Global SITREP E1-18: Hooks

Hooks

27 November 2018: As the news burst forth yesterday that the Russian Federation's sea, air and land forces had attacked a 3-ship flotilla of the Ukrainian navy at the Kerch Strait east of Crimea, one word immediately came to mind: hooks!

"Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, [of] the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords."  Ezekiel 38:1-4 NKJV 

These hooks, as we discussed here back in 2014, are the kind that would be used to lead an animal to its slaughter. That's pretty much the gist of what Ezekiel told to set his face and prophecy against Gog of Magog. The inference is that Gog of Magog and his well-equiped forces are engaged in some military adventure in the far north when these hooks are used to turn Gog and his forces around and draw them south to the land of Israel, and there to be slaughtered.

The ongoing Russian four-year long war of aggression against Ukraine, having consumed 10,000 souls thus far, stands a very strong probability of still being in progress when the time of Ezekiel's prophecy rolls around. That speaks to the near proximity of fulfillment for Ezekiel's prophecy, even though there is much prophetic fulfillment which is still yet to preceed it, it is tantalizingly close-at-hand.

Global SITREP D10-18: Would an IDF Reconquest of Gaza Occur in a Vacuum?

Gettin' ready...

UPDATE 25 November 2018: Regarding the transfer of Russian-made 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles from Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah to HAMAS and the other terrorists in Gaza, The Times of Israel is the source for this update. It seems that the Islamic State in Sinai (IS Wilayat Sinai) recently intercepted and confiscated a shipment of these and other high-tech, GPS-guided weapons as they were crossing the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) enroute to HAMAS in Gaza. It is most telling that despite the blockade imposed upon Gaza, shipments such as this very large one (the largest to date seized by IS Wilayat Sinai) still continue unabated. 

Analysis: In addition to Gaza, the Sinai will also be a front in the coming fighting. HAMAS is therefore liable to permit IS Wilayat Sinai keep the seized weaponry in the realization that a secondary front to pull additonal IDF assets away from the coming Gaza operation would be beneficial to HAMAS and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

There is also a report found on the INN website which made global news this past week. With the U.S. clamping down on economic sanctions against Iran, it was revealed this past Tuesday that a clandestine money pipeleine run by the Russian Federation and Islamic Republic of Iran governments was discovered by the U.S. Treasury invesigators. This complex scheme was one in which crude oil transfers along with hundreds of millions of dollars were run through Syria for funding the Syrian government in addition to the terrorist operations of Hezbollah in Lebanon and HAMAS in Gaza. Details are in the linked report, yet an easy assessment to make here would be that the cuting off of this level of funding for Syria, Hezbollah and HAMAS, all terrorist proxies of Iran and the Russian Federation, is bound to hurt. Financial strangulation is as much a tool of war and bombs and bullets.

22 November 2018: One would have significantly impaired hearing, both literally and spiritually, to not hear the increasing beat of war drums across the Middle East for most of this past year. Limited military engagements are one thing, and these have markedly increased from the spring to this fall, but in the past day, and as noted in the previous SITREP, the military situation across the Middle East has changed significantly.

How significantly? When was the last time a senior Israeli security council official was heard to say publicly that Israel was "being forced to recapture parts or all of the Gaza Strip." Gilad Erdan said it yesterday. Fellow security council member Israel Katz was quick to back his colleague up, saying Israel faced "a no-choice war against HAMAS in Gaza." When was the last time a former senior Israeli official of the stature of Gideon Sa'ar called for a precision preemptive strike on Iranian missile factories run by Hezbollah in Lebanon before the "window of opportunity closes?" 

And then we have Nickolay Mladendov, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, opine what most intellectually honest observers have known for quite some time now: the Islamic Republic of Iran wants a full-scale war to erupt between Israel and HAMAS in the Gaza Strip and across much of southern Israel. All of these statements occurred on the same day at the same Jerusalem Post event. None of them were mere rhetoric.

To top this off, and concurrent with the above statements, the Iranian commander of IRGC forces, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, threatened all American ground and air forces across the CENTCOM AOR, and all vessels of the U.S. 5th Fleet with strikes by Iranian missile forces. (The Brigadier General's typical Persian braggadocio notwithstanding, that kind of a strike on U.S. forces in the Middle East would almost certainly amount to the last thing he would do with his forces.

