Continued Trouble North of the Border in Alawite Land!
February 10, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The following information was extracted from an International Mission Board Report on the Alawites, the Muslim minority sect that has ruled Syria under the leadership of the Assad family for two generations.
Begin Extract
Islam has given rise to many variations and ethnic groupings because of historical developments and other factors.
Consider the 1.4 million Alawites of Syria.
The best-known Alawite is Bashar al-Assad, who became president of Syria after his father, Hafez al-Assad, also an Alawite, died June 10, 2000.
Nobody knows how the Alawites originated, but some think they may be descended from Alexander the Great, who lived many centuries ago. The Alawites live mostly in Latakia, a city on Syria’s northeastern coast, and in the surrounding An-Nusariyah Mountains.
In New Testament times, this city was called Laodicea and a church was established there in the first century. (See Colossians 2:1 and Revelation 3:14-22).
Unfortunately the gospel has never taken hold among the Alawites.
Southern Baptists are asked to pray that the Alawite people—especially Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—will come to know Jesus Christ personally and be saved!
Alawites are a very friendly, hospitable people, but they are also somewhat mysterious. Though they live in a predominantly Muslim region, their beliefs deviate in many ways
from conventional Islam. They consider themselves to be Muslims, yet Alawites have their own, distinctive beliefs.
For example, the name “Alawite” comes from their belief that Ali, the son-in-law of the Muslim prophet Muhammed, was an incarnation of the deity. (Muhammed lived around A.D. 600.) The Alawites pray in the name of Ali and testify that only he is the gateway, or door, to use in praying to Allah.
They have their own prayer book, called the “Kitab al Majmu,” which only a select few receive and those only after a lengthy initiation process.
Outwardly Alawites study the Islamic holy book, the Koran, and observe all the Islamic holidays. But their beliefs are a composite of many religions that have held sway in the Fertile Crescent down through the centuries.
Their belief in a rebirth of souls, or reincarnation, likely came from further east, for example.
They believe all people once were stars in a world of light, but fell from there because of disobedience.
To get back to the stars, where Ali is prince, they must be “transformed” seven times.
Alawites believe if they live blameless lives they will be reborn as Christians! But those who are not faithful to Alawite teachings are reborn as animals.
A visitor will not encounter an Alawite who will discuss the particulars of his beliefs. In fact, an Alawite would tell the visitor he is a Muslim, since he sees himself as one. The common Alawite person does not even know his group’ s teaching
s, because they are so secret.
According to Christian workers assigned to the Fertile Crescent, less than 1 percent of the Alawites knows Christ personally. There is a great need for more workers who will commit themselves to getting Bibles and other Christian literature into the Alawites’ hands and to sharing the Good News in other ways.
End Extract
Angels in the Scriptures are often symbolized as “stars,” which are in turn sometimes referred to as “stones of fire.”
Alawite belief that ‘all people once were stars in a world of light, but fell from there because of disobedience,’ and ‘to get back to the stars, where Ali is prince, they must be “transformed” seven times,’ is an interesting one, and reminds me of Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-17 where Lucifer is cast down to earth as a star, but says he will one day ascend to God’s throne, to sit above all the angels, the stars of God.
Isaiah 14:12-15 – How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! [13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: [14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. [15] Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
The Kingdom of Tyrus was in what we call modern day Lebanon, which Syria refers to as “greater Syria.” Soon Satan will be permanently cast out of heaven, no longer to walk among the “stones of fire,” the stars, the angels of God.
Job 1:6 – Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
Ezekiel 28:11-17 – Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [12] Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. [13] Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou
wast created. [14] Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. [15] Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. [16] By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. [17] Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Revelation 12:7-9 – And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, [8] And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Revelation 12:12-14 – Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. [13] And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
[14] And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
The three Articles which follow were extracted from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Daily Alert. They outline the Lebanese-Syrian situation north of their border with Israel as of February 9, 2007.
Russian Weapons Diverted by Syria to Hizbullah
Jacques Schuster (Die Welt-Germany/IMRA)
On Jan. 31, a Russian transport plane landed at Damascus airport carrying 600 containers of Russian antitank weapons.
Representatives of Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were waiting on the runway.
While a Syrian officer watched, 100 containers were loaded onto trucks and sent to Hizbullah in Lebanon.
The delivery to Hizbullah violates UN Resolution 1701, adopted on August 11, 2006, after the war in Lebanon.
Syria has frequently diverted Russian arms to its allies in Lebanon, but always claimed the weapons were stolen from Syrian military camps.
UNIFIL Soldiers Face Hizbullah Threats
Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
High-ranking officers from the French contingent of UNIFIL have recently complained of being mistreated by Lebanese villagers – under orders from Hizbullah – due to their decision to deploy a UAV squadron in southern Lebanon to conduct intelligence-gathering missions.
French officers told IDF officers in the Northern Command that shopkeepers in southern Lebanese villages are not allowed to sell them food or supplies.
Sources in the Northern Command said the French contingent – together with Spanish and Italian soldiers – were doing an exemplary job at preventing Hizbullah from reestablishing its terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon and were particularly effective in locating and destroying Hizbullah weapon caches.
“Because they are actually doing their job they are being harassed and threatened by Hizbullah,” explained an IDF officer.
Syrian Regime Fears Domestic Challenges
Gilad Sharon (Ynet News)
The Syrian regime is a minority dictatorship run by the Alawite sect.
The Alawite minority, which makes up some 12% of the overall Syrian population, is a pagan religious sect that worships the sun and moon.
The sect is shunned by the other Muslim denominations, which advocate its death.
According to Islam, Alawites are worse than Christians and Jews.
Because of the ongoing threat hovering above them, the Alawites’ main goal is the preservation of their rule, and this is the prism through which their various acts towards Israel should also be viewed.
The Alawite regime’s major problem is not the Golan Heights, but, rather, how the minority will continue to brutally rule the majority of the population.
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