Part 1: The Lord Is in the Whirlwind and the Storm as Seen in the Nations

By Lance Lambert

This message was delivered in Richmond, VA in 2002.

I would like to say how very glad I am to be here. It's very unusual for me to be here in the fellowship because I normally come in the summer and everybody's a bit too busy with the conference. So it's a joy to be here.

And I would like to turn you to the little Book of Nahum. I think you say "NAY-hum". Nahum chapter one. I'm going to read from verse one.

Can we just have a word of prayer? Beloved Lord, we bow here in Your presence, and we are glad that You have brought us into Your presence. And, Lord, we want to place ourselves without reservation, unconditionally at Your command. Lord, we thank You that You provide an anointing for the ministry of Your word and into that anointing grace and power, we stand by faith that You will, Lord, be the grace and power in the speaking and for the hearing and for the doing. Beloved Lord, we praise You that when a word comes forth from You, it never returns to You void. So now together we commit ourselves to You, that You will take this evening and these times together, this weekend, and just Lord, let it be a meeting with Yourself, and we shall be careful to give You all the praise and all the glory. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Significance of Nahum's Prophecy

This little prophecy of Nahum is an extraordinary and remarkable revelation. It is to do with one of the great superpowers of the day in which Nahum lived, the Assyrians, and particularly the city of Nineveh. And it is all the more amazing that something so powerful with such a huge expanse of territory should fall in the way it did. For the ways of the Lord are entirely beyond man.

Divine Sovereignty Over Human Powers

When He sets up a dictator, nobody can remove him. Doesn't matter how many attempts of assassination are made, how many strategies have followed. You cannot remove him till God's time comes. But when God's time comes, he cannot live one single minute longer. It's always been the way. Neros come and Neros go, Pharaohs come and Pharaohs go. Nebuchadnezzars come and Nebuchadnezzars go. Maybe Nebuchadnezzar got saved. That's a real possibility. But they all come. They all go. Just as Hitler came, and Hitler has gone, and Mussolini came, and Mussolini is gone, and Mao Zedong came, and Mao Zedong has gone. They are dust.

These human beings that held such power over human beings and brought such suffering and seemed to be invincible, they're all the dust of history. But Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not dust. That is why the Lord said, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not I was. He still is. They are not the dust of history.

Participation in Divine Purpose

But they and Moses and David and Isaiah and John the Baptist and the early apostles are all involved in a purpose, a divine purpose. With their failings, with their weaknesses, and even with their sins, somehow or other, by the grace of God, they were caught up in something that God was doing in their generation. They are not the dust of history. They are part of a divine destiny. And it is one of the most amazing things in this world that God takes people like you and people like me, and He brings us into a relationship to Himself and a relationship to His purpose.

The Present Spiritual Conflict

I cannot remember any time like these past few years where there has been so much conflict and so much problem, so much division, so much what I would call satanic rumours that have split brother from brother, sister from sister. It's not just here or there, but it's everywhere. Nor have I ever known a time when so many of those in the front line of the battle are facing enormous difficulties, some of them physical difficulties, some of them mental difficulties. We who believe in the power of God, we who believe in the healing power of God, still we are today facing enormous things. Not with those, I might say, who are worldly and who are compromised, but those who are in the very front line of the battle.

Which makes me feel that that which is restrained is being removed and that somehow or other the enemy is coming in like a flood. It makes me wonder how near we are to the coming of the Lord. I know the believers have always thought that the Lord was coming, even in the first century. But the fact of the matter is we have so much more that has been fulfilled in our day and generation, and we are the witnesses of something quite extraordinary that is happening.

It doesn't matter whether it is to do with missionary work, it doesn't matter whether it is to do with specific works of God, or whether it is to do with those who have seen something of the nature of the church. Everywhere there is enormous conflict.

The Message of the Whirlwind

And that's why when I thought about this little time together, I had a few days ago, no idea what I was to speak about. And I have now learned a little wisdom over the years of my life since I was saved. I was saved when I was just gone 12. And I'm not going to say how old I am, but it's a lifetime, really, that I can stand tonight.

Waiting on the Lord

A little bit of wisdom is this. There's no point cooking up a message. It takes us many, many years to come to this simple lesson. When I was first preaching, I used to get migraines. Not whilst I was preaching, nor afterwards, but before. And the reason was that I found out that I got all tense and worried because the Lord didn't seem to give me what I thought He ought to give. Because the Lord is wise. He knew that if He gave me something too early, I'd work on it and end up with far more than I was going to say than what the Lord was going to say.

