However, during the 20th Century there was virtually no chance that a great number of nuclear weapons would ever be used. Nuclear weapons were in the hands of generals who in turn had to answer to civilian authority. No nation would be the first to use nuclear weapons for fear that retaliation by an enemy’s nuclear weapons would bring sure destruction. The doctrine that kept the world safe from nuclear disaster for more than fifty years was called MAD, which stands for Mutual Assured Destruction.

With the great reduction in nuclear arms over the past twenty years, the entire premise of MAD has more or less vanished. With the integration into the Western economies of the former communist nations and even of China, the likelihood of a conflict between great nuclear powers has lessened and the need for MAD to maintain the peace has been greatly reduced.

In the midst of this lessening of nuclear tensions, however, a new threat has developed. What if nuclear weapons were somehow obtained by a primitive society following a religion founded by an evil man? What if the basic tenets of the religion taught that the more people, including innocent women and children, a man was able to murder the more likely it would be for him to enter heaven and obtain great rewards?

The nation of Iran follows strictly and literally the words of Mohammed. The nation, except for its army, lives in the 6th century. Luxurious homes have no beds, no chairs and no tables. People eat their meals sitting on rugs on the floors, and they sleep on floors because Mohammed did so in a tent 1,500 years ago. All outside influence in censored by the mad clerics who rule Iran. All TV and radio broadcasts are censored and outside broadcasts jammed. From kindergarten on, young males are taught their duty to kill "infidels" particularly Jews and Americans.

Iran, one of the world’s greatest oil producers, has begun a nuclear program to "produce energy." This of course is a joke. The entire world knows that oil-rich Iran has no need to construct expensive nuclear reactors; their only purpose is to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Since the more secular government was destroyed with the passive permission of President Jimmy Carter, a Baptist, and the mullahs came to power in 1979, Iran has been a principle supplier of weapons to terrorists and a terrorist haven. If these mad clerics have access to nuclear weapons, they will use them to obtain a greater place in heaven for themselves or they will give them to others to kill "infidels." This is not speculation; this will happen.

Iranian leaders believe it is their duty to destroy Israel and kill all Jews. I do not believe the first nuclear weapons produced by Iran will be used against Americans even though they refer to the United States as "The Great Satan." Nor will the bomb be used in Jerusalem, because a Muslim "holy" site exists there. I believe the bomb will first be used against Tel Aviv and perhaps simultaneously against the Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev Desert. I say perhaps, because a rational enemy would strike Dimona as a strategic target to lessen a retaliation. But we are not talking about a rational enemy. Iranian clerics would see the death of half the population of Iran as a fair price to pay for the elimination of millions of Jews and the destruction of Israel’s major cities.

The Negev Desert is south of Judea. It is believed that Israel keeps most of its nuclear weapons in the Negev. The mountains of Judea are first named in the Book of Joshua, in the account of the conquering of Canaan by the Israelites during the creation of the Land of Israel. From that time to the present, for more than 3,000 years, the name Judea has been consistently used to describe the territory from Jerusalem south along the Judean mountain ridge line, extending east from the mountains down to the Dead Sea. This is important because Christ states in Matthew 24:¹⁶ "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains." If an enemy were to strike against Israel's nuclear weapons bases in the Negev the populated areas of Judea would suffer the worst because of prevailing winds. The Judea area now is primarily populated by Palestinians.

Beginning in 1948 Jordan declared Judea as an occupied territory and began calling it the "West Bank." The northern part of the "West Bank" consists of Samaria. There are numerous Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, which along with all of Israel, are claimed by the true followers of Islam.

If Tel Aviv is destroyed by a nuclear weapon, massive retaliation by Israel could be expected. Israeli leaders are not politically correct as are American leaders. If New York City were destroyed by a nuclear weapon, some of our leaders would probably send out the FBI to arrest "those responsible" and put them on trial at a cost to our taxpayers. On the other hand I would expect Israel to react by trying to destroy every major Muslim city in Iran and Syria, and possibly Mecca in Saudi Arabia for good measure.

