As we continue looking at the strategic trends related to Bible prophecy it will help us in understanding the times we are living in. Paul, in I Thessalonians, as he is speaking of the rapture of the church and the coming Tribulation Period tells us, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” I Thessalonians 5:9-11. Don’t lose sight in what we as Christians are looking for, we are “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” Titus 2:13-15.
Thus, these events we see happening are pointing to His soon return for His Bride, the Church and then the 7 year Tribulation Period will begin. We have a lot of ground to cover in this last section, so let’s dig into the remaining strategic trends to see where we are at on God’s prophetic time clock.
4. ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT
As you read the book of Revelation you will see a world that is under the control of a leader, the Antichrist. And, according to the book of Daniel, it seems that this world is divided up into 10 kingdoms. In Daniel 2:40-43 we are told, “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold — the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” Daniel 2:40-45.
Now I do realize some people feel that this is speaking of the European Super State or the European Community, but keep in mind that this is a one-world government and thus, this must encompass all nations! Do we see anything like that today? I believe we are seeing the groundwork being laid for this confederacy of 10 nations, a one-world government!
Way back in 1968 the Club of Rome had its beginnings with leaders from ten different countries gathering together for solutions to the world’s problems and their claim was that they had the answers for peace and prosperity for the world. Then, on September 17, 1973 the Club of Rome released this report: Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System. This document divides the world into ten political/economic regions that they call “kingdoms.”
This seems to follow the free trade agreements that are being made. In fact, on July 18, 1993 Henry Kissinger, a CFR member and Trilateralist said the following in the Los Angeles Times concerning NAFTA: “What Congress will have before it is not a conventional trade agreement but the architecture of a new international system . . . a first step toward a new world order.” The phrase “new world order” is speaking of this one world government. Thus, these ten toes of the multi-metallic image of Daniel chapter 2 are the ten political/economic regions that will represent a one-world government in which we are moving quickly towards!
As hard as this is to believe, our leaders are buying into this idea of a one-world government and even though we are a sovereign nation right now, that is being eroded away and one day we will awake to find out we are part of the global community and we are not making our own decisions any longer!
David Rockefeller said, “We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis . . .” Former President George H. W. Bush said, “I see a world of open borders, open trade and, most importantly, open minds; a world that celebrates the common heritage that belongs to all the world’s people. . . . I see a world building on the emerging new model of European unity. . . . [T]he United Nations is the place to build international support and consensus for meeting the other challenges we face. . . . the threats to the environment, terrorism . . . international drug trafficking . . . refugees . . . [W]e must join together in a new compact – all of us – to bring the United Nations into the 21st century.”
“All we need is the right major crisis,” said David Rockefeller – one of the most powerful change agents behind the scenes, “and the nations will accept the New World Order.” Former President George H. W. Bush echoed that assurance. “Out of these troubled times . . . a new world order can emerge,” he told Congress in a 1990 message aptly titled “Toward a New World Order.” Back then, then opportune crisis was the Gulf War. It helped build public acceptance for the global management system, which had already begun to replace American “rights” with global rules.
What are some of the goals to achieve this one-world government? Listen closely to what Berit Kjos said in an article called The Emerging New World Order.
1. Replace national boundaries with open boarders
in a unified world
This strategy still works! It may explain why globalist politician John Foster Dulles (Secretary of State in the Eisenhower administration) called for free, worldwide immigration in 1942. As chairman of a national conference held by the liberal Federal Council of Churches (precursor to the World Council of Churches), he introduced these goals:
Even Time magazine seemed shocked by this blatant one-world socialism: “Some of the conference’s economic opinions were almost as sensational as the extreme internationalism of its political program. It held that a ‘new order of economic life is both imminent and imperative. . . . [T]he church must demand economic arrangements measured by human welfare.’” Folks, that was back on March 16, 1942!
2. Replace individual thinking with collective
thinking
Western individualism has been thoroughly mocked and maligned by today’s leading change agents. No wonder, since free, factual thinking would slow their revolution. They can’t win their war unless they modify our minds. John Dewey, father of progressive education in America, described this psycho-social battle in his book, Democracy and Education.
“There is always a danger that increased personal independence will decrease the social capacity of an individual. . . . It often makes an individual so insensitive in his relations to others as to develop an illusion of being really able to stand and act alone – an unnamed form of insanity which is responsible for a large part of the remedial suffering of the world.”
