Save America Ministries

Narrator: This is Viewpoint, with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now, with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: The coming is near, declared a video produced by the Iranian government. That video, virtually unreported in the Western world, says that all the signs are moving into place that Iran will soon help usher in the end times. The theme was revolution, but revolution in Iran and the entire Islamic world is driven exclusively by religion. Despite the naive claims of Western pundits and politicians of a purported hunger for democracy.

Democracy, a political concept of fundamental freedom, is radically inconsistent with Quranic Islam, which mandates exclusive and inviolable adherence to and practice of Sharia law. Islam, by its very nature, is the ultimate and inseparable melding of religion and all civil governmental rules and regulations. In effect, a religious dictatorship mandated absolute submission—Islam means submission—by all in its sphere, either by voluntary submission or by force or threat of force.

And Muslims anticipate their Messiah, called the Mahdi, who will lead them to the final conquest of Earth, deposing all who deign to resist, ushering in a global caliphate. It is the Islamic apocalypse or unveiling to be soon revealed in the end times, and so they believe. I welcome you to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. You might call it Islamic eschatology, the doctrine of end times, the end of the age. If you don't understand that, if you don't have that viewpoint, if you don't understand their viewpoint, you can't understand what motivates them.

That may be part of the problem that we're facing even as we bomb away, over 7,000 bombs as of yesterday. The world today is in a state described by the sages as labor that precedes the coming of a Messiah. The problem with the word Messiah is that Jews have one view, Christians have another view, and Muslims have a very different view. Each views and calls for a Messiah. Christians are looking for a Messiah who will actually be the redeemer of all things, the return of Jesus Christ, and will usher in the era of great peace that was promised there when Jesus was born by the angels in Bethlehem, that he would be called the Prince of Peace and bring peace on Earth, goodwill toward men.

That he would be the savior of the world. Jews do not believe in that idea of a Messiah. They don't believe in a savior of the world in that sense. They don't have that kind of eschatological view, but they do anticipate a Messiah to come and deliver them and to make fulfill and to fulfill the promises, as they perceive it, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then you have the Islamic Messiah, the Mahdi, the 12th Imam.

Guest (Male): Shia eschatology, particularly with what they call Twelver Shi'ism, centers on the belief of the return of the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who entered a hiding in the 9th century. He's considered the messianic figure destined to reappear in a time of great injustice to restore divine order, defeat evil, and establish a global Islamic state.

Unlike the Sunni view of a future Mahdi, Shia Muslims believe the Mahdi is a specific historical figure, the son of the 11th Imam, already on Earth, held in a state of divine preservation. His arrival will be preceded by a global turmoil, injustice, and signs. He will align, they say, with Jesus, whom they call Isa, who will aid him in fighting the Antichrist, the ad-Dajjal.

Chuck Crismier: This theological view fuels Shia Islam, particularly the Iranian version, political and messianic narratives, with some viewing current global instability as signs of the Mahdi's impending return. Shia tradition also includes a belief in a general resurrection of the dead after the Mahdi's triumph, followed by the Last Judgment. You can see a certain amount of correlation between these three views: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Within Islam, there are the Shia and the Sunni versions. Today, we're going to take a look at the Shia version of Islamic eschatology and why that view may be misunderstood, not even recognized as motivational within the current war against Iran.

I welcome you to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. It's conversation with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms, and I trust that today will be no exception. I think you're going to learn something today from this program and hopefully, it will be helpful, effective. It might even be helpful to President Trump, could also be helpful to Hegseth and so many others within our national frame of reference, including our Secretary of State, Vice President, and so on.

If they truly understood the viewpoint which is motivational to Iranian leaders, who are not casual believers. The Iranian leaders are the real deal. They are the real deal. They are the Islamic fundamentalists. Not only Islamic fundamentalists, Shia fundamentalists. Christians today in our world in the West have a very hard time understanding the depths of their commitment, true believers. Because in America, American Christianity, some refer to as Churchianity, has people who say they believe, but when push comes to shove, not quite so much.

