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February 2007

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Apocalyptic Man

By Bill Berkowitz
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February 2007
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I n a mid-November blog datelined Jerusalem  Joel C. Rosenberg, a bestselling Christian novelist, wrote, “The buzz here in the last few days is that Israel is seriously considering a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites.” Given Israel’s less than sterling performance against Hezbollah this summer, Rosenberg is not convinced that Israel “has the capacity—or the will—at the moment to neutralize the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat.” 

However, with “a new Hitler rising in Iran,” it is up to President Bush—who met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Washington on November 13—to deal with the Iranian threat: “If President Bush believes Iran needs to be neutralized (and I believe he does) and he is convinced that military action is the only way (I don’t believe he is there right now), then the U.S. should take the lead.” 

Rosenberg added, “If anyone is going to stop Iran from threatening the world with nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, it has to be soon, perhaps no later than the end of 2007. After all, 2008 is an American election year; 2009 will be the start of a new administration. By then it may be too late. The thermonuclear genie may be out of the bottle.” 

This past summer’s Israeli/ Hezbollah war led several cable news networks to raise questions about whether the crisis in the Middle East was a signal that the “End Times” were approaching. Rosenberg, the author of such apocalyptic/political thrillers as The Copper Scroll , The Ezekiel Option , and The Last Jihad , received more than his fair share of media attention, appearing on both CNN and the Fox News Channel. 

In late October Rosenberg was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, speaking at the Calvary Chapels of Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. His topic in both churches was “Are We Living In The Last Days?” The visit to Albuquerque “was the 22nd city we’ve been in since late-July when The Copper Scroll and Epicenter book tours began,” Rosenberg wrote. “We’ve had the remarkable privilege of addressing more than 33,000 people in person from coast to coast; giving more than 220 radio, TV, and print interviews; and communicating with more than 17 million people through the media; as well as meeting privately with U.S. and foreign government leaders who have become increasingly interested in prophecy.” 

Rosenberg’s speaking engagements extend beyond church appearances and book signings. In a recent appearance with host Glenn Beck on CNN “Headline News,” Rosenberg pointed out that he had made several visits to “speak at a White House Bible study” and had conversations with “a number of congressional leaders and Homeland Security, Pentagon [officials] about my novels, which are based on Bible prophecy.” 

Rosenberg told Beck that, “The question that’s been most interesting among these various Administration and congressional officials is, ‘Are you saying that the Bible talks about an alliance between Iran, Russia, and a group of Middle Eastern countries to attack Israel at some point?’ And the answer is yes.” 

The day after his appearance with Beck, Rosenberg responded to a short item in Rolling Stone magazine that mentioned his visits to the White House: “ Rolling Stone ’ s latest issue describes me as a ‘loony’ who is secretly urging President Bush to bring about Armageddon. It’s a theme the Washington Post pursued earlier this year, along with a number of left-wing bloggers. But any suggestion that I have some secret back channel into the Oval Office or have had any kind of influence on the President on this topic is simply not true. Yes, I’ve briefly met the President a number of times over the years, and yes, I have signed copies of several of my novels for the President that were given to him by friends of mine. But no, I don’t know him personally, I’ve never had a conversation with him about Bible prophecy, and I doubt he has had any time to read my books.” 

Rosenberg was an important but mostly behind-the-scenes figure in the conservative movement until his first novel The Last Jihad became a bestseller in 2002. A Jew who converted to Christianity more than 30 years ago, Rosenberg has worked for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician Natan Sharansky, Steve Forbes, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh, and William Bennett, America’s self-appointed morality maven. He is also a former Heritage Foundation staffer. 

The Last Jihad , completed before the 9/11 Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, featured a hijacked jet making a kamikaze-like attack against the president of the United States, simultaneous terrorist strikes on the U.S., London, Paris, and Saudi Arabia, an oil deal between Israel and the Palestinians that threatened to unleash a war with Iraq, and a possible preemptive nuclear strike. 

