{"id":22332,"date":"2026-03-14T16:23:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=22332"},"modified":"2026-03-14T16:23:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:23:58","slug":"the-bear-the-lion-and-the-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=22332","title":{"rendered":"The Bear, the Lion, and the Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n              <span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 8<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article was written by Avner Boskey, a longtime friend of IFA. A Jew currently living in the Holy Land, Boskey gave IFA intercessors an update live from Israel on this past week\u2019s edition of Pray with America\u2019s Leaders. You can watch this webcast by clicking here.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>Over 2,500 years ago Daniel received a stunning prophetic vision (Daniel 7:5) spotlighting four empires in his time, which God symbolized by four beasts. The second beast in this prophetic vision was a raging and carnivorous bear, which symbolized the Persian Empire. That region is today called \u2018Iran\u2019).<\/p>\n<h4>Do you want state prayer alerts?<\/h4>\n<p>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>War has broken out in the Middle East, and the limelight is shining again on the Persian Bear. Two of the main protagonists are modern Iran (on the one hand) \u00a0and the regathered state of Israel (on the other).\n<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s leave the specific context of Daniel 7, and look for an animal which could symbolize \u00a0the Jewish people. Since the King of Israel is Messiah Yeshua, and since He is described in\u00a0Revelation 5:5\u00a0as the overcoming Lion of the tribe of Judah, one could perhaps poetically say that the battle now occurring in the Arabian Gulf has the Persian Bear facing off against the the Jewish people \u2013the Israeli Lion. And this time, the world\u2019s premier super-power \u2013 the United States of America \u2013 has joined the fight against the Iranian Bear. Since America is often symbolized by a bald-headed Eagle, could it be said that the Persian Bear is on one side of the battlefield, while the Hebrew Lion and the American Eagle are hunkering down on the other side.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Counting the cost<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Messiah Yeshua spoke a parable many years ago, one which applies both to true discipleship and to kings setting out to battle:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cWhoever does not\u00a0carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.\u00a0For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost,\u00a0to see\u00a0if he has\u00a0enough\u00a0to complete\u00a0it?\u00a0Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching\u00a0it\u00a0will begin to ridicule him,\u00a0saying, \u2018This person began to build, and was not able to finish!\u2019\u00a0Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and\u00a0consider whether he is strong\u00a0enough\u00a0with ten thousand\u00a0men\u00a0to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand?\u00a0Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace.\u00a0So then, none of you can be My disciple who\u00a0does not\u00a0give up all his own possessions\u201d (Luke 14:27-33)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A house divided<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Classical jihadi Islam has a Last Days vision. It can be summed up by the\u00a0Arabic battle-cry: \u201c<em>Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud! Jaish Muhammad soufa ya\u02bfoud!\u201d (Arabic:\u00a0<\/em><em>\u062e\u064a\u0628\u0631 \u062e\u064a\u0628\u0631 \u064a\u0627 \u064a\u0647\u0648\u062f \u062c\u064a\u0634 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0633\u0648\u0641 \u064a\u0639\u0648\u062f<\/em><em>,\u00a0lit.\u2009<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em>Khaybar, Khaybar, oh\u00a0Jews!\u00a0<\/em><em>The army of\u00a0Muhammad\u00a0will return!\u2019)<\/em>. This chant refers to the\u00a0Battle of Khaybar\u00a0of 628 CE, when Muhammad marched with a large Muslim army to besiege and slaughter the Jewish community of\u00a0Khaybar,\u00a0an oasis in present-day\u00a0Saudi Arabia.\n<\/p>\n<p>This murderous battle-cry is chanted at anti-Israel\u00a0demonstrations and during\u00a0Islamist terrorist attacks\u00a0as well. Muhammad in his lifetime led\u00a027 jihadi campaigns, and deputized 59 other jihadi battles. The original Islam was a religion of\u00a0jihadi conquest, and today those who follow Muhmmad\u2019s\u00a0pattern\u00a0are described by the non-Muslim world as terrorists.