Global SITREP D9-16: A Secular Look at the 70th Week

29 October 2016: The above 5-minute video (embedded from YouTube) is presented on Eschatology Today as a very high-probability secular look into the future. This video is entitled "Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity." It has been produced by the US Army for students at the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations University. This video is clearly intended to prepare tomorrows battlefield commanders with the currently unfathomable and essentially chaotic realities they and their troops will face.

I located this video two weeks ago yesterday when it was published on the OSINT website The Intercept. The Intercept obtained this video via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). That fact alone should speak volumes to one and all. Again, with emphasis and in detail, this video clarifies how today's military forces are looking forward to the year 2030. From Eschatology Today's perspective, this temporal frame of reference is close enough to make this video's content nearly synonymous with what we have come to understand as the period of time known as the angel Gabriel's "70th Week" prophecy. Eschatology Today has previously identified the prophetic 70th Week as occurring circa 2021-2028.

Both this video and God-breathed Bible prophecy agree on one thing, the future depicted in both is unavoidable. That means inevitable. What this video does not inform the viewer of, but the Bible does from cover-to-cover, is that only Jesus Christ provides the individual viewer an escape from the unavoidable, inevitability of the future. That is the blessed hope of and the escape provided by the Harpazo (the Rapture of the Church) through salvation in the blood of the Lamb of God.  

Global SITREP D8-16: About the Fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39...

UPDATE 25 October 2016: Yes, this post has now become a SITREP in its own right. Here's why. It is no surprise to many of us that there are some prophecy teachers expressing their view of late that the ancient prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39 is about to occur. These teachers proclaim such teaching without any consideration whatsoever for the fulfillment necessity of Psalm 83, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26 being in a position of sequential prophetic precedence.

These teachers are also completely overlooking the current real-world and very salient fact that there exists great opposition, which could translate into actual combat, between Turkish and Iranian forces in Northern Iraq. The Sunni dictatorship that has manifest itself in Turkey since the abortive coup d'etat of this past summer stands in direct opposition to the Iranian Shi'a Hojjatieh clerical dictatorship ruling in Tehran. More simply put, Turkey and Iran are enemies at war with each other in Syria and Iraq. 

Eschatology Today would very much appreciate an in-depth addressing of this specific issue by these prophecy teachers, if not simply because such an exercise would affirm and apprise them of the absolute necessity of the Psalm 83 scenario's sequential prophetic precedence.

Russian Airborne Assault Troops and Equipment

16 October 2016: There is something fairly important to mention with respect to the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39. This is something a great many prophecy teachers fail to mention, especially when so many of them are teaching that Ezekiel 38/39 is next on the prophetic fulfillment 'line of succession.' This post is to inform and correct the incorrect teaching that is occurring.

Ezekiel's prophecies have been arranged, for the most part, in a chronological order.  The chronology of the invasion coming out of the northernmost parts led by Gog of Magog commences with the LORD God making a spoken and unalterable command: "And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel that My fury will show in My face. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken!" 

And there occurs "in that day," prior to the judgment a great shaking earthquake in the land of (post-Psalm 83 'greater') Israel. Every living thing on the earth, including the fish of the sea, will feel the presence of the LORD God in this great shaking earthquake. Mountains will fall. 

This tectonic activity is meant to get the attention of the entire world focused the land of Israel. You, the reader, are to make special notice of this - the focus is upon the land of Israel, not on Syria, but on Israel! 

The great shaking of the land of Israel also very effectively announces that a great judgment from the LORD God is about to fall upon Gog of Magog and all of his forces. The specific judgment has been foretold, and so when it happens there is no mistake make about who the judgment is from and why it has fallen upon those who are smitten by it.

Moreover, this great judgment is six-fold; the number six being the number of man and his imperfection. And the six-fold judgments that will fall upon Gog and all his forces are: 

1. pestilence, 

2. bloodshed, 

3. flooding rain, 

4. great hailstones, 

5. fire, 

6. brimstone.

Gog of Magog and all of the invading forces under his command die in this six-fold judgment. Not one-sixth or five sixths as some teach, but ALL of the invaders die when this very special judgment befalls them, and they fall dead upon the mountains of Israel.