Equating independent thinking with insanity, Dewey’s fighting words illustrate the heartless tactics of his totalitarian contemporaries. Stalin, Hitler and Mao didn’t hesitate to remediate or incarcerate resisters as mentally ill. And with the rise of the UN, these views were legitimized among the ruling elite. For example, Canadian psychiatrist Brok Chisholm became the first head of the World Health Organization (WHO). Notice how he presented “mental health” as a useful crisis in the following message, which would later be published by Alger Hiss:
“To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family tradition, national patriotism, and religious dogmas.”
“For many generations we have bowed our necks to the yoke of the conviction of sin. We have swallowed all manner of poisonous certainties fed us by our parents. . . . “There is something to be said . . . for gently putting aside the mistaken old ways of our elders if that is possible. If it cannot be done gently, it may have to be done roughly or even violently.”
Half a century later, the same ideology was cloaked in less threatening language. In 1995, UNESCO issued a report titled, Our Crreative Diversity. It stated:
“The challenge to humanity is to adopt new ways of thinking, new ways of acting, new ways of organizing itself in society, in short, new ways of living.”
Dr. Senge also co-authored the report, “Communities of Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations.” It highlights the crisis of “fragmentation” that keeps people from trading “divisive” Biblical views for a more systemic or holistic perspective:
“Fragmentation, competition, and reactiveness are not problems to be solved – they are frozen patterns of thought to be dissolved. The solvent we propose is a new way of thinking, feeling, and being. . . . In the new systems worldview, we move from the primacy of pieces to the primacy of the whole, from absolute truths to coherent interpretations, from self to community.”
From absolute truth to what? A global community that bans God’s Word?
3. Replace “divisive” Biblical absolutes
with “helpful” universal values
When applied to religion, the “new ways of thinking” means setting aside our old “narrow” beliefs for the sake of unity. For this to happen, Christianity must either bend or break, yet even church leaders are imposing these psycho-social strategies on their unsuspecting followers. In fact, many Christians now believe this new “systems thinking” fits God’s purpose for humanity. Echoing the message of UNESCO and Dr. Senge, “America’s pastor” Pastor Rick Warren tells us,
“It’s all about the global glory of God! We intend to leverage the attention that the Purpose Driven Life has garnered to bring about a whole new way of thinking and acting in the church about our responsibility in the world.”
Now, as hard as it may be to believe this, I think you can see how the one-world religion has ties to the one-world government, they not only support it, they encourage it! And hear me out on this; America, Canada and Mexico, one of the ten kingdoms we talked about already, are being prepared to be a nation, a super state like Europe is now. From an article by Jerome R. Corsi from December 15, 2006 and called North American Union Leaders Says Merger Just Crisis Away, we are told:
Robert Pastor, a leading intellectual force in the move to create an EU-style North American Community, told WND he believes a new 9/11 crisis could be the catalyst to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Pastor, a professor at American University, says that in such a case the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP – launched in 2005 by the heads of the three countries at a summit in Waco, Texas - could be developed into a continental union, complete with a new currency, the amero, that would replace the U.S. dollar just as the euro has replaced the national currencies of Europe.
“What I’m saying is that a crisis is an event which can force democratic governments to make difficult decisions like those that will be required to create a North American Community,” he said. “It’s not that I want another 9/11 crisis, but having a crisis would force decisions that otherwise might not get made.”
Pastor noted, for example that “Europeans, facing the crisis of two World Wars, turned to the European Community as a means to prevent war and advance their economic interests.”
“The United States turned to the Marshall Plan when faced with the crisis of Western Europe falling into the hands of communism,” he said. “So, I’m not advocating, or encouraging, or wanting a crisis, I’m only saying that in order to take important initiatives, sometimes one manner in which this occurs is when there is a crisis to which leaders need to respond.”
Very interesting words, a super state of North America, what does the UN have to say about this? Listen carefully:
Then – U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali endorsed the commission, and the U.N. provided significant funding. The plan calls for dramatically strengthening the United Nations, by implementing a laundry list of recommendations, including these:
In Mankind at the Turning Point, the Club of Rome is no less blatant about its intentions. Referring to the problems of economic control, food shortages, and the environment, the authors state:
“The solution of these crises can be developed only in a global context” with full and explicit recognition of the emerging world system and on a long-term basis. This would necessitate, among other changes, a new world economic order and a global resources allocation system. . . . A “world consciousness” must be developed through which every individual realizes his role as a member of the world community. . . . It must become part of the consciousness of every individual that “the basic unit of human cooperation and hence survival is moving from the national to the global level.”