Today, we're going to take a look, a deeper look, a plunge into the Shia version of eschatology, the doctrine of end times. I think you're going to find that it makes a real difference. We begin by taking a look at Shia Islam just in general. It's the second largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as both his political successor, that is caliph, and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community, Imam.

His right is understood to have been usurped by a member of Muhammad's companions, during which they appointed Abu Bakr as caliph instead. As such, Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali to be rightly guided caliphs, whereas Shia Muslims regard only Ali as the legitimate successor. There's a tremendous division within Islam. Competition, shall we say. Shia revere the family of Muhammad, maintaining that they possess divine knowledge.

Narrator: Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or any time at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: What percentage of the Islamic world are Shia followers as opposed to Shiites? Well, Shia Islam is followed by about 10 to 13% of all Muslims, which number somewhere around 200 to 260 million followers worldwide as of last year. The three main Shia branches are Twelverism, Ismailism, and Zaydism. Shia Muslims form a majority of the population in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, as well as half of the citizen population of Bahrain.

Significant Shia communities are also found in Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent. Iran stands as the world's only country where Shia Islam forms the foundation of both its laws and governance systems. Therefore, Iran sees itself spiritually and politically, but primarily spiritually, as the vanguard of the entire Islamic revolution to take over the world. If they fail, Islam fails. That's their view. Viewpoint determines destiny, doesn't it?

We're learning that day after day after day as we talk about it here on this program. There are no neutral viewpoints. In this country, we just don't quite understand how serious that commitment is—the Shia Islam vision of their role, their function, their purpose, and the end times. The term Shia was first used during Muhammad's lifetime. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the Muslim community after Muhammad belongs to Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law and his successors.

For the adherents then of Shia Islam, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and the history of Islam. Shia Muslim scholars emphasize that the notion of authority is linked to the family of the Abraham prophets as stated forth in the Quranic verses. They are convinced that Shia Islam and ultimately the 12th Imam are the descendants of one another, and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing, and has ordained that the 12th Imam rule the world and bring in the complete domination of Shia Islam and Sharia law.

That having been established, sort of foundational, we want to take a look at why Iran's leaders may be welcoming all the attacks. For us, and you listen to our president and you listen to the commentators and so on, and they're saying, this, we completely dominate them. We've dominated the airways, we've dominated airspace, we've dominated everything. We have destroyed their infrastructure, we've destroyed this, we've destroyed that. It's just been an absolute success.

But what's the viewpoint from within the fundamentalist Islamic community, the Imams and Khamenei and so on? What is the view there? That's what really matters from a motivational standpoint. We may have our viewpoint, but they have theirs. In order to understand some of this, I urge you to get a copy of my book, King of the Mountain: The Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle. In fact, one of the chapters is called The Mahdi Versus the Messiah.

Actually, the Iranian government sees this advancing unrest in the Middle East as a sign that the Mahdi, that is the Islamic Messiah, is about to appear. While the revolutionary movements gripping the Middle East have created uncertainty throughout the region, CBN News has reported that the video that they produced—remember we opened the program by talking about the video that they produced, The Coming is Near, that was the title—the video shows that the Iranian regime believes that the chaos is divine proof that their ultimate victory is at hand.

The title, The Coming is Near, was produced by a group called the Conductors of the Coming, in connection with the Basij, the Iranian paramilitary force that claims the Mahdi will lead the armies of Islam to victory over all non-Muslims in the last days. It was approved—that movie or video was approved at the highest levels of the Iranian government. It claims that Iran is destined to rise as a great power in the last days to help defeat America, the West, and Israel, and thus prepare the way for the return of the Mahdi.

