It is certainly wonderful to see the celebrations going on in the streets of Baghdad. However, the President and the Pentagon are absolutely right to tone down the celebrations. The easy part of this war was the fighting—the hard part now begins.

There is now great potential to bring peace, stability, and an unprecedented prosperity not only to the people of Iraq, but to the rest of the Middle East and the world. There is also the potential for unprecedented tragedies. The military strategy for this campaign, and its effective implementation, may have been the most brilliant in history. Our leaders will need no less wisdom, resolve, and divine aid, for what comes next.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Goal #1)
Recover the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) so they do not fall into the hands of terrorists.

This will require finding Saddam if he is alive, and/or rounding up his top leaders. This may not be an easy task because it appears that most of them are now probably in Syria, Iran, Lebanon, or other neighboring countries.

If Saddam is dead, it will be a relief to many because it should hasten the surrender of what is left of his army, ending the present slaughter much sooner. However, if he is still alive, his capture would be more preferable. With him alive there is a greater chance for the Coalition to find out additional information about the WMD, especially where they are. It is likely that many of these weapons have already left Iraq. The recovery of these weapons is far more important than revenge against Saddam.

This is not meant to second-guess the decision of the military to take him out when they had the chance. We do not live in a perfect world, and there are rarely perfect answers to any problems. It is possible that Saddam would have never allowed himself to be captured, but if he is dead there are many things that we may never know, and we will have to learn them the hard way. If the WMD are now in Syria, Lebanon, or Iran, we can count on them showing up later to threaten Israel, Europe, and the United States.

I am not sharing this for the purpose of spreading fear, but for spreading prayer. We need to earnestly pray that clear and substantial information about any of these weapons that are being shipped out of Iraq be quickly uncovered. The WMD that Iraq has or had, are enough to kill millions, even all human life on earth if it were strategically placed. Just a portion of them could be used to wipe out an entire section of the United States, all of Europe, or Israel. They must be found!

Some believe that this war is the beginning of what is written in Revelation 9:13-15:

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the
golden altar which is before God,

one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels
who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month
and year, were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind.

If this is the beginning of the fulfillment of this Scripture, then the end time clock is certainly ticking. We know that sooner or later these verses and the others will be fulfilled. The conditions that are being faced currently have the potential to release this kind of destruction.

Does this mean the war in Iraq began the release of this kind of destruction? Basically the words that were received prophetically about the election of George W. Bush—the reason he was being elected—was to give us more time. Some of the words were received and spoken even before his candidacy was announced.

Some of the weapons inspectors have recently admitted that it was very improbable that they would have ever found these weapons without being in control of the entire country of Iraq. If many of these WMD are able to leave Iraq, what are we going to do about it? Eventually this war will have to continue in other places. The longer we wait to secure those weapons the more dangerous it will be for the entire world. President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have displayed the courage and resolve to do what it takes to get these weapons regardless of world opinion, and therefore may be capable of saving the world from itself for a time.

Goal #2)
Assist postwar Iraq to build a democratic government so that the people of Iraq can rule themselves.

This is certainly a noble goal. Even so, because there is not a single Muslim democracy in the world, it has been argued that it will never work in a Muslim country. In Iraq you can add the problem of many religious and ethnic factions with a lot of bad blood between them. Even so, we should consider that the same argument was made in regard to both Germany and Japan after World War II. Both of these nations now have very strong democracies around which great nations have been built. Also, there may be no country in the world that has more religious, cultural, and ethnic divisions than the United States, and where will you find a more stable democracy in the world?

There is great potential for democracy in Iraq. It can become a strong, stable nation and a brilliant example that would give hope to millions of other Muslims around the world. The ones who are the most threatened by the success of Iraqi democracy are the other dictators in the region.

There is also a great danger of Iraq becoming another Yugoslavia that breaks down into a multitude of fragmented parts until gangs with guns are the only government. Martial Tito was a ruthless dictator that everyone wanted removed, but what came after he was gone was worse than his heavy hand. Lawlessness can be much more cruel than dictators. Getting the different factions in Iraq to work together will likely be even more difficult than what was faced in Yugoslavia, but it can be done. It is certainly worthy of the attempt.

It is also right to make the supreme effort to do what is right. You may try and fail, but that is not as bad as not trying. Regardless of what we know to be the right thing to do, we must understand that many human problems are beyond human remedy. We need Divine guidance and help. God gives His grace to the humble and we need His grace. One of the most basic characteristics of true humility is demonstrated by being teachable. We must learn from some of the glaring lessons of recent history. We must also be open to new insights and new solutions that have never been tried before. This is a very unique situation that will require some wisdom and solutions that are beyond us.

Hope for the End of This War
An important question that the Coalition leaders will likely soon have to face is when to bring the troops back home. We can completely believe the Coalition leaders when they say that they do not want to occupy Iraq. However, we will have to stay there for quite a while to give Iraq a chance to form a government that can last. There is also another, more pressing issue. If there is evidence that WMD were shipped to Syria or Iran, we will have to pursue them or we will likely have to deal with these weapons in our own country.

The greatest hope that further war can be avoided is the overwhelming force that the Coalition forces demonstrated in taking apart the Iraqi military. If the WMD were shipped out and we know it, this may compel those countries that received them to surrender them so that they do not suffer the same fate. The force that has been shown is likely the best diplomacy, and the most clear message that could ever have been sent to prevent further conflict. Pray for this to happen, and pray that these WMD will not be distributed around the world to terrorist organizations so fast that we lose the trail. This is very likely the intent of some, and it may even be happening right now. If this is true, pray that they will be caught quickly and in such a way to expose those leaders who are responsible.

This could help to end this war more swiftly. There can be an end to the war but only with Divine intervention. My prayer is for the unraveling of the false doctrine of fatalism that is a root of the deception which controls much of both Islam and Christianity. The Christian form of fatalism is rooted mostly in a hyper-Calvinism.

I deeply appreciate John Calvin’s teachings, but some of them were extreme interpretations of Scripture, and some have taken even his solid, balanced teachings to an extreme that he clearly did not intend. We do not have the time or space to examine this in depth, but there is a basic truth that we must understand which is addressed in Psalm 115:16: “The heavens are the heavens of the LORD; but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” Basically this means that the Lord has delegated authority over the earth to men, and therefore will not intervene here without our asking Him.

It is for this reason that the Lord will not do things until we pray even though He knows what we need even before we ask. The fatalistic saying, “what will be will be” is a tragic, foolish spiritual mentality. Scripture is full of examples of men changing destiny with their prayers, even getting the Lord to change His plans in certain cases. It is a part of our job as priests to the Lord to intervene on behalf of the people. It is part of our job to change what would otherwise happen, not just submit to it. As we read in Daniel 11:31-32, even when the “abomination of desolation” is being set up “...the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”

This war is not over—Iraq is just one more battle. Each battle will likely get more difficult than the last, just as Iraq was more difficult than Afghanistan. We must have determination of steel for fighting as long and as hard as it takes. The Muslims are bowing down five times every day to call on Allah. Christians should be doing no less praying for our God to intervene in these affairs. Prayer is far more powerful than bombs and the Lord will hear us and act on our behalf, if we ask.