Changing Worldviews

Sharon Hughes: Hello everyone. Let me ask a question I saw in a recent magazine that asked, "How does a little nation like Israel get in the newspaper every single day?" This nation is the size of Rhode Island, and here we find it in the news again.

Now we find out in the news today that an airplane from Dubai to Israel came under attack when the co-pilot of the airplane stabbed the pilot. There were 176 people on board, most of them from Israel. One passenger, a plumber, rushed to the cockpit and grabbed the attacker while other passengers came and took over.

This plumber sat in the co-pilot's seat and pulled the plane, which was going into a nose dive, back up and everyone was safe. The pilot, as of this recording, is injured terribly and fighting for his life, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Benjamin Netanyahu: Citizens of Israel, this morning there was a highly severe security incident on a flight from Dubai to Israel. Almost all the passengers on the flight were Israeli. During the flight, as they approached the country, one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot. He apparently tried to crash the plane with its passengers.

I spoke with one of the Israeli passengers. He told me that the plane entered a tailspin and began to dive. He told me that against all odds, he managed to break into the cockpit along with one of the crew members, and together they neutralized the stabbing pilot while he was trying to sabotage the plane's systems.

Additional flight crew on board entered the cockpit and managed to stabilize the aircraft. I salute these heroes who showed exceptional resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives. They prevented a heavy disaster.

The plane landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia and all passengers are out of harm's way. The stabbing pilot has been arrested. He is currently being interrogated by the Saudi authorities. We are maintaining continuous contact with the relevant authorities to ensure the ongoing safety of the passengers and to guarantee their prompt return home. I have instructed the security establishment to prepare for additional potential threats. We are conducting ongoing assessments of the situation and will update you according to the developments.

Sharon Hughes: Dinesh D'Souza, one of our favorite authors, has come out with a new book entitled *The Stones Cry Out*, asking the question, "What if the Bible is proven true and we are already in the final hour?"

Today we're going to talk about the military coalition building against Israel. Stay with me because this is important information. It’s not that all of a sudden there’s a coalition against Israel, but it’s growing, gaining power, and getting more bold in its efforts to wipe Israel off the map.

The good news is, if you know your Bible, that’s not going to happen. But that does not mean there won't be efforts such as happened on October 7th with the horrific attack on Israel, which we are going to talk more about in our next episode.

Today, my guest Ron Rhodes as we talk about this coalition against Israel and his book, *Northern Storm Rising: Russia, Iran, and the Emerging End-Times Military Coalition Against Israel*. This is what the war that America and Israel are involved in with Iran is about—to prevent them from having a nuclear weapon because they have vowed to use whatever they can to wipe Israel off the map and also to get rid of the "Great Satan" they call America.

Israel's the "Little Satan," America’s the "Great Satan," and that’s the view. That’s why America and Israel have been working to take out the military power of Iran. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a military coalition, not just a coalition in theory or in priorities between nations against Israel, but a military coalition that has been building. What we know is that Iran is being supported by Russia against Israel.

I’m sure you know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN last week, addressing antisemitism in America, including democratic socialist candidates who support terrorism against Israel. We know that Iran is the top state sponsor of terrorism around the world and makes no secret of their goal to wipe Israel off the map.

Russia has publicly condemned the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, calling them unprovoked acts of aggression. We are also aware, if we’re watching the news, that President Trump met with China's head and told him that it is unacceptable for China to support Iran. What does all this have to do with the end times? That is what our show is about today. Stay with me. I'll be right back with our guest, Ron Rhodes.

Guest (Male): In 1776, the difference of one vote gave America the English language instead of German. In 1876, the difference of one vote made Rutherford Hayes President of the United States. In 1923, the difference of one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi party. Get the idea? One vote, yours, makes a huge difference. Vote.

Guest (Female): This month's special offer is the book *How to Overcome the Most Frightening Issues You Will Face This Century*. This book has 20 experts in fields of science, politics, warfare, finance, ethics, theology, and much more who offer experienced advice. You can order online at our website changingworldviews.com. Just go to the store donate page and you'll be able to order it there. We'll get it right out to you.

