Global SITREP B4-16: "...and until the end of the war desolations are determined."

"And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and until the end of the war desolations are determined." Dan. 9:26b KJ21

Updated 25 March 2016:  The headlines in German across Europe say it all. "Wir Sind im Krieg" (We Are in War). These words were spoken by an official of the French government following the Brussels assault. These headlines confirm what was posted below yesterday. But is this headline actually true? After much thought overnight and reminders of my own writings from days past, I do not think it is true to the full extent and meaning of the words.

Who is this war against? Has any government identified an enemy? Okay, so one guy in our government finally said the massacre of Christians in the Middle East is genocide. But did he tie that genocide as emanating from the ideology of Islam? Absolutely not. The fact is that there has been no overwhelming military response to the massacres of civilian innocents in the Middle Est, much less to those in Paris, San Bernardino or Brussels. Are NATO boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq taking this "war" to the Islamic State? No. To the contrary, what has seen in all media coverage illustrates that the only response thus far from civilians has been limited to flowers, teddy bears and plastic butterflies, as well as some mild protest marches. But there has been zero large mass demonstrations demanding a governmental response. Zippo, nada, none.

Why is this? Could it be in the U.S. because for as long as anyone can remember - but especially since 9/11/2001 - we have been spoon fed the grotesque lie by all of our elected leaders, GOP, Independent as well as Democrat, that Islam is a "religion of peace." It's called being 'dumbed down.' George W. Bush told us this lie even before all of the bodies and body parts had been recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. Obama repeats this lie today and boldly adds that Islam has contributed greatly to the greatness of our nation. That's the cold, hard truth. 

And look at Europe. One the few politicians who has continued to speak the truth about Islam, all the while under death threats from Islamists for more than a decade, has been put on trial by the State for "inciting hatred." His name is Geert Wilders and he is the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV). If you listen to what he has to say you will hear what I have said here; that our response to these massacres thus far is inviting larger massacres and higher body counts in the major cities of the West. As Geert says, "We ain't seen nothing yet."  

Here is another cold, hard truth. In Syria there has been intervention by foreign military forces from Iran, and Lebanon, and Russia, as we are all well aware. But now it has been confirmed that there are two regiments of North Korean troops also fighting in Syria for Bashar al-Assad's regime. These North Korean units are operating under the code names Chalma-1 and Chalma-2.  I am wondering when contact will be made between the special operations forces of several NATO countries operating specifically against Islamic State in Syria and the Russian, Iranian and North Korean forces who are engaged in-country. As we all know, Syria is a far greater disaster waiting to happen.

22 March 2016: Like most of us, I also awoke to the news of the Islamic jihadist atrocity in Belgium. And the prophetic words of the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9 immediately came to mind. What happened in Brussels, Belgium this morning was another in a series of of a flood of desolations that will continue and even get worse up to and through the 70th Week. 

The truly agonizing part of all this is that it's just so predictable. From the UK to Greece, and from Spain to Sweden, the political elite of Europe are reaping for their own people what they have sown for quite some time. None of them have time for God, nor the inspired prophetic words of Paul: "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7) And make no mistake, a great many of America's leaders are no different than their European cousins. There is more of this kind of carnage to come, no doubt, both in Europe and here on this side of the pond.

I saw some interesting facts about Belgium today that should be shared. Did you know that Belgium is the number one source of jihadists joining the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq? It's true. Just under 600 of them traveled out of Belgium, got trained up in urban warfare by IS (which is the remnant of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime) and have now returned to Europe with thousands of their Islamic jihadist brethren.

However, they all have a rude awakening coming. Despite the abject stupidity of EU leaders, and perhaps even due to it, the people of Europe have had their fill of Islamic jihadists coming out of the "no go zones" and slaughtering their kinfolk in cold blood. Of course we all prefer the people of Europe, just as in America, to turn to Jesus and place all of this in the Lord's most capable hands. But the news I'm seeing lately is telling a different story. It is the same story that Gabriel foretold about the war that would continue through the 70th Week. Just as in America where nationalism is taking center stage in the current electoral race, in Europe a continent-wide nationalism is being kicked into overdrive by the carnage the jihadists have brought back from Syria and Iraq with them. 

