People who say “I told you so!” are annoying, I know that, but just once: Yes, I told you so!

If we follow the news, we all know that the troubles in Israel and Gaza are spreading around the world. Where I live, I’m not aware of public violence and angry demonstrations, but I think I just have to wait. The anger will spread to here, and it will travel to where you are, if it hasn’t arrived yet.

• READ: London police arrest over 120 as pro-Palestinian rally draws counter-protests

I believe we are too secular, in our Western societies, and we don’t easily understand strong religious convictions. It is not easy for us to predict what will happen when people are honest about their beliefs. For example, believers can be offended by things that other people do not understand. That lack of understanding, or buy-in, can produce two judgments:

1. Those people are completely wrong, and probably criminals.
2. Those people are heroes of our faith, and we should all be like them.

The estimate is that as many as three hundred thousand people demonstrated in London, England. Probably most of the demonstrators, and the driving force behind the demonstration, are Arab Muslims. 300,000 participants make this demonstration one of the largest in the world, in all of human history.

Something is happening in our world; we are returning to things that were promised.

And yes, I did tell you so. Recently, I wrote about my understanding of the radical differences in the beliefs of Jews and Muslims, and especially beliefs about the land of Israel or Palestine.

If the rest of the world does not directly participate, we can at least understand the basics of the spiritual clash:

For the Jewish religion, Israel is “Eretz Israel” the land promised to them by God. The Jewish return to Israel, in modern times, was predicted by ancient prophets. Most Bible-believing Christians have the same opinion.

In the religion of Islam, there is a strong belief in the “Dar es Salaam” the parts of the world liberated from other beliefs, the first steps in their spiritual liberation of the world.

With this perspective, it is unthinkable that the heartland of the “Land of Peace” in Israel / Palestine should be repossessed by the old inhabitants and diverted away from the liberating effect of their belief system.

I did write about that, but I am surprised by the speed and power of the conflict. A small regional clash seems to be spreading around the world. If I was a world traveler, there are places where I would not go, right now.

We are at the beginning of a spiritual war.

So, in these dangerous times, what should we do? Of course, “we” includes Muslims, Jews, Christians, Atheists … The list is very long. I am writing as a Christian, and you are reading as you.

This is something new. Attacks against Jews were known as “antisemitism” and in history, they came mostly from Europe. That was also a spiritual war.

This new conflict is from the Middle East. I am sure that persecuted Jews feel just as threatened as before, but the source of the threat is new, in modern history. Technically, both sides in this new conflict, Jews and Arabs, are Semites, so we might need a new name for what is happening.

This is not traditional European antisemitism that tried to force the Jewish minority to conform to the dominant culture. This is something new.

An ancient Hebrew prophet, Daniel, promised us something new, at the end of this time in history:

“Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up … ” (Daniel 12: 10 to 11)

I recommend reading the book of Daniel; at least chapter 12, to understand what is happening in our modern world.

One person who understood and respected the writings of Daniel was a carpenter named Joshua. We know him by the Greek version of his name “Jesus.” He told us about the new thing promised by Daniel, and warned us. I also recommend reading chapter 24 of the book of Matthew, if you want to understand what is happening today. Here are two brief quotations:

“So, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) then …” (verse 15) [Note the serious warnings that follow.]

…

“And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.” (verse 22)

It is possible that the Israel – Hamas conflict will be resolved, somehow, but we can see the pressure building, and that explosive pressure will remain. We were promised a conflict that will end the human race, except that God will intervene.

This is a time for us to be wise.