So how will the entire planet know that the so-called 'Battle of Gog of Magog' is about to occur? When it is announced by the LORD God through the great shaking earthquake in the land of Israel!

Russian officer, middle, with Quds Brigade chief Mohammad al Saeed, right, and operations commander Mohammad Rafi, posted in October 2016. The Russian officer was embedded with the Quds Brigade as a battlefield advisor.

A Russian Lieutenant General bestowing medal on Quds Brigade commander Mohammad Rafi, posted in August 2016.

18th Guards Motor Rifle Division emblem matching the Russian Lieutenant General's arm patch in the above image.

UPDATE 19 October 2016: Attribution of the above images belongs to The Long War Journal. They depict Russian officers of the 18th Guards Motor Rifles Division posing with and pinning battlefield awards on members of the several hundreds strong Palestinian terrorist militia known as Liwa al-Quds, or the Army of Jerusalem, or simply the Quds Brigade.  

The long-term goal of the Quds Brigade, which is made up of Sunni Arab Palestinians with Russian troops embedded as advisors, is to 'liberate' Jerusalem and all of Israel. The Sunni Palestinians are directly involved in the slaughter of civilian and rebel Sunni Arabs in Aleppo, Syria, many of whom were previously their neighbors. The awards and recognition by Russian officers was due to the Quds Brigade's battlefield actions in the liberation of the Handarat Palestinian Refugee Camp north of Aleppo during late September and earlier this month.

These images and others clearly illustrate how deeply Russia has embedded itself in the Syrian Civil War, as well as in the long-term goals of Palestinian militia which are determined to wage war upon Israel (Psalm 83, Isaiah 11:14, Ezekiel 28:24-26). If there was ever a direct link between the current war in Syria and the coming final fulfillment of Psalm 83, and the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39 these images and the very recent history behind them are it.

Global SITREP D7-16: FATAH PREPARES FOR WAR WITH ISRAEL

Members of Fatah's Martyr Nidal Al-Amoudi Division in Gaza read a statement condemning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for attending the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres.

19 October 2016: This SITREP is based upon the (emphasis added) bullet points taken from an article by the Jerusalem-based journalist Khaled Abu Toameh posted this  early this morning at GatestoneInstitute.Org entitled Palestinians:Fatah Prepares for War with Israel. Click in the link for the full article which has critically important details on the who, what, when, where and how these Fatah troops are training for war.

• "We have pledged to prepare an army of fighters by devoting our full abilities and energies to consolidate the option of armed struggle as the only means to liberate Palestine." — The armed wing of Fatah, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Martyr Nidal Al-Amoudi Division.
• The international community continues to perceive Fatah as the "moderate" Palestinian party with whom Israel should make peace. Yet Fatah is far from a single united bloc; many groups within the faction continue to seek the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle. Moreover, neither Abbas nor any of his senior Fatah loyalists have repudiated the war-set Fatah militias. Crucially, many of these Fatah militiamen continue to receive salaries from the Palestinian Authority.
• These Fatah gunmen who are preparing for war with Israel are indirectly receiving their salaries from Western donors, including the US and many EU countries, who fund the Palestinian Authority.
• These groups believe that they represent the real Fatah, the one that never recognized Israel's right to exist and holds on to armed struggle as the only way to "liberate Palestine." They are not breakaway groups. That is why they continue to operate under the name of Fatah.
• Fatah is a two-faced hydra; one face tells the English-speaking international community what it wants to hear, namely, that it supports a two-state solution and seeks a peaceful settlement to the conflict with Israel, while the other tells the truth: it is committed to an armed struggle and the "liberation of Palestine," and is even preparing for war with Israel.

As most of the intellectually honest bride of Christ knows, these points are, in essence, the key points made Asaph, the Spirit-inspired musical prophet of Psalm 83.  As stated many times over on Eschatology Today, the Psalm 83 prophecy has been in a process of literal fulfillment which began in late November 1947, the 70th anniversary of which occurs next year. 

