Ezekiel's War Now?

Current events in the Middle East and Russia have brought on speculation that Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about to be fulfilled.

I believe that the conditions are not right for Ezekiel's War to happen in the near future. Israel is not at peace. I think this war will happen soon after the mid-point of the Tribulation, possibly the opening battle in the War of Armageddon.

I think Psalm 83 may go with Isaiah 17, the Judgment on Damascus. The Psalm does NOT say that Israel will be prosperous afterwards, and Isaiah 17 definitely says the opposite. Israel will have suffered considerably during this war.

The scenario that I see is this:

Iran, hoping to deflect Israel's attention from its nuclear program, gets its puppets, Hezbollah, the Palestinians, and Syria (and others), to launch a war against Israel. Syria is known to have chemical weapons that can be delivered by missile. I could see Syria using one or more of these chemical WMDs on Israel. Israeli military doctrine calls for a nuclear response, most likely against Damascus, thus fulfilling Isaiah 17.

The destruction of Damascus in this fashion could provide the push necessary for the Arabs/Muslims to accept a hudna (truce for the purpose of gathering the necessary strength to destroy an enemy), a peace treaty, with Israel. A seven year peace treaty is well within the Islamic doctrine of up to 10 years for a hudna.

We know that a seven year peace treaty with Israel is the marker for the beginning of the Tribulation. (I'd always wondered why this peace treaty was only for seven years. Now we know. It's not really a peace treaty, it's a hudna.)

Israelis right now are "girding their loins" trying to work up the resolve to attack Iran. Given the change in political leadership in Israel that is about to take place, I think it likely that this could happen in the next couple of months, maybe even September. To accomplish a preemptive strike, Iran would need to get Hezbollah and Syria to attack very soon to beat the Israelis to the punch. There have been rumors of such an attack since last Spring.

This timing would work well with the possibility of the Rapture happening during the Feast of Trumpets (Sept 29 - Oct 1).

Christian Explosion in China

On the Chicago Tribune website, there is a very interesting article about the surge of Christianity in China:

Jesus in China

Christianity's rapid rise is reshaping the officially atheist nation, its politics and the way many Chinese view the world. The Tribune's Evan Osnos reports from Beijing and the countryside.

By Evan Osnos |Tribune correspondent
4:57 PM CDT, June 22, 200

Rev. Jin Mingri peered out from the pulpit and delivered an unusual appeal: "Please leave," the 39-year-old pastor commanded his followers, who were packed, standing-room-only on a Sunday afternoon, into a converted office space in China's capital. "We don't have enough seats for the others who want to come, so, please, only stay for one service a day."

A choir in hot-pink robes stood to his left, beside a guitarist and a drum set bristling with cymbals. Children in a playroom beside the sanctuary punctuated the service with squeals and tantrums. It was a busy day at a church that, on paper, does not exist.

Christianity — repressed, marginalized and, in many cases, illegal in China for more than half a century — is sweeping the country, overflowing churches and posing a sensitive challenge to the officially atheist Communist Party.

By some estimates Christian churches, most of them underground, now have roughly 70 million members, as many as the party itself. A growing number of those Christians are in fact party members.

Christianity is thriving in part because it offers a moral framework to citizens adrift in an age of Wild West capitalism that has not only exacted a heavy toll in corruption and pollution but also harmed the global image of products "Made in China."

Some Chinese Christians argue that their faith is an unexpected boon for the Communist Party, because it shores up the economic foundation that is central to sustaining party rule.

"With economic development, morality and ethics in China are degenerating quickly," prayer leader Zhang Wei told the crowd at Jin's church as worshipers bowed their heads. "Holy Father, please save the Chinese people's soul."

At the same time, Christianity is driving citizens to be more politically assertive, emboldening them to push for greater freedoms and testing the party's willingness to adapt. For decades, most of China's Christians worshiped in underground churches—known as "house churches"—that avoided attention for fear of arrest on various charges such as "disturbing public order."

