.” That is precisely what has been happening since the first of this year.

Thousands of Iranian agents, the long arm of Iran, are in Damascus, Syria to aid President Bashar al Assad. He and his father before him have done everything possible to kill Jews and defeat Israel during all of its wars. In the midst of the Six Day War, June 5, 1967, Syria controlled the Golan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee, with nine brigades (7,500 soldiers with artillery and armor) determined to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea.

A famous general who graced the cover of Life told me that he was alone in his tank when a large number of Syrian tanks crested the top of the Golan Heights. He turned his badly broken tank to face the enemy and stood his ground though wounded severely. He said later, “The Syrian tanks ground to a halt and the men inside climbed out waving white flags. They marched toward me. When they were interrogated they said they surrendered because they saw a huge angel of Allah over a hundred feet tall standing with a sword drawn against them.”

This general came to my room late one night and asked me to join him as he took a small Gideon Bible and used it like a Geiger counter. With a diagram of Jerusalem in hand, he would go to the holy sites. Once there, he would read the New Testament and, sensing the Holy Spirit, he would mark the site on his map. He said he was doing this to determine the areas of Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit did not dwell.

One morning near the Damascus gate, we sat and sipped Turkish coffee. I said to him, “My dear friend, you are reading the scriptures and exalting the Lord. When you do, the Holy Spirit comes. He will be everywhere.”

Iran, through Syria and Lebanon, has fueled and fed terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah both firmly entrenched on Israel’s borders. Syrian farmers have been paid $1,000 to march in protest against Israel and try to cross the border and $10,000 if their families are killed. Tens of millions of dollars of military equipment has been poured into Syria. Iran’s leaders believe a Shi’a caliphate can sweep from Iran across Afghanistan and into Pakistan, and from Iraq into Syria on to Egypt and into North Africa. The ultimate goal is to engulf the entire Middle East. The Saudi Arabians are so concerned about this that when I was issued a state invitation from President Barzani in Iraq, I was told that the Saudi’s were building a 400 mile wall between their country and Iraq.

Damascus is mentioned over sixty times in the King James Bible. The road to Damascus is the place where the Apostle Paul was converted and was the place where the disciples were first called “Christians.” (Acts 9; Acts 11:26) Barnabas taught there for a year. Aramean, the language Jesus spoke, is still spoken in some of the cities in Syria.

On October 22, 1983 I drove a rental vehicle with Jerusalem license plate across the border at Nahariya, Israel to Sidon and Tyre and into Beirut. I carried a trunk filled with food and medicine to comfort suffering Lebanese Christians. I went down to the beach to minister to young American Marines stationed at the Beirut Airport. I gave them Gideon Bibles and shared the Gospel with them. I prayed with and led many to the Lord.

These young men knew they would not be home for Christmas, so I asked my cameraman to film short segments of them sending Christmas messages to their loved ones. One Hispanic Marine from Wooster, Massachusetts said, “Hi Mom, I know you’ve been praying that I would find the Lord. Well, I just did! Merry Christmas.”

That night I slept on the beach while the Marines returned to their barracks nearby. Shortly after 6:00 AM the next morning, I was awakened by a terrific explosion. A yellow Mercedes Benz truck was driven through the check point at the airport where the driver aimed it at the lobby of the Marine headquarters. A smiling suicide bomber detonated the explosive-laden truck loaded with approximately 12,000 pounds of TNT.

The massive force of the explosion pancaked the floors of the building one on top of the other. Those inside were crushed. At that point all hell broke loose in Beirut as terrorists began firing at anything that moved.

I jumped into the car and headed what I thought was north along the Mediterranean toward Israel. As the battle raged and the sun began to set, I could no longer see the sea. Suddenly I was caught in the midst of a funeral for a Hezbollah terrorist whose body was being held high above the crowd while mourners waved guns in the air. Somehow God blinded their eyes and I was able to escape. Much to my dismay, I discovered that I had taken a wrong turn.

Like the Apostle Paul, I found myself on the road to Damascus, the target of 35mm shells being fired at my car. Spotlights from the hills beamed down on the vehicle. My cameraman and an associate, L.W. Dollar, were in the rental car with me when we suddenly ran out of fuel. It was the worst possible spot in which to be. There was no possibility that we could escape undetected.

One of the men began to shout, “We’re dead! We’re dead!” I jumped out of the car with a screwdriver to remove the light from the license plate so it could not be seen. When I got back into the car, I prayed that angels of the Lord would undergird and protect us. At that moment, an old Arab man walked up to the window and banged on it. My first reaction was, “Yes, we’re dead.” I expected at any moment to see a gun aimed at us with murderous intent.

I was stunned when he held up a can of diesel. He poured the liquid into the tank, knocked on the window, and pointed at the door lock. When I opened the door, he climbed inside and sat down. Not saying a word, he led us by pointing with his finger the thirty-two kilometers to the border of Israel. Within about one hundred yards of the border he indicated that I should stop. When I brought the car to a halt, he opened the door and stepped out into the night.

When we pulled up to the border, the colonel greeted us with awe. He said, “I cannot believe you are alive. Someone from the Prime Minister’s office called and said there was no way we would come back alive. They were certain no would could travel the road we had traveled that night from Beirut to Israel. I turned toward the old Arab to point out that he had saved us; he was not there. I am certain God had sent an angel of the Lord to guide and protect us on that dark and dangerous journey.

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Dr. Michael D. Evans is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, having penned numerous titles including nonfiction book Jimmy Carter: the Liberal Left and World Chaos, in which he compares the Obama and Carter presidencies; and Atomic Iran; and the fiction book, GameChanger; and his newest titles Cursed, The Light, and The Protocols. Evans’ books are available at www.TimeWorthybooks.com. You can read his full biography on Wikipedia.