And so the Lord brought what I call a blanket, a fog blanket down. And I learned after many years, the only thing to do is to be still. If necessary, lie down on your back. Sounds lazy, doesn't it? Because if I had fasted and prayed, I always got a migraine. As Mr. Sparks once said to me, you're too much in it. When you're resting in the Lord, the Lord can speak to you, but when you get all uptight, you close the very channel for the Lord.

And so this time I went right the way through to a few days ago with absolutely no idea of what I should say. And then suddenly the Lord said, whirlwind. And I thought it was the strangest thing for ages. So when I opened my Bible, I found here in Nahum, chapter one and verse three, this incredible statement:

The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

Understanding God's Way in the Storm

Now, you may find that very strange, "You've come all this way to take some obscure little statement in the word of God?" But I think it has a lot to say to our present situation. The Lord's way is normally understood to be in clear, shining cloudlessness, no clouds, pure, an open heaven, beautiful gaze. And thank God, there are times when the Lord is working in that. But whenever the Lord's going to do something big, He comes in a whirlwind and in a storm.

A whirlwind can come and go within hours and leave enormous destruction and damage. It is sudden and it goes as suddenly. A storm can come. It can last 24 hours. I have been in storms lasting actually more than 30 hours. I remember one in Jerusalem that began. It was 86 degrees. Suddenly this great bank of blackness came over. I could see it out of our kitchen from the west. And then the thunder started, then the lightning came, and then cloud bursts.

And I had two little Siamese kittens at that time. And I thought they would die of shock because the thunder was like a war going on all around, the lightning flashing. And then I found them sitting up in the window enjoying every minute of it. And then I realised that they were tropical. They were very used to storms. Same with the birds, you know, the parrots and so on. They just loved every minute of it. And the interesting thing is this. Thirty-two hours later, it went all through the night, all through the day. And thirty-two hours later, it ended at 0. Thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, 0 Celsius and six inches of snow. Such a storm.

Storms are incredible. When Nahum was speaking about a storm, he wasn't so much talking about the kind you have here. And his whirlwind is not a tornado, but it is the Middle East version of a tornado. And the storm is the kind of storm we normally have only in the winter, often with snow. But what is extraordinary is that you have the whirlwind, the storm and clouds.

The Clouds as the Dust of His Feet

Now, that's not what we normally associate with the Lord's work. We don't think of the Lord working through a whirlwind. Yet it says the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and the storm and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Now that simply means you can't see Him. It must seem that He is a thousand miles away. Yet the clouds that are confusing, they are the dust of His feet. In other words, He's walking, He is doing something, He is progressing and you cannot always understand it, but He knows what He's doing. And the only way is to walk by faith.

Whirlwind, storm and cloud.

The Three-Part Framework

I want to consider this in these few times. Tonight I want to consider it in relation to the nations. Tomorrow evening I want to consider it in relation to the church. And the last time I will consider it in relation to the believer.

Tonight we will talk about the nations.

The Lord's Purpose Through Historical Whirlwinds

The Lord's purpose is fulfilled through the whirlwind and the storm. It has been so from the beginning. Certainly it has been so in this last century. For instance, I personally believe that this last phase of world history commenced with the First World War, 1914-1918.

The First World War as Divine Intervention

In those four years, God came like a whirlwind unto a society that had no idea what was going to happen. The Kaiser was actually in a yacht on a Norwegian fjord holiday. That's how unexpected it was. The British believed that the whole thing would blow over. In fact, it wasn't Satan, it was God. He locked them in a battle in which 22 million people died and the whole flower of European and British manhood died. And of course, later on in that war, America as well.

At the end of that war, the whole face of the world was changed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, I don't know if you know, extended over more than half of Europe, disappeared, never to come back again. The German Reich disappeared, never to come back again. I mean, the monarchy. The Russian Tsar disappeared as far as I can see, never to come back again. And even China, after nearly 2,000 or more years of dynastic imperialism, finally became a republic. It is quite amazing what happened in that First World War. It was a whirlwind.

Was it Satan or was it God?

The Birth of Marxism and the Balfour Declaration

Born in the midst of those four years was something that was going to dominate the whole of the 20th century. Marxism. If there had not been that war, all the European powers in Britain would have united together to strangle it at first. But their horns were locked together in battle and they could not give time to what was happening in Russia. At the same time there was a declaration we call the Balfour Declaration, which was the first time ever anything was said about the possibility of the Jewish people becoming again a state amongst states.

Now, I won't spend a lot of time on this. I just want to illustrate that here was a whirlwind and a storm. Was the Lord in it or not?