But in a sign of Christianity's growing prominence, in scores of interviews for a joint project of the Tribune and PBS' FRONTLINE/World, clerical leaders and worshipers from coastal boomtowns to inland villages publicly detailed their religious lives for the first time.

They repeat a seemingly shared belief that the time has come to proclaim their place in Chinese society as the world focuses on China and its hosting of the 2008 Olympics, set to begin in August.

"We have nothing to hide," said Jin, a former Communist Party member who broke away from the state church last year to found his Zion Church.

Jin embodies a historic change: After centuries of foreign efforts to implant Christianity in China, today's Christian ascension is led not by missionaries but by evangelical citizens at home. Where Christianity once was confined largely to poor villages, it is now spreading into urban power centers with often tacit approval from the regime.

It reaches into the most influential corners of Chinese life: Intellectuals disillusioned by the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square are placing their loyalty in faith, not politics; tycoons fed up with corruption are seeking an ethical code; and Communist Party members are daring to argue that their faith does not put them at odds with the government.

It appears that the Tiananmen Square massacre was a key event in bringing Chinese to Jesus. There is much more in the article. Read the rest here. You will be glad you did.

It's not often that we get such favorable, even-handed treatment in a mainstream newspaper. Thanks, Chicago Tribune!

President Apostate?

An Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, President Apostate?, states what those of us who have studied Islam have known all along: according to Islamic law, Barak Obama is a Muslim.

May 12, 2008

Op-Ed Contributor

President Apostate?

By EDWARD N. LUTTWAK
Chevy Chase, Md.

BARACK OBAMA has emerged as a classic example of charismatic leadership — a figure upon whom others project their own hopes and desires. The resulting emotional intensity adds greatly to the more conventional strengths of the well-organized Obama campaign, and it has certainly sufficed to overcome the formidable initial advantages of Senator Hillary Clinton.

One danger of such charisma, however, is that it can evoke unrealistic hopes of what a candidate could actually accomplish in office regardless of his own personal abilities. Case in point is the oft-made claim that an Obama presidency would be welcomed by the Muslim world.

This idea often goes hand in hand with the altogether more plausible argument that Mr. Obama’s election would raise America’s esteem in Africa — indeed, he already arouses much enthusiasm in his father’s native Kenya and to a degree elsewhere on the continent.

But it is a mistake to conflate his African identity with his Muslim heritage. Senator Obama is half African by birth and Africans can understandably identify with him. In Islam, however, there is no such thing as a half-Muslim. Like all monotheistic religions, Islam is an exclusive faith.

As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is “irtidad” or “ridda,” usually translated from the Arabic as “apostasy,” but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).

Read the rest of it here.

The point is not that Barak Obama is a Muslim. By our standards, taking the man at his word, he is not. However, to the Muslim world he is a criminal of the worst kind, an apostate. Do you really think he will be able to just sit down and talk our Muslim enemies into making peace?

And think of the unprecedented problem for the Secret Service if President Obama visited any place with a significant Muslim population (including Detroit!).

You won't believe this!

Is it any wonder that Christianity is rapidly declining in England and Europe, with "leaders" like this?

Archbishop says nativity 'a legend'

By Sophie Borland
Last Updated: 1:25pm GMT 20/12/2007

The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday that the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men was nothing but a 'legend'.

Dr Rowan Williams has claimed there was little evidence that the Magi even existed and there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them or that they were kings.

He said the only reference to the wise men from the East was in Matthew's gospel and the details were very vague.

Dr Williams said: "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told. It works quite well as legend."

The Archbishop went on to dispel other details of the Christmas story, adding that there were probably no asses or oxen in the stable.

He argued that Christmas cards which showed the Virgin Mary cradling the baby Jesus, flanked by shepherds and wise men, were misleading. As for the scenes that depicted snow falling in Bethlehem, the Archbishop said the chance of this was "very unlikely".

In a final blow to the traditional nativity story, Dr Williams concluded that Jesus was probably not born in December at all. He said: "Christmas was when it was because it fitted well with the winter festival."

