 |
| Putin and his generals at the National Defense Control Center, Moscow |
Update 17 December 2015: A bit of a history lesson is now necessary to understand why the current situation in Syria exists, and how it was as predictable as the fall of Iraq into the Iranian sphere, the rise of the Islamic State: A lack of vision, leadership and willingness to apply the ultimate tool and force multiplier of foreign policy. To look at this in hindsight is like looking at a replay of a chess match in which one of the players is deliberately playing to lose.
We woke up yesterday to see that the US-led coalition supporting so-called moderate Sunni jihadist rebels against the Ba'athist regime of Bashar al-Assad had surrendered its very raison d'etre with the sudden announcement that the Obama Administration had abandoned its policy position that Bashar al-Assad must leave power. How did this come about?
In the latter half of 2013 when Obama threatened to bomb Syria (i.e. start a war) because al-Assad had possession of and was using chemical WMD against the Sunni jihadist rebels. Obama stated he could launch this war against Bashar al-Assad's Syria without Congressional approval. It was a bluff. U.S. allies in Great Britain knew it from the get-go and so did the French. Absent any U.S. leadership this world-class ruse quickly fell on its face without so much as a whimper.
The reason it did was the continuing effect of Obama's cut and run from the nearly won counter-terrorist war against the remnant Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). That cut and run retreat from victory was on full display. Within a very few months of the U.S. military retreat from Iraq the terrorists of AQI became the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and launched a blitz of conquest gaining vast territories and resources in both countries.
To the north the Obama bluff resulted in blatant Russian aggression and the rapid military conquest of Crimea from Ukraine, and the continuing to this day Russian war of aggression that is seeking to dismember southern Ukraine from the rest of the country.
In all of this there was not one scintilla of American leadership or pushback that amounted to anything approaching serious military or economic consequences for either of these enemies. Sunni terrorists were free to create a terrorist state, the essential requirement of Sunni eschatological belief - a Caliphate. To crown this infamous achievement, Obama then put up the false front of negotiations with Iran and Russia and achieved his goal of making Iran a nuclear weapons power. He essentially gave the Sunni a Caliphate and the Iranian-Mahdi hastening twelvers the Bomb.
In the face of such fecklessness the Russians now made manifest what Barack Hussein Obama had bluffed at two years previously - they put their combat power on the ground in Syria, in the skies, and on the ocean approaches in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and covered it with an anti-aircraft missile shield that has no bearing whatsoever in any conflict with the Islamic State because it does not have an air force or missile force. Moreover, the Russians also have a nuclear weapons umbrella with which to defend what they have achieved in the Levant.
Can you now see where this is all leading? Does the greater Middle East now not have the essential driver for and catalyst to bring about war on a scale never before visited upon these lands? Do you now see the enabler of flood-like Bible prophecy fulfillment that exists from southern Europe to northern Africa to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian Ocean? And there is tiny but nuclear-armed Israel standing in the midst of it all.
14 December 2015: What I've flagged as an inherently dangerous situation in the Middle East grows more ominous with each passing day. If these SITREPs have not made the situation perfectly clear up to this point, one can only repeat that the I&W are that Russian forces in Syria have less to do with fighting the Islamic State and more to do with confronting the US-led Coalition and NATO head-on.
Islamic State has no air force in Syria or Iraq. They have flight training simulators in the heart of their Wilayat Tripolitania (i.e. Sirte, and western Libya) but those assets will be soon be scrap metal due to imminent airstrikes from French and British aircraft. So what drives Russia's deployment of additional top-of-the-line Su-34 'Fullback' bombers and Su-30 'Flanker-C' and the launching of Kalibr cruise missiles from a submerged Kilo-class submarine in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; the deployment gift of of T-90MS 'Tagil' Main Battle Tanks to the Syrian Army 4th Division, and regular flights over Iraqi airspace of Tu-160 'Blackjack' enroute to targets in Syria?
All of this Putin muscle-flexing of last week is a show specifically intended for NATO eyes. This week These Russian forces have an additional tasking order. On the direct order of Putin to the National Defense Control Center, led by Russian Army Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov, in Moscow this past Friday a shoot to kill directive was issued. This order is a direct warning to NATO that any detected threat, even the slightest action deemed to be a provocative threat against Russian forces anywhere in the region, will be fired upon with extreme prejudice and without hesitation. This is no FRAGO from Moscow, this is a direct order that any perceived threat is to be destroyed immediately. While some will attribute this threat as being directed solely at Turkey, the fact is that since Turkey is a member of NATO and is covered by the collective defense provision of Article V of the NATO Charter, any attack by Russia on Turkey will be viewed as an attack upon all of the NATO allies.
Try not to blink, or you might miss what happens next.
9 December 2015: We're now seeing in the media the first public reports of what I first predicted one month ago (9 November 2015) would occur (now highlighted in yellow below) regarding the potential coming from Valdimir Putin of RUSSIAN tactical nuclear weapons becoming involved in the war against the Islamic State. Russia fired Kalibr 3N-14/T SLCM cruise missiles (NATO Name: SS-N-30A) against Islamic State from a submerged submarine (the Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine Rostov-on-Don) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Along with this announcement from the Kremlin by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin added that the Kalibr can also be armed with nuclear warheads.This means, as if it is not obvious enough, that nuclear weapons are present within the Syrian war zone. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a banner head line for corporate global media in the next day or so, but I won't be holding my breath in anticipation of it.
29 November 2015: An unconfirmed report of extremely low credibility that has been picked up by some western media is claiming that Vladimir Putin will deploy 150,000 newly drafted Russian soldiers into Syria to destroy the Islamic State. The source for this claim is an Iranian website, Alalam.ir. Eschatology Today located this report at the VeteransToday website this morning.
We woke up yesterday to see that the US-led coalition supporting so-called moderate Sunni jihadist rebels against the Ba'athist regime of Bashar al-Assad had surrendered its very raison d'etre with the sudden announcement that the Obama Administration had abandoned its policy position that Bashar al-Assad must leave power. How did this come about?
In the latter half of 2013 when Obama threatened to bomb Syria (i.e. start a war) because al-Assad had possession of and was using chemical WMD against the Sunni jihadist rebels. Obama stated he could launch this war against Bashar al-Assad's Syria without Congressional approval. It was a bluff. U.S. allies in Great Britain knew it from the get-go and so did the French. Absent any U.S. leadership this world-class ruse quickly fell on its face without so much as a whimper.
The reason it did was the continuing effect of Obama's cut and run from the nearly won counter-terrorist war against the remnant Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). That cut and run retreat from victory was on full display. Within a very few months of the U.S. military retreat from Iraq the terrorists of AQI became the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and launched a blitz of conquest gaining vast territories and resources in both countries.
To the north the Obama bluff resulted in blatant Russian aggression and the rapid military conquest of Crimea from Ukraine, and the continuing to this day Russian war of aggression that is seeking to dismember southern Ukraine from the rest of the country.
