Global SITREP D6-18: Has The Jordanian "Breaking Point" Taken Place?

This map shows the Naharayim/Bequra region at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmuk Rivers. Israel lies to the West and North, while Jordan lies to the Southeast. The base map is a 1:20,000 map by the Survey of Israel (1953). Also shown is the region (now called Peace Island) that was accorded special treatment by the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, taken from the map in Appendix IV of that treaty.

21 October 2018: Sooner or later a previous SITREP or multiple SITREPs return to the fore because Eschatology Today is based fully upon Bible prophecy. This is the case again with the announcement this morning from King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that it has exercised a one-year notification option to cancel this land lease annex to the 1994 Peace Treaty with Israel. The annex leased two fairly small parcels of land of about 4 square miles in total (Naharayim/Baqura and Tzofar/Ghumar) to Israel for twenty-five years.

Eschatology Today thinks this action by the Jordanian government amounts to an attempt at appeasement of the Islamist Palestinian majority living in Jordan, within which HAMAS (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) has always been the key powerbroker. The insigificance of the land in question has no bearing on tactical or strategic issues between Israel and Jordan. The abrogation of the treaty's Annex I is merely Abdullah II appearing to show that he can take something away form Israel; to stand up to Israel and pay no price for doing so. He's dead wrong in his calculus. 

Since this action gains absolutely nothing for Jordan unless it is a first small step to something much larger, such as the "great upheaval" in Jordan discussed in previous Global SITREP's B4-17: Is Jordan Nearing a Breaking Point, and B10-13: The Jordan Valley, then that is what it is, part of a larger agenda at play. There also may well be an attachment of this issue to what was discussed in SITREP C9-18: The Price to be Paid. A review of those three SITREPs will serve as a refresher for the fulfillment of Psalm 83, Isaiah 11:14 and Ezekiel 28:24-26 which grow ever closer.

Special Item to Note

Generic image of a comet

🔺 17 October 2017: I recieved a rather odd notification today.  The powers that be, (i.e. NASA) say there's no known threat, immediate or otherwise, to the earth from any nearby, approaching of incoming asteroid, comet or other space debris. That means there is nothing of an urgent nature that is currently on, pardon the pun, the event horizon. 

So the oddity is that with the US having a very tight budget the money being put into a now 2-year old NASA asteroid defense office, known as the "Planetary Defense Coordination Office" (PDCO) is suddenly enjoying a near tripling of its budget, from $60 million per year to $150 million per year. 

What is an additional $90 million being spent on when there's no immeidate threat from some inbound hurtling space rock? Or is there a space rock threat we're not yet privy to? 

Most of us know that objects incoming from space are an integral part of 70th Week prophecy. See Revelation 8:7-11.  These are the first 4 of the 7 Trumpet judgments, their occurrance is during the first half of the 70th Week, and being judgments, none of them are good for the earth and the life on it. That's obvious.

The increased concern for NASA's PDCO is not baseless either. On July 23rd a fireball meteor exploded in the sky above the USAF base at Thule, Greenland. Never saw a word about this three months ago, but today's notification mentions it. The fireball was speeding along at 15 miles per second when it exploded with the kinetic energy of a 2.1kT nuke detonation. 

Global SITREP D5-18: Jeremiah!

Jeremiah

16 October 2018: I've been led to devote time to reading and studying the Book of Jeremiah, and some of the other books attributed to him. Though not yet fully completed, this study needs to be put forward, as a work in progress if you will, because the urgent truths and critical warnings found in Jeremiah are as relevant to our world today, especially to the modern State of Israel, as they were in his day. This is more proof that the Word of God is truly His living and enduring word. 

(Side bar: Eschatology Today strongly encourages all to read the Book of Jeremiah, it's like reading tomorrow's headlines in advance concerning the Middle East!)