Guest (Male): The new global governance report talking about what will be the trigger issues that could compel the major countries of the world to have to come together and form a global system of government.

Sharon Hughes: Forget about critical thinking, we don't even have logic.

Guest (Female): China's military is becoming a formidable force. In 2022, it had a standing army of just over two million, and it has the largest navy in the world.

Guest (Male): It's going to be a continuing military buildup in Iran in conjunction with Russia.

Sharon Hughes: Thank you so much for staying with me. Now for my interview with Ron Rhodes, author of over 60 books, specifically talking about his book on the military coalition that has been building against Israel. We are now seeing it as regards to what's been happening with Iran.

Now, this was recorded before America and Israel took out Iran's nuclear plants because intel showed that they were just weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon. Here is some background to be able to understand why such a move was made.

His books include *The 10 Things You Need to Know About Islam*, *Northern Star Rising*, and also *Ghosts, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena*, which he was on PAX TV's special on *Encounters with the Unexplained* talking about. He's been on CNN and many television and radio programs across the nation. Ron, thank you so much for coming back on the show.

Ron Rhodes: It’s good to be with you.

Sharon Hughes: Why is the president of Iran fanning this Islamic fanaticism into a flame that we've talked about many times on our show? What would you like to say about that?

Ron Rhodes: He considers himself to be a John the Baptist preparing the way for the coming of the 12th Imam. That simply refers to a messianic Muslim leader who is supposed to overcome all resistance to Islam so that the entire planet will be Islamic.

He says that we will soon know what it is like to live in a United States-free and Israel-free world. It sounds ominous. When you consider the fact that there are many who believe that Iran has its eyes on developing a nuclear weapon, that's a very dangerous combination.

Sharon Hughes: What do we know for sure?

Ron Rhodes: That’s a very good question because there was a report released which called into question whether or not Iran was even developing nuclear weapons. For that reason, some people have backed off in their concern. Certainly, there are intelligence officials around the world who think that's unwise.

If you look at what the Israeli officials are saying, they all remain concerned that Israel may in fact be a target of an Iran nuclear strike in the very near future. To give you one example of what US officials have observed, not too long ago Iran was seen testing some of its missiles being launched off of a merchant ship.

What they were doing is they were launching these missiles up to about 300 miles in the atmosphere and then detonating them. The reason that's a concern is that United States military officials are very concerned about the possibility of what's called an EMP attack against the United States.

That refers to an electromagnetic pulse. The way that happens is that an enemy launches a nuclear weapon up to about 300 miles in the atmosphere and detonates it. At that point, everything electronic goes out. Goodbye internet, goodbye transportation, goodbye microwave ovens, goodbye anything electronic.

Scientists tell us that will last not one week, not a month, but possibly more than one year in terms of how long it will take to get things back up electronically. They concluded that there is a very real threat, and the question becomes: do different nations have the knowledge to pull this off?

It's the conclusion of US intelligence officers that Russia can do it and Iran can do it. In fact, a number of nations have the ability to take this into action. The one thing that would be holding Iran back would be possession of a nuclear weapon. But even those who believe this report that came out about Iran maybe not having nuclear weapons, even they concluded that Iran probably will have nuclear weapons.

This is not something that we should take lightly. The president of Iran has openly stated that he intends to get rid of the United States, and you can't do that without nuclear weapons. I think that the concern that US officials have about this is very real.

Sharon Hughes: Your book says *Russia, Iran, and the Emerging End-Times Military Coalition Against Israel*. Are you saying that Russia and Iran are merging together as part of a military coalition that is going to come against Israel and perhaps the United States?

Ron Rhodes: What’s interesting is in Ezekiel, very specific nations are mentioned as joining together. That would include not just Russia and Iran, but also Turkey, Syria, Libya, and the Sudan. These nations are predominantly Muslim except for Russia.

When Ezekiel actually wrote this 2,600 years ago, those nations were not Islamic. Islam didn't even exist yet. Some people might have wondered what draws all these nations together. What do they have in common? It's only in recent history that it's become clear that the one thing that ties them together is the fact that they are Islamic and they hate Israel. It might interest you to know that even 20% of the population of Russia is Islamic. That surprises a lot of people.