In all of this there was not one scintilla of American leadership or pushback that amounted to anything approaching serious military or economic consequences for either of these enemies. Sunni terrorists were free to create a terrorist state, the essential requirement of Sunni eschatological belief - a Caliphate. To crown this infamous achievement, Obama then put up the false front of negotiations with Iran and Russia and achieved his goal of making Iran a nuclear weapons power. He essentially gave the Sunni a Caliphate and the Iranian-Mahdi hastening twelvers the Bomb.
In the face of such fecklessness the Russians now made manifest what Barack Hussein Obama had bluffed at two years previously - they put their combat power on the ground in Syria, in the skies, and on the ocean approaches in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and covered it with an anti-aircraft missile shield that has no bearing whatsoever in any conflict with the Islamic State because it does not have an air force or missile force. Moreover, the Russians also have a nuclear weapons umbrella with which to defend what they have achieved in the Levant.
Can you now see where this is all leading? Does the greater Middle East now not have the essential driver for and catalyst to bring about war on a scale never before visited upon these lands? Do you now see the enabler of flood-like Bible prophecy fulfillment that exists from southern Europe to northern Africa to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian Ocean? And there is tiny but nuclear-armed Israel standing in the midst of it all.
14 December 2015: What I've flagged as an inherently dangerous situation in the Middle East grows more ominous with each passing day. If these SITREPs have not made the situation perfectly clear up to this point, one can only repeat that the I&W are that Russian forces in Syria have less to do with fighting the Islamic State and more to do with confronting the US-led Coalition and NATO head-on.
Islamic State has no air force in Syria or Iraq. They have flight training simulators in the heart of their Wilayat Tripolitania (i.e. Sirte, and western Libya) but those assets will be soon be scrap metal due to imminent airstrikes from French and British aircraft. So what drives Russia's deployment of additional top-of-the-line Su-34 'Fullback' bombers and Su-30 'Flanker-C' and the launching of Kalibr cruise missiles from a submerged Kilo-class submarine in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; the deployment gift of of T-90MS 'Tagil' Main Battle Tanks to the Syrian Army 4th Division, and regular flights over Iraqi airspace of Tu-160 'Blackjack' enroute to targets in Syria?
 |
| Russian T-90 MBT |
All of this Putin muscle-flexing of last week is a show specifically intended for NATO eyes. This week These Russian forces have an additional tasking order. On the direct order of Putin to the National Defense Control Center, led by Russian Army Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov, in Moscow this past Friday a shoot to kill directive was issued. This order is a direct warning to NATO that any detected threat, even the slightest action deemed to be a provocative threat against Russian forces anywhere in the region, will be fired upon with extreme prejudice and without hesitation. This is no FRAGO from Moscow, this is a direct order that any perceived threat is to be destroyed immediately. While some will attribute this threat as being directed solely at Turkey, the fact is that since Turkey is a member of NATO and is covered by the collective defense provision of Article V of the NATO Charter, any attack by Russia on Turkey will be viewed as an attack upon all of the NATO allies.
Try not to blink, or you might miss what happens next.
9 December 2015: We're now seeing in the media the first public reports of what I first predicted one month ago (9 November 2015) would occur (now highlighted in yellow below) regarding the potential coming from Valdimir Putin of RUSSIAN tactical nuclear weapons becoming involved in the war against the Islamic State. Russia fired Kalibr 3N-14/T SLCM cruise missiles (NATO Name: SS-N-30A) against Islamic State from a submerged submarine (the Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine Rostov-on-Don) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Along with this announcement from the Kremlin by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin added that the Kalibr can also be armed with nuclear warheads.This means, as if it is not obvious enough, that nuclear weapons are present within the Syrian war zone. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a banner head line for corporate global media in the next day or so, but I won't be holding my breath in anticipation of it.
29 November 2015: An unconfirmed report of extremely low credibility that has been picked up by some western media is claiming that Vladimir Putin will deploy 150,000 newly drafted Russian soldiers into Syria to destroy the Islamic State. The source for this claim is an Iranian website, Alalam.ir. Eschatology Today located this report at the VeteransToday website this morning.
My assessment is that this report has extremely low credibility as written due to the fact that newly conscripted Russian soldiers are not formed into new fighting battalions and brigades. What occurs is that platoon and company-sized units of these draftees are inserted into existing units to replace an equal number of previously conscripted troops who are being discharged after their one-year term of service. Put another way, draftees fresh out of a three-month long tactical training boot camp would constitute a combat ineffective fighting force if they were summarily deposited into an ongoing war on a foreign land. Due to the accelerated nature of their boot camp these draftees have not trained to repair their fighting equipment in non-combat situations, much less in a fog of war, heat of battle environment. Thus a large number would probably be chewed up in pretty short order and unit combat effectiveness would nose dive. Therefore, the Iranian origin report is at best a rumor, and most likely intentional disinformation (i.e. they know our eschatology as well as we know theirs).
The current reality is that Russia's army is slowly being transformed into a professional fighting force, with its best units consisting of all-volunteer careerist troops. These are the combat brigades and types of troops that Russia would deploy if it were serious about annihilating Islamic State. Russian combat brigades would also have to enter the battlefield in concert and strategic coordination with a large number of American, Turkish, Jordanian, British, French and Iraqi combat brigades positioned in Turkey, Iraq and Jordan in order to bottle-up, cut-off and kill the Islamic State in a full-scale campaign across the deserts of Syria and Iraq. That is what a serious anti-Islamic State war would look like and the best chance of that happening would be an accord being reached at what is supposed to be a global climate summit of world leaders in Paris, France beginning tomorrow.
27 November 2015: The shoot-down of a Russian Su-24M bomber by a NATO member (Muslim Turkey) resulting in the killing of its pilot by Syrian jihadists (the navigator/weapons officer has been rescued), followed quickly by the shooting down of a Mi-8 SAR (Search and Rescue) helicopter and resultant killing of a Russian marine by U.S.-armed Muslim jihadists have to be linked together as a singular event in the mind of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. This event has to have been to impetus to cause the immediate change in the military dynamic and order of battle for Russian forces deployed in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. I assess with high probability and high risk that the first tangible evidence of the change in the military dynamic and order of battle will come in the form of hostile fire coming from the Russian missile cruiser Moskva. This ship has essentially been placed on orders from Moscow to shoot first and ignore all questions later.
The second change in the dynamic and order of battle is far more ominous. It will likely be the introduction of tactical nuclear weapons being transferred from storage in Crimea to the Russian flotilla in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Basel al-Assad Air Base (a/k/a Hmeimim Air Base) near Jableh from which the doomed Su-22M took of on its last combat sortie. The introduction of Russian tactical nukes into this Middle Eastern war zone is something I put with much aforethought into the comment section of SITREP E2-15 on the morning of 9 November 2015. Understandably, no one touched that comment with a ten-foot pole. Yet here we are two weeks later and the introduction of those Russian tactical nukes into the Syrian battlefield is very much a part of the new dynamic and order of battle.