Any ardent student of Bible prophecy should be able to rattle off all of the prophetic verses which correspond directly with the above statements. And all of them are inter-related in one manner or another. For example, Isaiah 11:14 has a direct correlation to an Israeli reconquest of the Gaza strip. But if one reads the entire verse it directly links an IDF assault upon Gaza with a military conquest of those areas of modern Jordan (i.e. the Aqaba, Talifah, Karak, Madaba and Amman Governorates) known in ancient times as Edom, Moab and Ammon. This speaks to a much wider war and is just one aspect of what we know as the prophetic Psalm 83 war.

There is also the longstanding real-world link between the terrorist forces in Gaza and Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. Again, this link is a specific point from Asaph's Psalm 83 prophecy. The Iranians and Hezbollah have been clandestinely supplying Israel's enemies in Gaza with high-tech warfighting materiel for at least the past seven years. The reference here is to war materiel such as the Russian-made, laser-guided 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles. 

These anti-tank missiles were transferred from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon prior to the 2006 war, and subsequently Hezbollah supplied them to HAMAS and Islamic Jihad. The Kornets, with a maximum range of over 3 miles, have since been fired at and have destroyed a number Israeli civilian buses, including school buses traveling within line-of-sight of the Gaza Strip, since April 7, 2011. We read about these attrocites every now and then in Israeli news reports, but the events are soon forgotten as time passes. With absolute certainty, they are not forgotten in Israel. In addition to Psalm 83 there is the widely unheralded (except here on Eschatology Today!) prophecy found in Joshua 13 which deals specifically with Lebanon, and therefore is linked also to the overall Psalm 83 prophetic scenario.

Does anyone seriously think that Israel would engage in warfighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon without also directly confronting Iran and its military proxy forces in Syria? It's a no-brainer, of course they will, and there we have a direct link to the Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49:23-27 prophecies that have been a focus on Eschatology Today pretty much for the entire year as well, and since everyone is familiar with them by now those prophecies won't be belabored further in this SITREP.

The point of this is that a full-scale military operation undertaken by the IDF to retake Gaza is a virtual gateway to a much larger conflict; there is no way  such a reconquest would occur in a geopolitical or military vacuum. An IDF operation for the reconquest of Gaza would directly involve, and/or lead to the fulfillment of a half-dozen or more 'last days' prophecies. The flood of falling prophetic dominoes, remember? So, does Eschatology Today assess that a literal fulfillment of Isaiah 11:14 could lead to the final act of the Psalm 83 war? Yes, of course; it's been a consistent theme here for several years. And to borrow Minister Gilad Erdan's phraseology... we're now closer to a literally fulfilled mass of prophetic Scripture than we have ever been before. And it's not if, but when. Eschatology Today assesses the 'when' is soon - very, very soon.

Global SITREP D9:18: The Prophecy of Ezekiel

Artistic rendering of Ezekiel at the River Chebar, Ezekiel 1:4

17 November 2018: One of the most important verses regarding the salvation of all Israel occurs, according to Scripture, in the aftermath of the one-sided military engagement between all of the forces brought against Israel by Gog of Magog and the Lord GOD Himself. That verse is Ezekiel 39:29.

"'And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.”

Before expounding upon this verse and its meaning, there first must be established from Scripture the proper background.

Ezekiel, one of ancient Israel's (Judah), greaterst prophets, needs to be understood in the terms of his calling to be a prophet. I would urge reading the first chapter (image above) when the likeness of the glory of the Lord appeared before him. This incredible scene of the calling of Ezekiel to be a prophet to Israel occurred at the River Chebar in Mesopotamia at the time noted in the text. I would also urge to continue reading chapters two and three for the full measure of Ezekiel's calling to be a prophet and watchman background material, but will add a quick synopsis here.

As most human beings would be certain to do upon seeing the same thing that Ezekiel was seeing in the opening verses of chapter one, he swiftly fell prone in planting his face on the ground. But the Lord GOD said, "Son of man, stand upright upon your feet and I will speak to you." Immediately the Holy Spirit entered into Ezekiel and set him uprught upon his feet. the Lord GOD then informs Ezekiel of his mission to speak prophecy to Israel, a rebellious nation; that Israel whether the heed Ezekiel's God-breathed words or reject them will know for certain that a prophet was among them. 