The final fulfillment of this prophecy, as expressed in Isaiah 11:14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26, is an expected and imminent reality. This pair of parallel prophecies given to us in the Word of God by two of His major prophets make a fallacious false teaching of those who say that Asaph's Psalm 83 is not a prophecy.

Global SITREP D6-16: US Engages Iranian Forces in Yemen

Vertical Missile Launch from the USS Mason

UPDATED (see below) 13 October 2016: This has been seen coming from a long way off... US Naval forces engaging Iranian missile sites in combat operations in the Middle East.

Last evening, following a second Iranian (IRGC) attempt in three days to strike a small US flotilla with Kosar (AShM (anti-ship) missiles the US struck back at the sites which fired the missiles in Yemen, just north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. All Iranian targets were destroyed.

Background: All summer long Iranian naval forces have been exhibiting increasingly bellicose and unprofessional behavior towards US naval forces operating from the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to the Strait of Hormuz. Those incidents passed without the exchange of fire.

However, that all changed a week ago. In late August the Iranians delivered a massive shipment of AShM weapons and radar equipment to sites in Yemen under Houthi rebel control just north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Those missile systems and their electronic targeting command and control systems went operational one week ago when a former US ship, the UAE-operated HSV-2 Swift, was attacked by one and possibly two Iranian Kosar AShMs; the attack nearly destroyed the Swift.  

Following the attack the US Navy deployed the USS Ponce, USS Mason and USS Nitze to patrol the coastline opposite the Iranian missile bases on the Yemeni coast. On Sunday, the American ships came under attack by three Iranian Kosar missiles fired from those bases. The USS Mason fired a salvo of SM-2 missiles in defense of the flotilla, as well as a brand new defensive system known as the Nulka Decoy System. All Iranian missiles harmlessly impacted the Red Sea.

Then, yesterday evening the Iranian fired their Kosar missiles in a second attack on the American flotilla. This time the result was the same, and different. It was the same in that the Nulka system on the USS Mason again splashed the Iranian missiles harmlessly into the Red Sea, and it was different in that the USS Nitze fired at least 6 Tomahawk missiles at the Iranian missile/radar bases destroying them completely as well as the IRGC troops who manned those bases. Battle damage assessment has yet to determine if there were any survivors.

Here's a video to illustrate how the new Australian/American designed Nulka Decoy System works.

This is just the first of what likely will become a series of engagements between US and/or Coalition naval forces and Iranian naval forces. It is reasonable to expect this action to continue in the near future at the Strait of Hormuz and within the confines of the Persian Gulf.

What remains of one IRGC radar/missile base struck by US Tomahawk

Another View of  the destruction of IRGC radar/missile base in Yemen.

14 October 2016: These two images above appeared on the web late yesterday. They are AP photos taken from an AP video made at the site of one of the US Tomahawk strikes. It appears by the number of destroyed vehicles present that the IRGC deployed mobile anti-ship systems at two locations in southern Yemen overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait choke point.  Also, Iran's navy has deployed a small frigate and a replenishment ship into the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the wake of these US retaliatory strikes. The last time Iranian naval forces challenged US Navy warships (April 1988) they lost badly, with a total of eight vessels being sunk or damaged severely. Lesson learned?

It is the view of Eschatology Today that this kind of skirmishing could ultimately lead to a fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:34-39 in the coming months.

16 October 2016: Perhaps not all of Iran's 'eggs' (anti-ship missiles and radars) in Yemen were in the same basket. Yesterday afternoon another salvo of anti-ship cruise missiles were fired at the USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Nitze (DDG-94) patrolling the northern approach to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. This attack was confirmed by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson. 

USS Mason DDG-87

It would appear that once again the Nulka Anti-Missile Decoy system fitted onboard the USS Mason effectively defeated yesterday's 1500 (3 PM) local time Iranian attack on our ships. This repeated attack following the destruction of the first three systems by US Tomahawks on 13 October provides some indication that the IRGC had tunnels constructed and camouflaged in this same general area of Yemen's coastline.  No doubt a detailed active search for the surviving Iranian missile systems is ongoing, and they will in all certainty be struck upon discovery with penetrating ordnance, or "as appropriate." 