Russia has announced the deployment to Syria of its S-400 Triumf (NATO: SA-21 Growler) SAM system. The S-400 Triumf is an upgraded version of the S-300PMU/3 SAM system. Details are in the image above. Awaiting Israel's and NATO's response to this deployment.
Speaking of Israel, there is a Russian-Israeli military understanding that has been published in Israeli media (JPost, etc.). As published this understanding holds that Israel Defense Forces will not shoot down Russian air force aircraft conducting strike missions in southern Syria (i.e. Dera'a) and which might accidentally enter Israeli airspace over the Golan region. According to a quoted IDF spokesperson, the lines separating IAF operational areas and Russian operational areas are clearly defined according to the understanding, and at least from the Israeli perspective, Russia is not seen as an enemy of Israel. Therefore the Russians are free to conduct their anti-terrorist airstrikes in Syria and Israel is free to conduct its anti-Hezbollah and anti-Iran airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon. In my opinion, this current understanding probably has the life expectancy of a soap bubble blown by a child's toy and will likely burst upon the first item of Russian airdropped munition which "accidentally" hits an Israeli position on the Golan. So, we'll wait and see as this war progresses.
A Couple of Other Odds and Ends:
According to a Washington Free Beacon staff report of 25 NOV15, the JCPOA nuclear agreement between the P5+1 nations and the Islamic Republic of Iran is not legally binding because President Obama did not require them to do so in order to bring the agreement into effect. In essence, and according to the Obama Administration via the U.S. State Department, the JCPOA is nothing more than a verbal agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. For those who have suggested that Jeremiah 49:34-39 has been preempted by the JCPOA nuclear agreement, you might want to reconsider your viewpoint - it is based upon nothing.
The Atlantic published an interesting article on 24NOV15 titled "The War on ISIS: What's the Endgame?" The second sentence of the article caught my eye:
And speaking of Iran, it has been confirmed that the Ayatollah's right-hand man and commanding officer for global terror operations via the IRGC Qods Force, 58-year old General Qassem Soleimani, was wounded in the ongoing battle southwest of Aleppo, Syria. Several reports have indicated that his wounding came as a result of a strike by a U.S.-made BGM-71E TOW anti-tank missile (as referenced in SITREP D10:15) and he was the principal of an immediate medical evacuation (Medevac) to a hospital in Tehran. This is just a step towards justice due to Soleimani for his role in the hundreds of American troops killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan by weapons Soleimani deployed on those battlefields.
Thus far the name and rank of Soleimani's IRGC-QF replacement on the Syrian battlefield is as yet unknown. The BGM-71E TOW missile also destroyed the Russian Mi-8 helicopter that was forced to land after being hit by groundfire during its SAR mission to recover the pilot and navigator of the downed Russian Su-24 bomber. Given the speed of the TOW strike and destruction the Mi-8 the proximity of the opposing forces to each other was within a couple hundred yards and clearly line-of-sight.
A Couple of Other Odds and Ends:
According to a Washington Free Beacon staff report of 25 NOV15, the JCPOA nuclear agreement between the P5+1 nations and the Islamic Republic of Iran is not legally binding because President Obama did not require them to do so in order to bring the agreement into effect. In essence, and according to the Obama Administration via the U.S. State Department, the JCPOA is nothing more than a verbal agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. For those who have suggested that Jeremiah 49:34-39 has been preempted by the JCPOA nuclear agreement, you might want to reconsider your viewpoint - it is based upon nothing.
The Atlantic published an interesting article on 24NOV15 titled "The War on ISIS: What's the Endgame?" The second sentence of the article caught my eye:
"Today, the United States is contemplating a major expansion of its military campaign against ISIS. Driven partly by faith that the end times are imminent, ISIS has stepped up expeditionary attacks outside its caliphate, including the bombing of a Russian jet over Egypt, a suicide attack in Lebanon, and coordinated assaults in Paris."If you follow that "end times" link embedded in the quote above it'll take you to another article from The Atlantic published in March 2015. That article makes clear that the Sunni eschatological theology underpinning the Islamic State is identical to that which we have known about the Twelver-Hojjatieh Shi'a clerics ruling in the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past 36 years and counting. The raison d'etre for both is that they believe they are "a harbinger of—and headline player in—the imminent end of the world." This is the bottom-line reason why Sunni Muslims have flocked from all over the world into Syria to join the Islamic State, receive military trained and return to their home countries, many disguised as "refugees" in order to execute attacks for the above stated purpose. The only difference between the Sunni jihadists and Shi'a jihadists and what keeps them at each others throats is that they each consider the other to be apostates of Islam. The Shi'a have their al-Mahdi-hastening Ayatollah Khamenei and his Twelver-Hojjatieh regime, and the Islamic State has their Caliph Ibrahim who is the al-Mahdi.
And speaking of Iran, it has been confirmed that the Ayatollah's right-hand man and commanding officer for global terror operations via the IRGC Qods Force, 58-year old General Qassem Soleimani, was wounded in the ongoing battle southwest of Aleppo, Syria. Several reports have indicated that his wounding came as a result of a strike by a U.S.-made BGM-71E TOW anti-tank missile (as referenced in SITREP D10:15) and he was the principal of an immediate medical evacuation (Medevac) to a hospital in Tehran. This is just a step towards justice due to Soleimani for his role in the hundreds of American troops killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan by weapons Soleimani deployed on those battlefields.
Thus far the name and rank of Soleimani's IRGC-QF replacement on the Syrian battlefield is as yet unknown. The BGM-71E TOW missile also destroyed the Russian Mi-8 helicopter that was forced to land after being hit by groundfire during its SAR mission to recover the pilot and navigator of the downed Russian Su-24 bomber. Given the speed of the TOW strike and destruction the Mi-8 the proximity of the opposing forces to each other was within a couple hundred yards and clearly line-of-sight.
So, as we can probably all discern with relative ease, the deception is rampant and it is global, and it is something that we have to deal with until the moment we are commanded by Jesus, with the trump and voice of an archangel to "Come up hither!" (1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Revelation 4:1)
Sean, in the previous sit-rep you posted in the comments that you weren't sure that turkey is part of the Ezekiel 38 & 39 invasion. I thought Gomer and togarmah were turkey. I realize that turkey is sunni, but won't psalm 83 drastically change a lot of the dynamics?
ReplyDeleteSean why do you feel confident that Russia would up the ante so significantly? More importantly, do you think that Putin so disrespects Obama that he would risk using even a tactical nuke?
ReplyDeletehartdawg,
ReplyDeleteWhat form does the fourth kingdom have in Daniel 2?
