11 November 2014 (Veterans Day in the U.S.A.): The image above powerfully reminds me of something the angel Gabriel prophesied to Daniel which would occur during the 70th Week.
That this passage of prophetic Scripture is with respect to and occurs during the 70th Week is beyond any doubt because it involves the Western Antichrist and four distinct military enemies of his: one to the North, one to the South and one to the East. Not coincidentally, this passage of prophetic verses proves beyond any doubt that the Antichrist is a Western power. Additionally, this passage is also a thumbnail of the world war which will be occurring during the latter part of the Thlipsis (Tribulation) and all of the Megas Thlipsis (Great Tribulation) of the 70th Week. Moreover this is the war whose end is suddenly caused by the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Battle of Har Megiddo.
In Daniel 11:40-45 we find six sentences which describe an ongoing military confrontation between the Western Antichrist and two of the military camps which attack him simultaneously "at the time of the end."
In verse 40 the southern military forces launch a strike and the northern forces follow through on the attack by coming against him with modern-era, land, sea and air 'shock and awe' maneuver warfare. The military forces of the Western Antichrist parry and defeat this joint attack and then go on the offensive by invading, passing through and conquering the territories of these enemies.
In verses 41through 43 we see this counter-offensive of the Western forces entering coastal Israel but avoiding those territories of the greater post-Psalm 83 Israel that will include ancient Edom, Moab and Ammon. These western forces conquer completely the lands from Libya, Egypt and and south along the Red Sea to Sudan, the land of ancient Kuwsh.
Finally in verse 44 we come to the direct association I see in the image above. The blitz-like military conquest of the whole of the Middle East by the Western Forces of the Antichrist causes the remaining forces of the North to be joined in a new offensive by the Eastern forces (i.e. the kings of the East): "But
news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall
go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many." This advance of the immense numbers of Eastern forces is what John the Revelator describes in Revelation 16:12-16 as the sixth bowl judgment of the sixth angel, a/k/a Armageddon.
Here's where I think this prophetic future has solid rubber meeting the road in the present time. An article published in yesterday's Financial Times, titled "Putin builds China links as ties with West fray," informs that the Russian Federation's newly updated military doctrine to be published in December 2014 clearly identifies the United States and NATO as the enemy, and the role of the CSTO as the military alliance referenced in the prophetic texts discussed above.
To the readers of Eschatology Today, this is not really new news, but a reaffirmation of the prophetic interpretation I have published here over the past five years, here, here and here for instance. Just one more of the proverbial cans that have been kicked by mankind down a dark road one kick too far, and proof positive that our God is in full control having told us about the end from the beginning.