The Second World War and the Birth of Israel

Twenty years later, there was another world war in 1939-1945. And in that war, what was begun in the First World War was completed. At the end of that war, there was no more the British Empire, there was no more a French Empire, there was no more a Dutch Empire, there was no more a Spanish Empire. The whole lot had disappeared. And Marxism stood at its climax, both as far as Russia was concerned and half of Europe was concerned and as far as China was concerned.

It was that war that resulted in the birth of Israel. It is amazing. Was the Lord in this whirlwind?

The Danger of False Peace

When I watch all these demonstrations for peace here in Europe and elsewhere, I have a most uncomfortable feeling. It's not that I don't want peace, but I had this awful feeling that I've seen this before.

The Lessons of Neville Chamberlain

I remember Neville Chamberlain. I was a little boy, so I didn't understand very much about what he was up to, except I saw him on all the papers with his little bit of white paper in his hand and, "Peace in our time". And when he was asked about Adolf Hitler, he said, "He is a gentleman, a man who keeps his word". Hitler wrote in his little journal about Neville Chamberlain that he was a silly old man.

What I found so amazing was that all the church leaders in Britain of all the different denominations, including those that were most evangelical, were behind Neville Chamberlain. They called Winston Churchill a drunken warmonger. I found it quite extraordinary that they called Neville Chamberlain a great Christian gentleman and the saviour of Western Christian civilisation. I found it strange because he went to Munich and gave Adolf Hitler Czechoslovakia, which seemed to me to be amoral—in order to save Western civilisation, he sacrificed in a totally unprincipled manner, a sovereign nation.

I believe God saw that, for in one year, this saviour of Western civilisation, this great Christian gentleman who said that it was peace in our time, the whole world became locked in a war in which 55 million people were to die. Would you not call that a whirlwind? A storm?

Suddenly the drunken warmonger became the saviour of Britain and of Europe, now called the greatest Englishman that ever lived. I think it's so funny in a way. Tragic in a way, but it—I have a horrible feeling when I hear all these things being said now that we're seeing a repeat.

Well, I only want to say you've got an illustration there of something, a whirlwind, a storm and a cloud. And now what?

September 11th as a Milestone in World History

September 11th last year, I think, is a milestone in world history. I do not think that those that perpetrated it ever thought that an American president would react. The fact of the matter is they believe that the West is emasculated, lost its manhood. I've heard it again and again and again. They believe they've lost their backbone. They can be pushed around.

The Unexpected Response

I don't think they ever thought that a president would stand up and would declare war on terror. Now we have outrage after outrage. Bali with 200 dead. Moscow, the theatre with nearly 200 dead. We, of course, have lived with this for years. I always said 70 years, but I heard Mr. Sharon just a few days ago, well, about now, a month ago, and he said 110 years. So we are a little bit immunised to this situation.

But what I think is wonderful is that the American people have woken up. Who's going to pray for something to happen in the United States, for the Church of God to be really built, for there to be an awakening amongst the unsaved? I will talk more about the church tomorrow, but all I want to say this evening is that you have something quite remarkable here.

Questions About the Future

Where are we heading? What lies ahead? What does September 11th really signify?

Now, I don't want to bore you to sleep. It's entirely possible, of course, and some people love sermons because it enables them to sleep. And I always say people sometimes take my tapes and they write me letters and say I fell asleep listening to you. Which I always say is a much better thing than a sleeping pill.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you, but is this present situation we're in, in this last year, a one-off? In other words, it's a conflict that is just one of many conflicts that the nations have passed through. It will pass away. It has no more significance than a bunch of sort of angry people doing savage things. It will pass.

Or is there in fact—is this the beginning of a holy war? Is it in fact the prelude to a much greater conflict? Is it possibly the fulfilment of Ezekiel 38 and 39?

The Need for Spiritual Understanding

We cannot with dogma say it was that. But we should be, as people of God, very alive to the possibilities at this present time. We should not panic and we should not get, in some way or another, shocked by what will happen. We need to have an understanding of the times in which we live so that we can pray with spiritual intelligence and power, so that we can stand as witnesses to our fellow citizens in our different countries. We're able to be a witness to the fact that this book has so much within it about our present situation and that if people do not come to the Lord, that there is no hope for them as well as for their nations.

What will a war with Iraq unleash? Don't think for a single moment that a war on Iraq will not unleash an enormous conflict. Because once the United States, or the United States and Britain in union or even a number of other Western nations join in an attack on Iraq, nearly every Muslim in the Arab world will unite to fight. Even though many know that Saddam Hussein is a dreadful man, they know very well that he butchered his own sons-in-law, that there are many others that he has, and that he does have weapons of mass destruction. It's a known fact. I won't go into all of that, but all I want to say is this.

