Apocalyptic Islamic Ideology: The Most Important Factor In Iran's Motivation Is Being Overlooked

All eyes are on the Middle East, as the United States and Iran are locked in a battle of wills—a battle of civilizations. This standoff could result in successful negotiations, a stunning collapse of the brutal Iranian regime, or something in between.

Here is a breakdown of the current situation. Iran has been massacring its own citizens by the tens of thousands, it has been actively producing ballistic missiles, and it continues its attempts to revive its nuclear program. A massive US naval armada is now positioned to carry out a devastating assault on the Iranian regime. Iran has threatened that any US action will spill over into a regional war. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier on Tuesday shot down an “aggressive” Iranian drone over the Arabian Sea, which threatened to derail talks. Israel is also fully prepared—locked, loaded, and ready to respond to any aggression.

One very important factor is being overlooked in all the calculus and strategy about dealing with the powers in Tehran. We have to remember what drives the Iranian regime: a Shiite apocalyptic theology and ideology.

This ideology is the lens through which they view the world. For them, everything that is happening is being branded as a “holy war.” They use their theology as a shield to justify their brutality, even against their own people.

Iran Wire warned that leaders in the Iranian regime are calling the protests in their nation a “holy war” and refer to their response as a “theology of violence.”

“By framing protests as’ rebellion against God,’ officials have effectively turned politics into a battlefield of Good versus Evil,” the publication emphasized. “This allows them to justify structural failures and the killing of protesters as ‘divine trials’ or a ‘necessity of the Era of Emergence'”

The “Era of Emergence” noted by Iran Wire refers to the return of an Islamic messianic figure that they call the “Mahdi.” To the regime, all that is happening is a necessity for the so-called “Era of Emergence,” an era which they believe began with the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran’s government is an Islamic theocracy built on the foundational principle of Velāyat-e Faqīh, or the “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.” This doctrine was developed by Ayatollah Khomeini as part of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran’s constitution places a “Guardian Jurist”—a religious cleric—at the head of the state. Currently, that is the Ayatollah Khamanei.

Behind all of this is the belief that clerics have to pave the way for the return of their Mahdi, the 12th Imam. They believe that preservation of the regime is the existential imperative for the Mahdi to return.

According to their view, the 12th Imam was born in 868 AD. He communicated with his followers through four deputies until 941 AD, after which he went into total seclusion and hiding. This Imam is expected to reappear in the end times to “usher in justice” and “put down tyranny”—an ironic premise considering the fact that Iran today is the most tyrannical regime in the world.

“Iran’s clerical leadership believe that the Mahdi’s return will be hastened by global destruction and war,” Dr Michael A. Youssef wrote in Premier Christianity. “These radical scholars teach that apocalyptic war is a necessary requirement for the Mahdi to be revealed. In this view, Iran’s struggle against Israel and Western civilization is part of a divine plan for the return of the Mahdi.”

Iran has what some have called an “apocalyptic foreign policy.” As one analysis explained, “Some hardline factions in Iran argue that global chaos and war are necessary precursors to the Mahdi’s return. This perspective can lead to the view that negotiated long-term peace is detrimental to their ultimate theological goals.”

We need to be praying for our leaders. They are not negotiating with rational counterparts. They are not on equal footing in their approach to peace and stability, but from two totally opposing vantage points.

A senior Iranian Ayatollah named Muhammad Mehdi Mirbagheri once stated that in order for the “hidden Imam” to reappear, Iran must engage in “widespread fighting” with the West.

All this chaos, what they call a “holy war,” is seen as part of the welcome mat for the Mahdi, even the uprising among their own people—and it is being used to justify their egregious actions.

The enforcers, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are a 150,000-strong group of dedicated apocalyptic zealots who will preserve the regime at all costs. They are doing the dirty work of violently putting down these protests, murdering tens of thousands of innocent people. That is who our nation and the nation of Israel are dealing with.

Joel Rosenberg, a well-known Bible teacher and Messianic Jewish believer, aptly describes the Iranian regime as an “apocalyptic genocidal death cult.”

We don’t know what the results of the current crisis will be, but we do know that a showdown is coming between Iran and Israel. The regime might collapse through an attack from the United States and/or Israel, but a future Iranian invasion of Israel is certain because God predicted it 2,600 years ago—as recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

In the preceding chapters, the prophet Ezekiel is told by God that the Jewish people would return to their land. Since 1948, we have witnessed the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 and 37 as the Jewish people have been regathered from all over the world back to Israel—where nearly half of the world’s Jewish population now resides.

With the same assurity, we know that Ezekiel 38 and 39 will also take place, just as God foretold—and I believe that what we see today is a lead-up to it. The outcome of the current standoff remains a mystery, but we know where it’s ultimately headed.

In an incredible and ironic prophetic twist, Iran’s belief that it can hasten the coming of its “Mahdi” by triggering an apocalyptic war may play a key part in setting the stage for Iran’s involvement (and defeat) in the Gog Magog war predicted in the Bible.

Let’s pray for our political and military leaders to have wisdom in dealing with this crisis. Let’s pray for the people in Israel as they prepare for a possible Iranian attack. Let’s pray for precious souls in Iran to escape the deception and darkness of their regime and come to the light of the world, Jesus Christ. Let’s also keep praying for Jesus to come soon!