People everywhere are waking up to the fact that militant Islam is one of the most powerful forces in the world today. Conflict between the West and Islam was prophesied in Daniel 11. Many people in the West are now afraid.

Christians should not join in this fear and hatred of Islam. Islam has grown because we have failed the task of evangelism. People are turning to Islam because they do not see Christianity as a relevant alternative. We should demonstrate love and compassion to the Moslem people in obedience to Christ to draw them to him.

Daniel 11 describes a series of battles between the King of the North and the King of the South. These are not real kings, but they are spiritual powers, who work through coalitions of nations.

The King of the South represents the Islamic nations that are to the south of Israel, which was Daniel's home. (Negeb, the Hebrew word for South comes from a root meaning parched). Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have dominated the South in the last two decades. These nations are all parched.

The King of the North is called Greece in Dan 11:2. This means that the common idea that the King of the North is Russia is wrong. The King of the North is clearly linked with Greece. However it is not the nation of Greece, but the civilisation that came out of Greece. Modern historians and philosophers consider that Western Civilisation emerged out of ancient Greece. Therefore, the King of the North symbolises Western Civilisation (the Hebrew word for North comes from a root meaning darkness).

Originally, Western Civilisation was centred on Europe, but the United States now dominates Europe in terms of military power and cultural influence. Since the Second World War, Europe has been dependent on the United States. Many European businesses are controlled by United States companies. European defence has been the responsibility of NATO and is guaranteed by the United States. American troops are still based in Germany. The United States has developed an enormous arsenal of weapons (including nuclear weapons), and it now uses them to exert its influence in the world. Since the end of the Cold War, it has become the dominant force in the world. America by default has become the world's policeman.

We are living in a time when the King of the North is in ascendancy, but is being challenged by the King of the South (remember that these are spiritual powers). The struggle between the King of the North and the King of the South is a picture of a clash between Western Civilisation (initially the United States) and the Islamic nations. This clash is now coming to a head. This struggle will dominate the next few decades, in the same way as the Cold War dominated the post-war decades.

Over the last few decades, the United States, acting as the King of the North and accompanied by other European nations that are also part of the Kingdom of North, has been gradually invading the Middle East. This invasion really began with the CIA organising a coup in Iran in 1953 and in Iraq in 1958. The first major step was the Gulf War, when the United States attacked Iraq to defend Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. US forces have remained in Saudi Arabia since then. The invasion of Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban gave it a further foothold. During this war the United States also established bases in the Central Asian Republics. The next step was a full-scale invasion of Iraq.

The struggle is not primarily between Islam and Christianity, but between Islam and Western decadence. Moslems see the Western World as corrupted by materialism and self-indulgence. Their real enemy is western materialism and secularism.

In a sense, we have the same enemy. It is ironic that, while Moslems have seen the impact of materialism and self-indulgence, the western church has been blinded by them. Christianity is struggling against the same forces, but we have been slowly corrupted and weakened by them. Moslems believe that the Western world will eventually have to surrender to the spiritual purity of a resurgent Islam. If Christianity is not revived and purified, they may prove to be right.

Christianity and Islam both have a goal of taking over the world. The difference is that Islam is often willing to do it by force, whereas Christianity seeks to do it by persuading people to respond to the love of God (when we get it right). The other difference is that Moslems are serious about this task, whereas Christians are mostly happy to hide in their churches and sing about winning the world.

Samuel Huntingdon explains the reasons,

Moslems fear and resent Western power and the threat it poses to their society and beliefs. They see Western culture as materialistic, corrupt, decadent and immoral. They also see it as seductive, and hence, stress all the more the need to resist its impact on their way of life. Increasingly, Moslems attack the West, not for adhering to an imperfect, erroneous religion, which nonetheless a religion of the book, but for not adhering to any religion at all. In Moslem eyes, Western secularism, irreligiosity, and hence, immorality are worse evils than the western Christianity that produced them. Moslems see their opponent as the godless West... a people that have forsaken God (Clash of Civilisations).

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