Preparedness for What Lies Ahead

What will it unleash? Are we ready for it? Do we have roots that go deep enough? Can we withstand the shock? Or do we expect to be raptured before? It would be lovely to think we would be raptured before, but I seriously suspect that we will not be raptured before this particular conflict is over.

So now I don't want to again depress you, let alone send you to sleep, but let me say this. If President Bush withdraws from the stand that he has taken on this matter, there will be a greater disaster that will bring us all into an enormously different kind of conflict.

Understanding Islam's Nature and Goals

Islam is a very strong masculine type of religion. It believes in domination. It always pushes and pushes and pushes, to see if people will withdraw, withdraw and withdraw. And once they withdraw, far from being sweet and kind, they become more demanding.

Now that leads me to say something about this. And I realise we have to be very, very careful because there are spiritual principalities and powers involved in this thing. But if you will bear with me, let me say something about Islam.

Islam's Goal of World Domination

Islam's goal is world domination. It's always been that. If you've ever read the Quran, you know that it believes that it is predestined to take the whole world including the United States and Britain and Europe. Now this is not so stupid as you would think. There are 7 million American Muslims and it is estimated that by the year 2004 that number will grow to nearly 15 million by 2010 to 20 million because of the black converts to Islam.

Nor is it so stupid when it comes to Europe. Britain has nearly 2 million Muslim citizens. Germany has 4 million German Muslim citizens of Turkish origin mostly. Holland has 800,000. One fifth of Paris is Muslim. There are more mosques in the south of France than there are churches and chapels. It's not so stupid.

The Misrepresentation of Islam

Well you say are you poisoning us? Because CNN and the BBC they all tell us that Islam is non-violent, that it is peace loving, that Bin Laden is an aberration, this isn't real Islam. I think they, in seeking to protect the Muslim minorities—which is right—from savage reactions on the part of other citizens in our different countries, are doing a great disservice.

The Meaning and Teachings of Islam

If you take the word Islam, it just means submission. A Muslim is someone who is submitted and Islam teaches—at least someone like Ahmed Deedat who was called the Great, the Muslim equivalent of Billy Graham. He always boasted that he'd led more white people to become Muslims than any other Muslim cleric in Muslim Islamic history.

He said and of course it's a fact that Islam teaches there are three Testaments, the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Last Testament. The Last Testament is the Quran. It teaches that God began His revelation and work with the Jews. He chose them but they were a stiff-necked people, a disobedient people. He gave them revelation after revelation which was reduced to writing but they corrupted it.

For instance, they said in the Old Testament that it was Isaac that the Lord told Abraham to offer. But it wasn't. They said it was Ishmael. They said the Jews said that the covenant promises were made with the seed of Abraham through Isaac, but they said that is not true, it was Ishmael. So God was so upset with the Jews that He turned away from them and rejected them. And He chose a new community of people, Christians. And He gave to them revelation after revelation but they corrupted it.

Muhammad and the Quran

And so finally He turned to a man, a merchant in Medina called Muhammad. He could neither read nor write and God, or Allah as they say, sent the Archangel Gabriel to this Muhammad and he gave him message after message after message that put right all that the Jews had corrupted and all that the Christians had corrupted and this became the Quran. The most amazing thing about the Quran is it is the most beautiful Arabic. And therefore we have a mystery as to how a man who could neither read nor write somehow produced the most incredibly beautiful Arabic.

Islam's Teaching About Jesus

The interesting thing about the Quran is what it says about a whole lot of things. For instance, what does Islam teach about Jesus? You must know this so that you don't get deceived in any way. Islam teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. That's more than many Christians teach, so-called Christians. It also says that He was born sinless without sin and that He never sinned at any single point in His 33 years of life. Islam says that He was the Messiah.

Islam not only says that—the affirmation of His messiahship was His miracles. But the Quran adds at least two miracles that we do not find in the New Testament. One of them being a little stone bird that Jesus was supposed to touch and flew away when He was a boy. It's very interesting. Islam teaches that Jesus was rejected by the Jews and that He was crucified. And then it believes that He will return. Muhammad will follow Him, but He will return.

So many Christians are completely taken in when they speak with the Muslim who knows something about the Quran and so on. They say, "Oh yes, we believe that Jesus was the Messiah. We believe that Jesus is coming back." [And we say] "It's just amazing. We've been completely misled on the whole question of Islam. We understood it was something totally foreign, totally contrary to the work of God."