His comments came during an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live with Simon Mayo yesterday. Later on in the show, the Archbishop was challenged by fellow guest Ricky Gervais, the comedian, about the credibility of the Christmas story.

Gervais told Dr Williams he was concerned about "brainwashing" of children who are sent to faith schools at an early age, comparing teaching that God exists to belief in Father Christmas.

Dr Williams said faith schools expose children to the full range of human experience and values and he did not believe they indoctrinated people.

From the Telegraph of London.

Too Horrible for Words!

Update:

The Washington Post, in this AP story, reports:

Saudi King Pardons Rape Victim

By ABDULLAH SHIHRI
The Associated Press
Monday, December 17, 2007; 11:27 AM

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A gang-rape victim who was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for being alone with a man not related to her was pardoned by the Saudi king after the case sparked rare criticism from the United States, the kingdom's top ally.

Outrage over the sentence prompted unusually strong comments from President Bush, who said that if the same thing had happened to one of his daughters, he would be "angry" at a government that didn't protect the victim. The White House called the sentence "outrageous."

In past weeks, Saudi officials have bristled at the criticism of what they consider an internal affair _ but also appeared wary of hurting their image in the United States.

Bush's National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the White House thinks the Saudi king "he made the right decision" by pardoning the woman.

With the pardon, King Abdullah appeared to be aiming at relieving the pressure from the United States without being seen to criticize Saudi Arabia's conservative legal system, a stronghold of powerful clerics adhering to the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.

Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sheik said the pardon reported by Saudi media Monday does not mean the king doubted the country's judges, but that he was acting in the "interests of the people."

- - - -

Emphasis added.

------------------------------------

Original post:

Breitbart.com has published this article:

Saudi punishes gang rape victim with 200 lashes
Nov 15 10:51 AM US/Eastern

A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
....

Read the rest of the article here.

This is Islamic Sharia law.

Notice the use of the term "ultra-conservative" in the article. This is part of a campaign to equate conservative Christians and conservative Muslims.

What the two groups share is that each believes in the fundamental truths of their religion. However, the behavior and actions that result could not be more different.

The Devil Is In the Details

Mea culpa.

Special Report: The Devil Is In the Details
Time for a Reality Check
In Defense of the Faith
Friday, December 07, 2007
Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor

The new NIE consensus opinion that Iran abandoned its active quest to build nuclear weapons four years ago, whether accurate or not, brings back to the forefront of discussion the two main principles of accurately understanding Bible prophecy.

The first is the scholar’s adage warning of the dangers in interpreting Bible prophecy by the light of current events, instead of the other way around.

We’ll discuss that in greater detail in a moment.

The second is summarized by the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans; “Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Romans 3:4)

Bible prophecy tells us what to expect, but not exactly what to look for. That is an important distinction. God accomplishes His will according to His plan, not ours.

For example, for centuries, students of Bible prophecy knew to expect the existence of a physical nation called “Israel” but they didn’t know what to look for until it happened.

God tells us the “end from the beginning, and from the ancient times the things that are not yet done,” (Isaiah 46:10) but He doesn’t always reveal the exact mechanism by which He intends to accomplish it.

For a better example, let’s use Hal Lindsey’s 1969 book, “The Late, Great Planet Earth.” If these ARE the last days, as Hal argued in 1969, then from the Bible Hal knew he could expect three specific geopolitical events -- events that no secular analyst could possibly have predicted at the time.

First, there must be the development of a single, European super state that would eventually attain superpower status.

In 1969, the idea of Europe unification was decades away, if ever. But since Bible prophecy demanded the existence of a revived Roman Empire, if these were the last days, a European super state would have to come into existence.

But the Bible didn’t give details of how that would come about – only that it would, so in 1969, that was all Hal had to work with.

Second, the Bible makes no mention of a vast, Soviet superpower overshadowing Europe, but rather, the other way around. If these were indeed the last days, Hal argued, then the Soviet Union must decrease so that revived Rome could increase.