As we all know, in those ancient times in the centuries that followed Solomon's united kingdom, Israel was divided into two polities, the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south. Israel failed to heed the warnings of God regarding its sins and infidelities and was overtaken by the Assyrian Empire. From an early age in his role as a reluctant prophet Jeremiah saw the warnings God was sending to Judah concerning it not following the same path that led to Israel's conquest by Assyria.

What is to be seen in Jeremiah is that the modern State of Israel has placed itself in the same situation as Jeremiah was warning Judah about in his day. Israel today to a great extent is compromising with the current world order instead of seeking what only God can provide. 

In the book of Jeremiah you will find the detailed definition of a nation's infidelity to God. Such infidelity is specifically likened to the activities of a harlot, a faithless one; indulging in various types of harlotry and wickedness. Paraphrasing Jeremiah 3, "Can a wife have two husbands? Can a man be divorced from his wife, have her lay with other men and then take her back? What pollution is this?!"  And so Jeremiah's urgent and critical call was for Judah's national repentance from this harlotry because judgment surely was coming without it. And, as we also all know, the judgment of Judah came in a similar form as it did for northern Israel. For Judah the judgment came in the form the of Babylonian conquest, the destruction of the 1st Temple and 70 years of exile.

In today's world, and the world which lies in the immediate future, there is the great harlot called Babylon. Many are those who have debated about this mystery revealed in Revelation 17, the "mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth." This subject has been discussed here previously, so this is nothing new. The mystery Babylon are the nations of the world; all of them harlots having joined with the Antichrist during the 70th Week in a geopolitical and false religion worshiping Satan. 

Yet, one need not try to peer into the immediate future... the nations of the world are harlots today practicing infidelity towards God, giving only lip service to Him, yet allowing all forms of ungodliness, and murder of the unborn, sexual perversions of every type -- but our media and leaders across the board say its okay because these abominations are cloaked in a rainbow colored flag to make them acceptable. Nonsense! These things are complete and utter national harlotry as defined in the God-breathed Book of Jeremiah! 

And the current secular State of Israel is thoroughly involved in this global harlotry and is partaking in its sins on a daily basis; it will only get worse - until God, desiring that a remnant of all Israel be saved - will intervene directly. Make no mistake, the current secular State of Israel will agree to observe a pact with Sheol; it will accept its confirmer as messiah.

Another discernment from the Book of Jeremiah is that the ancient king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, was a type of Antichrist. Yet in the near future of the 70th Week, during the relatively short time of the Antichrist and his false prophet, there will not be a 70-year period of judgment, but one of just 7 years, the last 42 months or 1,260 days of which will be catastrophic like nothing ever experienced by mankind on this earth previously (see here and here).

And to wrap this up, there's this final observation. Just as Jeremiah stood and spoke God-breathed prophecy in the 1st Temple on the mount prior to its destruction, so too will the Lord's Two Witnesses stand in the 3rd Temple speaking prophecy and executing judgments during the first 42 months or 1,260 days of the 70th Week. Not just one prophet prophesying, but two! 

Global SITREP D3-18: The End-Game in Syria (Part III)

Vladimir Putin (L) and Binyamin Netanyahu (R)

UPDATE 11 October 2018: Knock-knock. Anyone paying attention?  What's so completely wrong with this picture: On September 17, 2018 the "Syrian" Air Defense system, allegedly under Russian military command and control (C2) shot down a Russian IL-20M electronic spy plane killing all 15 crewmen aboard 21.9 miles (35 km) off the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean Sea. For this catastrophic act Russia rewards Syria with four (4) complete S-300PMU-2 air defense systems for free? Nobody finds this odd? 

A three week old real-world reality and everyone's moved on to other stuff. Right. Shoot down a multi-million dollar spy plane, kill 15 Russian highly-trained specialist airmen, blame Israel for it, and Russia gives Syria $600 million dollars worth of state-of-the-art air defense systems absolutely free. It should have been a billion-dollar deal between Russia and Syria. Nothing to see here, move along. (And in Ezekiel 38/39 Russia comes calling to take Israel as a spoil of war - yeah, move along.)