The Heart Torn Out of the Gospel

Now you will notice something very interesting. [In the Quran] you have the whole gamut of truth from the birth of Jesus, the sinlessness of Jesus to the coming again of Jesus, but He did not die. He was crucified, but He did not die. And therefore since there was no death, there was no resurrection. Now in other words, the heart of the gospel is torn out. The atoning death of the Lord Jesus, forgiveness of sins is [supposedly] what the Christians corrupted. And since Jesus didn't rise again, there is no such thing as a new birth. You have all the truth and the heart is torn out.

Now I don't know if you're following what I'm trying to say. I know it's a bit difficult.

Islam's View of the End Times

What is Islam's view of the end times? Now listen very carefully to this because now we're coming to September 11th. What is their view of the end times? They believe that in the last phase of world history there will be a war that will cover the earth between what they call the house of peace in which only Muslims are found, and the house of war in which all Jews, Christians and heathen are found. And that the Muslims, faithful Muslims, devout Muslims, will kill all those Christians, Jews and heathen who will not convert to Islam.

Now of course I don't know how CNN or some of the others ever say this is a peace-loving religion. I mean, it's absolute nonsense really that one of the hadiths, which is like a commentary from the very earliest sages that were co-workers with Muhammad, says that Muhammad himself was involved in the slaughter of the Quraysh tribe, which was a Jewish tribe, and for 22 hours he decapitated men, women, children and babes. And that he got, as a result of his faithfulness to Allah, he got arthritis in his arm which he suffered with for the rest of his life.

The Question of Religious Violence

So people say, "But Christianity is violent" and today they say, "and so is Judaism, because look at Israel." The interesting thing is this, that Jesus never slaughtered anyone, nor did Paul, nor did the other apostles. It is absolutely true that the Crusaders did in the name of Jesus and also the Catholic Church did in the name of Jesus in the Inquisition and so did the Russian Orthodox Church in the pogroms. That is absolutely true.

But it is not true that original Christianity, for want of a better term, was spread by the sword. It is absolutely true that in Norway, for instance, Saint Olipus, we know him today, went to all the Vikings with a sword in one hand and water in the other and offered them either life or death. The water being for christening. It was a very successful form of evangelism. Anyone who didn't accept it was of course decapitated, killed.

The Violent Foundation of Islam

But what I am saying in this matter is very simple because it means that Islam began in violence. It was spread by violence throughout the whole of North Africa. Most people do not know that Egypt was the great centre of Christian education in the known world at that time. It was totally destroyed, as was Tunisia as we know it today, which was the other great centre of Christian evangelism. Carthage, totally destroyed. People were given the choice of life or death. Either you become a Muslim and you live or you die. So many of the Copts died in faithfulness to the Lord. Others converted. And it's now some 1,300 years ago that quite a few Muslim Egyptians actually had Christian forebears.

I want only to get over to you that you have here something quite amazing. You have a prediction that is not just a small thing. In the Quran it is stated two or three times that there will in the last days be an enormous battle between Islam and the rest of the world that Allah has willed that Islam will win and when it ends, there will only be Muslims.

Khomeini and the Modern Islamic Interpretation

Now, if you're still alive and listening, the point is you have one great name. In the last century, his name was Khomeini, the Ayatollah, which means oracle of God. Khomeini. He was a remarkable man. He was the first one to interpret present events in an Islamic way. He said that the world has passed into the last phase of world history and that therefore we have to expect enormous conflict. That this great war that the Quran talks about will soon be upon us.

This is why the Shah exiled him.

Khomeini's Teaching on Israel and Satan

Khomeini, if you hear me, said this, why is there an Israel? He said, Allah has willed Israel to be and used Satan to produce it. Therefore he called Israel the little Satan and he called the United States the Great Satan. This teaching permeated through the whole Islamic world.

He said, Allah has judged the lukewarmness of the Muslim masses by allowing Satan to produce Israel. But he said, when the Islamic masses are challenged by the presence of Israel, they will devote themselves to Allah and Allah will empower them, energise them to come against Israel, liberate Jerusalem and liquidate the Jewish people and then they will go on to take the world.

Osama bin Laden's Inheritance

Now, I won't say anything more about Ayatollah Khomeini except this. Osama bin Laden is not a Shia Muslim, he's a Sunni Muslim. But he was enormously influenced by Ayatollah Khomeini. He believed that what Khomeini said was true, that Israel has to be destroyed and then the United States must be destroyed.