The Iranians have believed that that point was fast approaching, indeed at the very door. So now, with bombs raining over Tehran and all over Iran, they believe that that time has arrived. It isn't just fast approaching; it's here. So the Iranian pursuit of nuclear capability was not merely a matter of geopolitical maneuver, but of a profound and unalterable commitment to intimidating power intended solely to impose the integrated rule of the religious government of Islam upon the entire world.

The world actually faces every man, woman, and child faces the final choice of a Messiah. That's really what it amounts to: the final choice of a Messiah from the Islamic viewpoint, and they have their view. Their viewpoint is determining destiny; it's affecting the entire world. It's affecting you, it's affecting our oil, it's affecting everything. Their viewpoint is determining destiny. Whether or not you agree with their viewpoint is not the issue at the moment.

Whether or not America or Israel or anybody else agrees with their viewpoint is not the issue. It's the viewpoint that they have that is determining the choices that they make and the beliefs that they have. You might say the epic end-time and eternal battle for King of the Mountain is emerging even right now from partial cover to open and unrestrainable conflict. Islam, and particularly Iranian version of it, the Shia version, is an eschatological or end-times vision that is so deeply rooted in their commitments and in their belief that it controls what they do, their vision of the world, and what they're going to do in response.

I mentioned my book King of the Mountain: The Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle. In order to understand that and many other things like that, I urge you to get a copy of the book. It's one of the best-selling books we have ever had. It is indeed available to you for $15 on our website, saveus.org. You can give us a call at 1-800-SAVE-USA, or you can write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255.

Running a check at $6 for postage and handling. By the way, for those of you who thought maybe you missed out on the opportunity to get all 11 of our books for that very, very special offer that we made before the end of the year last year, it's now on our website, available to you. All 11 books for $150 total. There's no way you're ever going to get all those 11 books for anywhere near that price. Plus, when you do that, the shipping charge is so small, comparatively speaking, $6 for the first book and only $2 for each book after that.

Go to the website saveus.org and order that package. I don't think you're going to be disappointed. Also, if you don't want to go to the website, you can give us a call at 1-800-SAVE-USA and we'll give all that information to you and get those books out to you. That having been said, we want to go to a piece that came out in the Jerusalem Post just two days ago. The title is "Iran's Leaders May Welcome Chaos Instead of Fearing Collapse."

As the West gauges damage and deterrence, Iran's ideological core may see war as a divine test, preparing the world for a messianic era. That's what we've been trying to say here, laying the foundation in the view, vision, and viewpoint of Shia Islam. As Operation Roaring Lion—that is Israel's view of this war against Iran—or Operation Epic Fury—America's view—unfolds, a profound cognitive gap has emerged between Western strategic thinking and the reality of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This is a piece that's written by Dr. Benjamin Yacovian, who obviously has great insight into this situation. He says in Washington and Jerusalem, analysts interpret strikes on regime assets through the lens of traditional deterrence, searching for signs of an impending collapse. But in Tehran, the leadership now centered around the newly elected Supreme Leader, after Khamenei himself was killed in the opening day of this attack—that son, Mojtaba Khamenei, may not even exist anymore.

We don't know; nobody's seen him. At least nobody in the West has seen him. Maybe he also has met his eternal reward, whatever that is. But they name Mojtaba—it means "The Chosen One." It's heavy with symbolism. It's the title of Hasan ibn Ali, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the second Shia Imam. Remember, the Imam is the spiritual leader, or a spiritual leader. So this belief, this understanding, goes to the ideological core of what is called the IRGC, the great warrior institution protecting Iran and its system.

The pressure that they're experiencing is not for them the sign of defeat, but of what is called Tamhis, a divine sifting or purification that signals the final battle of history. If you see it this way, you can understand why they're not so easily ready to give up. We're not even through yet. Western experts are trained to view geopolitical conflict as a game of rational interests and economic stability, waiting for the breaking point. Yet Shia eschatology teaches that the path to redemption is paved with Fitna, a state of absolute chaos and unbearable trials.

