Global SITREP B9-16: The Things Which "Must Take Place"

30 April 2016: I think most folks reading this blog realize that world events are unmistakably evidencing a quickening trend towards a catastrophic global war. As mentioned in the first paragraph of the previous SITREP, second only to the sign of man-made deception and false messiahs, our hearing of wars and rumors of wars are a key 'end times' sign. As Jesus told us , "See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." 

The last part of that sentence is critical to understanding our Lord's prophecy. Even though the wars and rumors of wars must come to pass, the end of this age is not yet. That occurs within a specified period of 7-years in the near future. 

Look around the world and there is not a place on the planet where a war or a rumor of war is not a routine fact of life that people living in that location have to deal with. And there are many types of wars and rumors of wars thereof.

For example, the most commonly overlooked type of war is civil war. There are a plethora of civil wars going on in many countries. Syria is a key ongoing Islamic civil war that has escalated through internationalization (Shi'a Iran, Hezbollah and Sunni jihadists from all over the planet) and foreign intervention (Russia) to one in which great powers risk direct conflict with each other. As mentioned in many SITREPs, this war is a specific and major 'end times' Bible prophecy from both Isaiah and Jeremiah. These prophecies speak to a minds-eye image where one of the oldest cities on this Earth is to be annihilated virtually overnight as the image above illustrates.  

Civil wars and the societal destabilization began to rage across the Middle East following U.S. President Barack Obama's infamous Cairo (Egypt) University speech in June of 2009. He bears full responsibility for the disaster that media have grossly and falsely labeled as the "Islamic Spring." That speech, entitled "A New Beginning" destabilized the entire Sunni Islamic world. It resulted in an open revolt in Egypt - a continuing revolt which evokes the prophecy of Isaiah 19 entering a process of fulfillment before our eyes. 

And just to the west of Egypt, the Obama Administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton specifically, deliberately instigated an Islamist revolt against Muammar al-Qaddafi which quickly morphed into a brutal all-consuming civil war, NATO intervention, the completely avoidable disaster known simply as 'Benghazi' and a continuing catastrophe which begs even greater Western military intervention. NATO special forces are operating as you read this in Libya, with a greater invasion and overthrow predicted for the future 70th Week according to Daniel 11:42. 

The Horn of Africa has been a basket case of war since the early 1990s. Sudan (Kuwsh) and Somalia are virtually apocalyptic after decades of Islamist-inspired jihad. This has resulted in the entirety of the former French colony (French Somaliland) of Djibouti, which straddles the key maritime choke-point Strait of Bab-al-Mandeb, being rapidly transformed into an armed camp with NATO and now China building massive bases there. On the other side of the Bab-al-Mandeb is Yemen and its fully internationalized civil war.

There are rumors of civil war erupting in Venezuela as that socialist regime crumbles, as well as in other leftist South American nations, such as Brazil and Argentina. The electorate in Bolivia and Ecuador appear to have recently granted their nations a reprieve from similar strife. Communist Cuba remains a basket case and ever ripening for a counter-revolution.

In Europe there is also ample evidence of civil revolt brewing, exacerbated by the flood of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. Once open borders of adjoining nations within the EU have been closed. It is an open fact that the increasingly militarized police as well as the military special forces in Europe are in active preparation for strife, riots and even civil war. The rapidly growing anti-Islamist forces in Europe have the potential to cause wholesale regime change in several EU nations. Within the EU, all of these nations are bound to come to each others defense. This means that the paramilitary and even active duty military forces may well be called across national borders. We can also anticipate the very rapid rise of a pan-EU army; Germany and The Netherlands have just formed the core of such a European Army by joining their national armies together. This is not something that will occur over years, but months.

And here in the USA, has there been a time time since our own Civil War of the 1860s where open revolt against the federal government, the 'Establishment  of Washington, D.C. was more pronounced than it is today?  We have even seen militia 'volunteers' moving across state-lines to assist other militia organizations in standoffs against federal authorities on national news broadcasts. Not to mention the abject violence being executed recently and promised in the future around the country by radical leftists within the two primary candidacies of the Democrat Party. (By the way, newscasts these days are more akin to political narratives than they are to objective news reporting, but that's another story for another time.)

A common paraphrase from Jesus' Olivet Discourse holds that, "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man."  I also look at history, and believe the old adage is true that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.  

When Christ walked this earth nearly 1900 years ago what was occurring among the world powers in the generation of that era? Let's take a brief glimpse.

In China there was a coup d'etat which led to a rebel army invading, sacking and burning the capital city to the ground. Millions of Chinese die in the ensuing civil war. In Japan, the Japanese are conquering the native Ainu peoples of that island chain. We know this today as 'ethnic cleansing.' In Rome there is civil war, repeatedly, with emperors and wanna-be emperors pitting Rome's legions against each other in vying for control of the empire. All-powerful emperors rule as absolute dictators, and they ignore a timid Senate both unwilling and unable to exert its power to offset such dictatorship.

Roman Emperor Nero burns the largely wooden city of Rome and the early Christians, thinking the 'end of days' has arrived, dance in jubilation. These Christians are blamed by the Roman powers that be for setting the fire and persecution, imprisonment, and public slaughter ensue on a massive scale all across the Empire. Thereafter, Nero commits suicide as a military coup d'etat closes in on him, and a military dictatorship seizes control of the Roman Empire. The first Roman General-Emperor, Galba, is assassinated by a Roman legionnaire after open revolt within the military against his rule begins in Germania. The year is 69 AD, and Vespasian, general of the Roman legions for the first two years in subduing a revolt of the Jews in Judea, becomes the new Emperor of Rome. His son, Titus Vespasian, takes command of the legions in Judea and over the next five years besieges Jerusalem, ultimately destroying the city and its Temple. 

The end of the 7-year long war (66-73 AD) against the Jews in Judea occurs in 73 AD with the capture of Masada, thereby bringing to fulfillment the first two-thirds of the prophecy of the angel Gabriel found in Daniel 9:24 through 26a. Daniel 9:26b and 27 are set in the immediate future. So, in your notice, how much do the events in history on this earth described above appear so very similar to the events occurring right now. Again, "for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet."  

And we are hurtling towards the fulfillment of Gabriel's God-breathed prophecy, which includes the final "week' of 7 years, the 70th Week.

"The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate."

History doesn't really repeat itself, human beings who are devoid of the Holy Spirit guiding their lives just keep making the same dumb mistakes because it is in their fallen nature to do so.  It's all just so predictable, isn't it.