An Associated Press article the day Mubarak resigned under pressure quoted an Israeli official who said what everyone is thinking:

"We have a tough period ahead of us," Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador in Egypt, told Israel TV. "Iran andTurkey will consolidate positions against us. Forget about the former Egypt. Now it's a completely new reality, and it won't be easy."

Do you need a perspective on the prospects for peace between Israel and a post-Mubarak Egypt? Here it is:

A good friend who has, shall we say, a stake in the game in Israel, told me once that Mubarak would one day invadeIsrael, just as Sadat had done.

No such invasion ever took place, yet it wasn’t because the Egyptians and their dictator had had a change of heart. There were always indications, both large and small, that given the right conditions, Israel’s ancient foe would once again cross the Sinai.

During the first premiership of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government opened one end of a tunnel that runs inside the Old City of Jerusalem. The opening was created to ease the flow of tourists; in fact, the new door opened in the Palestinian Arab section of shops, where tourists could easily spend money on the junk peddled there.

Yasser Arafat virtually went to war over it—any “provocation” was always used against the Israelis, especially in Jerusalem.. In Christopher Barder’s book,Oslo’s Gift of “Peace”, we read:

“Evidence suggests that it was Egypt which masterminded the riots started by the Palestinian Authority under the pretext of the new opening for the Hasmonean Tunnel.”

You see? Hostilities erupted over a tiny incident that, ultimately was intended to help the Arabs! Now let’s turn our attention to much larger and more troubling indications of the “peace” signed with Egypt 30 years ago. Barder supplies insights into the Camp David Accords (which were facilitated by the hapless and dangerous Jimmy Carter):

“The accords themselves contain an important passage which precludes them constituting a peace treaty in the ultimately most meaningful sense. The annex, which Israeloriginally refused to accept, leaves intact Egypt’s right to honor previous agreements to side with Arab states going to war with Israel!”

Amazing. This is the peace negotiated by Mubarak and his successor, Anwar Sadat. Barder reveals too a little-known meeting that took place at the time Sadat boldly visitedJerusalem in 1977:

“Shortly after his groundbreaking visit to Jerusalem, Anwar Sadat traveled to Damascus for a seven hour meeting with Hafez al-Asad, after which there was a press conference outside the Tishrin Palace, which the media largely overlooked because of their preoccupation with the forthcoming visit by the Egyptian president to Israel. Whereas there was clear disagreement about the wisdom and desirability of the way Sadat had determined to proceed, the really significant element to come out of the press conference was that the differences concerned the tactics used and not the ultimate objective. ‘We have often disagreed on tactics, but on strategy [with respect toIsrael], we will never disagree on strategy.’”

Read that again, very carefully. What it tells us is that evenIsrael’s so-called “allies” in the Middle East—and we can include Jordan in this—are in fact differing with radical, hostile entities only in the realm of tactics.

And these lessons from history are instructive for us now, since America is “led” by the same type of president as Carter. Before Sadat visited Jerusalem, Carter issued a joint U.S.-Soviet statement, on October 1, 1977, calling for a peace process to commence in Geneva. Even Sadat was amazed at the American president’s conceit and impatience. He said:

“I’d just spent two years throwing the Soviets out of the Middle East, and now the United States is inviting them back in.”

Unreal.

A generation later, Barack Obama clumsily began calling for Mubarak’s ouster, either naively or cunningly. This past week, as Mubarak hung on to power by his fingernails, the American president audaciously called for him to step down. Oddly, Obama only influences international opinion—and, specifically Arab opinion—from weakness. He is a classic political sycophant, standing in stark contrast to a Ronald Reagan.

Western media proves time and again that they are no more discerning than a first-grader, literally, and this past week was filled with enthusiastic (even from FOXNews!) pronouncements that democracy now had a chance inEgypt.

Democracy will be as popular in Egypt as a Hosni Mubarak action figure. The Muslim Brotherhood is poised to turn the country into Iran II.

Let me depart from the subject for a moment, though. Many of my friends have expressed justified anxiety over the Egyptian crisis. And I have to say, in a conversation with a trusted and wise friend this week, we talked about the very real possibility that Gog-Magog is just around the corner.

It appears that Egypt will become an overt threat to Israel, with Iran and Turkey in the north providing same. The odds are good that other regimes in the region will fall, like Jordan. Suddenly, almost overnight, nightmare scenarios are falling into place.

But, my friends, we are not like the unbelievers. We know who is in control. In the literal end, we are going to God. He is the Master of the universe, and He is never surprised.

Let me be frank: I have problems just like you do, probably many of the same ones. I never remember seeing so much anxiety and almost crippling stress, both from people I know and just watching the news. Egypt’s disintegration certainly doesn’t help.

However…we must keep our eyes on the prize. What a magnificent time to be alive! I am watching the nefarious schemes of men who want to wrap the world in evil. Yet I am absolutely certain that our God is in complete control.

Israel is not going to disappear, you will not disappear, God’s word will never disappear. He has promised us over and over again—please read one of the dozens of copies most American families have of the Bible—that He is the ultimate safety.

If he promised us individual peace and rest (Matthew 28 and elsewhere), and we see age-old prophecies being fulfilled now with the speed of a bullet train, can we make the decision to embrace joy? I am happy. As I see the dark shadows spread over the earth, I know that a bright and eternal morning is just ‘round the bend.

Let us pray for those poor souls in Egypt, who do not know truth. Let us pray for our leaders, that they also find discernment.

God is magnificent and majestic and in complete control. His word cannot and will not fail. We are going through a tough period, but it does have a period at the end of its sentence.

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