And then, in a scene very similar to what occurred to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, the Lord God hands Ezekiel a scoll and instructs him to eat it. This Scripture makes clear that all prophecy Ezekiel would speak to Israel came from the scroll he was given to consume; it literally became a part of his body, it was the literal word of God that Ezekiel would speak. Ezekiel is also informed that he is being sent not to a foreign land of strange language, but to Israel, his own people captive in Babylon; but that in a foreign land they would surely accept what Ezekiel would speak to them. But for rebellious Israel, whether they will hear these words or not, nevertheless, the word of the Lord GOD must be spoken to them.

This is, to my thinking, strong evidence of why to this very day Ezekiel 38/39 are of such importance to many Jews that they, deliberately or not, overlook or misinterpret the other just as Divinely inspired 'last days' words of the other Jewish prophets. 

Continuing, the Lord GOD also makes Ezekiel a watchman for all Israel. Now, in a nutshell, being a watchman for the Lord GOD is no simple or easy task. Whatever the Lord tells you to speak, if you don't say it to those you are told to say it to, either the wicked or the righteous, then their affliction will become your affliction; and their blood will be required of you. If you do speak,and they heed the words, then all is well. And this goes well beyond speaking His word to mere individuals; it regards the whole of the nation of Israel as you will learn next.    

Getting back now to Ezekiel 39:29, and the Lord GOD pouring out the Holy Spirit upon all Israel. Has all Israel first accepted Jesus Christ as Messiah to make this pouring out of the Lord's Spirit possible? No, Scripture clearly does not say that. Many Christians are there who maintain that it is a must; that what what about ot be stated here is what they refer to a "Dual Covenant" theology. I assure you it is nothing of the sort. It is the word of God direct from Scripture. 

So, this is where reading the text of Ezekiel 36 is essential to understanding Ezekiel 39:29 and the Lord's pouring out of His Spirit, and, to be sure, the fulness of what Paul wrote in Romans 11 regarding the salvation of all Israel.

Ezekiel 36, verses 1 through 15, begins with God preparing the land of (Eretz) Israel for the return of the nation, the people, of Israel. Then at Ezekiel 36:16 the role of Ezekiel as a watchman for Israel, speaking that which the Lord GOD commands him to say, begins. The numbering of the verses 16 through 21 have been edited out so the text of the the Lord GOD is saying through Ezekiel is continuous; bold text of verse 21 has been added for emphasis.

"Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name—when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went."

This section speaks as if the point of reference is the time of Christ's visitation, ministry, crucifixion, rising from the dead and ascension into Heaven, circa 33 AD, and the resultant destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the 2nd Temple and the global exile of the Jews by the Roman Empire and which all occurred in the 7 years from 67 to 73 AD, as prophesied by Isaiah 29. And then there's verse 21 which is the core of the matter, and is now explained in the subsequent eleven verses (22-32), also in bold for emphasis.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will [e]loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

We leave the final five verses of chapter 36 for the reader to read for themselves, they are self explanatory. Of these verses quoted above, we should recongnize that they are found in the same thematic discourse found in the closing verses of Ezekiel 39 begining at verse 25 where God shows mercy on the whole house of Israel in jealousy for His holy name. These things, the restoration of the land (eretz) Israel and the Lord God pouring His Spirit upon all Israel is not for their sake, but for His holy name's sake. 

There is a consistent theme here as well, and it runs from the Covenant of Moab in Deuteronomy 29:4 (an addition to the Covenant of Horeb), to Isaiah 29:10, and the whole of Romans 11. And the time for this 'last days' redemption of Israel was identified by Paul in Romans 11:25-27. 

"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,

And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

 

For this is My covenant with them,

When I take away their sins.”"

So, it is after the Lord God has poured out His Spirit that those who recieve it that the prophecy of Zechariah 12:10 comes to fulfillment (again, bold for emphasis) and Israel recognizes Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah:

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for hisonly son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." 

Global SITREP D8-18: Netanyahu Stops Gaza War to Reassess (The Reconquest of Gaza)

Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE 21 November 2018: The military reassessment that commenced following the sudden Gaza ceasefire of a week ago, and DM Avigdor Lieberman's sudden resignation, appears to have been completed by PM Netanyahu and his security cabinet. According to public comments made by Gilad Erdan (MK Likud, Ministry of Public Safety, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information) Israel intends to very soon invade and re-occupy parts to all of Gaza, and in so doing complete the total destruction of HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and all terrorist infrastructure within the confines of Gaza.