Case in point. In Germany a three-year old former fringe political group known as  Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany or AfD) which had been  barely a blip on the radar not long ago is now the third largest political party and growing rapidly. Why? Because of its strong anti-Islamist, anti-immigrant positions. 

The AfD appears to be a direct political beneficiary of the PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West) movement which I detailed at the end of Global SITREP A2-15: First Intel Briefing for 2015. PEGIDA is not just in Germany any more, it is today all across Europe with large numbers in the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK and several other EU nations. This is the kind of European nationalist movement which is becoming ever more ripened for a European political leader to step up and provide the PEGIDA movement with one powerful and charismatic voice; a champion for the "Fortress Europe" the anti-Islamists are hopeful of creating. 

The Islamic jihadist massacre in Brussels, the seat of European governance, on top of the massacres attacks in Paris, is more than likely to increase the blowback against Islam and provide the political base for someone to ride in on his white horse to save the continent. It's prophecy, no?

Global SITREP B3--16: Sh'ma Yisra'el

Public Service - 16 March 2016: This is an important day due to the global call that will go before the Lord at 9 PM in Israel, 3 PM EDT to 12 Noon PDT. Join In!

“That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.” Deuteronomy 11:21 (The Israel Bible™)

A global reading of the Shema, the declaration of accepting God’s rule, will be held on Wednesday, March 16th, at 9:00 pm, Israeli local time, 3:00 pm EST. The reading of the Shema will come directly after the much-anticipated consecration of the Torah scroll written for the Messiah, which will be celebrated on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

The date, the 7th of Adar by the Hebrew calendar, is considered especially auspicious for both completing the writing of a Torah scroll and for the reading of the Shema. According to Jewish tradition, it is the date on which Moses was born and also the date of his passing away.

The organizers of the event request all of Israel to join together in reading the entire Shema, which is directed at saving Israel from the horrifying wave of terror that has plagued the Jewish state for many months.

The statement released by the organizers reads:

“We shall pray, request, demand, and shout out to Our Father in Heaven:

• -The entire Shema
• -That we accept upon ourselves the yoke of Heaven
• -That we demand the return of the Davidic dynasty
• -That we wish to rebuild the Temple
• -That we undertake to return to Hashem (God) in repentance as individuals and as a nation
• -That we are awaiting our final redemption in mercy and with loving-kindness”.

The ceremony for the reading of Shema can be followed online.

Global SITREP B2-16: Russian Military Deployment in Syria to Commence a Drawdown

First Russian transports got their wheels up Tuesday morning 15 MAR 16.

14 March 2016: In a plot twist that caught most by surprise, with the exception of the governments of Syria and Iran, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin today announced that Russia will commence a redeployment of the bulk of its forces out of Syria and back to Russia tomorrow. 

Apparently Putin believes that Russian forces have completed their primary mission in the rescue of Bashar al-Assad's regime from what appears to be imminent collapse just 6 months ago. Exactly which forces and military assets are withdrawn and their timetable for redeployment remains to be determined. A key consideration revolves around the formidable Russian air defense network and whether it remains, is pared down or removed entirely. It appears certain that a contingent of Russian forces will likely remain at the Tartus naval installation and the Hmeimim Air Base near Jableh for some indeterminate amount of time.

This withdrawal comes at a time where neither of the two primary enemies, Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, have been militarily defeated, so it remains to be seen just exactly what effect this withdrawal with have on the battlefield, other than a reduction in the number and possibly quality of airstrikes jihadist forces will be subjected to, and the bulk of the combat now left to Iranian and Syrian forces and their proxy militias. 

This development makes for a genuine wait-and-see situation for what develops next given what Bible prophecy declares will happen in Syria (Jeremiah 49:23-27 and Isaiah 17), as well as the fact that Israeli air superiority over the Golan, southern Syria and Lebanon will continue as before, as will Iranian belligerence with Hezbollah on Israel's northern frontier.

