april 20 , 2006

The Mahdi

A majority of Americans see Iran as the number one threat to the national security of the U.S. What many Americans might not realize is that the bellicose statements of Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons appear to have spiritual roots. Specifically, those roots concern the emergence of the Islamic messiah known as the “Mahdi” or the twelfth imam.

News columnists have increasingly been noting the religious undertones of Iran’s president. Here’s a sample:

“Last month, Ahmadinejad said publicly that the main mission of the Islamic revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the twelfth imam.”
Charles Krauthammer, December 16, 2005

“... Mr. Ahmadinejad flummoxed his audience of world political leaders by concluding his address (at the united nations) with a prayer for the mahdi’s appearance: ‘O mighty lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one (the Mahdi), that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.” Daniel Pipes, January 10, 2006

“Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gate-crashed ‘the nuclear club,’ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours. He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the hidden imam, the 12th and last of the imams of Shiism who went into ‘gran occultation’ in (the year) 1941.” The Sunday telegraphs, April 16, 2006

CBN News recently sat down with Ron Cantrell, the founder of “Shalom, Shalom, Ministries Jerusalem”. His book The Mahdi: Hijacked Messiah helps explain this Islamic messiah. Cantrell says, “The Mahdi is a personage that is expected to come on the scene by Islam as a messiah figure. He’s slotted to come in the end of time according to their writings--very much like how we think of the return of Jesus, although there are some staggering differences between our messiah and the Islamic expected messiah.”

Several hundred years after the birth of Islam, Cantrell says the 12th imam is believed to have disappeared at about the age of nine with a promise that he would return at the end of time. This would bring Islam to its total fruition as the world’s last standing religion. One of the prerequisites for the return of the Mahdi, Cantrell says, is chaos.

“This is an important situation that we are heading into with the nation of Iran. Chaos and worldwide turmoil is a prerequisite for the coming of the Mahdi. Now, Ahmadinejad has stated that this chaos must take place before the Mahdi can come on the scene. He is willing to make this situation take place.”

Since Ahmadinejad has made such a prominent, public display of his intention to prepare the way for the Mahdi, this situation is unique. It straddles both public policy and spiritual warfare. The implications for public policy and the response for the west are staggering and the spiritual ramifications, too, are profound.

For Christians praying for this earth-shaking situation, two powerful scriptures can be applied. I Timothy 2:2 exhorts us to “pray for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” If any world leader needs wisdom and divine guidance during this time, it is U.S. President George Bush.

Paul also exhorts us in II Corinthians 10:4 that “the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

The potential for a mullah-controlled Iran armed with nuclear weapons makes the stakes in this confrontation between Ahmanidajed and the west one of the greatest of our age. Many Christians hope the prayer response will be equal to the challenge.

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