For reasons we don't quite understand, God chose the Middle East as a portal to a spiritual dimension. It was where the Old Testament events took place. It was where Moses led his people. Most importantly, it was where Jesus walked the earth.

       It is also where the devil seeks to cause a third world war.

       The spiritual energy in this part of the world is tangible and we note that recent skirmishes have focused specifically on spiritual sites such as the Temple Mount. This is where the Jews' holy temple was in biblical times, and for Muslims the spot where Mohammed ascended into heaven.

       It is one of the most revered places on earth and the hotspot for current tensions.

       A struggle is underway at the spiritual portals, and it could easily lead to the kind of event expected in some of the prophetic secrets. Israel has nuclear bombs. Dozens of them. And surrounding Arab countries are developing them. They already have nuclear weapons in Pakistan, which has a population of Muslims, and it's only a matter of time before a terrorist gets hold of plutonium from the old facilities in what was once the Soviet Union -- where Muslims are prominent in the  southern republics. Lebanon, Syria, and Iran could easily be drawn into a conflict, pulling in both the U.S. and Russia. In Iraq -- perhaps the greatest rival of Israel -- Saddam Hussein wants to liberate the Al-Aksa mosque on Temple Mount.

       We thus see the ingredients for Armageddon. It may not happen just now, but many believe there will never be peace as long as Jews are in the region and control Palestinian territory. We don't take sides in this debate. We see the arguments on both sides. But it often begins to look like the kind of spiritual war prophesied in Zechariah 12:2. As one correspondent noted, "There could be several regional Islamic attempts to recapture Jerusalem's Old City before the big bust up prophesied by Zechariah, and in Psalms 83, occurs."

      Is it also related to the prophecies in Ezekiel (specifically 38)?

       Muslims everywhere have been urged to join in the "sacred struggle" to secure control over the Temple Mount, which is adjacent to the Via Dolorosa -- where Christ walked on the way to His crucifixion.