And another thing. It is found in Jeremiah 49:23. The general area is denoted in this prophecy with the naming of "Hamath and Arpad." Specifically, northwestern Syria. Eschatology Today has been keyed like a laser on this for quite some time now. Then the text gets a little more specific; it focuses on the nearby sea to the west: "There is trouble on the sea, it cannot be quiet."  

Ohhh, that's right, a Russian aircraft with 15 souls on board were shot out of the sky by a Russian missile from a Russian integrated air defense system 22 miles out into that sea off Syria's coastline. And Israel was blamed - is being blamed - and $600 million worth of additional air defense systems are given to Syria for free. Systems designed to wage war against... who? No big deal. No chance here of prophetic fulfillment to the exact letter 2,600 years after God gave it to the reluctant prophet. And all the prophecy teachers were silent.

10 October 2018: RUSSIA HAS REJECTED ISRAEL'S SOVEREIGNTY OF THE GOLAN!

8 October 2018: This is big news for a very important update. Israel is beginning to recognize Russia as an enemy nation. 

An analysis piece was published by Arutz Sheva (INN) in Israel this morning under the headline: "Russia's Latest Moves Reveal it as an Enemy." This analysis is clearly based upon an article written by Yigal Carmon published yesterday by the Jewish News Syndicate under the headline: "The mask drops: Russia reveals itself as Israel's enemy." Both of these articles confirm the continuing analysis published by Eschatology Today in the immediate aftermath the IL-20M shoot-down, and specifically as found in the last two paragraphs at the bottom of this SITREP.  The Arutz Sheva analysis also confirms the referenced "rumors of war" found in the first sentence of second paragraph in the original 5 October dateline.

Quoting the Arutz Sheva analysis:

"During his meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly almost two weeks ago Netanyahu said he had “got everything he wanted from Trump” regarding the crisis with Russia over Syria.The Israeli-Russian crisis started after the Russian army falsely blamed Israel’s air force (IAF) for the downing of a Ilyushin IL-20 reconnaissance plane which was shot down with a S-200 SAM missile killing 15 Russian servicemen on Sept. 20.Trump reportedly okayed the immediate delivery of an additional number of F-35 stealth war planes - which are considered the best fighter jets in the world – to the Israeli Air Force, while for the first time deploying a squadron of US F-35s in Abu Dhabi.Both moves must be regarded as an attempt to neutralize the threat posed by the new S-300 anti-aircraft batteries to both the IAF and the US Air Force, which is supporting American Special Forces stationed in eastern Syria and northern Iraq."

It should not take an Einstein, or eight million Einstein's in Israel, to shortly put two and two together in a realization that the Russian Federation is the power from the utmost north identified by the prophet Ezekiel in the 38th and 39th chapter of the prophetic book bearing his name.

In the meantime, the best fighter aircraft in the world is directly engaged in countering Iran from the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the eastern end of the Arabian Sea, in essence, the entire Area of Operations (AOR) of South West Asia. We can also see the two opposing forces referenced by Ezekiel, the Magog military confederation and Israel's military allies - Sheba, Dedan (the GCC alliance) and merchants of Tarshish and all its young lions (the Western or NATO alliance). 

And a necessary word of caution regarding Ezekiel 38/39. This prophetic engagement is NOT next on the timeline of pre-70th Week of prophetic dominos. The events and specific enemies described by the singing prophet Asaph in Psalm 83, and the two parallel prophecies of Isaiah 11:14 and Ezekiel 28:24 must occur first in order to fulfill the pre-condition established by Ezekiel 38:8-11. These specifics are essential to repeatedly bring up so that all who read here fully understand the literal (hermeneutic) interpretation and scope of prophetic fulfillments espoused by the bulk of those prophecy teachers who adhere to classical Dispensationalism.