To a certain extent, that aligns with what the apostle Paul, the apostle Peter, the apostle John, and so on, talk about, and even Jesus himself—persecution. As the end times come ever closer, that persecution would rise. Shia Islam now expects this kind of—they don't call it persecution, but they're calling it suffering or unbearable trials in order to fulfill their eschatological belief system. According to this doctrine, the appearance of the hidden Imam, usually referred to as the 12th Imam, the Mahdi, is preceded by global upheaval.

Within that chaos that's created, the mechanism of Tamhis operates to separate true believers from the hypocrites and the weak. So all of this is about who is really the believer, who is really the true Muslim, who is really the true Shia Muslim, not the Sunni Muslim, but the Shia Muslim. Remember, they are the smallest group among Islam, 10 to 13%. But they believe that they are the true Muslims. They are the true Muslims. You can see why Turkey, which is Sunni Muslim, has a hard time getting along with Iran, which is Shia Muslim.

Narrator: There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the Marriage section, God has marriage on His mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals. Marriage, divorce, and remarry: what does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcasts live and archived on Save America Ministries' website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Do you not find it interesting that even as the Islamic world, and particularly leading by Iran, believes that we're in the end times and they are expecting their version of Messiah, the Mahdi, to come and rule the world and defeat all who are the so-called infidels, that is those who do not accept Islam, particularly and Shia Islam in particular? No purported peace is going to pacify their martyr-driven ideological commitment. From their viewpoint, global conflagration is inevitable to bring about the anticipated reign of the Mahdi over the planet.

That's why I included that in my book King of the Mountain. It's the global conflagration inevitable to bring about the anticipated reign of the Mahdi, the epic end-time and eternal battle for King of the Mountain is emerging now. What you may not realize is Islam has already decreed that they will not rule and reign over the world from Mecca or Tehran, but from Jerusalem. Everything is focused on Jerusalem. The Mount of God, the Temple Mount. That's where it's all focused, people. It just is.

Even as the Muslim world prepares to usher in the coming of the Mahdi, so the Jewish world is experiencing a rising expectation that both Jew and Gentile are now living in the messianic age, however that might be defined for the Jewish viewpoint. There are debates arising within Israel. In fact, over the past 25 years, the expectation of the Messiah has increased from about 10 or 15% to 65% in Israel. A campaign began in the late 1970s with the slogan, "We want Moshiach now." In other words, Messiah.

I found it interesting a number of years ago, just before I left the practice of law and came to the East Coast, Richmond, Virginia, to launch this program, there was a—along the freeway in Southern California, I believe it was the 210 Freeway—a sign, a massive billboard appeared. Here's what it said: "Prepare to meet thy God." Then, a month or two later, another one came up: "The sword of the Lord coming soon." Those were put up by a young Christian man who gave all of his earnings to put up those two billboards as a prophetic statement to California and the world.

Then, in Israel by 1992, both the Western world began to unravel at the seams and Israel and Islam emerged with increasing prominence. The Messiah movement among Jews picked up steam, declaring, "Prepare for the coming of the Messiah." This is the season, friends. No man knows the day or the hour, but interestingly, by 2005, the Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar publicly announced his conviction that the Earth would soon see the coming of a Messiah to judge all mankind.

He said, "We know that he is very near at hand." He said the world today is in the state described by our sages as labor that precedes the coming of the Messiah. He said, "We're living on the verge of history. It can be felt everywhere." So I ask you a question today, even as we've been focusing on Iran and their viewpoint, do you have that sense? Do you have that sense that we're—the world is—in a season immediately preceding the coming of the Lord?

Whose coming both to judge the quick and the dead, the Scripture says. Jesus himself will be the judge, the Scripture says that very plainly. Not the Father, but Jesus. Why Jesus? Because he was the only obedient human that ever lived. The only obedient Jew, fully obedient Jew who ever lived, and therefore he's qualified to judge the world in righteousness. The question that always for me hovers over these discussions is: are you ready? Are you prepared?