Sharon Hughes: That is very interesting. We're going to take a quick break and when we come back, I want to ask Ron: what does he think about America? Is America involved in prophecy? That's been a question people have asked for generations. I want to see what Ron says about that and also more about Russia and Iran walking arm and arm. Stay with us.

Guest (Male): Muhammad said, and I quote, "I have been ordered by Allah to fight against people until they testify that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger." The Quran describes Jews as monkeys and pigs.

Dinesh D'Souza: Adolf Hitler wrote fan mail to the associates of Margaret Sanger of Planned Parenthood, who also was a eugenicist who wished to eliminate the existence of two-thirds of humanity through her methods.

Guest (Male): Changing Worldviews encourages listeners to get engaged and help turn the tide. It's everyone's civic responsibility. Won't you help us reach even more listeners with a financial donation? Go to changingworldviews.com donate page and give either a one-time contribution or become a monthly partner.

Sharon Hughes: Thank you everyone for staying with us. Ron Rhodes, author of *Northern Storm Rising*, is with us today talking about Russia, Iran, and other nations coming together in a military coalition against Israel.

As he pointed out in segment one, if you're just tuning in, Iran not only is interested in Israel being wiped off the map, but wants to see the destruction of America. Ron, these are very sobering possibilities here. I wanted to ask you a little bit more about this military coalition. President Bush said he looked in the eyes of Putin and said he saw his soul and that he was a good man. I wonder if he would say something different now with his increasingly friendly relations with Iran.

Ron Rhodes: Russia has been returning to her old totalitarian ways. There's a tremendous military buildup presently taking place. In fact, Russia has signed an arms agreement with Iran to provide Iran of all kinds of military equipment. I’m talking about tanks, missiles, explosives, and different kinds of guns and rifles. Just all kinds of stuff.

It's interesting that most of the people that Putin has put in his own government are ex-KGB. No longer is Russia sort of a calm little bear. It seems like the bear has come out of the cage, so to speak, and it's getting aggressive.

Sharon Hughes: In just a minute I want to ask you about America and this coalition of military force against Israel, but let me just ask you this question: Mutually Assured Destruction, or the MAD policy—can you describe that to us and also, will it serve as a nuclear deterrent against Muslim countries with nuclear capabilities such as Iran?

Ron Rhodes: That’s a very good question. It used to work with the Russians. The policy basically said that if the Russians launched a nuclear attack against America, America would respond by launching a full nuclear attack against Russia and thus both countries would be annihilated. That's Mutually Assured Destruction. That policy kept both countries in check in terms of not launching any nuclear attacks against each other.

The fact is that you're dealing with a different kind of people with the Muslims because they glory in the possibility of losing their lives as martyrs for Allah. In fact, Muslims believe that the only absolutely sure way of going to paradise is to lose your life in service to Allah. Therefore, there are many intelligence officials who believe that this Mutually Assured Destruction policy will not serve as a deterrent for Muslims launching an attack against us like with the Russians.

You must keep in mind that the Russians were atheists. They thought this life was all there was, so they didn't want to lose their lives. But again, the Muslims believe that the moment they die, they'll be ushered immediately into the presence of Allah.

Sharon Hughes: Very interesting. This end times, if we can call it that, extremism and an apocalyptic end-of-days kind of view that they have—mainstream Shiite Muslims envision that a great armed jihad will result in the subjugation of the entire world.

Ron Rhodes: Mainstream Shiite Muslims have always believed that the governments of the world ought to be controlled by Islam. To be fair, there are some Muslims who believe that they can live out their lives in any country under any government. But that's not true of the Shiites.

The Shiites believe that every government has to be Islamic. Therefore, they believe that eventually the entire world will be Islamic. They believe that this jihad, this final jihad, will take place under the leadership of the 12th Imam, this great messianic Muslim leader who is allegedly going to come in the future. Allegedly, this individual will subjugate the entire world to Islam so that no Christians will remain, no Jews, no people of any other religion except Muslims.

