The existence of Israel, in and of itself, is not an imminent sign. There's nothing to contradict the notion that perhaps the Jews will be scattered and re-gathered two or three more times over the next 1000 years before the full number of Gentiles "enter in". I understand it's important to be prepared - but that goes for every single day - and this is why God withholds the timing of His return from us. If I'm hit by a train, that's the end of my world, whether or not Damascus is turned into a smoking crater in the next five years. While LaHaye can work people up into a lather in anticipation of "the rapture", what are his fans REALLY doing to spread the Gospel?
Someone else on this thread said they're "tired and want to go home" -- I can't agree with that sentiment more heartily! But like Paul working out his salvation in fear and trembling, we don't get a free pass to sit on the couch and wait for Jesus to ring the doorbell. Resigning ourselves to some king of imminent demise of the world sounds like an easy way to just hang onto the ball and run out the clock.
And WWII wasn't a 'holy war.' Nazism may have been an ideology, but islam is a religion. People are going out to kill in the name of god, not in the name of the furher. The movie Obsession explains this quite well as to why the rise of islam is much more dangerous than Hitler ever was. We are only in the opening acts.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6162397493278181614&q=Obsession%3A+What+The+War+on+Terror+Is+Really+About&hl=en