Fishing for Gog :: By Terry James

Probably the most near-term prophecy scheduled for fulfillment besides the Isaiah 17 predicted destruction of Damascus is the Gog-Magog assault on Israel.

The Rapture of the Church, of course, continues to be in the mix of all the prophetic stage-setting on the horizon of these last days. It has always been an event that is without a specific prophetic signal that precedes its occurrence. However, the Rapture is not without signs that it could happen at any moment.

Despite some seminary declarations that Luke 21:28 is not a Rapture signal, I disagree.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

To any student of Bible prophecy from the pre-Trib view, the evidence is overwhelming. We see all the signs for the Tribulation beginning to come to pass. And God’s Word says that when we see this very thing happening–all these things beginning to come to pass—we are to look up, for Jesus is coming to save us out of that terrible time to come (read Revelation 3:10).

We see the wickedness in the world that makes this generation like that of the days of Lot. We have violence and evil like in the days of Noah. Evil men and seducers are growing worse and worse. There is a globalist onslaught that is setting the stage for Antichrist and his regime of terror. There is apostasy, even in the formerly conservative, evangelical churches, with the leadership of those bodies embracing things we would never have thought they would accept.

To sum it up: In every direction we look, all is set for the next phase of Christ’s Second Coming and the Tribulation that will precede that magnificent event.

Israel is front and center and is hated by the vast majority of the world’s countries, as witnessed by UN votes involving God’s chosen nation.

So with all this as a prologue, we can now look at a specific prophecy that is in view, based upon accumulating evidence. That is the coming Gog-Magog assault on Israel.

The stage is being set for that catastrophic attack. It’s catastrophic not for God’s chosen nation but for the attackers—and for the rest of the world.

God, through Ezekiel the prophet, tells of the coalition that will invade Israel to take “great spoil.” We have determined after much study by prophecy scholars that the chief nations that will coalesce to attack Israel—by today’s names—will be Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others. But, God, according to the prophecy in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, will hold the world in general responsible as well. At least He will seemingly punish other nations as well as the one he will almost totally decimate when they attack.

“Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 39:5–6).

So what evidence is there that this most profound prophecy is in view for fulfillment, perhaps in the very near future? It involves the term “great spoil” in the Ezekiel prophecy.

When the attack takes place, the leaders of the nations watching apparently will only send a weak diplomatic note of protest. It sounds very much like the weakness we see now in the American government and in that of the EU and others.

“Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” (Ezekiel 38: 13).

At the moment, because of the Biden administration going into green insanity by shutting down America’s oil-producing industry, Russia has gained greatly in the producing and selling of petroleum and natural gas. Nations of Europe, in particular, are in a critical juncture regarding having natural gas to fuel its needs. Russia is providing the natural gas needed to supply needs in the UK and other nations.

But now, the little Jewish state, Israel, doesn’t look so diminutive in terms of nation-states. They have found and harnessed massive gas reserves and petroleum reserves. The following story gives some details.

Today, Israel’s gas reserves are so rich that they can supply not only Israel but Europe as well. And that’s precisely what happened on Wednesday when Israel and the European Union signed a natural gas agreement. The agreement was forged in Cairo in Egypt, as the gas will flow via Egypt’s pipelines. Signing this trilateral agreement is Europe’s solution for replacing the Russian gas imports it has relied on for decades.

Western Europe is trying to distance itself from Russia, including economic boycotts. This phenomenon provided Israel with a rare opportunity to provide natural gas once provided by the Kremlin.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem on Tuesday: “With the beginning of this war and the attempt of Russia to blackmail us through energy, by deliberately cutting off the energy supplies, we decided to cut off and to get rid of the dependency on Russian fossil fuels, and to move away from Russia and diversify to trustworthy suppliers,” adding that “It is an outstanding step bringing our energy cooperation to the next level.” (“Israel to supply natural gas to Europe and its connection to a blessing from Deuteronomy,” by David Sidman, Israel 365news 2021 June 16, 2022)

They give the Scripture in Deuteronomy is as follows.