Third, since there is no reference to the existence of a Western superpower resembling the United States overshadowing revived Rome, somehow, America must decrease so that revived Rome could increase.

Hal couldn't know the exact details of how it would all happen -- only that they must happen-- if these are indeed the last days.

In 1969, at the height of the Cold War, the most likely scenario to accomplish these three events was a war between the United States and Russia that would leave Europe intact to pick up the pieces.

That scenario was perfectly consistent with both probability and Bible prophecy, but it turned out to be the wrong one.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the Berlin Wall came down, and Europe reunified, critics were quick to call Hal a ‘false prophet’ because he got some of the details of ‘how’ wrong.

To this day, that is still the first criticism leveled at him. In so doing, the critics missed the ‘what’ part, which he got right -- and more importantly, its significance.

The point Hal was making in 1969 was this: IF this is the generation that will see the return of Christ, those three things would happen. None existed in 1969 -- but in 2007, two of them are history, and the third, the decline of the US as a global superpower, is already well advanced.

Does that mean Hal Lindsey is a prophet? No. Prophecy comes from the Bible. Hal merely cited examples that demonstrated that global current events were all trending in the Bible’s predicted direction. They still are.

What it proves is that this is the generation that will see the return of Christ.

From his vantage point forty years ago, Hal Lindsey (and everyone else in 1969) might have been wrong on a few details of how things would come together, but history continues to prove him 100% right on what the Bible said would develop as a result.

The point, than as now, was this: “If this IS the generation of His return, somehow, some way, God will bring about the predicted end results." Beyond that, the best any human can do is take the Bible's predicted results and work backwards to try and figure out how.

Everybody was so busy nit-picking Hal’s details back then that they missed the point the book was written to make. Many still do.

The point was, and is, that the prophetic time clock has begun the final countdown.

Among the list of old sayings that become 'old sayings' because they are universally true is "the devil is in the details." Once one makes their stand on their interpretation of the details, rather than the Bible's Big Picture, one becomes most vulnerable to his attack.

Every year, somebody stakes their reputation on their interpretation of the details, calculating using various formulas, the exact date of the Rapture. Others will argue all day regarding their interpretation of the timing of the Rapture. What gets lost in it all the hubbub and argument is the Rapture itself.

Or those who will argue all day that they know the identity of the antichrist. They are interpreting the Bible to fit current events. It is the Bible that is infallible -- current events are only current until things change.

The devil is in the details.

When it comes to Iran, the Bible says that Persia participates in a subordinate leadership role as part of the larger Gog-Magog alliance. That alliance, for reasons not entirely clear, eventually embarks on a surprise invasion of Israel at a time when Israel is “dwelling at peace” as a “land of unwalled villages.”

When events began to suggest an impending war between Israel and Iran, it was tempting to look for ways to make that war fit into Ezekiel’s scenario.

In addition, we have the developing trends that are moving Russia rapidly back into the arms of a new authoritarian dictatorship to consider. Coupled with Russia’s traditional ties with the same nations Ezekiel predicted will eventually be part of the Gog-Magog alliance, it is easy to speculate on how God will bring about His will.

But no matter what, in order for Persia to participate in an invasion of Israel, it is clear that Persia and Israel must both be there at the time, precluding an imminent Iranian-Israeli nuclear war.

As to the imminence of the Gog-Magog invasion, Israel is not a land of unwalled villages and it is not dwelling at peace.

I’ve tried to be careful, but I know I’ve succumbed to the temptation to mold current events to fit Bible prophecy -- especially when it comes to connecting the current Iranian crisis .

The fact of the matter is neither I nor anyone else has a crystal ball or some secret spiritual knowledge not available to anyone willing to crack a Bible and do a little research.

The best anyone can honestly offer is an educated guess on the details -- guided by prayer and based on the Bible's certain foreknowledge of the outcome – but neither the source of that foreknowledge nor the predicted outcome are a secret.

It’s all right there in the pages of Scripture.

