Who is “Gog” and Why he’s NOT the Beast of Daniel’s 70th Week

Collective Security Treaty Organization

Организация Договора о коллективной безопасности

Update 19 September 2013: Four years is a long time between updates, nevertheless, this item is back to the top of Eschatology Today with an update.

In my assessment the CSTO is about to kick itself into high gear due to the very recent events which pitted the CSTO military alliance against a faltering NATO alliance over the issue of chemical weapons use in the Syrian civil war. While the world may see that confrontation as one of Russia versus America, I see it as a CSTO versus NATO confrontation because the charters of these organizations view an attack upon one member as an attack upon all members who are then obligated to join in a common defense.

As a direct result of these recent events a CSTO Council and statutory bodies meeting will convene in Sochi, Russia on Monday morning, 23 September 2013 at which the member nations representatives will sign numerous documents and agree to the creation of a CSTO Joint Air Force. The CSTO Joint Air Force will complement the already existing CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CSTO CRRF). One week later, between October 1 and 4, these same CSTO members will reconvene in Yerevan, Armenia for further tightening of the alliance in all areas of military cooperation. 

The key military function of both meetings is the CSTO CRRF which as of yesterday morning began a large scale military exercise on the territory of member nation Belarus. The exercise is known as "Cooperation 2013." The "Cooperation 2013" exercise will continue through September 27, 2013 and includes the CSTO CRRF contingents from Armenia, Belarus, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

It is my assessment that the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force and its newly integrated Joint Air Force will be the forces that are prophesied to march against Israel in the near future during the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39. It is these forces which will be annihilated by God and buried by the people of Israel in the Valley of the Passengers (the Valley of Hamon-Gog) east of the Dead Sea.

See also:  The Prophetic Road to Revelation (Part IV): The War of Gog and Magog

  

02 October 2009: Armies of Gog, The Chief Prince of Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal Initiate Military Exercises
 

The Russian-led military alliance of seven former Soviet Republics known by the acronym CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), the counter-balance to the American-European NATO alliance, began large-scale military exercises today at the Matybulak training grounds in southern Kazakhstan.

The name given to this CSTO military force is "Collective Rapid Reaction Force" (CRRF). One of the CRRF's principle mission objectives is to wage war on Islamic insurgent groups on the territories of the member countries: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Just another nail in the coffin of the Gog is Antichrist shoehorned eisegesis.

14 September 2009: The overwhelmingly accepted Christian eschatological definition for the name Ezekiel 38 and 39 identified as “Gog” is that of a man who will be the chief prince or leader of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal and who is to come from the land of the Magog located far to the north of modern day Israel.

Eschatology Today and our sourced documents have provided the ancient historical records, themselves from additional multiple-sourced historical records, from which a firm eschatological conclusion has been achieved in determining that Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal are ethnically diverse nations which exist today within modern Russia to include the 46 oblasts, 21 republics, 4 autonomous okrugs, 9 krays, 2 federalized cities and 1 autonomous oblast of Russia; officially and internationally recognized as the Russian Federation, or within the increasingly totalitarian political confederation known as the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Let’s compare the above regarding “Gog” with my July 8, 2009 article “Origin of the Antichrist.”

A few excerpts of my research should suffice for this comparison.

“He (Antichrist) has always been an enigma, a man of mystery, prophesied to be of fierce countenance, a master of deceit and deception, of such unearthly evil power and charisma that by his mere presence all of mankind will be subdued and submit to his will.

The beast will be a man who ultimately will be wholly possessed by a demonic spirit ascended out of the abyss and identified by the name of Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek; a man of mind bending unconscionable evil destined to stand as Satan incarnate during Daniel's 70th Week. He is a man whose name John revealed in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 13 verse 18, would count to or calculate to the Greek alphabetical-numerical equivalent of χξϚ (chi-xi-stigma) or six-hundred, three-score and six. 666.”

Who among us is so bold as to declare, contrary to the Word of God in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, that the name of “Gog” must be given the same alpha-numeric value as the 666 assigned to the Antichrist? Only someone completely ignorant of the Lord’s admonition found in Revelation 22:18-19 would do so.

As I wrote and cited Scripture in the above article, all indications from the prophet Daniel are that the coming Antichrist would be modeled on his Biblical predecessor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a man of a definitive Greek-Macedonian bloodline; that he would possess a might that is not derived from his own power; that he would exalt himself above everything, including God and Christ, and yet in the end he would come to his end without human means, as revealed in Revelation 19:20-21:

“Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

To review what has already been covered in this blog, Gog comes from the land of Magog and is a prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. Gog is a man who is from an ethnic Russian origin. Gog is killed in battle in Israel and buried in Israel in a mass grave in what will become known as the Valley of Hamon Gog. Gog has no side-kick or accomplice such as the False Prophet.

In stark contrast to the fate of Gog, the Antichrist is indwelt by a demonic spirit from the Abyss known as Abaddon/Apollyon. It is my absolute conviction that Daniel's prophecy informs us in no uncertain terms that the coming Antichrist will specifically arise from a Greek or Hellenic ancestry; that he will be a direct descendant of the Biblical Javan via one of his sons whose progeny populate Europe and most of the nations of the West. In his defeat Antichrist and his False Prophet are captured by Jesus Christ and are immediately “cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” This fate is entirely and wholly different than that of the human followers of Antichrist who are “killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of” the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OR LORDS, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The differences between Gog and Antichrist are exceptional differences. They are even more exceptional than the brief synopsis provided in this article. However, even these brief exceptional differences cannot be overlooked by anyone unless they are conducting eschatological studies in a manner not unlike the locomotive ability of some surface skimming water strider.

UPDATED EXEGESIS: The ultimate proof that Gog cannot possibly be one and the same as the Antichrist is found in the Biblical fact that Gog and his armies are IMMEDIATELY UNSUCCESSFUL in their invasion of Israel. Almighty God will personally see to that. On the other hand, the Antichrist WILL BE SUCCESSFUL and will stand in the Temple declaring himself to be God. Put another way, since Gog will be dead and buried in the Valley of Hamon Gog it will be literally impossible for him to stand in the Temple much less have an image of himself placed there. Therefore Gog cannot possibly be the Antichrist.