18 November 2018: The immediate crisis to the longevity of the Israeli government has been avoided. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is now also Israeli Defense Minister Netanyahu. There will not be any early elections to form a new government either, elections at this time would be "irresponsible." 

Why? Eschatology Today assesses that the incredibly daring IDF Special Operations Forces (SOF) mission into Gaza, which was the lead-in to the fighting of last week, achieved much more than killing a squad of HAMAS militants. The mission was executed based upon special intelligence and the infiltrated team clearly discovered something, very probably a game-changing something. Something which, for the time being at least, is highly classified due to its national security implications for southern and possible most of central Israel.

This critical something would explain the massive response from HAMAS and Islamic Jihad's missile barrage. We know know that new types of missiles made in Iran have been smuggled into Gaza; one or more of them were used last week. These are the short-range Iranian Falagh-1 and Falagh-2 missiles which saw widespread deployment in combat within Syria and Iraq in the past 4 or 5 years. A suspected variant of these missiles, which normally are tipped with high explosive warheads, has been linked to a chemical attack in Ghouta, Syria.

The larger and likely dire implications of what the IDF SOF mission discovered in Gaza can largely be inferred, and in all probability are a likely causation for the acceptance of the crisis-creating ceasefire of last week. The implications, obviously national security implications, are also clearly evident in the address PM/DM Netanyahu made to all of Israel today. The spectre of chemical weapons existing in Gaza for use against Israel would be enough for any government to stop, take a step back from a major incursion to reassess and begin new planning based upon the newly collected intelligence. The recent threats by HAMAS that Tel Aviv will receive its missiles in the next round also takes on new and critical importance. Hence the new title for this SITREP.

14 November 2018: Israel is nearly surrounded on all sides by enemies; only the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea presents a peaceful frontier to the Jewish state. 

This is perhaps the reasoning PM Netanyahu has a globalist policy guiding his leadership at the present time. Netanyahu wants the acceptance of Israel as an equal among the European nations where virulent anti-Israel sentiment is far greater than any other region on the planet save for the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies. Netanyahu is also dead-set upon achieving a similar acceptance of Israel among the Arab nations of the Arabian peninsula. And he also wants Russia to support Israel's military effort to rid all of Syria of forward deployed Iranian military forces. An uninformed observer might think Bibi Netanyahu is offering himself as a candidate for the role of Moshiach ben Yosef.

Nothing can be permitted to bring Netanyahu's globalist policy to ruins: not the nearly 500 rockets fired from Gaza in the first two days of this week, and not the tens of thousands of Israeli citizens in the southern reaches of the country whom those missiles and other pyrotechnical devices were deliberately selected as living targets to be continually terrorized. 

Not even the governing coalition and security cabinet that Netanyahu himself cobbled together can be allowed to continue; as of sunrise today the government itself has been allowed to crumble and commencing with the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. This is how Netanyahu's globalist policy protects the terrorists of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad in Gaza more than it does the Israeli citizens the Prime Minister swore to protect.

Yet, since the LORD God is in complete control, and Israel itself being His inerrant timepiece, these current circumstances must be seen as integral to His inerrant plan for the inevitable redemption of all Israel, possibly even acting as a catalyst moving forward to that day.

Among the final words of Avigdor Lieberman as Israel's Defense Minister were these: "Israel is buying short-term quiet, with the price being severe long-term damage to national security." Eschatology Today agrees, mostly due to the understanding provided by Bible prophecy, and secondly, due to the common sense reality that has been created by the ceasefire with HAMAS and Islamic Jihad. The enemies of Israel have been emboldened which ensures larger more destructive wars will follow in relatively short order.

Global SITREP D7-18: MidEast Wars Magnified

Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Missouri (SSN-780) on May 31, 2018. US Navy Photo

UPDATE 30 November 2018: No real surprise here, but again it has taken a full month for the real-world news to catch up with Eschatology Today. The direct reference here is to the final sentence of the 29 October update highlighted below which defined the meaning of this SITREP's title "MidEast Wars Magnified." Today, Israel National News is the news site whose just published analysis "Syrian war becoming a global conflict" achieves that catch-up. Indeed, a magnified MidEast war is a global war.

12 November 2018: This update is not really new news, although it may be new news to some folks. Russia and China are not the only nations currently preparing for war. The United States of America has also been preparing as was revealed in an article first published by the United States Naval Institute last Wednesday (07NOV18) and updated Thursday (08NOV18). 

