27 February 2015: I know this is an inherently dangerous thing to do, but I've been thinking, or rather, I've had thoughts come to me that I've had to consider fully. Here are a few of them.
What if the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39, commonly known as the 'War of Gog/Magog,' and the prophecy of Jeremiah 49-34-39, commonly known as 'Judgment on Elam' were the Lord's prophetic warning about the same event. What if Ezekiel was given the full prophetic picture the Lord wants us to know about in advance and Jeremiah 49:34-39 gives us the detailed picture that is simply a single verse found in Ezekiel 39:6a
"And I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the LORD."
What if those coastlands are the 1,520 miles of the Iranian coast a great portion of which was ancient Elam, on the northern side of the Persian Gulf. Prior to having this thought come to me I had thought that Iran would be militarily reduced through a brief but violent event such as Jeremiah has prophesied. Now as we move closer to the actual prophetic events it appears to me that they might both me with respect to the same prophetic event.
Most interpretations of Ezekiel 38/39 do not hold to a view where human armies and weapons destroy the confederation of Gog's allies who fall upon the mountains of Israel. No, on the contrary the prevailing interpretation is that God Himself directly intervenes here in order to reveal Himself to Israel as their Savior and magnify and sanctify Himself before the nations of the world.
What if there is a direct connection between these two verses where the Lord is speaking:
In context and in literal similarities, the possible connection here of these prophecies is something to be considered.Most interpretations of Ezekiel 38/39 do not hold to a view where human armies and weapons destroy the confederation of Gog's allies who fall upon the mountains of Israel. No, on the contrary the prevailing interpretation is that God Himself directly intervenes here in order to reveal Himself to Israel as their Savior and magnify and sanctify Himself before the nations of the world.
What if there is a direct connection between these two verses where the Lord is speaking:
"Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand." Ezekiel 39:3
"Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might." Jeremiah 49:35
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Highway 8 north of Kuwait City, February 1991
The next item is not so much a thought as it is a realization: despite the fact that US, British and other allies in the Middle East are attacking Islamic State targets in both Syria and Iraq, these are mere pinpricks. This so-called "Coalition" is not truly waging war against the Islamic State.
If the Coalition, led by the US and the UK were truly waging war against the Islamic State, then we would be seeing and hearing about sustained strikes against Islamic State targets by B-52, B1 and B2 bombers reaching out and touching them with napalm, fuel-air explosives (FAEs) and very heavy ordnance as was done by a real Coalition during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm; the desert highways in territory held by the Islamic State would look like Highway 8 running north out of Kuwait City in 1991.
Remember when the feared Iraqi Army of Saddam Hussein was surrendering to unarmed journalists and photographers and anyone passing by? That's what happens when your the enemy in open desert being fed a 'shock and awe' daily diet of heavy Coalition ordnance coming out of a clear blue sky and no amount of prayers to a false god can save you. That was war back then. This is a PR sham now.
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About Psalm 83, there are also some new interpretive thoughts swirling around. I am starting to think that the final action of this ongoing might not be as the first actions were in 1948, '67 and '73 that involved the armies of nation states such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt with support from 8 or 9 others. I'm thinking the final action will be about a confederated act of war that involves large formations of Islamic Jihadists attacking from Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and Sinai. A confederation that is, more or less, what we know right now as the Islamic State.
I've never been comfortable with the notion that Assur in Psalm 83:8 is a reference to modern-day Syria. As most know by now I believe this Assur literal in the text and refers to the area of Assur in Asaph's time, seen in the above image as circular purple-colored area; what was referred to during Operation Iraqi Freedom as "The Sunni Triangle." In 1076 BC the great Assyrian Empire collapsed after Tiglath-Pileser I's death, swiftly crumbling and falling backwards into a rump state where it had originated. The map above directly correlates to the period when Asaph lived and wrote Psalms.
Also seen in the map image above is the land inhabited by Israel at this same time in a light purple on both side of the Dead Sea. This is the Israel and the region that Asaph knew and is very likely how the Psalm 83 prophecy was framed. Arameans at this time controlled wide swaths of territory from Aram-Damascus eastwards to the modern-day Saudi Arabian border at the head of the Persian Gulf. Look closely and this territory almost resemble what the territory of the Islamic State look like today, give or take a wilayat or two.
The peoples and locations named by Asaph is Psalm 83:6-8 closely resemble in the physical and ideological sence what we see today in these same places controlled by Islamic jihadism in Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and with some strength coming to them from the Islamic State heartland of ancient Assur.
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The Middle East circa Asaph's time of 1000 BC
About Psalm 83, there are also some new interpretive thoughts swirling around. I am starting to think that the final action of this ongoing might not be as the first actions were in 1948, '67 and '73 that involved the armies of nation states such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt with support from 8 or 9 others. I'm thinking the final action will be about a confederated act of war that involves large formations of Islamic Jihadists attacking from Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and Sinai. A confederation that is, more or less, what we know right now as the Islamic State.
