Strait Facts from the Bible

Revelation 18:17

Today we blew a hole in the engine room of an Iranian cargo ship trying to run the blockade. Trump says we now have control of the vessel. Tensions are high.

For six weeks the core American demand was open the Strait of Hormuz and now America has closed it. The explanation begins with what happened at the United Nations 5 days before the blockade. April 7th, 2026. The UN Security Council voted on a resolution to protect commercial shipping and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The resolution called on all parties to ensure free passage through international waterways. Eleven nations voted in favor. The resolution should have passed. It did not. Russia and China vetoed it. They used their veto power to protect Iran's leverage over the strait. And here's what the veto reveals. Because Russia and China did not veto the resolution to protect Iran. They vetoed it to protect themselves. Russia benefits from elevated oil prices that fund its operations in Ukraine. China benefits from Iran's dependence. 90% of Iranian oil goes to Beijing at discounted prices that the strait crisis makes even cheaper. The veto was not about the strait. It was about two nations protecting their economic interests at the expense of the global trading system. So that option died on April 7th. The Islamabad talks died on April 12th. And Trump, with no UN resolution, no diplomatic deal, and no international partner willing to clear the strait took a unilateral option. If the world won't open the strait, America will close it on its own terms. If Iran won't let ships through, the US Navy will prevent any ships from passing until the mines are cleared and the tolls are ended.

Also, the storage tanks are getting full. Without output, they will have to be shut down. They don’t want to do that. It often affects the flow, sometimes the pressure stops entirely when you try to reopen. It’s a game of chicken. Who will blink? Will they call the bluff?

How the blockade relates to prophecy is what should concern us. What makes this blockade prophetically significant is the mechanism Iran used before the US shut it down, because that mechanism is described in the book of Revelation.

Iran’s new toll system is not just an act of extortion. It is a functioning prototype of an economic control mechanism that the Bible describes in Rev. 13 with the mark of the beast. The Antichrist will use any chokepoint he can to control the world.

Iran mined or claimed to mine the main shipping channel; the 1,400 square mile international passage that vessels normally transit freely. Whether the mines are real or a bluff is debated. Iran reportedly doesn't know where its own mines are and Trump pointed out that the mine laying ships have been destroyed. But the effect of the claim is undeniable. Ships stopped transiting the main channel. It’s all about insurance. Iran then redirected vessels through its own territorial waters close to Iranian islands under IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] naval supervision. Then Iran charged tolls reportedly over $1 million per ship. You pay, you transit, you refuse, you stay at anchor with the hundreds of other tankers burning up $150,000 per day, per ship. The system was simple. Comply with the authority and you can participate in commerce. Refuse, and you're excluded. They were the authority determining who buys and who sells using a choke point under their control.

Now, this is not the mark of the beast. The tribulation has not begun. The technology and global scale that Revelation describes are not yet in place. But the mechanism, the proof of concept that one bad actor can condition the participation of every nation on Earth in global commerce has been demonstrated. The prototype has been revealed…the full system comes later.

Revelation 18 describes a shipping disaster that the blockade has brought to life. Here’s the most detailed description of a commercial collapse anywhere in Scripture.

vv. 3, 17-19     Right now hundreds of super tankers loaded with 2 million barrels each are sitting motionless, their crews on reduced rations to extend supplies, their operators suffering massive losses. And it famously took one hour for the blockade to be set up.

Let’s be clear: The blockade is not the Revelation 18 collapse. The global trading system is damaged and strained, but it has not collapsed. Oil is still being produced, refined, and consumed through alternative routes. Ships are still sailing on other waterways. Babylon the great, whose destruction Revelation 18 describes has not yet been built in its final form. But the mechanisms are being demonstrated. The toll system that conditions commerce has tipped its hand. The trade collapse that causes merchants to weep has been previewed.

Now, I don’t believe that Rev. 18 will be just about the Strait of Hormuz, or even every strait like the Red Sea Strait, Gibraltar, etc. It’s actually bigger.

Rev. 16:3         I think this second bowl judgment is what shuts down the seas as trillions of life forms die, rise, and rot. Not that we need to be able to explain from science how God will bring fierce judgments. They will all be miraculous, but in this verse God actually states how it happens. And the merchants of the earth will indeed wail like we are seeing now, but a millionfold. This is just a rehearsal, and the rehearsal is not the performance. And yet the rehearsal is being conducted using the exact props the prophets described.

We see the same “rehearsal” or “preview” concept with all the peace treaties being signed, most centering on Israel and other Arab nations, and Muslim enemies that surround Jerusalem on all sides [4 winds]. The Abraham Accords are not the 7 year treaty that initiates the tribulation, but they very well may be the rehearsal. After all, Daniel told us the Antichrist will not draw up a new treaty, but will simply confirm an already existing one. The end could come at any time, but it could be years away. Either way, we are seeing previews.

