Once considered the banking capital of the Arab world, Lebanon was widely known as the "Switzerland of the Middle East." It attracted tourists in large numbers. The city of Beirut was often referred to as the "Paris of the Middle East." But Beirut has since undergone drastic changes.
Lovely Lebanon is becoming less and less lovely. Where once there were great forests of the mighty "cedars of Lebanon" on the snow-capped mountain slopes, there remains only a small percentage of those famous trees. Numerous towns and villages have been devastated by many years of war.
What caused Lebanon's tragic decline? The answer has many parts. I will focus on just three aspects: (1) repeated floods of immigrants, refugees and invaders, (2) the demographic change from a largely Christian population to a predominantly Muslim population, and (3) its civil war and wars against Israel.
Great devastation in Lebanon occurred during the Lebanon Civil War, 1975 to 1990. The name "civil war" is terribly misleading.
The story of Lebanon during that terrible time is told by Brigitte (pronounced bri-zheet') Gabriel in her book titled: Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America.
Brigitte grew up in Lebanon as a Maronite Christian and the daughter of a prosperous restaurant owner. She describes how hospitable and multicultural the Lebanese people had been, welcoming immigrants and multiple waves of refugees from many countries across their open borders.
Most of the new residents, of course, were Muslims. Lebanon did not foresee that the dominant mindset of the new immigrants would change the internal political climate from hospitable to hostile. Hatred replaced tolerance.
In 1975 Brigitte was ten years old when militant Islamists from throughout the Middle East poured into her country and declared jihad ("holy war") against Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was the only country in the Middle East with a Christian majority and the Lebanese Civil War was the first front in what has become the worldwide jihad of the fundamentalist Islamic theology against "infidels"—all non-Muslim peoples.
Brigitte, at age 10, could hardly believe that the radical Islamists wanted to kill her—just because she was Christian. Her family home was soon destroyed by a rocket that left her seriously injured. For the next seven years, she and her parents lived in an 8x10 bomb shelter with no electricity and barely enough food and water to stay alive. They finally received help in various ways from the Israelis.
Radicalized Islamists and Palestinians have been invading Lebanon ever since. Their goal has been to cleanse the country of Christians and to set up bases for attacking Israel. Lebanon has become increasingly helpless, often a puppet of Syria and Iran. Today much of Lebanon is still under the control of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.
The radicalized Islamist population in Lebanon has increased dramatically, due to Muslims immigrating into Lebanon with their customs of having multiple wives and encouraging high birth rates. (Osama bin Laden was one of 53 children, and he has 27 children.)
Western nations could learn some valuable reality lessons from the history of Lebanon. The goal of radical Islamists involves the genocide of all "infidels" who will not convert to Islam. Their quest is to dominate the entire world with Sharia law (Islamic religious law). To accomplish this, they increasingly glorify suicide bombings.
Brigitte Gabriel alleges that a common saying of the radicalized Islamists is, "First comes Saturday, and then comes Sunday," indicating their aim to first destroy "the little Satan" (the Sabbath leaning nation of Israel) and then "the great Satan," (the Sunday leaning nation of America).
The U.S. Border Patrol classifies each illegal alien only as Mexican or OTM—"Other Than Mexican." OTM sounds harmless. But OTM's can include radical Islamists from all over the world. The U.S. already is plagued with countless terrorist sleeper cells—just waiting for the right opportunities or timing to strike.
The region of Lebanon and "the glory of Lebanon" are referred to prominently in the Bible (Isaiah 35:2; 60:13). But that glory has largely been destroyed from within.
The tragedy in Lebanon should alert America and other Western nations to a particular biblical warning about allowing unfriendly aliens to take up residence within their borders. The result will be, "The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower" (Deuteronomy 28:43).
How will this affect your life? Biblical prophecy plainly reveals the effect that current trends in the Middle East will have on Western nations and on your future. You need to understand those prophecies.
To receive that understanding, I recommend that you request or download our free, informative booklet, The Middle East in Bible Prophecy.
Don Hooser is a minister and writer for the publications of United Church of God. He lives in McKinney TX, a suburb of Dallas. He was born in Dallas and grew up mostly in east Texas. His beloved wife Elsie, originally from Detroit, Michigan, died in August 2020. Don's three children and their spouses are members of United Church of God. Mr. Hooser graduated in 1963 from Southern Methodist University with a degree in mechanical engineering, and graduated in 1966 from Ambassador College, Big Sandy. Don and Elsie married two days after Don’s graduation. Don pastored church congregations in Ohio, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