The interesting thing in this whole situation is that Osama bin Laden began to do something. He was wealthy enough to do it. So he set up the Al-Qaeda network and began this whole thing. Al-Qaeda is operative at this night in 65 different countries. It [is] far from destroyed.

So now you have something quite amazing. Osama bin Laden obviously believes that this war that is predicted in the Quran is upon us. Now my question earlier was is this the beginning of a holy war and is it in fact the war that the Muslims believe?

The Two Historical Wars of Islam

Well, if you're still with me, I don't know if my time's gone, but if you're still with me, let me just say one other thing about Islam. Islam has had two wars and lost both of them. And it has one yet to come which we are told they will win. That's the Quran. What were these two wars?

The Battle of Tours (732 AD)

The first was the Battle of Tours in 700— I think I'm right in saying 736, but it's the 8th century of this era. When the Muslim forces came to Tours, 200 miles south of Paris. They were so well equipped and so powerful, such an incredible fighting force that the whole of Europe, Christian Europe, so-called, quaked. But when the battle came in the most incredible manner, God gave the victory to the Christians. Maybe you've heard of the man Charles Martel. He led the Christian forces and they routed the Muslim forces.

And the result was incredible because of the Muslim idea, the Islamic idea that Allah wills everything good and bad. When they lose a battle, they are completely disorientated. They don't know what to do because why has Allah done this? Why, why has He willed this? What have we done? Why did we not get the victory? They withdrew completely to Spain where they stayed for another 200 years. And finally they collapsed in Spain in total racial, if you understand the word, racial depression. Went back to North Africa and there licked their wounds for the next few hundred years.

The Significance of Tours

Now, if they had won the battle of Tours—you know, most people are so bored with history partly because they had the most boring history teachers. And so they have a kind of thing that nearly makes them nauseous every time they hear history. But think for the moment. Do you realise what would have happened if the Muslims had won that battle? The whole of France would have become Muslim. Not one fifth of Paris, but the whole. The whole of Germany would have become Muslim. I mean there wouldn't have been a Martin Luther. It would have been a question of time before they got to Italy and strangled the Vatican. Some might have thought that a good thing, but I'm just saying that they would have got there and finally strangled the Vatican.

It would have been a question of time, only a little time. And they would have crossed the Channel and taken the United Kingdom. Britain. Then listen carefully to me. It wouldn't have been Baptists and Presbyterians and non-conformists who would have been pushed out of Britain by persecution and come over here and founded the so-called colonies. I don't want to use too many of these words, but you know what I mean. It would have been Shia Muslims fleeing from Sunni Muslims, which means the whole of the United States and Canada would have been Islamic.

People don't understand the lessons of history. Mark Twain said we learn from history that we never learn from history. So very, very simple. In other words, they came right near to what would have been the Islamisation of the world. And they failed.

The Battle of Vienna (1683)

Believe it or believe it not, it was many hundreds of years later that the second great battle came. It's called the Battle of Vienna in 1683. And under the Ottomans, Islamic forces swept through Italy, took the whole of Greece, took Turkey. It already had become much of it Islamic anyway. But they took the great cathedral of St. Sophia and turned it into a great mosque. They went to Bulgaria, through Romania, to Hungary, through Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Kosovo, you know, the whole battle. And then they came to the gates of Vienna.

Everyone believed they should have won, but the Christian armies were divided, fragmented. But God in mercy gave them the victory in the Battle of Vienna. And the Ottomans, the Muslims withdrew and they slowly deteriorated, stagnated in luxury and licence. The Ottomans, they were called, The Sick Man of Europe. That's the term that was used over 100 years ago for them until they discovered oil, which was the most amazing fulfilment of God's prophecy concerning Ishmael, that he would become great and powerful, wealthy.

The Rise of Modern Islamic Power

It's amazing that nearly all the oil in the world, except here in the United States, is in Muslim hands. And with that oil came untold riches and the beginning of a revival in Islam. Now Islam is coming to its climax and nothing can stop it because there is something appointed in this by God.

The Lord's Sovereignty in the Present Crisis

Where are we now? Khomeini has taught Bin Laden—Bin Laden believes that Islam is poised now to destroy Israel. And once Israel is destroyed, it will go through the whole Islamic world like a power that will cause them to unite and take the world, the rest of the world.

We Should Not Be Afraid

So now I come to the end of this. We should not be afraid. God is in this whirlwind. He's in this storm. His way is here. He is going to use this very thing to fulfil His own purpose.