Also of note should be the fact that China has been aiding Iran using spy technology, intelligence, and weapons. China, who has been a sleeping dragon, is a major superpower who is prophesied to be a key player in the final battle at Megiddo. They are part of the ‘kings of the east’ in Rev. 16:12. But before that there’s Russia, who Ezekiel 38-39 names as teaming up with Persia [Iran], Turkey, and others in the most devastating attack on Israel in history that will break the tribulation treaty.

I find it interesting that Russia has been helping Iran in similar ways throughout this war, and within hours of the collapse of the peace talks last weekend in Islamabad, Pakistan, with VP Vance meeting directly with Iranian leaders, Russian diplomatic channels opened to Tehran. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a statement offering Moscow's support. Russian defense officials, according to reports from multiple intelligence sources, have initiated conversations with their Iranian counterparts about weapons resupply since we have taken out a majority of their arsenal. Among those are an air defense system, advanced anti-ship missiles, and encrypted communications equipment to rebuild the command-and-control network that Operation Epic Fury shattered. Russia is positioning itself as the rebuilder of Iran. And they would love for Iran to do their dirty work on us, for their benefit.

Then there’s Turkey, who wants to host the next round of US/Iran talks. The offer sounds diplomatic, but the Bible says it is strategic. They are not neutral. And they certainly don’t support Israel.

Russia, Turkey, and China are each drawn closer to Iran by the pressure of the war and the blockade.

The coalition is forming, and not because someone is reading the Bible and following a script. It is assembling because the geopolitical pressures of the blockade are pushing these nations together. The coalition that Ezekiel described 2,600 years ago is forming, not in spite of the American military campaign, but because of it. The strategy designed to isolate Persia is delivering it into the arms of the alliance the prophet predicted.

When the Bible speaks of Iran it usually uses the name Persia. But in a more specific context it uses the name Elam, which references a specific region of Iran’s southwest coastline, adjoining the Persian Gulf. It’s the region in which our pilots went down and were rescued. And it includes Kharg Island [marked w/ a K on the map], where most of the oil is distributed. That’s the land of Elam. Also note the former Babylon in the upper left.

Jeremiah 49:35-39

³⁵ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. ³⁶ And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them…³⁷ For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: ³⁸ And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD. ³⁹ But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

Trump keeps speaking about how Iran’s army, air force, and navy are non-existent. It’s like Donald and the prophet Jeremiah, 26 centuries apart, are describing the same destruction of the same nation. They have arrows, but all the bows are broken. The ‘king and princes’ were killed in the first minute of the war. The ones we are talking to today are only left alive for the purpose of negotiation. But notice v. 39 says they won’t be annihilated, but will be around to play a role in the last days.

Will bridges and power plants be taken out? Will refineries be knocked offline? I don’t know, but we should pray for the rapidly surging Christian church, which has been meeting behind closed doors and underground. What was once a very small movement is now numbered in the millions.

Do we expect diplomacy to work with their evil leaders? While we always root for peace, and don’t want boots on the ground, I admit I hold little hope. As important as money is to their regime, there is something more important to them. Their faith in Allah, Mohammed, and their book, the Quran, which commands them to die for their faith, and rewards it in ways money cannot compare. They want to kill just one Jew or Christian, especially on Israeli or American soil or bases. They believe that escalation helps hasten the end.

John 16:2

² They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

The final boss in the end times will be a form of religion.

Rev. 20 says beheading will be the method of death of choice of those in charge in the end. Islam calls it striking necks. We usually assume that the one world church is Roman Catholicism based [7 hills] but did you hear the Pope this week say that Islam is a religion of peace and that they are going to heaven just like Christians? He is an American and he says we are wrong for fighting this war. It’s delusion.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

⁹ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, ¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: ¹² That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

American progressives are delusional. They have a weird alliance with Islam that is delusional. They say they stand for Hamas, and Hezbollah, and Iran. Talk about an unholy alliance. Women’s rights, LGBTQ.

How about beating women who don’t wear burkas, and throwing homosexuals off or high buildings? Saying “Queers for Palestine” is like saying “Chickens for KFC”. It’s delusional. They live in a land of freedom and are supporting those who want Sharia law.

They believe so much that parallels Christianity. Islam believes that the Madi will usher in paradise/he will come in and end time of chaos and take over and bring peace, destroying resisters, he will rule for 7 years, forming a peace treaty with Israel, will then massacre them, will headquarter in Jerusalem, setting up Islam as the only religion, will come on a white horse, do signs and wonders, be assisted by a powerful prophet.

They lift their beliefs from the Bible. They don’t mind dying, and we have to assist. But it’s just one more clear reminder of the end on its way.