The reason this linked article is not new news is that the core of the article was actually new news back on 6 August 2018 when RADM Charles Richard became the United States Navy Commander Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR). It was at that time that RADM Richard told all U.S. submariner forces to "prepare for battle." 

In the few months since August, as the more recent article attests, an aggressor force of submariners has been created to train our submarine fast attack forces much as the Navy's Top Gun squadron trains Navy pilots, or, by extension, how the US Army's "OPFOR" has trained Army ground and airborne combat units at NTC Ft. Irwin, California.

VADM Richard told our submariners, "To the men and women of the submarine force, prepare for battle. It is only by being prepared for battle that we can hope to avoid it. If we cannot (avoid it), our nation expects and demands victory. We shall not fail." 

Not only is there now an aggressor submarine force training American submariners, but also NATO submarine forces as well. VADM Richard is also wearing that hat. On top of this is the reestablishment of the US Navy Second Fleet which is tasked with defending and countering Russian fleet activity in the Atlantic Ocean, as was reported in a USNI article back in May 2018. The new U.S. 2nd Fleet, established on 1 July 2018, was stood up in Norfolk, Virginia in tandem with the establishment of a Joint NATO naval command. Simply put, the potential for global warfare demands a global force be in place to fight it.

A fitting tribute on this Veterans Day and Remembrance Day 2018 being observed in the US, Canada and in Europe in honor of those who sacrificed all in the so-called and grossly incorrect "war to end all wars" of 100 years ago. 

Russia's new Novator 9M729  (NATO: SSC-8) cruise missile

Novator 9M729 (SSC-8) cruise missile

29 October 2018: It took a full two years for this part of the SITREP to develop fully. In late 2016 the US and NATO began to cry foul over what intelligence had determined was a new Russian cruise missile under development, yet the allies kept the specific object of their intelligence under wraps and classified. In November 2017 the US and NATO finally made public that it was a new Russian nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Novator 9M729 (NATO designation SSC-8). This missile is a clear cut violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty between the USA and the USSR (Russian Federation). The INF treaty is specific to surface launched missiles that have a range of between 310 and 3,417 miles. This missile has been developed by Russia to specifically target the European nations of the NATO alliance or other specific targets in the Middle East.

The seriousness of this violation can not be understated. The Russians had all but ignored the consistent US and NATO protestations of this violation of the INF from 2016 to the present. Suddenly, in October 2018, the issue has welled up like a skin boil in need of lancing. The two key elements to the escalation are:

1.) The US, with full concurrence of the NATO allies, declared that if this new Russian cruise missile were operationally deployed and capable of delivering a nuclear weapon then the US would then be looking at preemptively taking it out. 2.) US President Donald Trump upped the ante by stating the US would unilaterally withdraw from the INF Treaty. This statement by President Trump has one core fact in essence, and that is since Russia refuses to abide by the terms of the INF Treaty, then no purpose is served in the United States remaining a party to it. Therefore, the INF Treaty withdrawal threat is a classic Donald Trump "Art of the Deal" action. 

These two items finally got Russia's attention, the first more than the second. Russia is now fixated of the threat of a US preemptive strike to take out the SSC-8 cruise missiles. Why, because they know the US can accomplish it. Then, just yesterday, following the first meeting of the UN General Assembly, Andrei Belousov, who is very closely tied to Russian Federation president Valdimir Putin, stated the following:

"Here recently at the meeting, the United States said that Russia is preparing for war. Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I have confirmed it. We are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people - we are preparing for such a war."  Yes, Russia is definitely preoccupied by the threat of US action to make their new cruise missiles inoperative.

Also, at that UNGA meeting referenced by Mr. Belousov, a draft Russian attempt to support the INF Treaty it is so thoroughly violating, was soundly rejected by the U.N. General Assembly which refused to give an ear to even one word of it.

Without any doubt this will develop further, being either exacerbated or stimulated by events occurring in the Middle East.  So, and with respect to the title of this SITREP - how are MidEast wars magnified? They are magnified when they become global nuclear war.

27 October 2018: The image above is representative of how most folks view the Middle East. It's a flat, 2-dimensional, devoid-of-depth map in a book or pamphlet. However, through the inerrant lens of the Lord's prophetic word, we can see how all of the ongoing wars and rumors of wars are interconnected, and will one day soon result in an exactingly precise and literal fulfillment.