Is the image of the world's kingdoms not standing on two legs, upon two feet with a total of ten toes of dissimilar miry clay and iron?
As a graphic representation of Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Macedonian-Greek and Roman Empires, did this image in the dream not straddle both sides of the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits that divide Europe from Asia?
So NATO is today and the empire of the Antichrist will be during the 70th Week. In fact, I believe after the pre-70th Week wars are concluded, the empire of the Antichrist will very closely resemble the geographic expanse seen in THIS MAP
Notice how Turkey is a critical part of the eastern leg, foot and toes.
I think Magog and its confederation is Russia north of the Caucasus and the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia. As I have pointed out many times before, Central Asia is where the modern-day Turks of Turkey (Seljuk Turks) originated. Prior to 1000-1100 AD Turkey (Asia Minor) was still the core of the Byzantine Empire. The Turkic Ottoman Empire would not come into existence until the period just prior to 1400 AD - or 600 years ago.
Gomer was also in the far north, the progenitor of the Celtic family of peoples, Togarmah was nearby and the progenitor of the Armenian peoples, both of whom are located today north of Turkey in Russia's Caucasus region. Magog and his allies, except for Libya, Sudan and Iran, most closely resemble the territory of the former Soviet Union - of which Turkey was never a part.
DuncanMc,
ReplyDeleteEarlier this morning I responded to this same question to another group of brothers. I will repeat that answer below:
"Lawrence,
a) How would Russian deployment of nukes to Hmeimim Air Base mark a significant escalation?
There have been an estimated 50 to 90 of the type B61 nuclear weapons deployed at the NATO Incirlik Air Base for the past decade and longer. Incirlik Air Base in Turkey is closer to the Russian-controlled Hmeimim Air Base at Jableh, Syria than Damascus is.
And these aren't just American nuclear weapons - they are NATO nuclear weapons which are fully shared with our NATO ally Turkey. Under NATO war planning Turkey would be expected to deliver some of these nukes to their intended targets in the event of war with Russia or Iran.
Russian deployment of its own tactical nukes to the Moskva missile cruiser or Hmeimim Air Base in Syria would effectively (from the Russian military perspective) return balance to the tactical nuclear weapons deployed in this region.
My original comment in SITREP E2-15: Bible Prophecy and the War in Syria Part II of 9 November was:
I am posting this comment of mine here for the moment and not in the main body of the SITREP because at this point it is only speculation based upon some 'chatter' I've seen this morning.
I will put this in the form of a question to be considered because while it is within the realm of possibilities there is nothing yet to confirm this is an imminent reality.
What if Putin determines to do this and gets Bashar al-Assad's acquiescence to strike at the heart of the Islamic State in Raqqa with a tactical nuclear weapon**?
**A tactical nuke could be a bomb dropped by one of the Su-34 Fullback bombers now flying out of Bassel al-Assad Air Base near Jableh, or it could be a cruise missile warhead fired from a ship offshore. It would have a yield of between 100 to 200kT. It's fallout would be limited to an ellipse entirely within Syrian territory.
Bashar al-Assad has no qualms with the mass murder of his own people if it is a means to save his own hide and prolong his Ba'athist regime, so this is why I think a Russian retaliation of this sort for the downing of its commercial passenger jet is within the realm of possibilities.
And in consideration of what Bible prophecy says lies ahead in this war, and for Iran, it seems to fit as a possible catalyst for the foretold disaster which lies in the near future."
Sean,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned to me (previously) that “war between NATO and Russia will be an integral part of that process, right up through Ezekiel 38/39 and into the 70th Week.”
How do a possible NATO/Russia war and the Ezekiel 38/39 battle link together? What is the process you mentioned? My assumptions are the following so far. If a nuclear war between NATO and Russia happened, none of us would survive. Even without the use of nuclear weapons Europe could become a battle field (wedged between the US and Russia) and our European countries could turn into ruinous heaps. In case ISIS terrorists (which are in Europe) join in, it will be even more gruesome. I don’t know who and what will remain for the AC to rule over if all of that happens. Europe could be destroyed in every sense; socially, militarily and economically and I guess the US won’t come out of it well either. (I’m still talking about the non-nuclear version.) Plus Russia has China and Iran as allies so… If this war breaks out this year or in the not too distant future, whole continents could be “destroyed” (in the same social/economic/military sense) and it would be high time for the AC to appear but the “final showdown” of Psalm 83 and especially the Ezekiel 38/39 battle seem years away. I don’t see it clearly how this whole situation is going to play out, I wish I was wrong about the things I wrote there. Could you please help me with this? I’m sorry for asking so many questions, I’d just like to know, for what should we brace ourselves. I assume you have some ideas and predictions of possible scenarios.
Nora
Nora, That would be an exceptionally long and detailed response to your questions. I would suggest that reading my multi-part series The Prophetic Road to Revelation (pinned on the right-hand side of the main page) would be a good place to start. There are a couple of items there that address your questions.
ReplyDeleteSean, Do you know if any Iranian navy vessels are in the Mediterranean too. Back in a march Sitrep you mentioned an article that Elam (Iran) had attained several nukes already. With the recent excercise that Iran did "liberating " the temple mount, Jeremiah 49:34-39 could come about in the midst of this present escalation if they also attempted to launch a nuke. I'm not sure if they have acquired that capability yet. This would cause Israel to be proactive in preventing such a scenerio.
ReplyDeleteLike you said back in March...."Each of these things is like the movement of the minute hand on the Lord's prophetic clock."
The will of man cannot resist the will of God and what He has declared will take place. We a truly blessed to live in this hour and play a part in the fulfillment of God's promise to the church and Israel.
hartdawg,
ReplyDeleteOne additional item I forgot to mention: The Sunni Muslims of Turkey hate Russians with an unbridled passion.
Funny you should mention that, I never knew that fact until just a few days ago. I was watching prophecy watchers with gary stearman (I think the guest was avi lipkon, I forgot how to spell his name) and he mentioned that the Russian muslims hate putin and the government. This is the second time in a few days that I heard this.
DeleteI'm going to have to restudy the nations and the maps. Have you noticed that in some of these books and study bibles the maps are starting to differ? I saw one that identified magog as turkey....which is clearly not true
Thank you for clearing that up sir. I think I understand the situation better now. Putin may very well see the opportunity to lay his marker with no real fear of Obama (NATO) responding in any meaningful way. If Raqqa were razed in such a way I think the entire world would pause and re evaluate priorities. I am indeed thankful that our God is in complete control.
ReplyDeleteDuncanMc,
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite so sure the world will care if the Islamic State capital city Raqqa is razed by tactical nukes. The Russians have done exactly the same via conventional munitions to the southern Syrian city Nawa, pop. 80,000 and a nearby town of 25,000, and are in the process of doing similar to Daraa; not to mention what the world has done to counter the Russian military seizure of Crimea and other parts of southern Ukraine.