I know you may sound very wrong to put it like this, but I personally believe that God is hastening the coming of the Antichrist and a world government in order to get it over with. You know, it says in the scripture that He will shorten the days for the elect's sake. I believe that the Lord is in this whirlwind and thank God He's woken up the American people. By and large, there's a whole different atmosphere in the United States over this thing. There are a lot of weaknesses and all the rest of it, but at least a large number, a majority of Americans I think now are alive and awake to the fact that something is happening that they had not seen, had not understood.

Living Faith, Not Neurosis

We should not be afraid. We know the One who has all authority and power in heaven and on earth in His hands. It's no good getting neurotic. Christians are, generally speaking, pretty neurotic already and it's a shame to get a neurosis as a result of this. The fact of the matter is it's going to test whether we have living faith. Otherwise we're going to be nervous wrecks.

Now, unfortunately, you here in this great continent have not suffered terrorist bombs and terrorist outrages basically until this thing. There had been a few things before that, but what happened September 11th was a wake-up call for the whole of the American and Canadian people. If people thought that they were escaping problems by coming here, there's no such thing. Now the whole world is unsafe. So you can choose which unsafe area you wish to be. I mean, the fact of the matter is that we are now in a conflict that is only just beginning.

The Importance of Strength

And if President Bush takes this thing through and is strong and powerful, it will be a message given that will be understood by the Islamic world. But if he withdraws, Islam will believe it's on a winning ticket and will take more and more and more.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, the Lord does have His way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

Prophetic Patterns: Jerusalem and Warfare

In the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 12 to 14, we are told there will be many wars with Jerusalem as the focal point. Not one war, but a whole number. We have witnessed already, without calling the Intifada a war, six wars in 54 years. Generally speaking, in Israel, these last two years are considered a war. And that means seven wars. Every one of them has the status and future of Jerusalem at its base.

The Palestinian Situation

We have to be sorry for the Palestinians and for all that they've suffered. I mean, they have suffered and they haven't helped themselves, I might say in some cases because they have become so part of this whole terrorist structure. Not all, not by any means all. I have many Palestinian friends, but the fact of the matter is that we have a terrible situation where it's a no-win situation from one point of view because Israel cannot take the kind of action that America took when she bombed Afghanistan into dust. Then the whole United Nations would go berserk.

I mean, it's very funny in one way. I mean, America dropped bombs on a wedding in Afghanistan and then in a very embarrassed way had to say, "No, we don't believe it happened. We don't believe it happened." Then they said, "Well, it did happen." And they said, "Yes, yes, yes, we're investigating it." The same thing happens with us, only we are not allowed to get off the hook like that, you know. I mean, we have very real problems every time. War is a terrible thing, and there's no justice in war. But sometimes the only way to peace is through war.

So, dear folks, I believe that the Lord is in this whirlwind and in this storm, and He's going to pursue the whole thing until He has fulfilled in every single part His purpose.

Preparation for the Coming of Antichrist

I said that it will bring the Antichrist. I have no doubt about it. No doubt about it at all. Can you believe it? How we're losing our personal rights. Any of you who flew in the United States will know exactly what I'm talking about. Shoved around, had your shoes taken off, things stuck up between your legs. I mean. I mean, it's quite abominable really. But we—they lost our luggage. No, we didn't lose our luggage, they lost our luggage.

We're not supposed to know this, but now we find through sources that our bags were deliberately held back along with the majority of others that came from Athens via Frankfurt for security reasons. They opened our cases without our permission, got into our cases and changed everything around. So we knew very well someone had been in them and then had the cheek to phone us and ask us if we could tell them two items in our cases. In other words, we had to give them permission to open our cases. They'd already done it.

The Erosion of Personal Liberty

Phones can be tapped as a result of this terrorism, war on terror. A whole lot of things have to be sacrificed in the interests of safety and security, which is totally understandable. But do you see what I mean by this being a preparation for the coming of a world government? Very, very interesting. Especially now when they begin to ask you for bits of paper and so on. It won't be long before we get the mark here and on the hand so we can be identified as those who are not terrorists.

It's interesting, isn't it?

The Salvation of Israel

Also, I think the Lord in His ways is in this whirlwind to bring Israel to salvation. I do not believe that they will be saved at the coming of the Lord. I believe they will be saved before He comes. And the reason I say this is because the Lord has never saved anyone by sight. He saves by faith.

And so I believe that there will come a day when the Spirit of God will be poured out upon the Jewish people, and in that time they will look unto Him. That's how the Hebrew is everywhere else. In the Old Testament it is nearly always translated toward or unto, not on. But it has been understood to be on. I can give you many examples of this all through the Psalms and elsewhere where we speak of, "My eyes are toward the Lord, my heart is toward the Lord. Same word.