This book closes with a commentary by COR Directors Aurelio Peccei and Alexander King, who state:
The winds of change have begun to blow. A keen and anxious awareness is evolving to suggest that fundamental changes will have to take place in the world order and its power structures, in the distribution of wealth and income, in our own outlook and behavior. Perhaps only a new and enlightened humanism can permit mankind to negotiate this transition without irreparable lacerations.
Now, what if we don’t want this, what if we want to remain a sovereign nation? Folks, it is not a choice you will be able to make because it has already been made for you. James Warburg said way back on February 17, 1950 this bold statement, and keep in mind that James Warburg was a member of the CFR, and before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he said these words: “We shall have a world government whether or not you like it – by conquest or consent.”
The winds of change are blowing and we can see a move towards a one-world government happening right before our eyes and this is being helped along by the one-world religion. It is not IF this will happen but WHEN! And please understand this is not a new concept, the foundation has been laid, it has been set for years, it is just a matter of time until the structure is built!
5. THE CASHLESS SOCIETY
The next strategic trend we will be looking at is the cashless society, which in the apostle John’s day was impossible but in our day it is very possible. During the Tribulation Period we will see the impact of this as we are told in Revelation 13:16-17, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” The Amplified Bible puts these verses like this, “Also he compels all [alike], both small and great, both the rich and the poor, both free and slave, to be marked with an inscription [stamped] on their right hands or on their foreheads, So that no one will have power to buy or sell unless he bears the stamp (mark, inscription), [that is] the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
But why do we need a cashless society? Listen carefully and see what this sounds like:
Sounds like there is a crisis in the money system and when there is a crisis, there is an opening for change, and I think that is what we are going to see. Now, the new buzz word for tracking is RFID or Radio Frequency Identification and it is every impressive. Listen to this story called Bye Bye Bar Codes, Hello RFID by CIO Today Tech News. We are told:
An RFID system set up correctly can result in a “seamless” tracking of goods from one area to another. The technology can also cut down on human errors that result when workers forget to sign out tools or scan a bundle of goods - such as utility poles – as they leave the warehouse.
How does a power company lose 40 utility poles? According to Geoff Mochau, it happens more often than it should. “People lose stuff you’d be shocked at,” said Mochau, a field engineer with Evansville-based Tacit Solutions. “People being people, things get misplaced. For whatever reason, you don’t know where it is.”
Keeping track of things like utility poles, shipping containers and pallets of goods is a task that’s traditionally been left to an employee with a clipboard or a hand-held bar-code scanner. But more often, due in part to mandates from the Department of Defense and Wal-Mart, businesses are turning to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to track the flow of goods from assembly line to store shelf.
Mitali Prasad, an analyst with Babson Capital Management of Boston describes RFID as “a bar code that talks.” Objects containing an RFID “tag” – composed of a paper-thin computer processor and a small antenna – are able to bounce information back to a special reader. Once decoded, the information conveys details such as location, identification or a product description, Prasad says.
By placing an RFID tag on a shipping container, box or pallet of goods, businesses can keep track of goods faster and more accurately than by using bar code labels, Mochau said. Tacit Solutions has worked with companies across the United States to customize RFID technology for their distribution operations. Locally, Tacit has worked with Ameriqual Foods, PPG industries, Berry Plastics and others.
“The problem with bar codes is it actually requires a line of sight – it might require a specific orientation to read the bar code,” Mochau said. “With RFID, I don’t have to have the line of sight. RFID is also less sensitive to box shape.” Mochau uses a standard mailing envelope as an illustration. As the envelope makes its way through a sorting center, the bar code label on the front must face a certain way in order to be picked up by an optical scanner. If the bar code is turned at a different angle or is not visible, it cannot be picked up by the scanner and tracked.
Items containing RFID tags do not have that problem, Mochau said. The same envelope with an embedded RFID tag can be scanned at many more positions. The reader can also pick up information from several tabs at once, eliminating the need to scan individual items one at a time.
From security, disaster recovery, mobile solutions and print management to other IT concerns, Insight can assess your IT infrastructure and develop affordable solutions that meet your needs, fit your budget, lower ongoing costs and simplify IT. . . . an RFID reader can also be installed on a forklift, allowing pallets and boxes to be identified as soon as the forklift picks them up.