Sharon Hughes: So Ron, why aren't more people talking about this in the mainstream media? I mean, are we just so politically correct? What’s going on?

Ron Rhodes: Many intelligence officials are talking about this. If you keep up with reading a lot of the secular literature about Iran and about the potential threat against the United States, there certainly are a lot of warnings taking place today. But I think that there's sort of a feeling among many Americans that we're invulnerable. We're Americans. We're the strongest nation in the world.

That kind of mentality can be dangerous because the fact is we're living in a different age today. When you have a situation in which terrorists can get their hands on nuclear weapons, that is a dangerous scenario for America because, as I point out in the book, some intelligence officials believe that the chances of a nuclear attack against America are as high as 70%.

Sharon Hughes: My goodness. I think it's as we get further away from 9/11 that can contribute to this lack of vulnerability as you mentioned. We do know in the Bible it says at the end times every nation is going to come against Israel, which is always a question mark for me—does that include America? But let me ask you this question about Iraq. Is Iraq not going to be a part of that military coalition, and why not?

Ron Rhodes: That’s a good question and there's really two possible answers. There are some who believe that Iraq could be a part of the coalition because, in addition to the nations mentioned specifically in Ezekiel 38, there's also the phrase "and many peoples with you will join you." So it's always possible that Iraq could be a part of those many peoples with you.

However, I think that the greater possibility is that Iraq will not participate in this invasion. Many place this invasion early in a future tribulation period, and that's a word that Christians use to describe the very end times of human history during which a sinister figure known as the Antichrist will emerge.

It's believed by many Christians based upon Revelation 17 and 18 that this figure, this world leader, will actually set up his headquarters in a rebuilt Babylon in Iraq. According to scripture, this great leader will actually sign a peace pact with Israel that will last for a seven-year period. So the idea is if this leader really does sign a seven-year peace pact with Israel, then he will not be a part of this invading force that launches into Israel.

Once this coalition is destroyed, it could be that this Antichrist figure will actually try to take credit for it, as if it was he who did the destruction of these nations that went into Israel. So it's something that's very fascinating in terms of what scripture reveals about it.

Sharon Hughes: It’s not cut and dry. Let me ask you the big question that I know many have asked and many have tried to answer according to what they believe, but do you think that America is involved in Bible prophecy? If America is not mentioned, what explains America's absence?

Ron Rhodes: That’s a good question. It could be that America just doesn't play a significant role in the end times. That may be a little unbelievable though because the United States is the single greatest ally of the nation of Israel. Of course, Israel is at the very heart of Bible prophecy. It would seem that the greatest ally, the United States, would be mentioned in the Bible.

Some speculate that maybe America will implode due to its ever-escalating moral and spiritual degeneration. Things are falling apart morally in this country. Still others suggest the possibility that America could be weakened by some kind of a nuclear attack. Harvard Professor Graham Allison, who is a very well-known professor, says that it's much more likely than not that there will be a nuclear attack on US soil in the next 10 years.

Our economy collapses, we'll be greatly weakened in terms of our ability to respond militarily in different parts of the world. So that's a possibility. And then finally, I think it's a possibility that America could suffer an EMP attack. That's an electromagnetic pulse attack that knocks out all of our electronic components for a year or more. There's a number of different possibilities.

Sharon Hughes: Very interesting. Well, I have to bring this up—Israel having land restored to them in the Six-Day War now called the occupation.

Ron Rhodes: I believe our best policy is to protect Jerusalem, not divide Jerusalem. It's very clear that when God made promises to Abraham way back in what's called the Abrahamic Covenant, very specific land promises were given to Israel. Even though I do believe we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem and to get them to stop killing each other, nevertheless, like I said, I believe our best policy is to protect Jerusalem and not divide it.

Sharon Hughes: When we talk about such issues, I always like to give our guests an opportunity to tell our audience: why should our listeners believe the things that you've said?

Ron Rhodes: Scripture says that Israel would move back into the land. That was prophesied in Ezekiel 36 and 37 and it began happening in 1948 when Israel became a nation. Ezekiel 38 and 39 goes on to say that after that time...