Through the violent flare-up between last night and this morning it can be clearly seen that the warfront in Syria is directly connected to the battles raging in Gaza and southern Israel. 

How? 

Eschatology Today assesses as obvious that the Iranian military command in Syria have convinced themselves that the recent large-scale Russian deployment of S-300PMU2 SAM batteries into Syria has checkmated the Israeli Air Force into total inaction against them in Syria, thus leaving them free to direct their proxies in Gaza to launch massive rocket barrages into southern Israeli communities. Obviously the Iranians also fervently believe that Netanyahu has no stomach for a total ground invasion of Gaza to erradicate the enemy there once and for all. 

However, the bottom line is that it is not about Netanyahu, or the Russians, or the Iranians, Syrians or you-name-them. It's about the Lord's prophetic word, as has been discussed here for the past decade, which unambiguously informs of a completely different outcome than Israel's enemies - or allies - currently imagine. This prophetic outcome has been for almost 3,000 years indelibly written upon the Lord's appointment calendar. It's a 'last days' schedule of key or critical events; all of which are centered upon the present-day State of Israel, and the enemies which surround her. 

The Eschatology Today assessment is that it will be some unheralded critical event, possibly, or probably, a mass-casualty event in Israel, that alters the current dynamic. That event will occur on the day of an indelible appointment resulting in a chain-reaction fulfillment of Isaiah 17, Isaiah 11:14 and Psalm 83.

It is quiet at the moment again, but it won't be an enduring quiet. Stay tuned...

Global SITREP C9-18: The "Price to be Paid"

UPDATE 22 November 2018: In a nod to the wishes of Israeli PM/DM Bibi Netanyahu President Trump will hold off releasing the details of the "Deal of the Century" until some unknown point in February 2019 at the earliest. This is a very interesting minimum 3-month window. 

30 October 2018: This SITREP is in urgent need of an update. Late last week (Thursday 25 October) and devoid of any fanfare, Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu made a state visit to the Sultanate of Oman. The purpose of the visit with Oman's Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said, who invited the PM to come to Oman, was within full accordance and preparation for U.S. President Donald Trump's forthcoming announcement of the ""deal of the century" (Middle East peace)" according to Oman's foreign minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah. 

Quoting a Jerusalem Post report on the visit:

"Communications Minister Ayoub Kara said the visit was a testament to declarations “about the good relations that are developing between the Israeli government and the Sunni countries that oppose the Iranian terror, which also threatens them.”
“In the coming days and until President Trump presents his diplomatic [peace] plan, there will be more pleasant surprises and embraces of Israel from the Gulf states.”"

The Jerusalem Post report "Oman Says Time to Accept Israel" is linked HERE.

UPDATE 1 November 2018: We've known that Donald Trump's electoral victory in November 2016 was due to the will of God. His purposes are being served by the man in the US as well as in Israel and all around planet earth. The opposition to Trump as POTUS, and the GOP he represents, has been marked by extreme acts of violence and uncivil behavior to say the least - precisely as predicted by Eschatology Today. We know the author of this evil opposition also. We became initmately familiar with a dark enemy entity known simply as "The Deep State." In fact, and because I keep track of such things, pretty much everything posted here regarding the pro's and con's resulting from "the Donald's" election has become reality. The thing is, those predictive Eschatology Today posts started in July 2016, four months prior to the election and six prior to the Inauguration. As you will now read, we're not done yet.

President of the United States of America Donald J. Trump is truly the Lord's instrument. And those who are in opposition to this are in opposition to the will of God on this earth, at this late hour, in these last days. So tell me: is Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes? 

That's a rhetorical; Eschatology Today already knows the answer. (Grins) We've seen reports of late which in one manner or another pur forward the notion that Trump is America's first Jewish president. The website American Thinker published an article on this theme just yesterday which was authored by a Harrisburg, PA attorney. Give it a read! Perhaps it's a matter of time before an Israeli newspaper hails President Trump as the awaited Moshiach ben Yosef? Only half-kidding here as it is within the realm of possibility.

On a serious note, Eschatology Today believes the forthcoming "Deal of the Century" peace plan which the Trump Administration will put forward at what they believe is precisely the right political moment, is in all actuality an appointment made by the LORD God aeons ago.  That makes this peace plan integral to the will of God. He is in complete and total control.

Marana'tha! 