Prasad says managers can easily identify when and where items are out of stock through RFID. “Demonstrable improvement in return on investment is convincing news for manufacturers that until now have believed RFID to be a burden, not a benefit,” Prasad wrote in a recent newsletter.
The Department of Defense and Wal-Mart have required suppliers to begin using RFID in their shipments. Those requirements mean RFID is poised to continue to grow in popularity, Mochau said. The technology, which traces its roots to World War II, is also becoming less costly.
While most RFID applications are used for distribution operations, there are also consumer uses. Some common applications include security tags placed on retail goods such as clothing, and express lane passes placed on vehicles allowing drivers to zoom through toll plazas without stopping. [This is in operation in Illinois and I have used it. It is very impressive; you don’t even have to slow down!]
The Food and Drug Administration has also approved an RFID chip that can be implanted in people. The chip could be used to convey medical information to emergency doctors.
“So watch out,” Prasad writes. “With the advent of the implantable chip, the day may not be very far when you get tagged . . . as the final link in the supply chain.”
Folks, the technology is not evil or bad, in fact it could be very beneficial. Imagine being lost and they could track you using GPS technology and locate you, the lives that could be saved! There would be no need to carry any cash or cards. You can open your car door, your house door, turn on lights in your house and-so-on. The problem is not the technology; it is how people will use it. The heart of man is evil and thus, imagine being tracked as you go to Bible study, or knowing that you buy Christian books and-so-on. That is not good, but make no mistake about it, this technology will continue to grow and move this world into a cashless society. Again, I believe this will occur during the Tribulation Period, this mark, not while the church is still on this earth! But for those that are living during that time, they will not be able to buy or sell without this mark, so there is great incentive to receive it! It will happen.
6. THE RE-GATHERING OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN
ISRAEL
Folks, if you truly want to know what time it is on God’s prophetic time clock, look at the nation of Israel. That is our sixth strategic trend we will look at this evening, the re-gathering of the Jewish people back into the land of Israel. For almost 2,000 years they did not have a homeland, they were spread out all over the world and then, on the brink of their genocide by Hitler they escaped and in 1948 they became a nation once again! This is truly a miracle, not only did Hitler not wipe them out, but after almost 2,000 years the Jewish people were back home and they kept their heritage, their roots, even the Hebrew language, which has never happened before. When a group of people are cast from their homeland they are assimilated into the culture they are living in, but not the Jewish people just as God said!
In Ezekiel chapter 37 Ezekiel is given a vision of dry bones and the Lord asks him if these bones could live again. And Ezekiel doesn’t know, and he gives this back to the Lord, for He alone knows. And then, right before his eyes these bones come together, the ligaments, the tendons, the muscles and-so-on, and finally the breath of life comes into them and they are alive! This is a picture of the nation of Israel coming back to life once again and in 1948 they became a nation regaining the city of Jerusalem in 1967, the city of David!
We also see the preparation for the rebuilding of the temple on the Temple Mount there in Jerusalem. The only problem is that the Palestinians won’t allow them to rebuild the temple, in fact they deny that the temple ever existed. That may sound strange but Julie and I, when we were in Israel several years ago, had an argument with a Muslim man who stated, without a doubt, the temple of Solomon, Herod’s temple never existed on the Temple Mount and we had to let it go because he was getting very angry when we were questioning him about the evidence. We didn’t want to start a war! And when we were there we went to the Temple Institute where they are preparing for this temple to be rebuilt. They have the priestly garments, all the temple implements, the 7-branched oil-burning lamp, even the priests are preparing to restart the animal sacrifices once it is built! So, as Revelation chapter 11 tells us, it will be rebuilt during the Tribulation Period no matter what the Palestinians may say!
Now this tiny little nation of Israel, the size of New Jersey, surrounded by over 100 million enemies that want them destroyed, the United Nations who spend more time dealing with this nation, coming against the Jewish people and their existence, more so than any other topic, they are the focal point of the leaders from around the world, they are truly a burdensome stone. Now that is not my words but the words of Zechariah some 2500 years ago, when Israel was nothing, a threat to no one!
In Zechariah chapter 12, beginning in verse 2 we are told, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. . . . In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place — Jerusalem. . . . In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” Zechariah 12:2-3, 6, 8-9. And folks, that leads us to our last strategic trend that we will be looking at tonight, the Magog Invasion!
