9 February 2013: A couple of things have popped up as blips on my radar screen. Both have some relationship to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, but exactly what that is I do not yet know exactly, but I do have an idea.
The first blip is seen in the above image. As most will recognize this is an atypical map illustration of the Ezekiel 38/39 prophecy. There are many variations of this map that I am sure we have all seen, yet despite those variations all of the maps have one peculiar thing in common. This peculiarity never registered with me before just a few moments ago, and when it did it set me back to consider how such a blatant oversight was possible given the number of decades I have involved in the study of or have written about Ezekiel 38/39.
The allies of Gog that come against Israel from the continent of Africa are named in Ezekiel 38:5 as Kuwsh (modern-day Sudan located immediately to the south of Egypt) and Puwt (modern-day Libya and northern Africa located immediately to the west of Egypt). And therein lies the blip that is on my prophecy radar. The nation of Egypt lies smack dab in the path of both of Gog's allies most direct land approach to Israel, yet as we all know Egypt is utterly absent for the prophecy God gave to Ezekiel.
In verse nine God tells Ezekiel this invasion will be an airborne invasion that will cover the land like a cloud, and therefore neither the Mediterranean Sea nor the Red Sea nor the Suez Canal constitute any type of natural barrier between Gog's African allies and Israel. However, as the maps all indicate, they will have to overfly Egypt and the Egyptian Sinai in order to reach Israel.
Egyptian non-participation in Ezekiel 38/39 to the point of total irrelevance as made clear by this prophecy also makes several very important eschatological points, not the least of which are the high likelihood of either or both Isaiah 19 and Psalm 83 coming to fulfillment prior to Ezekiel 38/39. Indeed, no matter how we look at this something extraordinary will have occurred prior to Ezekiel 38/39 which would preclude a major Islamic nation of about 90 million people and the 14th largest military force on planet earth to be so completely absent and its territorial sovereignty so grossly violated as described by the prophetic texts.
The second blip on my radar screen is seen in this 20 December 2012 image of five American aircraft carriers lined up like ducks in a row in port Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. From bottom to top are the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), USS Enterprise (CVN 65), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). What is not seen is the stealthy modern-day "Zero" which is picking them off as Japanese Zero's picked of "Battleship Row" in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii going on 72 years ago.
In less than a week four of America's ten carriers have been idled at their docks due to the irresponsible, reckless and unpatriotic fiscal policies of the Obama Administration. These city-size, floating, nuclear-armed airports are the primary instrument of America's global power projection, a "global force for good" as the U.S. Navy television commercial very recently attested. Thanks to Obama our fleet's readiness to defend the nation from foreign threats to our homeland and our troops deployed abroad during wartime as well as our allies and international commitments and alliances has been placed in jeopardy.
Due to budget shortfalls and the sequestration of military funding the USS Abraham Lincoln's required nuclear refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) has been scuttled. The USS Enterprise's defueling and the USS George Washington's pending RCOH are also up in limbo. Yesterday (Friday, 7 February 2013) the USS Harry S. Truman's scheduled deployment to the Persian Gulf did not occur due to a lack of funds. Later this month the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower will sail to the Persian Gulf to relieve the USS John C. Stennis instead of joining forces with that Carrier Strike Group in containing Iran, protecting the free navigation of the Straits of Hormuz and other operations in support of our forces in harms way within the CENTCOM Area of responsibility.
No longer will the apocalyptic Iranian regime have to face the prospect of the overwhelming power of at least two U.S. Carrier Strike Groups sailing in the region. Moreover, at a time of unprecedented crisis in the Middle East the policies of the current U.S. administration have increased rather than decreased the probability of unrestrained regional warfare. I suppose the Iranian Ayatollah will shortly be sending a 'thank you' note to the American Commander-In-Chief for his efforts and able assistance in the destabilization of the entire region by idling one half of the U.S. Navy's aircraft carriers.
One can imagine the prophetic consequences of this new paradigm in the Middle East.