\n<\/p>\n<p>A foundational sectarian division broke the Islamic\u00a0<em>Ummah<\/em>\u00a0(Arabic for \u2018community\u2019) into two adversarial camps at the very beginning, in 632 AD. The clash between these two main wings of Islam \u2013 the\u00a0<em>Shia<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0<em>Sunni<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 revolves around who was to succeed Muhammad as the leader of Islam\u2019s burgeoning world-wide dictatorship or caliphate.\n<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Shia\u00a0(or Shi\u2019at Ali \u2013 \u2018<em>the Party of Ali<\/em>\u2019) believed that Muhammad had named his cousin\/son-in-law\u00a0Ali ibn Abi Talib, to be his\u00a0successor\u00a0and Islam\u2019s leader. Shi\u2019ites believe that Ali\u2019s right of succession was usurped by a power-group of\u00a0Muhammad\u2019s\u00a0followers, who instead chose Muhammad\u2019s closest companion\u00a0Abu Bakr\u00a0(632\u2013634) to succeed him as the\u00a0caliph\u00a0of Islam.\n<\/p>\n<p>The Sunni camp is called \u2018<em>ahl\u00a0as-sunna<\/em>\u2019 in Arabic \u2013 meaning \u2018the people of the habit\u2019 or \u2018the people of the [correct Islamic Muhammaden] usage which is sanctioned by tradition.\u2019 Sunni Islam is approximately 80-85% of Islam\u2019s adherents, while Shi\u2019ite Islam is followed by between 10-15% of the Muslim world. The\u00a0divide\u00a0between the\u00a0two streams\u00a0of Shia and Sunna has led to\u00a0over 1,400 years\u00a0of battle, and is the religious clash lying behind much of Islam\u2019s\u00a0sectarian violence. \u00a0Political ambitions and regional rivalries have added to the explosive mix.\n<\/p>\n<p>Today Iran heads up the Shi\u2019ite minority, while Saudi Arabia champions the Sunni majority, As Ira Stoll\u00a0comments\u00a0in March 4, 2026\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Washington Free Beacon<\/em>, \u201cThe Sunni-Shiite split is frequently a stronger explanatory dynamic in the Middle East than settler-colonialism or U.S. imperialism or oil or whatever other favored explanation the press or academia are pushing.\u201d Former Pentagon specialist on the Middle East Harold Rhode comments: \u201cShiites call the Sunnis \u2018Sunni dogs\u2019 \u2013 \u2018<em>Sag-e Sunni<\/em>.\u2019 They don\u2019t see them as real Muslims, they see them as heretics.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Armageddon Shi\u2019ite style<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s strikingly warlike aggression is connected to three root issues:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Classical Islam\u2019s hatred of the Jewish people (\u2018the lesser Satan\u2019, or\u00a0Shayt\u00e2n-e Kuchakin\u00a0Persian) and its Last Days vision of destroying the sons and daughters of Jacob<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Shi\u2019ite eschatology\u00a0<\/em><em>which believes in the necessity of pushing the world into\u00a0a Last Days conflagration\u00a0which will trigger the final battle between the forces of the Islamist pseudo-anti-Messiah (al-Mas\u012b\u1e25 ad-Dajj\u0101l)) and the\u00a0Mahdi\u00a0(<\/em><em>al-Mahd\u012b<\/em><em>; \u2018the guided one\u2019) who will lead the armies of Muhammad to ultimate victory (\u2018<\/em><em>Jaish Muhammad soufa ya\u02bfoud<\/em><em>\u2019).<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The jihadi leaders and generals of the Islamic Republic of Iran are going for broke on this one. They are prepared to pull the world into a Shi\u2019ite Armageddon in pursuit of their Last Days dysphoric vision \u2013 think \u2018Iranian kamikaze pilots with nuclear backpacks.\u2019<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>When Shi\u2019ite Iran attacks the Sunnis Arab world<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Over the past week, Shi\u2019ite Iran has attacked twelve Sunni Islamic countries, as well as two countries whose populations are basically either Christian or Jewish. Iran has also attacked a UK NATO-related base and an American NATO-connected base in Turkey (an Islamic country). Here is the current list of these\u00a0fourteen countries, along with links specifying the locations and nature of attacks:\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cyprus \u2013 Larnaca, Limassol<\/li>\n<li>Cyprus\u00a0\u2013 UK\/EU\/NATO\u00a0Akrotiri\u00a0and\u00a0Dhelkelia\u00a0Air Force Bases<\/li>\n<li>Turkey\u00a0\u2013 (Incirlik\u00a0AFB \u00a0US\/\u00a0NATO\/\u00a0nuclear bombs\u00a0are stored here by the USAF)<\/li>\n<li>Israel\u00a0\u2013 over 500 missiles and 2,000 drones<\/li>\n<li>Jordan<\/li>\n<li>Syria<\/li>\n<li>Iraq \u2013\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/li>\n<li>Kuwait \u2013\u00a0here,\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/li>\n<li>UAE \u2013\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>According to data from Israel\u2019s\u00a0<em>Institute for National Security Studies<\/em>, by Thursday March 5, Iran had launched 941 drones, 189 ballistic missiles and eight cruise missiles toward the UAE. 57 drones struck UAE territory. 