7. THE MAGOG INVASION
Do you know what comes after Ezekiel chapter 37? Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 of course! Why is that important? Because after Israel is back in the land – Ezekiel chapter 37; then a massive army that is Islamic in nature, with the assistance of Russia will come down upon Israel and try to wipe them out – Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39. It is here we see God step in and wipe out this invading army and then the implements from this war will be burned by Israel for 7 years, which tells me that this war breaks out prior to the start of the Tribulation Period.
Now, do we see nations rising up against Israel today? Are you living in a cave? Just turn on the news, of course we do. And the background of these people who want Israel destroyed is that they are Islamic, they are Muslims and if their god is real, the Jews must be destroyed. I will give you a hint, the Jews will not be destroyed, but Islam will! But this hatred for the Jewish people runs deep. In fact, if you were to buy an Arab map you would not find Israel listed there because in their mind, they don’t exist! And thus, they will do whatever it takes to destroy them!
First of all, lets deal with Russia or Magog who God says will be pulled into this battle as hooks are placed into the jaws of this nation. You see, this is a battle that they don’t want to get into.
Listen to what Hal Lindsey said in his article, Islam’s Most Reliable Ally. He wrote:
In a speech in Chechnya this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin reminded the Islamic world; “Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world,” Putin said. “Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally.”
In each of its five wars against the Arab world, Israel faced the best Soviet weaponry Islam could buy. When Putin spoke of Russia as Islam’s most “faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world,” it implied Russian support for the primary Islamic goal – annihilating Israel.
Even after the Cold War ended the spy vs. spy game of alliance-building, Russia, as Putin noted, remained “consistent” in its defense of the interests of the Islamic world – with Islam’s chief interest remaining the annihilation of Israel.
And from U.S. News & World Report, January 30/February 6 2006 in an editorial by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, he said:
Iran today is in the grip of yet a new wave of extremists. Its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a revolutionary firebrand who has directly threatened the West. In his own words, “We are in the process of an historical war between the World of Arrogance [i.e., the West] and the Islamic world.” His foreign policy ambition is an Islamic government for the whole world, under the leadership of the Mahdi, the absent imaam of the Shiites – code language for the export of radical Islam. And he casts himself as Hitler reincarnated, calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Who can think that Iran poses no threat to world peace? History tells us that when madmen call for genocide, they usually mean it.
And Russia has made the threat more real. It sold the nuclear power plant at Bushehr to Iran and contracted to sell even more to bring cash into its nuclear industry. As on American diplomat put it, this business is a “giant hook in Russia’s jaw.” [Interesting choice of words for an unbeliever!] Russia provided critical assistance in the development of Iran’s Shihab missile, which has an ever expanding delivery range and can carry a warhead designed for a nuclear charge.
Everyone knows that the Bushehr “energy” plant is essentially a cover for Iran to have a nuclear infrastructure with a community of physicists, technicians, chemists, scientists, and engineers who can create a military capability. This became clear when Iran was found to be secretly building a facility at Natanz, involving centrifuges that could bring about nuclear enrichment to produce weapons-grade material. The work was suspended for a period of time, but Iran has now removed the United Nations seals, and its nuclear team is once again hard at work. Within a few years, in all likelihood, Iran will be able to launch nuclear missiles. [From the latest reports that I have read, within 1,000 days they will be ready to launch!].
Now, just to make things interesting, Russia is planning on moving its Black Sea Fleet to Syria of all places! We are told from eNews Issue, July 11, 2006:
Russia may be planning to move its Black Sea to the Syrian port of Tarsus.
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet currently uses a range of naval facilities in the Ukrainian region of Crimea. They operate in the region under a 1997 agreement that allowed Russia to continue its presence in the former Soviet republic for rent of $93 million per year.
The fleet is not scheduled to withdraw until 2017. However the Ukraine has recently voiced concerns that Russia is not paying enough for the facilities and has demanded that a new agreement be signed. Russia says that it will not make any concessions and negotiations between Russia and the Ukraine have stalled.
On June 23, 2006, Ukrainian officials attempted to seize a building and equipment belonging to the Black Sea Fleet, further aggravating the disagreement.