The Young Messiah

11 March 2016: Seven days ago I went to see RISEN. Today, at the same time and same theater as last week I went to see The Young Messiah. 

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie, a novel account of Jesus when he was 7 or 8 years old and had just returned from an exile in Egypt with his family. Once again, a central figure in pursuit of Jesus there is a Roman centurion serving under Herod Archelaus, son of Herod the Great, who had ordered Jesus' death upon learning of his birth from the three Magoi who came from Persia.

This movie, even though a fictional account, is soundly couched in Scripture throughout, both Old Testament and New Testament. This movie unequivocally proclaims Jesus Christ is the Messiah, Son of the Living God. There is no bone I can or will pick with this film. It's message is very strong and in that sense it was magnificent.

Two Friday evenings in succession and two movies about our Lord Jesus Christ showing simultaneously in the same theater. I cannot recall a time where this has occurred previously. I highly recommend this film, I want to go see it again; I will purchase the Blu-ray DVD when it is released.

Global SITREP A9-16: Rise of the Prophetic Assyria?

Critical Update 9 March 2016: The U.S. CENTCOM Commander, General Lloyd Austin, informed the U.S. Congress yesterday that the failure of Mosul Dam (ancient and Biblical Nineveh) is a catastrophe waiting to happen: "If the dam fails, it will be a catastrophic. There will be thousands of people downstream that will either be injured or killed, certainly displaced. And the damage could extend all the way down to -- close to Baghdad, or into Baghdad"

 According to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad the "unprecedented" catastrophe would be of biblical proportions with the resultant 200-mile long flood potentially killing 500,000 to 1.5 million of the people who live in Mosul, the Tigris Valley towns of Tikrit and Samarra and southwards to Baghdad. The Mosul hydroelectric dam holds 2.2 cubic miles of water behind it in Lake Dahuk. These flood waters could reach depths of 45 or more feet during their rampage to the south. Mosul itself could suddenly find itself under 70 feet of water within an hour of the dam's failure.

Since the dam was build in the 1980s is has required a constant maintenance practice known as 'grouting' to keep it from collapsing completely. The process of grouting essentially shores up the ground underneath the dam with millions of tons of concrete. In 2014 when forces of the Islamic State over ran Mosul and took control of the dam all of the maintenance workers fled for their lives and have never returned. For two years now the critically essential grouting maintenance has not occurred and the dam is now in imminent danger of collapse.


27 February 2016:  There are a couple OSINT items that need to be part of an update to this SITREP. The first is from Bloomberg Business News which reported early this morning that all Kurdish leaders have agreed to proceed with a national referendum. In this referendum the issue of Kurdistan's independence from Iraq is an issue that will be decided by the Kurdish people themselves. 

An independent Kurdistan will be born with a Kurdish-developed petroleum production infrastructure sitting on 45 billion barrels of crude oil reserves according to British Petroleum (BP Plc) data. The Iraqi government, for its part, says the planned referendum is illegal without coordination and approval from itself. Kurdistan has been exporting its own oil and reaping the financial benefits through a pipeline into Turkey for the past six months. These profits has largely been consumed by a collapsing oil market as well as the increasingly successful prosecution of the war against Islamic State invaders.

A report in The Economist supports what has been posted below, Kurdish independence is a virtual fait accompli among the resident 6 million Iraqi Kurds. What they have yet to determine is when independence will occur and where the national borders will be fixed. All of the factors necessary for a successful independent nation exist in Kurdistan. A hundred years after the Kurdish people were divided up by European colonial powers (principally Britain and France) into four artificially created national borders of the former Ottoman Turkey, Iran, Syria and Mesopotamia (Iraq) self-determination will be begun by the Kurds in Iraq. The rise of the Islamic State has been central to the drive for Kurdish self-determination and, ultimately, independence as a nation-state.