Again... the impending fulfillment of Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27 are viewed by Eschatology Today as key prophetic dominos in the nearing flood of toppling of other well-identified and successive prophetic dominos leading up to the 70th Week. At some unknown point in this process, the bride of Christ shall be caught up instantaneously at the last trumpet to meet our LORD Jesus Christ in the air (I Corinthians 15:50-54).

IAF F-35I Adir

Russian S-300PMU-2 "Favorit" SAMs in Syria

5 October 2018: The first sentences of the previous SITREP D2-18 have been proven correct: "The end-game in Syria is no longer about rebels. Now it's all about a big powers (i.e. nuclear powers) face-off: Russia, Syria and Iran versus Israel, the U.S. and our allies." The big powers face-off can be seen in the escalating high-end hardware entering the war zone. In the past week we saw the emergency transfer deployment of four front-line Russian armed forces S-300PMU-2 "Favorit" SAM systems directly from their bases in Russia to the T4 (Tiyas) Air Base in Syria. 

The rumors of war have it that additional F-35I Adir stealth fighters are enroute to Israel in response. If this reminds you of a grand-scale chess game, you're not alone in thinking along those lines. The United States has a standing directive to maintain Israel's qualitative edge when it comes to military hardware. The F-35I Adir is the tip of that spear and it is merely a matter of time before that spear is thrown against the next Iranian/Hezbollah target to appear in Syria. For their part the Russians understand this implicitly - Israel will not fire at Russian or Syrian forces unless fired upon. Iranian military forces in Syria are another matter entirely and will be struck when identified.

The increased Russian S-300PMU-2 "Favorit" SAM deployment into central Syria is, as US CENTCOM commader General Votel recently stated, "a needless, needless escalation." That said, General Votel also noted that the S-300 deployment will not have any effect on current and future US military operations. Ditto for Israel.

The Russians have also deployed one of the FOUR newly arrived S-300PMU-2 "Favorit" SAMs to Tartus, Syria, which is an element of the Russian air defense battalion in Syria. That means this deployment can be seen as a reinforcement as would also be the case of Hmeimim Air Base where other S-300 and S-400 batteries have been based for a couple years now. 

The Russian SAMs were clearly combat ineffective in preventing the IL-20M Coot-A from being shot down by their Syrian ally. Russia knows this as a fact because the Russian MoD announced on 25 August 2017 that its air defenses deployed into Syria had been fully integrated with the air defense assets of Bashar al-Assad's Syrian air defense units. This announcement came from the Chief of Staff and Russian Aerospace Forces commander, Major General Sergei Mescheryakov.  

If readers will recall, following the heavy U.S. cruise missile strike on Assad's  Shayrat Air Base in April 2017 all remaining Syrian combat aircraft were redeployed to Russias Hmeimim Air Base due to its being defended by Russian S-400, S-300, Pantsir S-1 anti-air systems. Recall, if you can, how many additional air strikes Israel conducted in Syria between April 2017 and September 2018. Allow me to respond to my own question: that number is well over 200 strikes. Therefore, the blatantly obvious conclusion is that Russia's blaming Israel for the IL-20M shoot-down is wildly fantastical nonsense. 

Global SITREP D4-18: Recognizing Eisegetical Teaching in Today's Church

Amir Tsarfati at 2018 Understanding the Times

7 October 2018: I need to issue a disclaimer right from the get-go so that some folks do not get the wrong idea. The posting which follows is not intended to disparage Pastor Jan Markell, Olive Tree Ministries or the associated annual "Understanding the Times" prophecy conference. All are very well-regarded by Eschatology Today and within the greater Christian eschatological community. The intent here is simply to illustrate and highlight eisegetical teaching in the church today, in this case it is the teaching presented by Amir Tsarfati one week ago the this year's conference.

Last evening I received an email from Donald Dolmus. For those who don't know Donald, he is a prolific prophecy teacher and minister (En Defensa de la Fe - In Defense of the Faith) who lives in amid the ongoing civil conflict in today's neo-communist Nicaragua. Donald translates articles by Dr. David Reagan and Bill Salus from English to Spanish. 

