Algeria Protests and Egypt’s Next Step
جامعة الدول العربية
Jāmaʻat ad-Duwwal al-ʻArabiyya Arab League Flag
Thousands in the Middle East are protesting in Algeria:
Thousands rally for democracy in Algerian capital
AOMAR OUALI
Algiers, Algeria— The Associated Press
Published Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011
Thousands of riot police tried to seal off the Algerian capital on Saturday to prevent activists from holding a banned pro-democracy rally a day after Egypt’s authoritarian leader was toppled…
Under Algeria’s long-standing state of emergency — in place since 1992 — protests are banned in Algiers, but repeated government warnings for people to stay away Saturday fell on deaf ears…
The march comes at a sensitive time — just a day after an uprising in Egypt forced Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power and merely a month after another “people’s revolution” in neighboring Tunisia forced longtime autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile on Jan. 14.
The success of those uprisings is fueling hope for change in Algeria, although many in this conflict-scarred nation fear any prospect of violence after living through a brutal Islamist insurgency in the 1990s that left an estimated 200,000 dead. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/thousands-rally-for-democracy-in-algerian-capital/article1904949/
Algerian protesters clash with police as Egypt fervour spreads
The Guardian – 12 Feb 2011• Officers ordered to enforce no-protest ban in central Algiers
• Up to 5,000 protesters rally in Yemeni capital of Sana’a
• Arab leaders make concessions to avoid repeat of EgyptAlgerian police have beaten back up to 2000 demonstrators who tried to rally in central Algiers as aftershocks from the Egyptian revolution rumbled throughout the Middle East.
LCG reported the following in its announcements today (and it was written about two days ago):
Economic Riots in Algeria. Flour and salad oil prices have doubled in Algeria in the last couple of months. Although official government statistics place unemployment in the nation at about 10%, independent organizations place it closer to 25%. The result of increasing unemployment and increasing food prices has been rioting. Hundreds of people throughout the nation, mainly youth, have clashed with police and damaged government buildings (Guardian, January 7, 2011). Riots have killed several and injured hundreds of people. Recently, copying an act in Tunisia, several Algerian men have set themselves on fire in protest against the government (www.megharabia.com, January 28, 2011). Algeria has relative wealth because of its oil resources. In response to the recent riots, finance ministers cancelled import tariffs to lower food prices, lessening some of the violence. However, according to one Algerian official, “Our officials have excelled in creating failures; despite the financial abundance Algeria enjoys … they dealt with the social anarchy with the utmost stupidity. Rather than taking urgent measures to quell the anger, they began spreading accusations left and right, trying to find hidden elements who mobilized the street. Well, they haven’t found the hidden elements and haven’t stopped the current deviation” (TheMediaLine.org, January 9, 2011). Long ago, God warned that leaders who are concerned only about themselves and who neglect their people will encounter serious consequences (see Ezekiel 34). The discontent in Algeria is adding to the destabilization across the Middle East and North Africa.
As I have reported earlier, there have also been protests in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia (Demonstrations in the Arab World Suggest Change), and Libya (Protests in Tunisia, Concerns in Libya). Many of us in the Living Church of God are watching these developments, including Egypt.
As far as Egypt goes, notice the following:
Mubarak slammed U.S. in phone call with Israeli MK before resignationRadical Islam will be result of U.S. push for democracy, Mubarak told Israel’s Ben-Eliezer during a phone call on Thursday.Reuters – Feb 11, 2011Hosni Mubarak had harsh words for the United States and what he described as its misguided quest for democracy in the Middle East in a telephone call with an Israeli lawmaker a day before he quit as Egypt’s president. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/mubarak-slammed-u-s-in-phone-call-with-israeli-mk-before-resignation-1.342831
Egypt’s military pledges civilian handover
New administration would be elected, says army leadership
Last Updated: Saturday, February 12, 2011
CBC News
Egypt’s military leaders say they are committed to eventually handing over power to an elected civilian administration that will abide by its international agreements.
The military announced Saturday it has also asked the current government appointed by ousted president Hosni Mubarak to continue operating until a new one is formed.
As I have been reporting, I believe that an interim government will likely be put in place in Egypt, followed ultimately by one that supports a pan-Arabic leader known biblically as the King of the South, but also known as the Caliph or Imam Mahdi by various ones in the Islamic world. The stage clearly is being set for this to happen as this latest step by Egypt is consistent with that.
It may be that a somewhat secular interim government will be put in place, not deliver what the protesters want, and then the people will be more willing to accept a less secular, more religious leader. And while a religious leader is not biblically required to be the final King of the South, traditionally it takes religion to cross national borders. Hence this is one more reason I suspect that an Islamic-emphasizing leader is highly likely to be the King of the South.
Notice what one Muslim wrote about the appearance of their Mahdi:
SIGNS BEFORE HIS APPEARANCE AS THE MEHDI
The world will be filled with a great amount of injustice and oppression. There will be widespread evil in which all people will be heavily involved.
Muslim countries and their people will have become so weak that even animals would defeat them in battle.
Muslims would be totally disunited, hence their state of weakness. On the other hand, the Kuffar of the whole world would be united under one leader…
Throughout the world earthquakes would occur frequently. Innocent people will be put to death…
I would suggest that the protesters in the Middle East believe that they have been subject to injustice and oppression. If an earthquake happens in the region, it would seem that some may consider that to be a sign for the leader to rise up.
Yet, while it may also take a war in the Middle East for this leader to rise up, civil unrest, riots, demonstrations, and protests may also be involved. Things are changing in the Arab world. And events are lining up for the King of the South/Imam Mahdi to arise.
Some suspect this Mahdi may appear in 2012:
As the Koran states the Mahdi will not return in an odd-numbered year, as world chaos is to precipitate his reappearance, as Ahmadinejad claims the Mahdi’s return will occur before his presidency ends in 2013, as a dying Khamenei claims the return will happen before his death, and as Iran stands on the brink of arming itself with nuclear weapons, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad view the planets as all falling into alignment for them.
From the vantage point of these two fanatics, 2012 may be shaping up as the year of the Mahdi’s return.
(Zumwalt J. Iran’s Dynamic Duo Dedicated to Global Destruction. August 13, 2010. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38528)
R.C. Meredith of the Living Church of God (LCG) wrote:
The final fulfillment of the prophecies about the coming King of the South are certainly yet to come. But, even now, it is obvious that many events now indicate that the stage is being set for the powerful Muslim leader indicated in Daniel 11:40–43. Our…constant backing of the state of Israel, and many other acts by the U.S. and Europe, have infuriated the Muslim world. The current situations in Israel and Iraq are causing the Arab world to unite in a manner unprecedented in recent times. This will certainly carry over into their backing for a truly powerful pan-Arab leader when God’s time comes.
And the current riots and protests also seem to be pointing in that direction. There will also be more riots in Europe and even some in the USA, but the ones in the Middle East are the ones that will apparently set the stage for the rising up of the final King of the South.
Three articles of possibly related interest may include:
The Arab World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam?
Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? What does the Bible say?
Africa: Its Biblical Past and Prophesied Future What does the Bible teach about Africa and its future? Did the early Church reach Africa? Will God call all the Africans?
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