 

25 February 2016: There are strong indications that a specific but rarely discussed Bible prophecy from the Book of Isaiah may actually be in the process of becoming a reality in the world.

Isaiah 19:23-25 (KJ21)

In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.”

As clearly indicated by the map above, I think this prophecy may be directly related to the emergence of an independent Kurdistan, which for all intents and purposes is occurring in de facto fashion due to the fracturing of Iraq and the ongoing war against the islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Compare the above map with one which depicts the same area as it was circa the time that Isaiah lived gave this prophecy.

The point of this map is the area of the in the darker shade of green. You will notice that the intended future state of Kurdistan is virtually identical to that which was the central homeland of Assyria in Isaiah's day, or roughly 800 to 750 BC.

In the past several weeks an increasingly loud call for an independent Kurdistan has been made not just by Kurdish leaders, but also by an array of international voices. Notable among them is the State of Israel, in particular its Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, who one month ago called for an independent Kurdistan. Her call was more or less specific to Iraqi Kurdistan given that the rest of Iraq is currently under the Ayatollah Khamenei's domination.

But what is perhaps one of the driving forces at present is an American reliance on the Kurds in the war against the Islamic State. Iraqi Kurds are fighting to free themselves and others who live in the region from IS tyranny, such as the Yazidis and native Assyrians. It is highly unlikely the Kurds will relinquish a de facto independence they have purchased with their own blood.

But the Kurd's are taking their quest for statehood a step further than just de facto existence. Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has announced that the time has come for a popular referendum of Kurdish independence. There is little doubt that the referendum will pass with 98% of the people voting for independence.

To be sure there are other important factors involved. Chief among them from the eschatological point-of-view are the fulfillment of prophecies regarding Syria (Isaiah 17, and Jeremiah 49:23-27), Iran (Jeremiah 49:34-39), as well as Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38/39. What all of these prophecies make clear is that, with the exception of Israel, the majority of current nations which these prophecies directly involve will have ceased to exist in the not too distant future. That leaves a vacuum in the region, one that a new country such as a Kurdistan, or as the Bible prophetically calls it, Assyria, to fill those territories north and east of the Euphrates River.'

This is another of the rapidly changing dynamics in the Middle Est that could have been part of SITREP A8-16, but I believe warrants a SITREP of its own given that the Bible prophecy of Isaiah 19:23-25 clearly foretells the rise of a new nation north of a greater Israel in the near future.

Global SITREP A10-16: The Death of Lebanon

IDF Armor and combat soldiers prepare for battle

Update 7 March 2016: The IDF today is a far more formidable force than it has even been in Israel's nearly 68-year history as a nation. The Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah, HAMAS and the Islamic State combined are no match for the IDF on land, at sea or in the air. Any who still might doubt this need only to read the relevant prophecies once more. Besides the obvious military superiority on the physical level there is also the fact that Israel is spiritually under the protection of the Archangel Michael and his angels. Any nation which rises up against Israel is quite literally rising up against the will of God, and rising up against the will of God is categorically a  bad idea. Amen.
 

Pantsyr-S1 (SA-22 Greyhound) Air Defense System

6 March 2016: There are reports circulating in the Middle East (Kuwait's al-Jarida and Israel Hayom) today that Russia has suspended its decision to deliver the highly-regarded S-300 SAM system  system to Iran. The suspension was apparently based upon iron-clad Israeli photo reconnaissance and signals intelligence provided to Russia that Iran has successfully transferred a number of the Pantsyr-S1 Air Defense Systems (NATO: SA-22 'Greyhound'). The Israeli intelligence was reinforced by detection of the Pantsyr-S1 operating in Lebanon by the Russian Air Force unit deployed to Bassel al-Assad Air Base. 

