Aug 18, 2008
Russia Practices Its Southern Attack
Russia’s invasion of the nation of Georgia caused a big stir in the end-time community. Whenever Russian tanks move in the general direction of Israel, you can be sure the ears of prophecy watcher will perk up.
Last week, thousands of new people poured into the site looking for information on the Georgia conflict. Our message board set two new records for traffic. One thread on the subject has been read more than 110,000 times.
This event is obviously a false alarm, and is not the Gog/Magog invasion spoken of in Ezekiel 38 and 39. I do believe we are one giant step closer to seeing this prophecy being fulfilled.
We learned two things from the Russian invasion: 1) Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is still in charge of the country; and 2) he has a desire to bolster Russia ’s international dominance through military force.
After Georgia opened fire on the Russian-backed separatist region of South Ossetia, Putin was the first to speak to the nation on television. He also was the first to confer with world leaders and visit the Russian troops in the field. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the guy who supposedly replaced Putin, was left to handle the smaller details.
I’m still trying to find a valid justification for Russia ’s blitzkrieg through Georgia. Its military was incredibly prepared for what it called a defensive move. If the goal was to just protect South Ossetia, there is no racial reason for Russia to invade nearly half of Georgia. There obviously is no justification to be found here. Russia's bullying of its southern neighbor is meant to test the West’s resolve.
It’s not just Georgia that has come under threat. A top Russian general said that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported. "Poland, by deploying (the system), is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent," said Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff.
One of the most disturbing factors at work here is the realization that America has limited options in dealing with Russia. With U.S. forces heavily committed to peace-keeping actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the European theater is left open to threats from Moscow.
This situation is no surprise to me. After Putin rigged last year’s elections, making a sham out of the term "Russian democracy," it seemed obvious that we were headed for trouble with this man. I made the following prediction in my December 3 update:
“In the near future, I expect Bush to greatly regret not being more forceful with Putin. Whenever someone heads down the path towards dictatorship, it always ends badly for that person and for the nation seized. Like the old saying goes, 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
Autocratic leaders don’t like to be static. Once they achieve victory, they are always looking for new conquests. History would warn that Eastern Europe is in danger, but I think this time around, Israel is the one that needs to be watchful.”
I personally find Vladimir Putin to be a very spooky character. You never see this man smiling in any news footage. It is like a dark, demonic cloud of gloom constantly hovers over him. The Russian people and the western liberal media may see this as an indication of assertiveness, but I see it as a manifestation of evil.
It is becoming hard to ignore the possibility that Putin may be the person who leads the Gog attack against Israel. Russia has strong ties to several of Israel’s Arab foes. Of course, we are all waiting for Israel to launch a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The recent chain of events makes it all the more easier to envision Putin’s reaction if the reactor his nation is building for Iran were suddenly destroyed by an Israeli air raid.
"And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel , as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes" (Ezek. 38:15-16).
-- Todd
Living in Laodicea
Russia is flexing its military muscles toward its former Soviet prisoner states, indicating Gog-like thinking rules in the Kremlin. China puts on a smaze mask while it hosts the Olympics, barely cloaking its true intention to become the king of the biblically foretold kings of the East. The European Union incessantly reformulates constitutional matters in an unrelenting effort to become the new Roman order prophesied for the last of the last days. Israel talks false peace with enemies who want only to see the Jewish state obliterated, while the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) carries out exercises that makes the world frown with anxiety over whether the IDF will strike preemptively against Iran–ancient Persia, another of the key players scheduled for an end-times role.
At the same time, Jesus’ first Olivet discourse warning signs of coming tribulation, about the rise of those who will come in His name and deceive many (Matt. 24: 4-5), seems to mark these times as the era of the most despicable of the churches Jesus in His ascended form gave John through prophecy.
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…” (Rev. 3:14-17).
Signals of the end of the Church Age (Age of Grace) are literally exploding in flash-bulb fashion in this sin-darkened world. Although the Laodicean prophecy is manifest in a more subtle way than the powerful prophetic geopolitical developments outlined above, the ramifications are nonetheless just as profound. The Laodicean effects upon the Body of Christ, the Church, are indeed deleterious.
Jesus foretold an end-times religious system that would be neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. This body of religionists, under the guise of Christianity, will--as the very end of the age approaches--be a system that claims the name of Christ on its facade, but inside the organization is ravening wolves who hold not to doctrine, but to nonbiblical words meant to deceive. Christ’s prophecy, given to John for the Church (those of Christ’s body) alive at the end of the Age of Grace, forewarns of a humanistic organization posing as part of the Church. Those deceivers within the organization consider themselves as more than capable of handling all things of a religious sort. They are–in their own inflated opinions of themselves—“ rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing…” They are like the leaders of the world of geopolitics that have things well in hand, they believe. As a well-known broadcast mogul once stated, they “don’t need anyone to die for [them].”
These self-aggrandized, deluded religionists are, through preaching a social, humanistic gospel, in Christ’s words:
"wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” They are counterproductive to all the Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to be in this dying, decaying world. The Lord therefore is sickened by them. They make Him want to vomit, is the strong expression Jesus uses here. This summarizes the Laodicean church. Are we in the era of that condemned organization?
An excerpt from the following think-piece lays out, in my view, a most recent way to gauge the answer to the question just posed.
“…At the conclusion of a recent four-day conference at Yale University, more than 150 Christian and Muslim leaders from around the globe announced the first step of the 'Common Word' exchange drafted last November. The Christian representatives included the heads of both the National Association of Evangelicals (Leith Anderson) and the World Evangelical Alliance (Geoff Tunnicliffe). A statement released at the conclusion of the conference explains that ‘the intention behind the Common Word is not to foist the theology of one religions upon another or to attempt conversion.’
According to a Reuters report, participants of the Yale gathering affirmed their support for freedom of religion and mutual respect…”("Evangelicals in 'la-la land' over Muslim agreement," Chad Groening, OneNewsNow, 8/7/2008).
Prophetic scholar/writer Dave Hunt’s close Berean Call ministry associate puts his finger on the Laodicean deception toward which much of the Body of Christ is currently gravitating. The following report sums his conclusions:
“Christian broadcaster and author Tom McMahon says evangelical pastor Rick Warren's belief that the church must take the lead in solving the world's problems of poverty, disease, and war cannot be reconciled with the scriptures.
Pastor Warren will be hosting an interfaith meeting next month with 30 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders ‘to discuss cooperation for the common good of all Americans.’ Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan mobilizes churches to address global problems. But McMahon, president of The Berean Call ministry, says the popular Christian author is introducing evangelical Christianity to the social gospel that he learned from his mentor, social scientist Peter Drucker…
‘As a Christian, as a biblical Christian, I have real concerns about this because I don't find this in the scriptures,’ McMahon explains. ‘You see, it's true the world has all kinds of problems, but he's working on the symptoms and avoiding the root cause, which is the sin nature of humanity. So how can you work with all kinds of people [who are] called “people of faith,” but it's not biblical faith?’” ("Is Rick Warren ignoring sin in search for 'peace'?" Jim Brown, OneNewsNow, 7/29/2008).
I have lost count of how many people have emailed asking if I know of a church in their area that teaches the Bible in all of its Truth. The Philadelphian church is still on Planet Earth, and it still preaches and teaches Truth. But, the world at large, in loosely speaking of the term “Christianity,” is increasingly drawn into the discernment-debilitating church organization Jesus called “Laodicean.” This is another major signal that we are indeed nearing midnight.
--Terry