It's one thing to talk about the information. We're delivering a lot of information here today. You may or may not know, but the reason for delivering the information is that we would understand the pressing time in which we're living. It's not business as usual. Just because the bombs are not raining on America right now doesn't mean it's not business as usual. It isn't business as usual. Things are happening and moving inexorably toward the return of the Lord.

Whether you realize it or not, the focus of the entire Bible from beginning to end is that you and I, that every human being on the planet be prepared for the coming of the Lord. Old Testament prophets talked about it. The apostles talked about it. Jesus talked about it. People, get ready. Jesus is coming soon. We'll be coming home. What does it mean to be ready? It means to be walking in holiness and in righteousness, without which no man shall see the Lord. That's what the Bible says.

You can read that right there in Hebrews chapter 12. Without holiness, no man will see the Lord. God expects us to walk in righteousness and in holiness. No man is perfect, we know that. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. If any man say he hasn't sinned, we make him a liar and the truth is not in him. But if we'll confess our sin and come clean in humility before God when he convicts us by his Spirit and keep short accounts with God when we confess without excuse and seek his forgiveness, he is willing through his mercy that set up the plan of salvation.

It's not God's grace that did that, it's his mercy. His grace is what is given to us with unmerited favor to equip us to do his will and obey his voice and repent. We've kind of gotten it upside down. Grace does not wink at sin. It wins over it. So we want to be ready. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn't that wonderful? That is the good news because of the bad news, because it's appointed unto men once to die and after that, the judgment.

Even Shia Islam believes in the judgment. They believe that anyone who is not a dedicated Muslim is going to be brought under complete dominion by the Mahdi and compelled, either destroyed by the sword or compelled under a severe taxation system so that they will never, ever be able to rise in prosperity. Let's go back to the question that we left before the last break, and that is the difference between Sunni Islam, which is the majority of Muslims in the world, including Turkey, including Saudi Arabia—they have their own Wahhabi and so on, but in reality, the rest of the world is Sunni Muslims.

They do not have a love affair with Iran. They see Iran as an enemy. It's like envy. It's like in a family where there's tremendous jealousy that would drive one child to try to murder another. That's how Turkey feels about Iran. That's how Saudi Arabia feels about Iran. In fact, just encouraged Trump just in the last couple of days to bomb, continue to bomb Iran into smithereens. Why? Because it gets rid of the competition for Saudi Arabia. But the Shia Muslims in Iran have a different viewpoint.

They believe that they're the true believers. And when the coalition of the IDF, the Israel Defense Force, strikes at their regime, Tehran does not see accumulated damage. What they see is a divine refining instrument. The more intense the fire, the greater their theological certainty that the end of the old world has come and the new world is at hand, to be inaugurated by the coming of the 12th Imam. So the West's primary failure is the assumption that the Iranian regime prioritizes physical survival above all else.

But that's not how Iran looks at it. Under their doctrine, which they call Guardianship of the Jurist, the state is merely a tool for preparing the physical and spiritual ground for the Messiah's arrival. Unlike modern nation-states that value stability, the hardliners in Tehran view the country as a potential modern Karbala, a Shia symbol of redemptive sacrifice. In their view, total sacrifice on the battlefield leads to an eternal metaphysical victory. So if the state, that is Iran, must be dismantled to usher in the new world, it's not a deterrent; it's a requirement.

They say, so be it. Western intelligence often misinterprets Iranian restraint as deterrence, but it overlooks the concept of what is called taqiyya or strategic dissimulation or deceit. Taqiyya is not a sign of weakness; it's a tactical weapon of deception and allows the regime to exercise flexibility, even a feigned retreat to preserve core capabilities for Judgment Day. To lure the enemy into a false sense of victory while the so-called believers reorganize in secret.

Narrator: Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore 1st century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ, by His Spirit, stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold, how they love one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive 1st century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click Cell Church.

