April 18, 2026, 5:15 a.m. CT
Media pundits, religious leaders and elected officials are weighing in on the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran. Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump have exchanged words over the matter. But there’s another group that has definite thoughts about the clash that has captured the attention of people around the globe: Bible prophecy experts.
One such expert, the Rev. Mark Hitchcock, has been inundated with questions about this latest armed conflict and how it might figure into Bible prophecy. Hitchcock, an Edmond pastor, said people have been asking him about the war, but the main queries have been simple:
“They want to know ‘where is this headed?'” he said. “Is this the fulfillment of Bible prophecy?”
Hitchcock, longtime senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, said he answers this question and others in his new book “The Persian Storm: Bible Prophecy and Iran’s Last Threat to Israel,” set for release on April 21. He said publisher Thomas Nelson requested that he update his 2020 book “Showdown With Iran,” so “Persian Storm” contains updated information based on current events.
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He said the publishing company originally planned to release the new book in June, but in light of recent events — perhaps the Iranian government’s killing of thousands of anti-government protesters in January 2026, and escalating tension that evolved into war — prompted the publisher to release “Persian Storm” earlier.
“It’s just trying to get something out there that’s a resource for people,” Hitchcock said. “They can see what’s happening politically and economically and all of that, but a lot of people don’t think about the prophetic angle.”
Hitchcock has been studying Bible prophecy for decades and has written many books on Iran, known in the Bible as Persia.
In “Iran The Coming Crisis,” Hitchcock describe the situation in Iran as being at “the crossroads of the world’s crisis.”
“Two key highways are intersecting there that may affect the life of every person on Earth. What are they?” the Edmond preacher wrote. “The perilous crossroad of radical Islam and nuclear technology (and if you want to add a third ‘highway,’ it would be oil). The convergence of these two factors in the same place at the same time is the world’s gravest danger.”
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He said that his words were featured in a book published in 2016, proves his point. Though some of the names and key players have changed, some of the factors that that brought about the current upheaval remain the same. The ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran, the threat of nuclear war and the oil crisis related to the Strait of Hormuz could be the latest indications of how Iran features prominently in Bible prophecy.
“A lot of people didn’t know about the Strait of Hormuz, and I’ve talked about it for a number of years,” Hitchcock said.
Iran, end-times, Bible prophecy
He said “Persian Storm” is designed to answer many questions about Iran and how current events tie into Bible prophecy. The queries may come from people who believe in Bible prophecy, and maybe some who are skeptical of it.
He said in the 1990s, he began studying Bible prophecy found in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 38, which mentions several nations, including Iran (Persia).
“They’re a significant nation in our world today geopolitically, but they’re also a significant nation, I think prophetically,” Hitchcock said.
The new book explores the Iranian regime’s eschatology, which is a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind. It is often referred to as the study of end-times.
Speaking of end-times, the pastor also discusses this concept — defined as the time of the prophesied end of the world — in his new book.
“The Bible tells us that the staging grounds for the end-times is the Middle East,” he said. “Primarily, every day when you get up, Israel’s in the news, the Strait of Hormuz is there.”
“You have all these players that the Bible mentions in Ezekiel 38, they’re all in the news every day, and I don’t think that’s an accident,” the minister said. “I think that God is setting the stage for what he’s going to do in the future. What we see today is not the fulfillment of these prophecies, but it’s the buildup.”
“God didn’t tell us these things to scare us, but to prepare us,” Hitchcock said. “He didn’t tell these things to make us anxious but to make us aware and alert for what’s coming.”
To skeptics, he offers the following:
“They can reject it, but the fulfilled prophecy is really the signature of God on the Bible,” Hitchcock said. “There are 33 prophecies fulfilled in the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life. There’s over 100 prophecies fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming, and through all those prophecies about Jesus’ first coming literally fulfilled, we know these prophecies about the second coming will literally be fulfilled, as well. It’s just looking at the Bible’s track record.”
The pastor doesn’t think these prophecies about Iran are intended to frighten people.
“Prophecy shows us that God’s in control because we see events unfolding on the global stage exactly as we should expect them to be unfolding.”
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Hitchcock said that is how he has viewed Bible prophecy for all the years he has studied it and shared his work with others around him.
“To me, it’s a great comfort that God is sovereign, and he’s in control,” the minister said.
“I like to say, if God has the whole word in His hands, he can control nations and leaders and kingdoms. If that’s true that God controls the whole world, then he can take care of my little world.”