As I see all of this unfolding at present I am struck at how it is very eerily similar to what Ezekiel 38:13 prophesies about the response to that yet utterly doomed future military adventure.
What we see today may well be a prologue to what occurs at that time and just before God intervenes for His Holy purposes.
Consider: Would (or will) God allow the annihilation of Raqqa and the Islamic State and then intervene as His prophetic word states to save Israel and thereby fulfill the prophecy found in Ezekiel 38:14-23 and Ezekiel 39:1-8?
It's positively mind-expanding to think about these things.
hartdawg,
ReplyDeleteThere is a volume of dated prophetic interpretations and their specific details which are being much more refined and identified as they come into clearer focus. This is what makes my little world go 'round, LOL!
I'll check the series, thanks!
ReplyDeleteNora
Sean,
ReplyDeleteI was out walking today on one of the last warm days of the fall season, and passing me in the opposite direction was a funeral procession.
And it hit me that if time is as short as we think it is, most of us won't even get funerals!
Mark3210,
ReplyDeleteThat's good news! I never wanted to be at my funeral anyway. AND, we won't have
to worry about how many people are there or not there, ha ha. I'm going to try
and really enjoy this "Christ"mas Season with family and friends. Only God knows
if we have next year.
Lawrence,
ReplyDeleteYour comment with the Facebook link is a dead page. Apparently it was removed or deleted.
However, I have been tracking Russian Black Sea Fleet naval movements south through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits into the Aegean Sea and on into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The most recent arrival is the 30-year old Ropucha-1 class assault ship Yamal (Hull #156) of the Black Sea Fleet 197th Assault Ship Brigade. This class has the 'clam shell' doors on the bow which open up to off load armor on a beach head. A typical load out would consist of 5 MBTs, 6 BTRs and 340 troops.
Interesting to note is that this ship is one of the 54 surface combatant ships that Russia seized from the Ukraine during the invasion and annexation of Crimea last year.
I suppose the Yamal is carrying a typical load out of armored vehicles and troops to the beach just west of Hmeimim Air Base, north of Jableh, Syria.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this update on Russian Black Sea Fleet naval movements south. The movement of the LPDs and expeditionary warships confirms the incremental buildup.
How long does it take the armor for a 150,000 force (roughly ten divisions) as Russia claims would now be deployed into the region?
Air transportation of these forces would take a very very long time, so that means surface naval transportation to be soon docking in Latakia, Tartous and even the beachheads along the Syrian Mediterranean.
Hosting this mammoth force would require colossal logistics and POL supplies, besides the usual food, water, ammunition and other logistics.
The query of mine is, what impact a nuke on Damascus would leave on this proposed force deployment? assuming the nuking of Damascus could have radiation contained within the suburbs of Damascus.
OR
Is this deployment news a mere propaganda ploy?
As you have mentioned earlier, that Russia would come in later with a massive air-expeditionary and naval expeditionary strike force along with the Gog-Magog Coalition providing the bulk of Turkish-Iranian-Sudanese-Ethiopian ground forces?
So we would see the Psalm 83 War in the interlude?
I have been reading Foxbats Over Dimona by Isabella Ginor & Gideon Remez in hard copy. electronic version (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UXzTs62vaNRmAYWHrYGpjg_B5ctiDuwAYcCHkPRJVtE/edit) There is Chapter 6 that talks about the operation plans of the Soviet Naval Infantry trying to mount an amphibious assault on Israel targeting Dimona (Israel's nuclear installations)
Just that I was seeing what pattern the Russians would adopt for their future colossal invasion of Israel that would end them with a remnant of 1/6th of their original size and strength.
Awaiting the Harpazo! Praying for Israel
Maranatha
Lawrence
Lawrence,
ReplyDeletePlease see the update posted at 7:30 AM EST today. It deals specifically with the basics of your initial questions.
In theory, a Russian deployment of 150,000 boots onto the coast of Syria would take several months.
Here's a brief history of the war in the Middle East from 1990 to the Present.
The US put five hundred forty thousand boots on the ground in Kuwait for the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War (Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm) in an expedited movement halfway around the world which took four full months to accomplish.
In total seven hundred thousand coalition troops faced off on Saudi Arabian soil against 300,000 Iraqi regular troops and Republican Guard divisions in Kuwait. Once the ground op began this force killed Saddam's divisions in just about 100 hours of combat. In total this operation was 7 months in duration (Aug 1990 - February 1991).
But that was not the end of the war, and an uneasy armistice lasted until 1998 when Operation Desert Fox began a recommencement of limited hostilities. This gradually morphed into Operation Iraqi Freedom which commenced in March 2003 and continued until December 2011.
Obama's ill-advised unilateral withdrawal of US forces from Iraq resulted in the Sunni terrorists of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which in 2006 had become the Islamic State in Iraq (IQI) being able to reconstitute themselves across the border in Syria and in extreme recesses of western Iraq to become the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/Levant (ISIS/ISIL). In the absence of any credible military opposition during 2012-13 from Syria or Iraq the forces of ISIS/ISIL took virtually all of eastern Syria and western Iraq to become the Islamic State in 2014.
Now entering the last month of 2015, and after a year of a largely ineffective air campaign, the Middle Eastern war which began with Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 has festered into a potential basis for a world war.
This is the potential situation that the Twelver-Hojjatieh regime in Iran has been working towards - a global conflagration, so their eagerness to announce a Russian invasion of 150,000 troops into Syria is precisely attuned to their eschatological expectations, and much of which they have done their utmost to bring to self-fulfillment in the arming of Lebanese Hezbollah and HAMAS in Gaza. As we all know, Syria is a side-show, and Israel is the prime objective.
So, tell me, can we now see that began in Iraq during 1990 is leading directly to the fulfillment of inerrant Bible prophecy and the coming 6th Trumpet future release of the four demonic angels bound at the Euphrates River?
Sean,
ReplyDeleteYour Sitrep and comments hear are succinct and very informative. There are not many Internet sites that lay out the history of these wars so clearly. Thank you!.
So many sites either hype up the situation or speculate beyond what God's word declares.
Your diligence is much appreciated by many.
Thanks jmoll106, much appreciated!
DeleteSo are you going to comment and post on the outcome of this coming summit of world leader in France tomorrow when it's over? I'm curious if anything will come of it besides just a lot of talk
ReplyDeleteHartdawg,
DeleteGiven everything that has occurred in the past few weeks I am certain there will be a strong military aspect to the climate summit, and that is what I will comment on.
In the final two sentences of today's update where I wrote...