The Pantsyr-S1 ADS vehicles were paid for by Iran and intended for delivery to Syria, but were clandestinely re-routed instead to Hezbollah in Lebanon. This legerdemain transfer is a blatant crossing of Israel's 'red lines' as well as a breach of an Israeli-Russian agreement regrading Iran-Russia weapons systems deliveries. The Israeli intelligence coup apparently forced Vladimir Putin to publicly order the suspension of S-300 SAM systems to Iran. Russia has made it clear to both Tehran and Damascus that while they are on the same side in support of Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, Russia's objective interests in Syria are dissimilar and even contradictory to Iran's interests in Syria.

Thus far Russia has not deployed, as it has promised, any ground forces into combat operations in Syria. Russian marines are in Syria to defend the Bassel al-Assad Air Base. To date Russia has suffered a total of three KIA in Syria, two of whom Russia blames on Turkey's (NATO) military forces.

4 March 2013: The death of Lebanon. One of the key eschatological points of coming prophetic fulfillment maintained by this Eschatology Today blog from its very beginnings in 2009 (see Are Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 Imminent?), and repeated every so often just to keep the prophetic issue in the minds of our readers (such as Global SITREP E7-14: Advancing Our Situational Awareness of 'Lest Days' Wars), and which was even given a dedicated post of its very own titled Joshua 13:1-7 which describes the death of Lebanon as an inheritance to Israel, as well as the crisis in Syria born of missiles and the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah which has always been a military red line for the state of Israel, the impetus for numerous airstrikes by the IAF along the Lebanese-Syrian border, the current situational flare-up caused by the recent comments of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah should be seen as just another Indication and Warning (I&W) on the hair-trigger holding back the imminent flood of prophetic fulfillment erupting on the occasion of the next sunrise or sunset. It's that close brothers and sisters. 

From a stage in southern Beirut two weeks ago Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah broadcast a 90-minute speech, dubbed "The Ammonia Speech" by Israel's military and intelligence officials. This speech was given on the occasion of the one-year anniversary commemoration of the deaths of Jihad Mughniyeh, an Iranian general and senior Hezbollah commanders who were assassinated in an Israel Air Force strike as they approached the Syrian Golan in a small convoy of vehicles. 

In Nasrallah's "Ammonia Speech," the text obviously approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran, the Hezbollah leader deliberately revealed a primary strategic target of the guided missiles provided to his terrorist organization by Iran and delivered via Syria is the ammonia storage facility in the Haifa Bay industrial complex.  Nasrallah correctly noted that just shy of a million of Israel's population live in this immediate area and when struck by his missiles "tens of thousands of Israelis" would die, and that according to an unidentified Israeli expert the destructive scope of such an attack would be the equivalent of a nuclear strike. 

While this vulnerability might have been joyful news to the Shi'a faithful listening to Nasrallah's speech, it was by no stretch of the imagination news to Israel's authorities in any sector of the government, but has been an acknowledged concern for the past eight years. In fact, the entire industrial complex in the Haifa Bay region has been well publicized in Israeli media debates which have themselves used the metaphor of an enemy missile strike here being like that to expect from a nuclear bomb. The result is that Iran and Hezbollah view the threat of such a strike as holding Israel's immense military capabilities in a sort of check-mate. 

Nothing could be further from the truth as clearly illustrated by the numerous IAF airstrikes since 2008 in the Qalamoun Mountain range just west of Damascus on the Lebanese-Syria border. Israel has the capability to conduct defensive air strikes at will anywhere within Syria and/or Lebanon where intelligence data shows a red line is in jeopardy of being crossed. Israel has the electromagnetic warfare capabilities to turn off the Lebanese and Syrian electrical grid at the time and place of its choosing. What occurred last night in this regard is within Israel's capability and just might have been a reminder of sorts to its belligerent northern neighbors.

Nasrallah's ammonia threat appeared more to assuage Lebanese fears concerning Hezbollah over-extending its military forces in Syria and Yemen where its combat fatalities increase by the day. Nasrallah's detractors constantly argue as to how is Hezbollah's oft-stated commitment to defend Lebanon by allowing its soldiers to die as Iranian proxies in Syria and Yemen. Thus, Hassan Nasrallah is exposed as nothing more than a tool of the Iranian Twelvers seeking to hasten the revealing of a non-existent Shi'a apocalypse messiah figure known as the al-Mahdi.