755 drones and 172 missiles intercepted\n<\/p>\n<ol start=\"10\">\n<li>Qatar \u2013\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/li>\n<li>Bahrain \u2013\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/li>\n<li>Saudi Arabia \u2013\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here,\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/li>\n<li>Oman \u2013\u00a0here<\/li>\n<li>Azerbaijan \u2013\u00a0here<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>These unprecedented Iranian Shi\u2019ite attacks on Sunni neighbors over the past ten days (and not only on the Jewish state of Israel) are staggering. This new and dangerous pattern in the Middle East has the potential to spread like a wildfire into a Muslim-versus-Muslim religious war, echoing the earliest decades of Muhammad\u2019s jihadi endeavors.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Collateral damage\u2019<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>For the past ten days Iranian missiles and drones have intensively targeted civilians in Israel. They have also\u00a0targeted\u00a0oil refineries, oil rigs and oil tankers in the Gulf States and in the Arabian Gulf. Iranian missiles and drones have destroyed water desalinization plants in various Gulf countries. Iran has hit shopping malls, hotels and airports; CIA bases, US Embassies and US air force bases. Iran has struck Oman, the country which until just recently labored as a mediator between Iran and the USA.\n<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s current military behavior is reminiscent of how the Scriptures describe those who breath out arrogant threats and blasphemies:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cA mouth uttering great\u00a0boasts . . . the sound of the\u00a0boastful words which the horn was speaking\u201d(Daniel 7:8, 11, 20)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cA mouth was given to him\u00a0speaking\u00a0arrogant words and blasphemies\u201d\u00a0(Revelation 13:5)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cNow\u00a0Saul, still\u00a0breathing\u00a0threats and murder\u201d (Acts 9:1)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A senior Gulf official recently\u00a0described\u00a0Iran\u2019s strikes on its neighbors \u2014 particularly on its arch-rival Saudi Arabia \u2014 as a \u201cmiscalculation\u201d and stated that Tehran had \u201clost all goodwill from Islamic and Arab states.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who makes a man unable to see? (<em>Exodus 4:11<\/em>)<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>The combined airforces of Israel (the IAF) and America (the USAF) have achieved amazing results in a very short time. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei, has been removed from the living, along with more than 40 of his top brass. Nuclear weapons laboratories and drone warehouse have been annihilated. The Iranian Navy has been obliterated, as well as the top GHQ of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij terror-police. At this rate, within 2-4 weeks it will be highly unlikely for this jihad juggernaut to ever recover and threaten Israel, America, Europe or the Middle East.\n<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, OSINT (open-source intelligence sources) reveal that Iran has managed to strike some significant blows against America\u2019s radar assets, causing billions of dollars in damage:\n<\/p>\n<p>The largest American radar in the Gulf is the\u00a0<em>AN\/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar<\/em>, valued at $1.1 billion. It is a fixed radar system designed to detect drones, jet fighters and missiles. Located at al Udeid Air Base, Umm Dahal in Qatar, it was\u00a0hit with a Iranian missile\u00a0on Saturday, February 28, 2026 and was\u00a0irretrievably damaged.