ReplyDelete"Russian combat brigades would also have to enter the battlefield in concert and strategic coordination with a large number of American, Turkish, Jordanian, British, French and Iraqi combat brigades positioned in Turkey, Iraq and Jordan in order to bottle-up, cut-off and kill the Islamic State in a full-scale campaign across the deserts of Syria and Iraq. That is what a serious anti-Islamic State war would look like and the best chance of that happening would be an accord being reached at what is supposed to be a global climate summit of world leaders in Paris, France beginning tomorrow.Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’"
It just might turn out that what has long been interpreted in verse 13 up to this point in time to be a very meek response to such a large airborne invasion of a Middle East finally at peace, is exactly what some of the partners of the anti-Islamic State alliance would say to their assumed military partners who are caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of the "Gog of Magog' invasion force.
Is verse 13 not akin to what one neighbor would say to another neighbor who suddenly appeared brandishing a shotgun at the door of a third well-to-do neighbor with the intent to rob his house?"
One of the chapters I frequently reference is Romans 11, mostly for its prophetic content, but also because it deals directly with the relationship of Christians and Jews.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we cannot fully understand the context of Romans 11 without having first read Romans 10 where Paul clearly makes the case that all Israel requires the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And as far as that goes, so does all of mankind. That includes Muslims.
Paul also states in Romans 11:28 "Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers."
Isn't this true of all they unsaved -- which includes Muslims who we should also pray for to become Christians (which is happening as we speak, many Muslims are forsaking Islam for Christ!)
And then Paul continues in Romans 12 where he addresses the body of Christ, which is the bride of Christ, and what this means is exquisitely defined from verse 1 through verse 8. Then in verses 9 through 21 Paul lists what our behaviors as Christians should be towards each other, and towards others, "if it is possible."
In Romans 12:9b Paul wrote: "Abhor what is evil." Without question Islam is evil. It is clearly satanic in its origin.
Then in verses 14 through 21 we are given instruction about how we deal with those who persecute us: We are to bless them and not curse them. We are to repay no one for evil. Then in verse 18 Paul wrote: "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."
As a Christian soldier, I am the first one to whom Paul speaks, and I have to try mightily to live up to this teaching. I would hope my brethren would do the same.
In Christ all things are possible.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteWhat you wrote is true, of course, and I take no issues with it. Jesus did indeed tell us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love our enemies, too. However, that was not the reason for pointing out what Pope Francis said about Christians and Muslims. This pope is an apologist for the Islamic faith and a false teacher.
"Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Allah. These are all names employed to describe an entity that is distinctly the same across the world," Francis said earlier this year in a speech about religious tolerance.
"For centuries, blood has been needlessly shed because of the desire to segregate our faiths. This, however, should be the very concept which unites us as people, as nations, and as a world bound by faith. Together we can bring about an unprecedented age of peace. All we need to achieve such a state is respect each others beliefs, for we are all children of God regardless of the name we choose to address him by.
"We can accomplish miraculous things in the world by merging our faiths, and the time for such a movement is now. No longer shall we slaughter our neighbors over differences in reference to their God.”
Source: http://nationalreport.net/pope-francis-followers-koran-holy-bible/
- Brian from Florida
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that the RCC Pope is a part of the Globalist machine which is intent on and well advanced in its agenda to create one world religion - an "Abrahamic" religion (i.e. apostate Christianity, Judaism and Islam account for the vast majority of the world's population).
However, I also understand that the Pope inserted himself into an ongoing and vicious civil war in the French-speaking Central African Republic (CAR) which is torn between seven major tribal or ethnic groups. The CAR is an artificial national construct of the former French Empire, as many former colonies (conquered territories) on the African continent are, which makes warfare a highly probable eventuality.
More than a third of the CAR population hold to indigenous animist religions. 25% of the rest are RCC, and another 25% are Protestant denominations (with ancient tribal animistic beliefs still strongly influencing their Christian faith) and 15% are Muslim.
Should we really expect this Pope, any Pope, to enter into this kind of a warzone preaching Holy War as the Muslims are fond of doing? The Pope was specifically directing his comments to the hopefully civilized people of this country. Obviously the world corporate media picked up his message because it fits precisely with their aligned agenda.
However, neither of these two (RCC & World Corporate Media) understand what the CAR is today -- a pseudo military dictatorship of one group of politically aligned ethnicities over the others, and that unrestrained lawlessness has for centuries been the rule of law in the countryside. No pun intended, but it's a jungle out there.
I would ask, would any born-again Christian pastor go on a tour of the so-called Central African Republic preaching on the need for our brethren to engage in a violent crusade against the Muslim rebellion against the central government? Has anyone within the Bride of Christ done so?
Or must the obvious message be one of peace, to try to stop the carnage in any way possible in order to at least start some kind of dialog between these groups?
Sean,
ReplyDeleteYou again make some very good points that I cannot argue against. I'm only pointing out that this pope is a false teacher. Evangelist Franklin Graham, whose ministries often work in very difficult and dangerous places in this world -- including predominantly Muslim countries -- is often a bold witness for the gospel and not afraid in pointing out the differences between Islam and Christianity. It would be refreshing to see a Roman Catholic pontiff who was also so bold in speaking the truth.
- Brian from Florida
Sean, I don't know how familiar you are with avi lipkin, but him and gary stearman on prophecy watchers are now joining the bandwagon that's saying Gog and magog are turkey. He's saying it can't be Russia because Russia has always been a "Christian nation". I'm really surprised to see gary stearman endorsing this. However, watching this episode, I'm not entirely sure that gary is convinced
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely.
hartdawg,
ReplyDeleteI believe I am very familiar with both Gary Stearman and Avi Lipkin. Here's what I know and, please, would you (or anyone else, please) let me know if I am misinformed in these things. Here goes...
Gary Stearman is one among many talented, born-again students and interpreters of Bible prophecy (IMHO, no human being is an 'expert' in Bible prophecy) who consistently, and as a matter of traditional Christian lore, cite the prophet Daniel as innately possessing wizard or seer-like attributes along with extraordinary wisdom and foreknowledge of the present in his ancient time and of the future of our own 'last days' times.
In contrast to this, it is my own understanding that Daniel either received specific prophetic revelation directly from the LORD God (Father, Son and Spirit) in the form of a vision (as occurred also with John on Patmos centuries later), or was directly told specific details about the course of the future or specific future events by the angel Gabriel during a visitation.
Additionally, as I read the Bible, Daniel informs us in the first-person that much of this prophetic knowledge confused him or so disturbed him that he was taken ill, and that he did not initially understand the meaning of what had been revealed to him. After further prayer Daniel would be engaged in a second visit with the angel Gabriel who would then clearly and succinctly clarify the specifics of what had been revealed to Daniel during a previous visitation.
Also, on his TV program Gary Stearman will often find agreement with the eschatological viewpoint or subject matter discussed by individual guest appearing with him, instead of doing a subjective analysis of the material the guest has presented. I think he may just be exhibiting the attributes of a very gracious TV show host in many instances; but I'm not 100% convinced of that.
