Philip C. Johnson
June 16, 2025
If you’re just tuning in, allow me to recap where we are regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. As of June 16, 2025, the Israel-Iran conflict has reached a fever pitch, with recent Israeli airstrikes, codenamed “Operation Rising Lion,” targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and military infrastructure. On June 13, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit sites in Tabriz, Shiraz, Natanz, and Isfahan, reportedly killing senior Iranian commanders, including IRGC Chief Hossein Salami, and disrupting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran retaliated with over 100 missiles aimed at Israeli civilian areas, triggering red alert sirens and causing at least 13 deaths by June 15. The IDF claims it acted to prevent Iran from crossing the “nuclear threshold,” while Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed a “harsh” response, signaling no end to the escalation. Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, Iran’s proxies, issued condemnations but have largely refrained from direct retaliation, reflecting their weakened state after years of Israeli campaigns.
This latest flare-up is rooted in a decades-long vendetta. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s theocratic regime has made Israel’s destruction a cornerstone of its ideology, driven by a toxic blend of geopolitics and apocalyptic theology. To understand this obsession, we must dive into Iran’s eschatological worldview and its chilling parallels with evangelical Christian end-times beliefs, as argued by Joel Richardson in his book The Islamic Antichrist.
Iran’s Eschatological Drive to Destroy Israel
Iran’s hostility toward Israel isn’t just political. It is deeply theological. The 1979 Revolution, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, transformed Iran into a Shiite theocracy fixated on preparing the world for the return of the Mahdi, the “hidden” 12th Imam. In Shiite eschatology, the Mahdi’s arrival announces a global Islamic reign, but only after a period of chaos and war. Many Iranian leaders believe that annihilating Israel is a divine prerequisite to trigger this apocalyptic event. As Rush Limbaugh noted in 2015, citing Richardson’s work, Iran’s pursuit of the Mahdi is “equivalent to the Antichrist,” a figure of ultimate evil in Christian prophecy. This apocalyptic vision dismisses rational diplomacy, as Iran sees Israel’s destruction as a cosmic necessity.
Joel Richardson’s The Islamic Antichrist argues that the Mahdi aligns disturbingly with the Christian Antichrist. Both are messianic figures who emerge in a time of global turmoil, lead a coalition of nations, and wage war against God’s people – Israel in both narratives. Richardson points to Islamic texts, like hadiths, that describe the Mahdi conquering Jerusalem and defeating the “Dajjal” (a false messiah often linked to Jews in Islamic thought). He cites Muslim scholars who frame this as a divine mandate to eradicate Israel, mirroring evangelical prophecies of a final battle where the Antichrist targets Israel before Christ’s return. The parallel is stark: Both eschatologies predict a final war in Jerusalem, with Iran’s regime positioning itself as the Mahdi’s forefront.
Building the Axis of Resistance
Post-1979, Iran operationalized this theology by creating a network of proxies to encircle and attack Israel, known as the “Axis of Resistance.” In 1982, during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards helped form Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that became Iran’s most potent weapon against Israel. Hezbollah’s suicide bombings and rocket attacks, like the 9,000 rockets fired since October 2023, embody Iran’s strategy of relentless pressure. Iran also bankrolled Hamas in Gaza, which orchestrated the October 7, 2023, massacre that killed 1,200 Israelis, and the Houthis in Yemen, who’ve launched over 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel since 2023. These groups, funded and armed by Tehran, aim to destabilize Israel through attrition, keeping it under constant threat. In short, all of the chaos around Israel is funded and organized by Iran in order to bring the 12th Imam out of hiding and initiate the end-times prophecies that will allow Islam to dominate the earth.
So far, it doesn’t look like the Iranian leadership is going to get their way. The actions of Israel have deeply hobbled Iran’s capabilities, for now. A post on X by @J_J_Schroeder on June 15, 2025, underscores the impact of Israel’s recent strikes: “Operation Rising Lion… Eliminated: IRGC Chief Hossein Salami, Armed Forces Chief Mohammad Bagheri, Ballistics Commander Amir Hajizadeh, 6 nuclear scientists, 20+ senior IRGC officers.”