And then you have it in Zechariah 12: They shall look unto Me. To look unto and look on are two different things. When you look on the President of the United States, it means you see him physically. When you look to him, it means you recognise who he is, his authority and his character.

So I believe we have tremendous things here.

Final Exhortations

Don't be afraid. I will finish by reading just two scriptures. You can think about it and reflect on it.

Isaiah 46:8-11

One is in Isaiah 46 (I think you say "ai-ZAY-uh") and it is from verse 8. I'll just read it. I'm not going to make any comment other than just one point.

Now would you have thought that the Lord's purpose could ever be fulfilled by bringing a ravenous vulture from the east? Would you ever have thought that the Lord could be in such a thing as bringing a bird like this, which is a symbol of the dark powers, powers of darkness? That's very interesting. It was a reference, of course, to Babylon. The man of counsel was Cyrus.

So you have two incredible things that the Lord says, I will use Babylon, with all its wickedness and cruelty and savagery to fulfil My purpose. And I will use Cyrus of Persia to fulfil My purpose.

Matthew 24:8 - Birth Pangs of the Kingdom

The other scripture, I only mention it in Matthew 24 and verse 8 and it speaks of:

This is the beginning of travail. Jesus, describing the whole phase of world history leading up to His coming, again says, this is the beginning of travail. In some modern versions it is translated like this: these are the birth pangs.

What of? Not of Antichrist. The birth pangs of the coming kingdom.

Well, those of you ladies who've had children, you know the first pains begin very quietly. And then you have quite a little distance, and then the distance and another. It's amazing how I know these things. That's from my mother. And then they come quicker and quicker and more powerful and more powerful. Exactly where we are. Putting it in another way, the Lord is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

A Personal Illustration

Birth pangs. I had a very large head. And my mother took all of 20 hours to get me into this world. And when I finally came into it, she told the nurse that I wasn't her son. Because my eyes wouldn't open. They didn't open for the whole week. And she was sure I had no eyes. She thought, "He has no eyes behind those lids." My mother was a quite extraordinary lady. [When she was pregnant with me] she went out to have a little meal, a celebration, because I was taking such a long time coming.

And then all of a sudden, it began. Unfortunately, I was born in the greatest blizzard for a hundred years in which 22 people died. So, of course, the car was caught up. That's how I learned all about the birth pangs and how they came more and more quickly and everything else. But the end was birth. Finally, Mother accepted me. I wasn't apparently, she said, muddled with somebody else, but I was her own son. Because my grandmother, God bless her, said to Mother, "Don't worry. He may look ugly now, but maybe he'll get better." That's true. That's true.

The Reality of Birth Pangs

Birth pangs. They are not a joyride. Birth pangs are something that are painful. Who wants to endure them? But the end is birth. And the Lord Jesus said all these things, wars and rumours of wars and nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom and plagues and famines and earthquakes and all the rest of it, these are the birth pangs of the coming kingdom.

Closing Prayer

May the Lord bless us and help us. Shall we pray?

Dear Lord, we do pray that You will open our hearts and our minds to be able to have an understanding of the times in which we live. We don't know, Lord, how long we have before You take us to be with Yourself. But we want to be faithful. And we want to be those who are witnesses to Your grace and to Your power.

Lord, we pray that You will challenge us this night and make what is happening here in this great land and indeed throughout the whole of the world—help us to understand, God, Your purpose in it all, and help us to walk through it. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.

About Lance Lambert

Lance Lambert was one of the most distinguished Bible scholars and speakers in Israel in our day. He had an itinerant teaching ministry worldwide.

Born in 1931, Lance grew up in Richmond, Surrey and came to know the Lord at twelve years of age.

In the early 1950's Lance served in the Royal Air Force in Egypt and later fellowshipped with the assembly at Halford House Christian Fellowship in Richmond, England.

Later in life, Lance discovered his Jewish ancestry—his father and many members of his family had died in the Holocaust. This discovery led him to become an Israeli citizen in 1980, and he made his home next to the Old City of Jerusalem.

Lance became noted for his eschatological views (beliefs about end times), which placed him in the tradition of Watchman Nee and T. Austin-Sparks. From his base in Israel, he produced a widely appreciated quarterly audio recording called the Middle East Update, which gave his unique perspective on current events in the Middle East in the light of God's Word. He wrote numerous books and was the presenter of the video production, Jerusalem, the Covenant City.