Last December’s sudden outburst of race riots in Sydney—Australia’s most eminent city—unveiled a deep-seated crisis in the land down under.
The catalyst for the violence occurred one week prior, when two lifeguards from Sydney’s eastern suburb of Cronulla were assaulted in what was believed to be an unprovoked attack by a group of Middle Eastern men. The Cronulla attack wasn’t unprecedented; there had been reports of prior incidents of harassment and intimidation by Lebanese Muslims.
In the days following the attack, a bevy of text messages inciting revenge spread across Sydney’s suburbs. By the following Sunday, an angry and largely intoxicated crowd of about 5,000 had assembled at Cronulla Beach to “reclaim the beach.” As emotions escalated and mob mentality set in, violence broke out and a number of individuals of Middle Eastern appearance were attacked.
The violence overflowed into as many as eight adjoining suburbs as Muslims, mainly of Lebanese descent, retaliated. More retaliatory violence and vandalism took place over subsequent nights.
These race riots have forced one of Australia’s ugliest secrets to the surface. Even as the rioting raged in Sydney, other isolated but racially motivated attacks began cropping up in other states.
Under the right conditions, race riots could easily break out on a massive scale.
In our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, we explain that the nations of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom comprise the peoples of biblical Israel. This is important to understand, because the Bible contains specific prophecies concerning these nations.
One of those prophecies discusses the problem these nations would have with immigration and the subsequent racial tension and violence. Lax immigration policies and weak borders are playing an instrumental role in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. (See our December 2005 issue for more on immigration.)
God is cursing the nations of biblical Israel for their failure to hold fast to His laws. God is humbling them—imploring them to turn to Him. Unless the people of Israel repent, “strangers” (as Scripture calls them—Deuteronomy 28:43-46) will continue to pour through their ports of entry and “get up above” them. Racial tension will only intensify. It is prophetic fulfillment.