Chuck Crismier: Following the strikes late last month, President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Khamenei had the blood of hundreds, even thousands, of Americans on his hands and was responsible for the slaughter of countless thousands of innocent people all across many countries. Well, from his viewpoint and that of the West, he was right. But from the viewpoint of the Shia Muslims, the true believers in Iran, so they're willing to sacrifice. To them, dying for the cause is what life is all about.

That's what they desire. They don't look at life the way Americans do, the way the West does, preserving life at all costs. No. They look at life as an eternal sacrifice to gain the dominion of the 12th Imam and the rulership of the world of Sharia law. They're true believers. That's their viewpoint, and their viewpoint is determining destiny. If we don't understand that, we ourselves are deceived. So in Iran's eyes, the enemy is a representation of the Dajjal, that is the false Messiah, the Antichrist.

Every escalation by the West only confirms their belief that they are approaching the peak of history. For those awaiting the Mahdi, the intensity of the fire is the ultimate proof that the dawn of a new age is upon us. Now isn't that interesting? A totally different viewpoint. And as we say every day here, viewpoint determines destiny, and it does. Your viewpoint determines destiny. My viewpoint determines destiny. And a person's or a country's or a family's or a church's eschatological vision will determine the choices you make, the hopes that you have, what you do or don't do.

That's why the Bible says—in fact, it was John, the beloved disciple—who said whoever has the hope of the second coming of Christ, the return of the Lord, in his mind and his heart, will purify himself even as Christ is pure. That's what John said. What do you think? Have you been hearing that from the pulpits around America? From your pastor? If you have the expectation of the coming of Christ, the true expectation, the coming of the Lord as the blessed hope of the church, do you really see it as the blessed hope of the church?

And if so, what are you doing about it? Oh, you say, "Well, I made that confession 30 years ago, 40 years ago, whenever. I raised my hand in a meeting." That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about your life and your view that is preparing for the coming of the Lord, who is going to judge the world in righteousness and the nations with His truth. This is not a game. Our viewpoint determines destiny and determines what we do, how we do it, why we do it, and the fervency with which we do it.

When the Lord spoke to my heart back in 1992, after 18 years of law practice, He said, "Son, you've been pleading the cause of men long enough. I want you to plead My cause in the land as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation at America's greatest crisis hour here on the near edge of the Second Coming." I said, "Yes, sir." Well, what was the nature of what He wanted to have happen? At first, it was primarily focused on, alright, let's try to get our country restored to a basic biblical vision and practice.

To repent, to see revival, restoration so that the nation could be restored. Why? Because America was God's warmest audience around the world. In other words, it was the only nation other than Israel that had a specific chosenness or anointing to bring about the advancement of the Kingdom of God on the planet. Have we done that? No. Did we do it for a while? Yes. And so the foundation, 12 of the original 13 colonies' founding documents have as the raison d'etre, or the reason for their being, the spreading of the Gospel across the seven seas and the seven continents.

That's 12 of the original 13 colonies. In other words, God was speaking to His warmest audience in the Gentile world. He already did that with the Jewish world for 4,000 years or 3,000 years. Then He was giving the Gentile world an opportunity for 2,000 years, and now America for 420 or 30 years, whatever it is, and 250 years as a political institution. What have we done with it? Not much. We failed, just like Israel failed. But within the nation are those who God still is looking to and addressing, seeming to address, desiring to address, to get our attention so that we will be prepared whether or not the rest of the people are.

He's looking for some true believers in America. He's looking for some true believers in France, some true believers in Germany, some true believers everywhere, including Iran. And now we're hearing that the church in Iran is the fastest growing in the world, underground through house churches. Isn't that amazing? That God is using this situation of the pressure—that's what tribulation is, pressure—He's using that to bring about a turning of people.