Dennis Avi Lipkin, a/k/a Victor Mordecai (pen name), is a fairly frequent guest on Gary's Prophecy Watcher program. He is an American-born Jew who at the age of 19 moved to Israel (Aliyah) a year after the 6 Day War (1968). He served active duty in the IDF in 1972-73 as a spokesperson with the Judea and Samaria Command, and then as a as an artillery reservist for the next 16 years (1973-1989) before returning to the IDF Spokesman duty as an officer from 1989 to 2001.
It is also my understanding that at no point in Avi Lipkin's personal biography (his lifetime to date) is there any mention of his accepting Jesus Christ as Messiah, Son of God. Therefore, Dennis Avi Lipkin is not a born-again Christian; he has no gifts of the Holy Spirit, and he speaks from a well-informed but purely secular and specific Jewish point of view.
With this as the essential background, I can understand why Avi Lipkin would present the erroneous eschatological point-of-view that Turkey is Magog. This is another Jewish-born man teaching a modern eisegesis that Gog and the Antichrist are the same human being, and that he is a Muslim. This is the same thoroughly and Biblically refuted eisegesis as propagated by "Joel Richardson" and Walid Shoebat.
However, I am stunned to learn that Gary Stearman would allow this eisegesis to be taught on his TV program!!! Absolutely stunned.
Just 15 months ago (August 2014) I posted a 'must read' to this blog under the title "Gary Stearman: An Islamic Antichrist?" This blog entry is about an article Gary wrote in March 2014 which I linked to and which totally refuted the unbiblical Islamic Antichrist nonsense.
So, I go to my blog archive, and click on the link... and its a dead link now that does not go the Gary Stearman's article. And in the comments section there are you and I discussing the subject and the book Ron Rhodes wrote which also refutes and exposes the lie about an Islamic Antichrist.
Now I have to research what has happened to Gary's previous view on this, and what happened to his article about it.
Hartdawg,
ReplyDeleteI immediately found a website that still has the article by Gary Stearman, or so I thought... it's a dead link just as I have on my blog post.
Islamic Antichrist? by Gary Stearman
Here is a cut'n'paste of the introduction:
"An Islamic Antichrist?
Thursday, April 5, 2012 1:15
By Gary Stearman
Something amazing has happened in the last three decades. The Palestinian cause in the Middle East has widened out into a full-scale Islamic revolution. The rapid expansion of Islamic power has directed new speculation about the events that will unfold during the Tribulation. Specifically, many are now suggesting that the Antichrist will arise out of the Islamic world.
Persuasive books and other publications are now making the case for this development. The Islamic Antichrist, by Joel Richardson and God’s War on Terror, by the former Muslim Walid Shoebat have both linked Mystery Babylon with latter-day Islam. Certainly, Islam has an “Antichrist Spirit.” But can it really be true that the Antichrist will arise from the Islamic culture?
Really, the question boils down to this: Will he arise from Islam society, or as the Bible has been interpreted for centuries, does he come from the West? There are at least two strong arguments in favor of his Western origin. First, the power of Islam is broken in a war at the beginning of the Tribulation. Second, the Bible gives the genealogy of the Antichrist that strongly points to his Graeco-Roman origin.
Let’s begin by briefly reviewing recent Mideast history, then compare these events with Scripture…"
Also, for the record, I need to link this here. Hopefully this link will remain valid for more than a couple years.
ReplyDeleteGary Stearman - Prophecy Watchers
I've done a search on Stearman's 'Prophecy Watcher' website for "Islamic Antichrist."
ReplyDeleteAll results go to print or digital media material that one must pay for in order to read or watch.
Pay for someone's interpretation which may or may not be of the Holy Spirit and therefore inerrant?
Not me. No way. Some of these guys remind of money changers in the Temple. AAaarrgh!
I'll be taking this issue directly to the Lord in prayer, then I'll have more to say. And I will say it right here for free.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteYou know I have had a lot of heart ache over the same issue in the very recent past. I don't understand how these people claim they have a Godly interpretation and then gig you for 20 bucks! Praise the Lord????
Books I understand, they take time and money to produce but an article? No way man!
2 Peter 1:20
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
I support you in your prayer and concern.
Ken B
Sean,
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that when the current situation plays out, Russia will be given a bloody nose, Israel will grow in size and strength, then Russia will return in full force (the hooks by God) We should be seeing some big fulfillments happening very shortly as the day approaches.
Shoot, I blinked, is everybody still out there? :)
Awesome update, thanks
What is the yield of the Russian nukes in the region? Not that it matters....I'm sure they can deliver whatever yield they want from the various delivery systems available to them. Just curious.
ReplyDelete"It would seem that when the current situation plays out, Russia will be given a bloody nose, Israel will grow in size and strength..."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about this. I was hoping (still hoping)that the current tensions will build until the Ezekiel 38/39 Gog-Magog battle happens (which will be the climax of all of it) but in case a NATO-Russia war happens before the actual Gog-Magog confrontation, I don't know what will happen and how a NATO-Russia war connects to Israel's prophetic wars in the future. The whole thing seems scary and chaotic.
Nora
"I'm not sure about this...". Like you, I think most christians (including me) who are looking for Christ's appearing hope it is today.But no one is an "expert" on bible prophecy. At the first coming every word that was spoken about the Savior was fulfilled.Some of it would have seemed a contradiction,
Delete1. A virgin birth
2. Mary lived in Nazareth but the messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
3. God would call His Son out of Egypt yet He was born in Bethlehem.
The list is long...
Yet it was fulfilled according to the scriptures.
Jesus came in the fullness of time and He will come for His church when the fullness of gentiles come in.
It is scary and chaotic, these things cause people to consider there mortality and some hopefully will listen to the good news we should be ready to share.
It will be all fullfilled according to God's word, that we can be sure of. Until then we can search the scriptures and watch as it unfolds.
Peace to you.
Jeff
John 14: 1-4 (NIV): “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
ReplyDeleteLater in that same chapter, John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
So it is a natural human reaction to be to be troubled and alarmed by the things taking shape before us, but we need to take control of our thoughts and comfort, encourage and remind each other of our Lord and His peace. Love to all.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteI just keep hearing these words in my head:
And ye shall hear of WARS and Rumors of Wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you:and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Mt 24:6-14
Interesting times to be sure. Our peace MUST come from Him..not the world.
LD
Amen Miriam!
ReplyDeleteOur Lord also said, among the many prophetic things in His discourse on the Mount of Olives:
"Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."
This gets to the purpose of this blog, why it was started in the first place: to illustrate to all, redeemed in Christ as well as the still unredeemed, that we are living in the birth pangs of the end times; that these times were foretold by His prophets through the Holy Spirit. These prophecies and the eschatological study of them work as a clarifying lens through which the knowledge thereof can work to calm any fear or alarm some folks may have of the events coming upon the world.