I've never been comfortable with the notion that Assur in Psalm 83:8 is a reference to modern-day Syria. As most know by now I believe this Assur literal in the text and refers to the area of Assur in Asaph's time, seen in the above image as circular purple-colored area; what was referred to during Operation Iraqi Freedom as "The Sunni Triangle." In 1076 BC the great Assyrian Empire collapsed after Tiglath-Pileser I's death, swiftly crumbling and falling backwards into a rump state where it had originated. The map above directly correlates to the period when Asaph lived and wrote Psalms.
Also seen in the map image above is the land inhabited by Israel at this same time in a light purple on both side of the Dead Sea. This is the Israel and the region that Asaph knew and is very likely how the Psalm 83 prophecy was framed. Arameans at this time controlled wide swaths of territory from Aram-Damascus eastwards to the modern-day Saudi Arabian border at the head of the Persian Gulf. Look closely and this territory almost resemble what the territory of the Islamic State look like today, give or take a wilayat or two.
The peoples and locations named by Asaph is Psalm 83:6-8 closely resemble in the physical and ideological sence what we see today in these same places controlled by Islamic jihadism in Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and with some strength coming to them from the Islamic State heartland of ancient Assur.
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Welcome to the new China
This segment of SITREP B2-15 takes us to the new China. Not the China we often and normally think of in the fearful terms of the "kings of the East" per the prophecies of The Revelation of Jesus Christ (more on that below). This is the new China that is rising up in leaps and bounds from within the Communist state founded by Mao Zedong. This is the China in which Father, Son and Holy Spirit are resident in Beijing!
I must first graciously thank our Brother-in-Christ, Lawrence of India, for sending me the research that I joyously poured through and then digested in order to write this long-planned segment. Brother Lawrence is an India-born academic who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Madras, Chennai, India, and is the Associate Professor of Strategic Studies and International Relations at Madras Christian College as well as being the Adjunct Research Fellow at the former Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, now known as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Thank you Lawrence!
Let's go the the video tape!
This segment of SITREP B2-15 takes us to the new China. Not the China we often and normally think of in the fearful terms of the "kings of the East" per the prophecies of The Revelation of Jesus Christ (more on that below). This is the new China that is rising up in leaps and bounds from within the Communist state founded by Mao Zedong. This is the China in which Father, Son and Holy Spirit are resident in Beijing!
I must first graciously thank our Brother-in-Christ, Lawrence of India, for sending me the research that I joyously poured through and then digested in order to write this long-planned segment. Brother Lawrence is an India-born academic who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Madras, Chennai, India, and is the Associate Professor of Strategic Studies and International Relations at Madras Christian College as well as being the Adjunct Research Fellow at the former Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, now known as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Thank you Lawrence!
Let's go the the video tape!
Some facts: The current conservative estimate is that there are 80 million born-again Christians, and that is a very, very conservative estimation because the evidence for a much larger number is found in the fact that China is being transformed before our eyes, and this change is transforming the global balance of power. As Lawrence has told me, there is a "silent revolution" occurring in China these days. As each week passes by thousands upon thousands of Chinese are confessing Jesus as their Lord and Savior; the sheer numbers of our new born-again brethren are increasing exponentially and will likely reach or exceed 160 million in a very few years. They say that by 2030, should we get to that year, China will be the largest Christian nation on earth. This is not to say that Communist persecution does not exist, it does, but the persecution is a symptom of the exponential growth that the control freaks in Being have feared for some time. But this also may be changing for the better very rapidly as well.
Did you know that the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province is the largest Bible-producing city on planet earth? Did you also know that the current communist government of China proudly boasts of this fact! What the Chinese government is also proud to reports is that 49 million of the 69 million Bibles produced in a year are for the Chinese market - in China. Nanjing also produces Bibles in 80 different languages destined for use in 70 different countries around the world. Here's another inescapable fact: there are more born-again Christians in China then there are members of the Communist Party. Tell me the atheist founders of modern China would not be rolling in their graves were that possible!
Yes, they would be, but then again, they would not recognize the China of today. The 40th anniversary of Mao's death rolls around on 9 September 2016. In those forty years China has transformed from an impoverished agrarian nation of about 800 million to an industrial market capitalized nation of 1.4 billion people. A little over a decade ago a Chinese government economist did a study of market economies with and without churches. The author of that study marveled during coast to coast on a tour of America and wondered about what was the key difference between the most prosperous material civilization in the history of human society and the China that he knew. After apples to apples comparisons in all categories imaginable the Chinese economist realized that America's strength, it's economic miracles and blessings rested in that fact that America was a nation of people of faith in God. The difference between China and America lie in the respective absence and presence of churches across the entire land of each. The economist realized that market economies and active churches filled with people of faith were at the heart of American success, and for China to repeat that success the answer was obvious.
I have always wondered about how in the Book of Revelation, chapter 16 which prophesies about the massive 200-million man army of the 'kings of East' which march westwards across Central Asia towards the River Euphrates which the 6th angel has dried up in preparation for their arrival. As discussed here previously, it is the Antichrist that this massive army from the east marches against. For certain our brethren Bride of Christ in China will be taken in the Harpazo, but it is and will be until that blessed day the rise of the Christian church in China that powers the free market economy making that massive army possible.