Crosstalk: June 1, 2018

The Middle East has long been spiraling out of control, causing global uncertainty and fear. What does this turmoil mean for Israel and why has peace been so elusive? The announcement that the United States would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem sent shock waves through the Middle East and the world with many nations condemning our recognizing the capital of Israel. Why is there such hatred against Israel? Why do nations want to see Israel annihilated? Why does what happens in Israel have such global impact? Will the United States continue to stand by its long time ally?

To answer these questions, Crosstalk contacted Ron Rhodes. Ron is the president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries. He's a keynote speaker at conferences across the United States. He's the author of over 70 books with over 1 million copies sold. Crosstalk has interviewed him about his numerous writings concerning Bible prophecy, apologetics and other topics. He joined Jim to discuss his latest book, 'Israel on High Alert: What Can We Expect Next in the Middle East'.

Why would Ron consider Israel to be on high alert? First of all, it's not exactly sitting on a very large chunk of real estate. As Ron pointed out, it's just 8,000 square miles which is quite small when you compare it to the more than 5 million square miles of hostile Arab real estate that surrounds them.

Ron believes it's important that everyone, especially Christians, understand that this isn't merely a political or geopolitical issue. It's also a religious issue, a conflict between the Jewish people and Islam.

He then mentioned Israel's neighbors. This includes Russia which has been working with Iran in overcoming Syria. This is important because the Bible does speak about a future invasion into Israel by Iran, Turkey, Sudan and a variety of other Muslim nations. This is to take place in conjunction with Russia, and what better route to take to get to Israel than through Syria, since they are right on the border with Israel.

According to Ron, it appears that the stage is being set for this future invasion. The Russia/Syria, Russia/Sudan and Russia/Libya alliances have been coming together and in recent days, Turkey has been swinging away from the West and its commitment to NATO and instead appears to be looking to Russia.

Why is there so much animosity toward Israel? Israel is considered to be the lesser 'Satan' while the U.S. is considered to be the 'Great Satan' because the U.S. has been the military and financial ally of Israel for so many years. When President Trump announced the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Ron likened that to the pouring of gasoline on an already hot fire. Since that decision was made, various leaders from Islamic lands, including Iran, have stated that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Palestinian state.

This all goes back to 1948 when Israel took the land. He believes that the entire Middle East conflict is rooted in what took place then. This is because Muslims believe that once land comes under Islamic domination, it can never go out of their control. This means Israel's taking of land was an insult to Allah.

As this program moved along, Jim had Ron deal with the following and more...

--Who are the Palestinians and what is their claim to the land?
--How do we interpret the biblical prophecies concerning Israel?
--Are there plans to rebuild the temple on the Temple Mount?
--Could the antichrist be alive today?
--What happens to Israel during the tribulation period?
--Should we be living in fear over end-time developments?