In that email was the above screen capture from the YouTube video of Amir Tsarfati's teaching. The subject line of Donald's email read simply "This is pure "newspaper exegesis." I searched out and watched the Amir  Tsarfati video linked above. I then slept on my reaction to the video and awoke this morning feeling a very strong urge to respond to our brother's email - not in defense of Amir Tsarfati's teaching, but in brotherly rebuke of the teaching he presented to the Understanding the Times conference.

Here, with Donald's concurrence, is my emailed response. My response was also shared with several other prophecy teachers.

"Donald, 

I understand your intended point with this, however Amir Tsarfati did not engage in "newspaper exegesis" in his monologue at Jan Markell's Understanding the Times conference last Saturday in Minneapolis. 

I say this because Amir Tsarfati clearly did not cite any media article in support of the eschatological claims he made. 

On the contrary, Amir's claims were pure eisegesis, and eisegesis is typically something a little bit worse than run-of-the-mill "newspaper exegesis" in my opinion.  Not that it's necessary, but I will explain my view.

What Amir did was issue a series of eisegetical talking points that are at their core based upon a kind of modern-day Israeli zealotry; they appear to be based upon the rather unique mindset that MIddle Eastern origin prophecy teachers are superior or more knowledgeable than those who've been brought up in the West - as if there's a different Holy Spirit interpreting God-breathed prophecy depending on where one was born and raised. In this way Amir's commentary was more ideological than eschatological. He rightly claimed not to be a prophet; that Old Testament prophets spoke as inspired by the Holy Spirit, but then lauched into several minutes of eisegetical pronouncements forgetting that interpretation of the Old Testament prophets words is by and through the same Holy Spirit. I noted that Amir did not claim ANY Spiritual discernment as underlying and guiding his words.

I quote Amir with my emphasis added:

"I can tell you Israel today is safe, secure and prosperous, and a world power."  

This is a glaring and egregious misstatement of reality. Worse - this statement outright denies Old Testament prophecy that is currently in a process of fulfillment (Asaph, Isaiah, Ezekiel - just to name a few)!  And the worst part of all this is that Amir then attempted to support his first unsupportable contention with more eisegetical contentions. These additional contentions, in and of themselves, actually serve to contradict his original unsupportable contention! 

(My emphasis again in the quote below)

"We (Israel) will not be attacked by our immediate enemies all around us - from the north, to the east, to the south. We're (Israel) not going to be attacked because of who we are - 'The name of Israel will be remembered no more' - . No! We (Israel) are now the eigth most powerful country in the world; we are the most innovative country in the world; we are the start-up nation of the world. We (Israel) even extract water from the air - you sneeze; we drink."

As can be seen, this is a prideful eisegesis as well. It completely ignores the not yet fulfilled text of Psalm 83; Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 17; Jeremiah 49:23-27 and 34-39, as well as Ezekiel 28:24. These I believe will be the literal fulfillments that will bring about the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38:8-11 just prior to the 70th Week prophesied by the angel Gabriel to Daniel the prophet.

That Israel is currently safe and secure ignores the ongoing war between Israel and Iran and its several proxies within Lebanon and Syria. If Israel is secure then why are there several battalions of Amir's fellow IDF troops on the Golan, and opposite Gaza? Why are Judea and Samaria the scene of repeated terrorist atrocities with knives and guns? Why has the IAF launched over 200 strike missions into Syria, from Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border to Latakia in Syria? Why has Israel's PM recently threatened Hezbollah and the government of Lebanon as he did in the UN recently? Nations which are safe and secure do not engage in such things as these. You know it, I know it and especially Amir Tsarfati should know it.

Amir clearly appears to be within that peculiar group of prophecy teachers which believe and often proclaim that the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39 is imminently imminent. This may be a driving impetus to his eisegesis."