Watching for further developments.

The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ

The KING of kings

9 October 2016: The "apocalypse of Jesus Christ" are the first three words of a letter that John wrote to his fellow servants of the LORD God: ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. We understand these words better - with a capitalized definite article added - as 'The Revelation of Jesus Christ' which serves as a title for the letter. The full title for this letter is actually the first three verses of the letter which also self-identifies as being a book. As stated by the text, it identifies the letter/book as coming directly from GOD to Jesus who gave it to John "to show unto His servants that which must shortly come to pass."

Apocalypse, the Greek word for revelation, appears in the first sentence of this letter from God to Christ to John, but does not appear again anywhere in the text. From thereafter the text self-identifies as a prophecy, and that it came directly from Jesus Christ to John. This same sequence occurs in Galatians 1:12 where we are informed by Paul that the gospel he preached came direct to him by "the apocalypse (i.e. revelation) of Jesus Christ." Also, in the gospel of John we are informed  that Jesus told those who heard His words directly that they were not His words, but those of "Him who sent Me" (John 12:49-50).

In both instances, whether from John or Paul, the apocalypse/revelation primarily informs us of its Divine origin, that it is from God through Jesus Christ, but not what the apocalypse/revelation is about. The letter/book 'The Revelation of Jesus Christ' is a revealing about what He, Jesus Christ, is soon going to do and the order in which He will accomplish those things. Those things were revealed to John approximately 1,920 years ago and we, his fellow servants indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can read all about them, openly, unhidden, in the plain text of this letter/book. 

Praise God, for no longer are the servants of God in the condition they were in prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, for at that time they could not then have understood the prophecies which we read today according to John 16:12-15. The bride of Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, guides us and informs us about things to come. Nothing is hidden from us, we see Jesus and we also see the Father (John 14:7-11). So also, these are not my words; I am not capable of such. These are the words of our Father.

So, the apocalypse/revelation of Jesus Christ is a letter and a book of prophecy, it came directly to us from God our Father, through Christ and John. And what good are His prophecies unless they are fully and completely understood by His servants? It is for the edification of the church, the bride of Christ, that all these things be plainly understood. John wrote in the book which bears his name as its title. "Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature."

The prophecy within the apocalypse/revelation of Jesus Christ, as stated above, is a revealing of what Jesus will do. Notice this... what will occur in the future has already been revealed! There is no unknown mystery here, it has already been revealed, 1.920 years ago in fact. And even further back in history, back in the Days of Nebuchadnezzar, did not God through the prophet Daniel reveal to him what would happen in the future? In Daniel 2:28 it is written, "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days." 

So you, my brethren brothers and sisters, do you think that God still hides the future of what will be from you? Are you in the dark about what will happen tomorrow? Are those things not to be known because only God knows them? If this is your current mindset then you are very sadly mistaken. God knew the end from the beginning, and He told Jesus, Jesus told John and John has revealed all of those things to us in specific sequence and detail, between chapters 1 and 22 of  'the apocalypse of Jesus Christ.' 

These are mostly events we will not be here on this earth to witness with our own eyes, so we have been told of them in advance so that we may bear witness of them to those who currently have no real idea, no true concept, of what lies in the days ahead. These are things with which we can convict those who are not yet saved by the blood of the Lamb of the Truth that can and will set them free of the sin that binds them - hopefully in time to be caught up in the harpazo and remain with Christ forevermore. 

Going into this prophetic book, tell me brothers and sisters about the letters to the seven churches. Specifically, what is unknown about their content? It's all right there in plain _______ (insert the language you know). Do you not know what Jesus looks like today, right now? You can read it in Chapter 1:9-20, all symbolism is explained fully.

Then there are the seven seals on the back of the book that only Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was found to be worthy in all of Creation to open. Guess what, they are open!  What part of the content of that book that had been concealed by those seven formerly unbroken seals remains unknown? And of the judgments which follow, is there any confusion about them? And so on, and so on. 

That's my sermon, I hope you enjoyed it.

A Picture Worth 10,000 Words

This image is worth 10,000 words. Look at the top of the light beam.

'Nuff said.