Recently a respected Russian newspaper quoted multiple sources in Russia’s diplomatic service and the Defense Ministry, indicating that Russia may be planning to move its Black Sea Fleet to Syria. Russia has started dredging at the Syrian port of Tarsus where it maintains a logistical supply point and it may have plans to turn it into a full-fledged naval base. Russia has also launched a modernization project at the port of Latakia, located about 60 miles north of Tarsus.
A defense Ministry source said that Moscow was planning to form a squadron led by the Moskva, the Black Sea Feet’s flagship missile cruiser, within the next three years. The squadron would operate in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis.
Over the past two years, partly as a consequence of the war in Iraq, Russia has been carefully cultivating ties with Turkey, Iran and Syria. After losing the Mid-East foothold provided by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the Russians have been building a new axis of power based on those three key countries. Russia is now Turkey’s second-largest trading partner, with a volume of $10 billion in trade per year; Russia strengthened ties with Iran by supplying it with nuclear-related technologies; and last year Russia and Syria made plans to increase diplomatic and military cooperation. Russia wrote-off approximately 10 billion dollars of Syria’s Soviet-era debt and has supplied Syria with Russian made SA-18 surface-to-air missiles.
Russia’s arm exports in 2005 totaled a record breaking 6.1 billion dollars. Despite the ongoing controversy about Iran’s nuclear program, Russia intends to sell Iran up to 30 T or M-1 surface-to-air missiles in a deal estimated to be worth up to 700 million dollars. Russia claims to be our ally and partner in the war against terrorism. However despite US objections, Russia is all too willing to sell advanced weaponry to countries (like Syria and Iran) which support the insurgency in Iraq. Russia has also made overtures to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government. Russia does not consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization, even though Hamas has claimed responsibility for the murder of more than 500 people in at least 350 separate terrorist attacks since 1993.
Russia is a co-sponsor of the Road Map Peace Plan, but that does not mean they are a friend to Israel. Prior to the elections in January, Russian military experts were sent to the Gaza Strip to train Palestinian security forces. In addition to training, Russia is prepared to provide the Palestinians with armored vehicles, ammunition, and helicopters. In past speeches Putin has called on Israel to make concessions and withdraw “from all the occupied Arab lands back to the June 4, 1967 border.”
Things are getting interesting aren’t they? Hal Lindsey tells us from a report back on 07/24/06:
The Soviet Union’s motivation for helping China and North Korea was primarily ideological. Russia’s primary reason is hard cash, although now, it is taking on a strategic importance as well. So here are the disturbing hard facts about what is taking place in what can only be viewed as a dangerous anti-western strategy in the form of a Russian-Syrian-Iranian Axis.
The first part of the strategy was, as I said above, Russia enabling Iran to produce deliverable nuclear warheads. The second part was the forming of the recent mutual defense pact between Iran and Syria. The foreign ministers of Iran and Syria, Mostafa Najjar and Hassan Turkmani, signed the pact in Tehran on June 15th, 2006.
Debka’s intelligence sources unveiled a disturbing clause in the agreement that was reported to President Bush by US Intelligence. This report disclosed:
“The clause speaks of more than one battery of upgraded SHEHAB-3 surface-to-air missiles to be deployed on the 13,000-foot Jabal Ash Shanin ridges towering over central Syria.
“The latest Syrian-Iranian exchanges are reported by DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources as auguring [promising] the early dispatch from Tehran of a deputation of officers to take up position at al Qandus, east of the Syrian port of Tartus, and along the road linking the port to Jabal Ash Shanin.
“This team will act as the vanguard of the Iranian missile force to operate the missiles station, will check out the ground and fix its precise location.
“Senior intelligence officials warned the US President that this deployment would not just throw the entire Middle East balance of strength out of kilter, but directly menace American bases as far as West and East Europe and the Central Asian republics, including those located on the shores of the oil-rich Caspian Sea.”
This puts virtually all of Europe within range of the soon-coming nuclear tipped Iranian missiles - and at the whim of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Remember him? He is the one who believes Allah has chosen him to fulfill an “end time” Muslim prophecy by starting a world apocalypse in which the long-awaited ‘Mahdi’ (Muslim Messiah) will appear and subject all survivors to Allah.
As if this isn’t bad enough news, there is something even more alarming developing within this new axis of evil.