Rosenberg’s second book, The Last Days , opens with the death of Yasser Arafat and a U.S. diplomatic convoy ambushed in Gaza. Wikipedia notes that, “Two weeks before The Last Days was published, a U.S. diplomatic convoy was ambushed in Gaza. Thirteen months later, Yasser Arafat died.” The Last Days spent time on the New York Times , Denver Post , and the Dallas Morning News bestseller lists. According to Wikipedia, both books have been optioned by film producers. 

In an October interview with the Washington Times , Rosenberg told reporter Chrissie Thompson that he didn’t think that his novels “were going to predict the future.... I was basing them on a series of Bible prophecies, but when [they] started to come true...that has been striking for all of us, myself included.” 

Another of his novels, The Ezekiel Option , is described by Rosenberg as “a political thriller about the threat of a Russian-Iranian alliance to destroy Israel based on the Biblical prophecies found in the ‘Book of Ezekiel,’ chapters 38 and 39.” These prophecies, according to Rosenberg, “describe what Bible scholars call the war of Gog and Magog. Russia and Iran form a military alliance with Lebanon, Syria, and a group of other Middle East countries to destroy Israel in what Ezekiel described as the last days.” 

A few weeks before appearing on Beck’s program, in an entry on his blog Rosenberg suggested that Russia should be added to the Bush administration’s “axis of evil.” He wrote, “Under Putin’s leadership Russia has also joined the ‘axis of evil.’ It is selling billions of dollars worth of missiles and high-tech weaponry to Iran, Syria, Algeria, and other radical Islamic and Arab regimes. It is building nuclear facilities for Iran, training Iranian nuclear scientists, and running political interference for Iran at the UN to prevent the West from imposing sanctions despite the fact that Iran’s leader has called for the United States and Israel to be wiped ‘off the map.’” 

“Identifying Iran in Ezekiel 38” is easy, according to Rosenberg. “The country mentioned is Persia and until 1935, the official name of Iran was Persia. Where we get Russian from is that a dictator emerges in a land called Magog, according to Ezekiel 38:2.... When you do the detective work...you find out this is the people group that settled north of the Black Sea in what we now call Russia.” 

Recently, Rosenberg and his wife Lynn co-founded the Joshua Fund, which according to its website “is partnering with evangelical ministries in the Middle East to provide desperately needed resources to Christians in the region to bless their neighbors in need in the name of Jesus. This is a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ to those who need it most.” 

According to its website, The Joshua Fund…“is a non-profit educational and charitable organization founded to encourage Christians to: 

  • Pray knowledgably and consistently for Israel and the Middle East 
  • Invite speakers to their churches and conferences to talk about how to bless Israel and her neighbors and to share what God is doing in the Middle East today 
  • Take vision trips to—and attend conferences in—Israel and the Middle East  
  • Publish Christian books and music in Israel and the Middle East 
  • Invest in the rebuilding of the ancient ruins in the Holy Land 
  • Assist the poor and needy in Israel in the name of Jesus Christ 
  • Support the evangelical Church in Israel and the Middle East as the only true hope for peace and reconciliation 

The group also raised $20,000 to send bibles to Iraq; hosted a dinner for Dr. Ahmed Abaddi, Morocco’s director of Islamic affairs and an aide to King Mohammed VI, which was intended “to help build bridges of understanding between Morocco and American evangelicals,” and was covered by the National Review , the Weekly Standard , and the Washington Times ; hosted a forum entitled “What God Is Doing In Iraq” with born-again Iraqi General Georges Sada, the author of Saddam ’ s Secrets: How an Iraqi General De fied and Survived Saddam Hussei n ; and held meetings of Joshua Fund board members “with numerous U.S. and Middle Eastern political leaders...to discuss current events in light of the Bible and God’s plan and purpose for the Middle East.”

Bill Berkowitz is freelance writer covering conservative movements. 
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