“For Hashem your God will bless you as He has promised you: you will extend loans to many nations, but require none yourself; you will dominate many nations, but they will not dominate you” (Deuteronomy 15:6).

God’s Word says He will put hooks in the jaws of the leader of the attacking coalition. It is more than proper, I think, to wonder if Israel’s great oil and gas reserves might be the bait the Lord will use in hooking this evil leader in, bringing Gog’s forces down to be all but totally destroyed on the mountains of Israel.

All of this means the Rapture must be very near, as I and many others believe the Gog-Magog attack will take place after the Rapture of the Church.

Here is how to be ready for going to be with Jesus in that glorious call He makes to the Church He loves and died for on the cross at Calvary.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9–10).

 

 

Murder and Its Source :: By Terry James

 

While we memorialize June 6 each year as D-Day, we think about all the honored dead killed in action as they invaded the beaches at Normandy and at other places. Adolf Hitler had been the cause of starting World War II with the invasion of Poland, and Japan had brought America into the conflict by attacking at Pearl Harbor. Thus was brought about the killing of millions throughout those horrific years of death and destruction.  

The murder of as many as 6 million Jews in the genocide of the Holocaust added to the numbers of the many millions who gave their lives to stop the evil that threatened to kill, destroy, or enslave the entire world.

Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini, and all those responsible for bringing about all the death and destruction are dead and gone. But the source of all death and destruction is alive and well at this very moment.

All we have to do to realize that the evil of murder and destruction continues is to consider the May 24 mass murders in Uvalde, Texas. It was the latest of a never-ending series of such shootings throughout America’s recent history. Nineteen young children and a teacher were shot and killed in their elementary school by an 18-year-old man who was thought to have mental issues exacerbated by bullying and hours spent dwelling on Internet maliciousness.

The result of Salvador Ramos’ descent into becoming the murderous shooter is chronicled here, in part:

The gunman who slaughtered 19 kids and two teachers at a Texas elementary school reportedly exhibited increasingly bizarre behavior leading up to the rampage – including cutting up his face with knives just “for fun,” friends said.

Gunman Salvador Ramos’ friend Santos Valdez Jr., 18, said the two had been close, playing video games and basketball regularly, until his friend’s behavior began to “deteriorate,” the Washington Post reported…

Valdez said he last interacted with Ramos just two hours before the attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Valdez also described how Ramos used to drive around with another pal and shoot people at random with a BB gun – and also egged people’s cars.

He said Ramos last year posted on social media images of automatic rifles that “he would have on his wish list” – and a few days ago, he posted photos of two rifles he referred to as “my gun pics,” the paper reported…

Friends and relatives also said Ramos had been bullied throughout middle school for a speech impediment – a stutter and lisp, according to the Washington Post

Ramos allegedly shot his grandmother before heading over to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with two assault rifles around 11:32 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to officials. (“Details emerge on Texas school shooter Salvador Ramos’ behavior before massacre,” by Yaron Steinbuch, NY Post, May 27, 2022)

No sooner had the story of the shooting broke than political entities making up the “get-rid-of-the-2nd-Amendment of the Constitution” began their rants. “Guns must be more strictly controlled because they kill children,” went the enraged rhetoric–same as always.

Members of the party of the anti-gun sort, like President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, immediately started proclaiming on camera that the murders of the children were attributable to guns, and to save future children’s lives, there must be more legislation and regulations against guns. They ranted that it was unconscionable that these children were murdered by guns, and said the “gun lobby” was responsible.

Their hypocrisy is what is unconscionable. These two politicians, so quick to go before the cameras to declare the tragedy of nineteen children murdered by guns, champion the same satanic ideology that say it is okay–even preferable—to murder more than 2,700 children each day in their mothers’ wombs. The “abortion lobby” is perfectly fine in their infanticide. It’s okay to murder children by abortion, but a travesty that nineteen children are murdered by guns.

The devil is alive and well and is the source of murder and destruction. According to His Word, God’s way of thinking puts this upside-down ideology espoused by the blustering politicians in the same category as that of mankind’s worst enemy.

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)