Despite all, what we are left with is the imminent near-term reality of prophetic fulfillment regarding Damascus, the entire country of Syria and the whole of Lebanon. The removal of the safety holding the prophetic events of Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 40:23-27, Joshua 13 and Psalm 83 as a future literal fulfillments is, as stated above, as possible as the occasion of next sunrise or sunset. No one knows what will cause the trigger to get pulled or the button pushed to cause this expected flood of prophetic fulfillment, but it will certainly happen in the relative near-term. When the death of Lebanon occurs, it will be Hezbollah and its apocalyptic Shi'a Islamic ideology that will have caused it. 

As it was in the days of Noah... Marana'tha!

RISEN

March 5 2016: If you're looking for a movie in this Resurrection season to take someone to see, may I humbly suggest you go see RISEN. I went to see it last evening, the 4:30 showing. To my surprise, I was the only person in the theater showing this movie that has nine other films playing. However, I wasn't alone; the Lord was there too and He spoke to me in whispers while the movie played, and we watched this movie together. I became completely immersed in the story, which although fictional it still remained faithful to the true account in Scripture.

RISEN is about events which took place 1,983 years ago. It is a story told from the perspective of a fictional veteran Roman soldier named Clavius. Clavius is the Tribune Cohort of the Legio X Fretensis (Tenth Legion of the Sicily Straits) stationed just outside the walls of Jerusalem. The first cohort of the Roman 10th Legion consisted of five centurions leading eight hundred soldiers. The only person of a higher rank than Tribune Clavius is Pontius Pilate, the Roman Prefect of Judea.  

RISEN opens on the day in 33 AD when our Lord and Messiah Yeshua was crucified exactly as prophesied by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:26a, thereby closing out the 69th week. This is what the Lord whispered, reminding that we literally stand an inhale away from Daniel 9:26c and the advent of Daniel 9:27,  the 70th Week. The passing of the previous 1,983 years have been but a twinkling in His eye. 

Golgotha, the hill outside Jerusalem that looks like a human skull.

Tribune Clavius had returned to report to Pilate about a successful battle against Jewish zealots, and is informed of the crucifixion taking place; that he should depart to see to its finality. As the Tribune arrives at Golgotha outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem, approximately 350 yards from the front entrance of the Temple and in front of the Mount of Olives, he is an eyewitness to Yeshua's death on the Cross; His face is seared into the Tribune's mind.

Upon returning to Pontius Pilate to report on the finality of the crucifixion, Clavius arrives concurrently with the Temple High Priests, led by Caiaphas, who inform that the threat to Roman rule posed by Yeshua has not yet ended because Yeshua's followers will steal his body and claim that He has risen from the dead in three days time. 

Tribune Clavius and his cohort of Legio X Fretensis soldiers are tasked by Caiaphas and Pilate to ensure that the body of Yeshua remains in His tomb. Accordingly, a great cylindrical stone is rolled in front of the tomb's entrance and strapped in place by heavy ropes anchored in solid rock by iron pins. Roman Prefecture seals are also placed upon the ropes to signify they are not to be touched by human hands wielding any blade. The security of this tomb is believed to be of the highest order... until the third day arrives.

Arriving at the tomb Clavius discovers the Prefecture's seals have been melted, the heavy ropes  snapped lengthwise, and the tombstone has been thrown several yards clear of the tomb entrance. So begins the frantic search for the body of Yeshua for Tribune Clavius, his Centurions and their cohort of Roman Legio X soldiers. The Tribune cannot believe his eyes, and in his search for Yeshua's body he seeks only the truth of the matter.

The rest of this film you will have to see for yourself, preferably with someone who has not yet found salvation in Yeshua Messiah. Chances are good they will also find Yeshua in a similar journey of discovery through witnessing. RISEN is an excellent vehicle to that highly desirable end. I highly recommend RISEN, it is a five-star movie in my opinion. Rated PG-13.