But He's having a very hard time doing that in America. Why? Because we're too smug. Especially in the Bible Belt. Through this ministry over 30—well, since 1993—I have found that the Bible Belt is the most difficult place for us to take this program anywhere in the country. Why? People are so smug that they've got it made in the shade. Even though the divorce rate in the Bible Belt has exceeded the nation as a whole by about 50% for the past 25 years, they've still got the feeling that it's made in the shade.

No problem. We're the good guys. Everybody else wears the black hat. But what's God's viewpoint? See, that's the only viewpoint that really counts. Everybody's talking about oil prices. Everybody's talking about the pressure of what's happening with regard to the Straits of Hormuz. Well, that's an important thing from a geopolitical standpoint and from an economic standpoint. But it's not the real, the major issue from God's viewpoint. Now we hear that it's very possible that our president may make an effort to take over the Kharg Island, which is the preeminent Iranian key oil hub, where they process 90% of their oil.

It's taken over. Okay, that's a big deal. But in terms of the eschatological spiritual sense, it's just parenthetical. You see how we're prone to focus on the things that don't matter as much. Economics are important, they are. We have to have money, we have to have the ability to live, to eat, to do these certain things. No question about it. But the bigger picture is: what's the condition of our heart? What's our life about? Are we truly seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, or are we seeking something else?

Do we have false goals? Idolatrous goals, perhaps? That's really the problem that we're dealing with in this situation in which we're living right now. And isn't it interesting that as Iran now sees the coming of the Messiah, the Mahdi, from their viewpoint, Israel is looking for the coming of the Messiah. Israel was reborn in 1948. The Islamic revolution occurred beginning in 1979. These things are moving, setting a stage for, dare we say, the end of the age.

How far away is that end? We don't know exactly, and God didn't want to tell us because He wants us to be prepared. He didn't want us to wait until a particular date. He wants us to be ready. People, get ready. Jesus is coming soon. We'll be coming home. So bottom line, this is not about Islam. It's about you. It's about me. It's about professing Christians. It's about our view, our attitude, whether or not are we true believers as much as the Shia Muslim leaders.

What is our eschatological view? Do we even have one? It reminds me of a pastor who invited me to speak to his men on a Saturday morning years ago. And so I thought, I'm given a half an hour, and the Lord put on my heart, speak to them about the then-time church, the now-time church, and the end-time church, and make it practical so that these men could get a grasp on the times that we're living in and so on. So in the first 10 minutes, I spoke upon the then-time church and then began to talk about the now-time church, and the men started booing me.

And giving catcalls. I'd never experienced anything like that in speaking across the country. And it didn't let up, it just continued for the whole half hour. When it was all over, not a single person came up to me. In fact, they had considered it just a big entertainment thing that they were going to boo and mock. But then one man came up and he introduced himself as the pastor. And here's what he said: "You may wonder, Mr. Crismier, why the men responded the way they did."

He said, "The reason is because we don't talk about the end times here. We don't want people to be afraid. We just want people to love Jesus." In other words, he is intentionally not preparing them. He's leading them like the Pied Piper under false pretenses, a false sense of security so that they will not be prepared because he just wants them to feel good. That's our problem. It's not just there; it's all over the country. At different levels, all over the country.

You see, the problem is not whether Jesus is coming or not. He is. The Bible says so. Soon and very soon, we're going to see the King, said the song of 1970s. So what are we going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? Are you going to be prepared? For that reason, you might want to just get a copy of the book, King of the Mountain: The Eternal Epic and End-Time Battle. $15 will put it in your hands. Talks about the Temple Mount, but in reality, guess where the ultimate Temple Mount is? It's your heart. Who really rules and reigns on the Temple Mount of your heart? I think the book is going to be very encouraging, eye-opening to you. It's on the website saveus.org, King of the Mountain. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, write to us. God bless, be a blessing, and become a partner, friends. These are the times. You can be a partner to help get the message out and prepare the way of the Lord for history's final hour. You've been listening to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. Tune in again tomorrow. Same station, same time. God bless.