23 August 2018: Global SITREP C9-18 will develop over the next so many days or weeks, maybe months. The title is attributed to something said by President Trump at a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday this week. Trump said, according to media reports, that Israel would pay a "high price" in any future peace negotiations with the PA. 

Little noticed was a caveat to that "high price" to be paid by Israel as it is directly linked to the fact that Jerusalem will not be part of any future "peace plan" negotiations. That Jerusalem, site of the Embassy of the United States of America, belongs to Israel as its capital city has henceforth since May 2018, anniversary of Israel's 70th year of existence, been non-negotiable. This is old news. 

So what else is there to negotiate? Not much if anything. With Jerusalem off the table the PA has lost its desired crown jewell of wannabe statehood. The PA has made abundantly clear over the past three months that there's nothing to negotiate, particular with the U.S. as mediator, without Jerusalem being on the table. This was and remains a typical response from the PA, and it ignores the one critical piece of turf at the heart of the Jerusalem issue - the Temple Mount. 

To say that the Temple Mount, central to Jerusalem, is the sovereign territory of Israel and not subject to any negotiation, well, one might as well say the issue will have to be settled by war. There is no amount of land, not even the pre-1967 boundaries, that would be acceptable to the PA without Jerusalem in the mix. And therein, I surmise, is the casus belli for what we know from Bible prophecy as the Psalm 83 War. If Jerusalem is non-negotiable, and Israel has truly learned the hard lessons of "land for peace" gambits with the PA, then what does the PA have to lose by going all-out to eliminate the State of Israel through war? Knowing Bible prophecy, the PA will lose everything in such an adventure.

We'll see how this scenario plays out, yet there are mulltiple peripheral crises that could very quickly turn the Trump "Deal of the Century" into an irrelevant waste of time. As we also know from Bible prophecy, the "high price" to be paid by Israel is directly related to the Isaiah 17 prophecy involving Syria. The developing Trump plan is at least several more months distant, probably sometime in 2019 at the earliest. That's plenty of time for the other events to occur making the one-state solution a fact-of-the-matter.

UPDATE) 24 August 2018: According to information contained within an article written by Hugh Fitzgerald of the highly reputable jihadwatchdotorg just yesterday: 

"A Saudi academic, Abdulhameed Hakeem, the head of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah, has declared on an Arab-language TV station that Jerusalem is as holy to Jews as Mecca and Medina are to Muslims, and called on Arabs to accept Israel’s claims, its “historic right,” to the city. Crown Prince Muhammad has told Mahmoud Abbas (of the PA) to take whatever deal is offered him and to stop expecting endless Saudi and other Arab support. There are clear signs that Israel and Saudi Arabia have been sharing intelligence about their common enemy, Iran." 

This statement is a monumental sea change in the 70-year history of ideological and religious conflict between Israel and its eastern neighbor Saudi Arabia. It's a monmumental sea change between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  If you've followed Eschatology Today since Crown Prince Mohammed ibn Salman al-Saud (a/k/a MBS) for the past year since MBS's elevation to Crown Prince and heir apparent to the throne, then this update is only a mild shock to you, as the close military coordination between Saudi and Israeli armed forces has been a subject here on multiple occasions - such as SITREP B2-18 for example, which was about Saudi Arabia exclaiming Israel's right to exist as a sovereign nation.

Today, Eschatology Today must now go an eschatological step further in its exegesis of Psalm 83. Just because the Ishmaelites are noted in Psalm 83:6 does not necessarily indicate modern Saudi Arabia will be a part of that enemy confederation to move against the State of Israel. The same is true for the Hagrites mentioned in the same verse; their presence also does not necessarily indicate Egypt being a party to that conspiring confederation either. 

The text literally reads: "(The) tabernacles (of) Edom, (and the) Ishmaelites, (of) Moab, (and the) Hagrites..."

Eschatology Today believes that the impending literal fulfillment of this verse closely associates the Ishmaelites and Hagrites with Jordan, and not Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Several exegeses on Psalm 83 may require an update or two. In sum only two modern day nation-states appear to be involved and in direct association: Lebanon and Jordan plus some tribes of the Sinai Peninsula.

The present military confederation is an anti-Iran group of nations: The United States and its CJTF-OIR Coalition (which includes NATO or Tarshish and its young lions), Israel, Saudi Arabia and the GCC (Sheba and Dedan) plus Egypt.