The Nuclear Threat
Iran’s ultimate goal, however, is a nuclear weapon, a game-changer for its apocalyptic agenda. Many rational-thinking people assume that Iran would never actually use a nuclear weapon and that it wants to build the bomb simply as a deterrent to to regional aggressors. Since the 2000s, Iran’s uranium enrichment program has alarmed Israel, which views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat. By June 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran’s non-compliance with nonproliferation obligations, with enough enriched uranium for 15 nuclear weapons. Israel’s strikes targeted facilities like Fordow and Natanz to delay this capability, but experts warn that destroying Iran’s deeply buried sites requires massive ordnance, which the U.S. has withheld. Iran’s leaders, like Khamenei, have long denied nuclear ambitions, but their actions, enriching uranium to 60% purity, suggest otherwise. A nuclear Iran could fulfill its eschatological vision by directly threatening Israel’s existence.
On X, @Israel posted on June 14, 2025: “Israel had no choice – it acted at the eleventh hour, just before Iran was about to cross the nuclear threshold.” This reflects Israel’s urgency, driven by Iran’s relentless rhetoric, like Khamenei’s 2009 claim that Israel is a “dangerous and fatal cancer.”
Christian-Muslim Parallels for the End-Times
The Israel-Iran conflict is not merely geopolitical; it is a collision of apocalyptic visions. Shiite (Twelver) eschatology, driving Iran’s regime, and Christian premillennial eschatology, held by many evangelicals, share eerie parallels, both fixating on a final battle centered on Israel. In Shiite belief, the Mahdi’s return requires global chaos and Israel’s destruction, as outlined in hadiths describing his conquest of Jerusalem. Christians, based on texts like Revelation 19:11–21, envision Christ’s return to defeat the Antichrist, a figure leading a coalition against Israel in a climactic war at Armageddon. As Joel Richardson argues in The Islamic Antichrist, the Mahdi’s role mirrors the Antichrist’s, both emerging as charismatic leaders uniting nations to target God’s people.
Another work, Epicenter by Joel C. Rosenberg, reinforces this comparison. Rosenberg writes, “The Bible indicates that in the last days, a coalition of nations will rise against Israel, led by a figure of immense power… Islamic eschatology’s Mahdi bears striking similarities to this description” (Epicenter, 2006, p. 87). Both eschatologies foresee Jerusalem as the epicenter of divine judgment, with Iran’s leaders casting themselves as agents of the Mahdi’s victory, while evangelicals see Israel’s survival as divinely assured. Ezekiel 38:16 describes nations attacking Israel “in the latter days,” a scenario evangelicals link to modern conflicts, paralleling Iran’s theological drive.
These dueling visions highlight that this conflict may be less about geopolitics and diplomacy and more about ushering in the End-Times. Iran’s pursuit of Israel’s annihilation, rooted in apocalyptic duty, clashes with evangelical Christian expectations of Israel’s prophetic role, making diplomacy elusive. Below, I’ve put a chart that illustrates a few of the mirrored elements of these eschatologies:
| Category | Shiite (Twelver) Eschatology | Christian Eschatology |
| Messianic Figure | The Mahdi, the 12th Imam, returns to establish global Islamic rule. | Jesus Christ returns as the Messiah to establish God’s kingdom. |
| Role of Israel/Jerusalem | Jerusalem is conquered by the Mahdi to defeat the Dajjal and establish Islamic dominance. | Jerusalem is the focal point of end-times battles, with Israel preserved by divine intervention. |
| Global Conflict | A period of chaos and war precedes the Mahdi’s return, often involving Israel’s destruction. | A global war (Armageddon) targets Israel, led by the Antichrist. |
| False Messiah | The Dajjal, a false messiah linked to Jews, is defeated by the Mahdi. | The Antichrist deceives nations, opposes God, and persecutes Israel before Christ’s return. |
| Outcome | The Mahdi’s victory ushers in a just Islamic world order. | Christ defeats the Antichrist, establishing a millennial kingdom of peace. |
At the End of the Day…
Iran’s quest to destroy Israel, rooted in its post-1979 revolutionary zeal and Shiite eschatology, has driven decades of proxy warfare through Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. Its nuclear ambitions amplify the threat, pushing Israel to act preemptively, as seen in the June 2025 strikes. The parallels with evangelical end-times beliefs highlight a shared focus on apocalyptic outcomes, but with opposing goals. As @Israel posted on June 15, 2025: “Iran made its intentions clear; we had no choice but to act.” And I continue to inch my front-row-seat chair closer and closer as I and the world watch as this theological and geopolitical powder keg threatens to ignite a broader war, with no easy resolution in sight.
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Note: Sunni Islam (87–90% of 2 billion Muslims) shares Shiite beliefs in the Mahdi and Jesus’s return but lacks the 12th Imam focus, emphasizing universal signs and divine will.
The Global Nexter 