\n<\/p>\n<p>Raytheon\u2019s\u00a0<em>AN\/TPY-2 transportable x-band radar<\/em>\u00a0is the radar component of America\u2019s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) system. On Sunday March 1 or Monday March 2,\u00a0Iran hit\u00a0this x-band radar which was deployed at\u00a0al-Ruwais Industrial City\u00a0in the United Arab Emirates. The\u00a0destroyed radar component\u00a0is estimated to be worth $500 million. N.R. Jenzen-Jones, a munitions specialist and director of the research company Armament Research Services (ARES), told CNN the radar cannot be easily replaced and called it a significant loss. \u201cThe AN-TPY\/2 radar is essentially the heart of the THAAD battery, enabling the launch of interceptor missiles and contributing to a networked air defense picture. It also happens to be an incredibly expensive piece of kit. The loss of even a single radar of this type would be an operationally significant event.\u00a0\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Two other\u00a0THAAD AN\/TPY-2 x-band radar systems\u00a0were also hit by Iran \u2013\u00a0one\u00a0at Prince Sultan AFB al-Kharj in\u00a0Saudi Arabia, and one in\u00a0Jordan\u00a0and the\u00a0Muwaffaq Salti\u00a0Air Base.\n<\/p>\n<p>These losses are grievous, but they are also a regular part of war. The loss of these \u2018eyes\u2019\u00a0shortens the warning time for Israelis\u00a0and Gulf nations \u2013 time to send up interceptor anti-missiles, and time to allow civilians to make it to the safety of their own personal shelters. But these losses also reveal a more sinister development lurking beneath the geopolitical surface: Russia has been\u00a0supplying intelligence information\u00a0to Iran, detailing locations of US fighter jets, warships and radar installations.\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>The Cold War is once again raging in the shadows.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>On target<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Israeli and American forces have been targeting and\u00a0eliminating\u00a0the highest of high-value targets. The IDF\u2019s SIGINT 8200 and VISINT 9900 obtained practicable intelligence which was then used by 50 IAF planes to drop 100 bombs on Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, removing both his presence and 48 of his High Command from the battlefield.\n<\/p>\n<p>The combined forces of the USAF and the US Navy have so far\u00a0destroyed\u00a0over 42\u00a0Iranian Navy\u00a0battleships, corvettes, frigates, cutters and drone-carriers, as well as the lion\u2019s share of Iran\u2019s\u00a0ageing air force\u00a0\u2013 (which have been comprised of 250 to 350 aging combat-capable aircraft \u2013 older F-4, F-5, F-14, MiG-29, and Su-24 jets).\n<\/p>\n<p>Other significant targets hit and greatly degraded include Tehran\u2019s\u00a0Mehrabad\u00a0Airport, the\u00a0Min Zadai\u00a0nuclear bomb development labs, the\u00a0underground complex\u00a0of factories and storehouses for missiles and nuclear weapons at\u00a0Parchin.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>How shall we then pray?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Pray that the God of the armies of Israel will guide the warriors who are defending America &amp; Israel, granting them decisive success, accuracy and safety on the battlefield<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Pray for the sparing of Iranian civilian lives<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Pray for the entire people of Israel to be protected and preserved from their enemies (see\u00a0<\/em><em>Luke 1:68-75<\/em><em>), and that they would seek and find salvation in Messiah Yeshua<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel\u2019s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.\n<\/p>\n<p>In Messiah Yeshua,\n<\/p>\n<p>Avner Boskey\n<\/p>\n<h4>How are you praying into this conflict? Share your prayers and scriptures below.<\/h4>\n<p><em>This article was originally published at David\u2019s Tent. Photo Credit: mana5280 on Unsplash.<\/em><br \/>\n&#13;\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Time: 8 minutes Editor\u2019s note: This article was written by Avner Boskey, a longtime friend of IFA. A Jew currently living in the Holy Land, Boskey gave IFA intercessors an update live from Israel on this past week\u2019s edition of Pray with America\u2019s Leaders. You can watch this webcast by clicking here. Over 2,500<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4878,7409,1471],"class_list":{"0":"post-22332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-prayer","8":"tag-bear","9":"tag-eagle","10":"tag-lion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}