Israeli retaliation may not, however, be possible. When a nuclear weapon is used on Tel Aviv, the European Union may step in and stop any retaliation by Israel with massive bombing of Israeli military facilities to stop the counter attack. Europe remains as anti-Semitic and pro-Arab today as it was during the days of Adolph Hitler. The French are no less anti-Semitic than the Germans and any force used against Israel would probably be led by the French military, bringing the European Union into direct conflict with the United States which is sworn to defend a free and independent Israel.

If this is the final conflagration described by Christ in Matthew 24 then it cannot be stopped. On the other hand, if it is just another "war or rumor of war" the coming nuclear war can be contained by the immediate destruction of all nuclear facilities currently operated by Muslims regardless of the nation in which those facilities exist.

The White House should give a green light to Israel to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities now as was done in June of 1981 when the Israeli air force destroyed the French built Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq. Had Israel not destroyed that reactor, nuclear weapons would have been in the hands of Saddam Hussein before his invasion of Kuwait, making it impossible for the United States to liberate that nation without considerable carnage and loss of life.

The Islamic "religion" is not compatible with democratic thought or democratic institutions. While it would be best if no nation had nuclear weapons, it is unthinkable for an Islamic nation in which the words of Mohammed are taken literally, to have such weapons.

If this is the End Time to which Christ referred, then no amount of intervention on the part of the United States or Israel to destroy Islamic nuclear capacity will succeed. On the other hand, if this is not yet the time to which Christ refers, we must act and act now to remove all weapons of mass destruction from all Islamic nations.

Will the United States take on the task of disarming Iran, Syria and Pakistan before the first nuclear device is used? I seriously doubt it. The responsibility of saving the world from a nuclear war will probably drop into the lap of Israeli leaders. Yet, Israel taking action is the worst case scenario for that nation. If Israel acts rather than the United States, Israel will face a world at war with it.

In summary, a nuclear exchange in the Middle East will probably occur within the next decade if not within the next few years. The outcome of that war will be in doubt only if it is not the final conflict referred to by Christ in the Gospel of Matthew.

How certain do I feel about this prediction? I am not new to my beliefs about Islam, as are so many others. In 1992 at a luncheon held by Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick in Washington, DC I made the statement that Islamic extremism would replace the Soviet Union as the number one enemy of the United States. The ambassador, who now sees Islam as a threat, called me foolish and told those attending that Muslim nations were true allies of America.

As the communist era ended, I held the view that it was indeed communism that had held the beast of Islam at bay in the 20th century. The worst barbarism of Islam has occurred in nations that were previously held captive by, or under seige by, the Soviet Union such as Afghanistan. Saudi oil wealth has brought to these previously oppressed areas schools that indoctrinate students in Jihad. The Saudi financed formula for the Jihad attack on the United States on 9-11 was available for all to see who were willing to see it. Our political leaders, fearing the Saudi "oil weapon," chose not to see the danger and refused to acknowledge those of us who pointed to the danger at hand, using solid logic and Biblical wisdom .

Our leaders have continued to allow the wholesale slaughter and enslavement of Christians by Muslims in nations such as the Sudan. Every single Christian that Western nations allow to be martyred is one more mark on God’s slate, one more reason for Him not to protect Europe and America.

What can you do? First pray for our leaders that the scales may be removed from their eyes and they will come to realize that men such as Osama bin Laden are true followers of Mohammed. Pray that the lie that Islam is a religion of peace will cease to come from the mouths of our leaders and that they will prepare to deal with the ultimate threat of Islam--nuclear terror.

Pray that Western leaders will finally realize the depth of depravity of Islam and understand the need to disarm forever all Islamic nations.

Pray for the return of Christ, that peace may be upon the world and that the lion may lie down with the lamb.

(In my research for this edition of the William J. Murray Report, I used Charting the End Times by Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice. This is a very visual book with large charts and visual aids unlike many of the very wordy "prophecy" books. Although I may not agree theologically with every detail in Charting the End Times, I found it compelling and tremendously useful. If you sometimes find the book of Revelation confusing and don’t understand the events of the End Times, I urge you to obtain a copy of Charting the End Times.)