As is often said and meant literally on this blog, our sovereign God is in complete and total control of EVERYTHING that is happening and will yet happen for the purpose of His Kingdom to come on the earth.
LD,
ReplyDeleteAs you were thinking of Matthew 24:4-6, I was quoting it in the reply to Miriam's comment.
With all due emphasis, this portion of our Lord's prophecy needs to be repeated often: ...all these things MUST come to pass, but the end is not yet."
I totally agree Sean, the disciples were hoping in their day that Jesus would set up His kingdom but the end was not yet. We have an advantage of almost 2000 years since the promise of His return. Were seeing it unfold but it ALL has to unfold.
DeleteI pray God continue to open our eyes to see His will in all these things.
jmoll106,
ReplyDeleteYes, many thought that the events shortly after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension was the "end" that He prophesied about. By the Spirit the apostle Paul wrote powerfully in rebuking and reproofing this view.
And in considerable error, despite Paul's Spirit-filled letters of rebuke and reproof, and despite The Revelation of Jesus Christ which John on Patmos was given 20-years after-the-fact, a small but dwindling band of Preterists today still believe and continue to teach that the Olivet Discourse was fulfilled circa 70 AD. Theirs is a false teaching that must be opposed vigorously by modern-day versions of Paul.
The events of the Jewish rebellion against Rome that occurred between 66 and 73 AD did occur over a period of 7 literal years. However, the sequence and specifics of that rebellion did not match the exactness and precision of which the LORD God's prophetic words are known to come to fulfillment.
Sean,
ReplyDeletePastor JD Farag said something about Russia in one of his recent ME updates. He said he strongly believes that the Russians are there to stay in Syria until the very end, until the Gog-Magog battle happens.
What is your opinion about such a possibility?
Also, there’s another question I'd like to ask. Do you think a serious war between NATO and Russia could happen before Gog-Magog? (Even if we don’t know how exactly things will unfold.)
Nora
Nora,
ReplyDeleteI have been posting since September that based upon the text of both Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27 I must find disagreement with Pastor JD Farag's exegesis that Russia is in Syria to stay until Ezekiel 38/39 is fulfilled.
To the literal and plain text contrary, the exegesis I hold to is that Russia and Iran will soon flee Syria.
Specifically, and with emphasis...
Isaiah 17:12-13
Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
and Jeremiah 49:23
Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
There is trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet.
plus Jeremiah 49:26
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets,
And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.
I believe this is very clear-cut regarding what happens to the military forces now in Syria.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the verses! That gives a bit of hope! One thing though... I'm sorry to ask this again but I'd really like to know what you think about a possible NATO/Russia confrontation/war that seems to be imminent? Is it possible that the Lord will use NATO to make Russia&Iran flee? (To be honest, I don't think NATO would be successful without the Lord's intervention and help at all in case of war with Russia&Iran, not to mention if China joined them.)
Nora
As ominous as these things are it proves no nation can usurp the will of God. For christians it reaffirms our belief and trust in His promises and prophecies.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight into these matters.
You weren't kidding when you said don't blink.
Could someone please help me with a bit of insight what is happening? Because I'm still in the dark. Is this situation going to lead to Israel's all out war with her neighbours and the final destruction of Damascus?
ReplyDeleteNora
Nora,
ReplyDeleteI believe the answer to both questions is a resounding "Yes!" The current situation is a driver and a catalyst for the literal fulfillment of the directly related prophecies.
Thank you Sean! In that case, is it possible that it's not NATO but Israel who's going to make Iran and Russia flee (in the near future)?
ReplyDeleteNora
Nora,
ReplyDeleteWar between NATO and Russia is inevitable, as it is with Iran. But that will likely leave Israel's IDF to fulfill the prophecies directly related to Psalm 83 (such as Samuel 13, among others).
Sean,
ReplyDeleteWhat could be the scale of such a war? You mentioned that Russia and Iran will flee the Middle-East but what is going to happen to Europe and the USA? (I know that we can't predict the future but what are the possibilities?)
Nora
I could involve nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. Read what Isaiah 17 says - there will be a total depopulation of entire cities, Damascus will never be a city again; all of the soldiers will be wiped out. Read Jeremiah 49:23-27.
ReplyDeleteIran will be depopulated... refugees will go to every corner of the earth. Read Jeremiah 49:34-39. Ezekiel 38/39 tells of biological or chemical weapons, fire brimstone and the like tell me nuclear warfare happens.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteThe prophecy about Elam in Jeremiah 49 is an eye opener in more than one sense. (I’d like to ask something about it a bit later.) My previous question was related more to the USA and Europe. I’d like to ask you about the possible scale of war and the possible scale of destruction in Europe and the USA in case of a NATO/Russia+Iran war.
Nora
Nora,
ReplyDeleteI believe Jeremiah 49:34-39 is related directly to Ezekiel 38/39 in the same manner as Jeremiah 49:23-27 is directly related to Isaiah 17.
The USA and Europe will not be immune from the coming wars; the level of damage is unknown to anyone but the Lord, which is why we put our trust in Him.
This is no different than the bride of Christ who endured in previous world wars of the past 240 years; from the American Revolutionary War (yes, that was a world war) to the Cold War.
I still lean towards the US being the "young lions" of the merchants of tarshish in Ezekiel 38:13. Tho I heard some say tarshish is Spain and southern Europe and the young lions are Britain and the rest of Europe.
DeleteHey Sean,
ReplyDeleteYesterday in the car I was listening to talk radio and the speaker, don't
have name, said the book "God's war on Terror" by Walid Shoebat is the best
book for understanding end times. Before I bought the book I thought I would
ask for your opinion, which I value. At the beginning of my quest to understand
what God says about the end times, I read "Mideast Beast" by Joel Richardson.
It was after I read the book that I found eschatologytoday.blogspot and read
that you did not care for this man's writing. Is that correct? What about
Walid Shoebat? Should I read "God's War on Terror?"
Rhonda,
DeleteIt is my long held position that Walid Shoebat's books should be ignored. He is not what he claims to be; avoid anything to do with him.
Sean,
ReplyDelete"I believe Jeremiah 49:34-39 is related directly to Ezekiel 38/39..."
I couldn't agree more! (I planned to ask about that because I also thought there's a connection but you’ve already answered it! :)
I'm praying and hoping that the Lord is going to protect us and our loved ones and there will be no total destruction (or conditions near it) concerning Europe and the USA! If (hopefully) 2021 is the latest possible date for the 70th week to start and the AC's appearance, I can't imagine that Europe will be bombed to the ground (same for the USA) because an already functioning economic and political system should be in place when the AC enters the stage. At least that’s what I think and hope for.
Nora
Walid shoe dummy has very twisted logic and his writings are to be avoided. He is guilty of force fitting his own presuppositions into the scriptures and uses corrupt manuscripts to prove his points. He also has the audacity to correct the word of God and says 666 is supposed to be 616.
ReplyDelete