Global Prayer Update - War With Iran

UPDATE: JUNE 15, 2025

Israel’s Operation Rising Lion (taken from Numbers 23). An historic moment is unfolding in the Middle East; one of epic, even biblical proportions. Evil is being uprooted in Iran which opens up the entire region to freedom and a new opportunity for the gospel. The destruction is real, the loss of life is tragic, but stay in faith with us for complete victory. WATCH as Asher and Ariel share insights from their “safe” room in Jerusalem and READ the article below titled, “Changing the Face of Islam in the Middle East”. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is being revealed!

---

Changing the Face of Islam in the Middle East 

By Asher Intrater and Homer Lanier

The current war between Israel and Iran is changing the Middle East; it may also be changing the face of Islam.

The military tensions in the Middle East have much more to do with religious doctrine than most people realize.

One of the key religious aspects is the difference between Sunni and Shiite Islam. The birth of Islam may be seen as a reaction to Judaism and Christianity, but the Sunni - Shiite division is internal to Islam itself.

While there are many smaller subsets of Islam, the two main denominations are Sunni and Shiite. The split started after the death of Muhammed in AD 632. As Muhammed had no surviving male children, it was unclear who his successor should be.

One group, the Shiites, believed that since Muhammed was divinely chosen, his successor must be a physical relative. His daughter, Fatima, married Muhammad’s first cousin, Ali bin Abi Talib. The group that followed Ali became known as the Shi’at Ali, meaning “The Party of Ali.”  Therefore, familial succession is important to Shiites.

The other group of early Muslims are the Sunnis. Most of the world's Muslims are Sunnis, including most of the Arab rulers of the Middle East. For example, the Hashemite royal family of King Abdullah II of Jordan is Sunni and trace their roots directly to Muhammed; both belong to the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe.

Sunni Muslims believe that succession should be by ability and merit. Since a physical descendent of Muhammad was less important, the Sunnis are not tied to familial descent. They chose Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s best friend and father-in-law as successor after Muhammad’s death instead of Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali. The followers of Abu Bakr became the Sunni branch of Islam.  

The disagreement over Muhammad’s successor is central to Islamic history and is the root of the Sunni - Shiite divide; they have been in continual conflict until present day. 

Since the 1500s, after centuries of being aligned with Sunni Islam, Iran has been predominately Shiite Muslim and today is the largest Shiite Muslim nation in the world. (Iranians are not Arabs or Semites; Iranians are ethnically Persian and speak an Indo-European language, Farsi).

Another difference between the two major branches of Islam concerns the Mahdi (“the Guided One”). Both Sunni and Shiites believe in the Mahdi, the great end-times figure of Islam. He is a type of Christ or Messiah figure. (Again, we see the reactionism toward Christian and Jewish belief.) The Mahdi is to be the leader of the Islamic world to come.

The Sunnis believe the Mahdi is yet to come and will be born sometime in the near future; his identity is unknown.

The Shiites believe that he has already come and that his identity is known. He is the 12th Imam, Muhammad bin al Hasan al-Mahdi (born AD 868) or “Imam Mahdi” for short. Imam Mahdi did not die but was rather hidden by Allah until Allah sends him back to earth to bring universal peace and justice and Islamic rule world-wide.  

The Shiite Mahdi will be revealed by Allah to intervene in a global war. Imam Mahdi will prevail in the war and begin his rule on earth. Yeshua will return during the Mahdi’s reign and will acknowledge the Mahdi’s authority. Yeshua will join behind the Mahdi in leading the faithful in prayer in Al-Quds (“The Holy” i.e., Jerusalem), thus uniting Islam and Christianity.

Therefore, the Shiite world cannot compromise on the issues of war and of Jerusalem. Their extremism on these two issues is fundamental religious doctrine that cannot be changed or modified in the slightest.

The eschatological and Christological beliefs about the Mahdi among the Shiite Muslims demand for them to conquer all of Israel and to kill all the Jews in the process. The idea of an honest peace agreement is foreign, contradictory, and even blasphemous to the Shiite worldview.

The Sunni world is more centered on Mecca. Their view of the coming of the Mahdi leaves some room for discussion as to whether it will be more militant or peaceful. The Sunni Mahdi will bring world peace in an Islamic "Umma" (“Nation”) empire.

There are extreme Jihadist views among both Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Some of the most murderous Jihadists have been Sunnis, for example: Muslim brotherhood, Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, etc.

Despite Hamas being Sunni Muslim in origin, they have been supported and financed by the Shiite theocracy of Iran for years and thus are loyal to Iran. In addition, Iran won favor with some of the Arab communities in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq by defending them from ISIS violence during the years 2014 to 2019. 

The attacks against Israel these last two decades have been primarily funded, incited, and weaponized by the Iranian Shiite regime. And they have been seeking to develop a nuclear weapon. Therefore, Israel sees Iran as the "head of the octopus" and their proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis) as the "tentacles." 

The earlier wars (1948, ’67, '73) ended up with peace treaties between Israel, Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994). Egypt and Jordan have moderate Sunni governments. Should Jihadist groups in those countries gain control, the peace treaties will be worthless.

Since Israel has been fighting primarily against Shiite Iran and its proxies, the war could end up giving hegemony in the Middle East to the Sunnis. They do not love or support Israel, but by an ironic quirk of history, we may end up helping them.

It is possible that the current war could result in a wider Abrahamic Accord peace treaty between Israel and the moderate Arab nations.

While not intending to do so, Israel may tip the scales of Islamic history toward victory for Sunni Islam over Shiite Islam in the Middle East – at least for a decade or so.