Russia is now making moves to protect Syria and its Shehab-3 missile base. That is what DEBKA-News-Weekly reported:
“Our sources have observed the Russians dredging the port of TARTUS, Syria’s second most important Mediterranean port, with a view to expanding their logistical supply point there to a fully-equipped naval base, possibly to serve the Black Sea Fleet warships when they are redeployed from the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol. It is designed to be built up into the permanent base for the fleet led by the RFS Moskva (TG Flag) missile cruiser and the RFS Azov landing ship within the next three years.
“February 27, 2006, DEBKA file’s exclusive sources found the MOSKIVA and AZOV heading into the Mediterranean on FEB. 5, escorted by a Russian military tug, to take part in the NATO marine exercise Operation Active Endeavor, which was to practice counter-measures against nuclear and other WMD smugglers. NATO chiefs and American generals in particular, attached great importance to Russia’s participation in the exercise. NATO secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had intended to make the gesture of being the North Atlantic Organization chief to visit a Russian flagship.
“The visit was cancelled when it was discovered that the three Russian fleet vessels would be paying an official call at the Syrian port of Latakia. The arrival of the Russian task force in TARTUS in March marked the opening of the Russian base. Our military experts note that the Missile Cruiser MOSKVA is armed with the weapons, radar and electronic gear of an [aircraft] carrier hunter.”
Third, it gives the reason for the Hezbollah launching a war with Israel when they did. IT was to divert the G-8 leaders from seriously debating action about the Iranian nuclear threat. And Vladimir Putin played a masterful game of concealing what his forces are doing.
Fourth, it explains why Syria and Iran are unafraid to openly support Hezbollah in their war with Israel and support terrorist that target US troops in Iraq. Russia is in the background guaranteeing their protection. . . .
What is most important is that all this is setting up Ezekiel’s 2600-year-old prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 38. Persia, or modern Iran, is listed a chief among the Muslim nations Russia will lead into an all-out assault against Israel. . . .
The one nation that does not seem to be listed is Syria. I believe this is because as a result of actions it is now taking against Israel, Isaiah’s prophecy about Damascus in the last days is going to be soon fulfilled.
Twenty Seven hundred years ago, Isaiah warned, “An oracle concerning Damascus: ‘See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. . . . In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.’” (Isaiah 17:1, 4 NIV). To establish the time of this event, look at these factors. First, Damascus is one of the oldest continuously populated cities on earth. It has never been totally destroyed – yet. . . .
All of this leads me to believe that Damascus will be destroyed before the Tribulation begins. I believe that Damascus is about to so threaten Israel’s existence by either launching or furnishing bio-chemical weapons or radioactive dirty bombs, that Israel will nuke them. Israel has sworn that it will implement the Samson-Option against any nation that attacks them with any form of weapons of mass destruction. That means a thermonuclear strike. This may soon happen to Syria.
Folks, that could be the thing that starts the war in the Middle East as Russia is drawn into this battle. You read over and over again how the Iranian president wants to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth and he believes he is the one to usher in the Muslim messiah who comes on the heels of a war!
We can talk all night about this but let me say this. The key, I believe is the nation of Turkey. As you look at the nations involved in this Magog invasion all are in place but one, and that is Turkey. They are trying to get into the European Union but it does not look like that is going to happen. First, they are a predominately Muslim nation and they also refuse to recognize the island nation of Cyprus, who is a EU member. And as they are rejected, I believe this wounded Turkey will be driven back into the arms of nationalists and hard line Islamic Fundamentalists. And as they do, the invasion of Israel will draw closer!
8. SUMMARY
Folks, there is so much more we can look at but I think you get the picture. The return of the Lord for His Bride, the Church, is getting closer and thus, the start of the Tribulation Period is very near. I think we will see this Magog invasion, maybe all of it before the Rapture occurs, because it may be this battle that ushers in the Antichrist into power. And so, before he is ushered in, we will be taken home to be with the Lord.
I like what Sir Isaac Newton said, “About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up, who will turn their attention to the problems, in the midst of much clamor and opposition.” In other words, the world is going to turn against us and so will the apostate church of the last days because we believe the truths of God found in the Word of God, from Genesis through Revelation!
Folks, He has already come the first time as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, and He is coming again as the Lion from the tribe of Judah to pour out His wrath upon a Christ rejecting world. But if you have received Him as your Lord and Savior He is coming again to you apart from sin, for salvation! He will take us home before He pours out His wrath and then at then end of the tribulation period, He will come again with His Bride, the Church, to set up His kingdom on this earth! Let me close with these words from John and may they be our words, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:20.