June 18
Israel Encircled by Enemies
Just when you thought the danger facing Israel couldn't get any worse, it defies all odds and gets worse. Thanks to a
stunning military victory by Hamas, there is now a radical Islamic state on Israel's southern border.
Hamas militants, backed by Iranian arms and money, have won a civil war with the Fatah organization in the Gaza strip. There is
growing fear that Hamas will build up a force similar to what Hezbollah has done in southern Lebanon. Hamas has already
proven itself to be a troublemaker by firing rockets into Israel. Now that it controls the Gaza strip, it has a free hand to
smuggle in missiles and fire them at will.
One sign of how bad things have gotten is our sudden friendship with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He still controls
large areas of the West Bank, but he has been shunned by the West for his failure to curb Arab terrorists. The U.S. is now going to lift sanctions in an attempt to bolster the Abbas government.
I'm not sure this plan will work. Everything we have touched lately has turned into a disaster. Hamas is very popular with most Palestinians. Having America and Israel on Fatah's side could end up inflaming the situation.
Benjamin Netanyahu, head if the Likud party in Israel, said in an interview that one of the main lessons to be learned from
the current Gaza situation is the failure of Israel's unilateral policy. In 2005, Israel pulled out of Gaza and handed
control of the territory to the Palestinians.
In an interview with Army Radio, Netanyahu said "the lesson to be learned from our one-sided operations, which are hasty,
poorly planned, and don't take into consideration what we're leaving behind, is that they can lead to the creation of a copy
of 'Hamastan', or this 'Islamistan' in the West Bank, as it currently exists in Gaza."
I was going to say that the Israel's northern border has remained quiet, but we now have a late report of rockets being fired
from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah has been rapidly building up its inventory of missiles, and the Lebanese government is
doing little to curb Hezbollah’s growing strength.
Despite the trouble in Gaza and the northern border, Israel seems to be more worried about Syria. Damascus has far greater
military capabilities and it has been playing a high stakes game of chicken with Israel. The Syrians have been very open
about their plans for war with Israel.
Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash confirmed on Al-Jazeera Arabic world news satellite TV last week that Syria is
indeed engaged in active preparations for a war with Israel. The conflict, said the Syrian MP, is expected to break out
during the summer months.
At first, the thinking was that Syria was just talking war to prod Israel into giving up the Golan Heights. The level of
preparation has gone far beyond any war-game saber rattling. Syria has spent millions of dollars building up its defenses on the
Israeli border. The Qatari newspaper, Al Watan, reported that Syria is making concrete preparations for war with Israel by
moving the Government and State Archives from the Damascus area. Maybe someone in the Syrian government is mindful of the
prophecy in the 17th chapter of Isaiah:
"The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap" (Isa. 17:1).
Officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have reported that their efforts to begin negotiations with Syrian President
Bashar Al-Assad have gone unanswered. The head of Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence agency, Meir Dagan, warned that
Syrian President Assad was putting up a smoke screen by claiming he wants to open peace talks with the Jewish State.
Iran is the nation that closes that loop on encircling Israel with its back against the sea. Iran's long-range missile capability and
unending quest for nuclear weapons can never slip too far from the headlines. Israeli leaders continue to warn that they
will prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Of course, Israeli intelligence has little doubt that if Israel or the US
attacks Iran’s uranium enrichment program, much of the retaliation will come from Tehran’s clients on its borders.
With so many active flash points, it just seems to be only a matter of time before a major conflict erupts. With the situation so
strongly connected to prophecy, I think every Bible-believing Christian needs to keep a close eye on this powder keg.
"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Lk.
21:28).
-- Todd
Putin’s Power Play
The prophet Ezekiel’s foretelling continues to take shape in 2007, with three of the national components mentioned in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 interacting in intriguing fashion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears the conductor in orchestrating these fascinating goings-on. He is hinting that he will run again for the office he holds in 2012, after sitting out a term as required by Russian law. He is, at the same time, asserting his position within the international community’s elite G-8 power group.
His suggestion that he intends to be at the forefront of shaping a new world economic order raises the suspicion that he might have plans for doing other than stepping from power in Russia for those four years. The following report tells us more about the rearrangements being contemplated.
“Russian president Vladimir Putin called on Sunday for a radical overhaul of the world’s financial and trade institutions to reflect the growing economic power of emerging market countries – including Russia…Mr. Putin’s hosting of the forum capped a week in which he dominated the international stage. He warned last Monday that Russia might target nuclear missiles at Europe if the US built a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, then offered a compromise at the G8 summit involving switching part of the US system to Azerbaijan. His speech on financial institutions suggested that, along with an aggressive recent campaign against US “unilateralism” in foreign policy, he was also seeking to challenge western dominance of the world economic order…” (Neil Buckley and Catherine Belton, "Putin calls for new financial world order," The Financial Times Limited 2007, St. Petersburg, 6/10/07).
The Russian leader is poised in a unique position, considering that many other prophetic indicators now seem to point to the brewing tribulation storm. Putin has one fist of power on Iran, the area of ancient Persia, and the other on Turkey. He is yanking on both, while glaring at the U.S. involvement with Iraq, openly declaring America’s involvement to be unilateral militancy.
The two nations of prophetic significance, which the Russian president is attempting to hold onto with his power grab, are Turkey (the area of ancient Togarmah) and Iran (the area of ancient Persia). The following excerpt gives us a brief look at a possible development regarding movement toward the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy fulfillment.
“MILLIYET- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the US might locate its planned missile defense system in Turkey ‘against the threat of Iran’ should be considered a provocation…Although Washington says this missile shield is meant to counter the threat from Iran, Moscow wants to turn the issue into a new Cold War. It’s here that its provocation against Turkey comes in, because in making this surprising suggestion Putin referred to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and so he aims to control Washington through Turkey and spoil Turkish-US relations.
In doing this, of course Putin knows that Turkish-US relations are very bad right now, anti-American sentiments have reached a peak in Turkey, there is no consensus between Ankara and Washington concerning the Iran issue and even Turkey’s military wing is talking about getting involved in strategic relations with Moscow. If Putin’s suggestion is carried through, clearly Turkish-American ties will suffer further damage due to public criticism, and Iran won’t tolerate [a U.S. missile defense shield system in Turkey]…” (Semih Idiz, "Putin’s Provocation," turkishpress.com).
America’s continuing presence in the region of ancient Babylon is another part of the endtime jigsaw that makes the mix almost mesmerizing for the student of Bible prophecy. But, it is the words from the prophet that so captures our attention while we watch the things Ezekiel foretold about Gog, the chief prince of Rosh. Of particular interest are the nations that will storm with him over the mountains of Israel.
“And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with
all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee” (Ezek. 38:4-6).
There seems to be a catalyst lurking out there somewhere in the murky mist of the future--one that will bring all of these developing eschatological pieces together for the Gog-Magog assault into the Middle East. Perhaps that catalyst will be the rapture.
--Terry