Bible prophecy wasn’t given to this generation for the purpose of amazing our friends by playing The Amazing Kreskin.

That was never the point.

Prophecy was given to this generation to impart a sense of urgency to the lost, and to provide evidences for the Church that, no matter how confusing things look at any given moment, the ultimate outcome is assured.

That is the ultimate reason for the study of Bible prophecy. To credibly articulate the lateness of the hour, demonstrate the certainty of the judgment to follow, and share the good news that God has made Provision for our pardon.

Even if the exact path sometimes seems murky, the outline of the predicted destination grows clearer with each changing event.

And it is the destination that is important, not so much the details of how God intends to get us there. We are to watch for the signs of His return and to shout the warning.

Regarding pet interpretations and nit-picking details, well, God has made provision for that, too.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:6-7)

From Omegaletter.com.

I know that I have said it repeatedly, but Jack makes the point very well: No one knows God's timetable.

But sometimes the temptation to think otherwise, to think that I know what is about to happen, is too much to resist.

Israelis hit Syrian ‘nuclear bomb plant’

Last month the story broke that in September Israel had bombed and destroyed a target within Syria, a fact which Syria initially denied. Gradually, more and more information has surfaced about what really happened:

1. Israel bombed a location in Syria.
2. Russia's best air defense system, just sold to and installed in Syria, failed to even detect the presence of Israeli jets.
3. In spite of what could be trumpeted as an "act of aggression" by Israel, all of the nations in the area have attempted to pretend that the attack did not happen.
4. The Syrians have completely cleaned up the site of the installation that was bombed, leaving no trace behind.
5. Early reports claimed that the site was a nuclear reactor under construction. This evolved into several other things, including an installation for producing "dirty" bombs.
   

Yesterday, The London Sunday Times (timesonline.com) published this report:

Israelis hit Syrian ‘nuclear bomb plant’
Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Michael Sheridan in Seoul

ISRAEL’S top-secret air raid on Syria in September destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean plutonium, a leading Israeli nuclear expert has told The Sunday Times.

Professor Uzi Even of Tel Aviv University was one of the founders of the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona, the source of the Jewish state’s undeclared nuclear arsenal.

“I suspect that it was a plant for processing plutonium, namely, a factory for assembling the bomb,” he said. “I think the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] transferred to Syria weapons-grade plutonium in raw form, that is nuggets of easily transported metal in protective cans. I think the shaping and casting of the plutonium was supposed to be in Syria.”

All governments concerned - even the regime in Damascus - have tried to maintain complete secrecy about the raid.

They apparently fear that forcing a confrontation on the issue could spark a war between Israel and Syria, end the Middle East peace talks and wreck America’s extremely complex negotiations to disarm North Korea of its nuclear weapons.

The political stakes could hardly be higher. Plutonium is the element which fuelled the American atomic bomb that destroyed the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Critics in the United States say proof that North Korea supplied such nuclear weapons material to Syria, a state technically at war with Israel, would shatter congressional confidence in the Bush administration’s diplomatic policy.

From beneath the veil of military censorship, western commentators have formed a consensus that the target was a nuclear reactor under construction.

But Even said that purely from scientific observation, he had reached a different conclusion - that it was a nuclear bomb factory, posing a more immediate danger to Israel. He said that satellite photos of the site, taken before the Israeli strike on September 6, showed no sign of the cooling towers and chimneys characteristic of nuclear reactors.

Syria’s haste after the attack to bury the site under tons of soil suggested that hundreds of square yards were contaminated and there were fears of radiation, the professor added.

Since then the Syrians have sealed up the location, levelled the site and diverted curious journalists to a place that had not been attacked by Israel.

The professor’s theory fits with authoritative technical evidence about North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. The North Koreans are able to produce weapons-grade plutonium, which is electro-refined, alloyed and cast into shapes ready to be machined to fit into a warhead, according to a team of distinguished American nuclear weapons scientists who visited the country’s laboratories.

....

Read the rest here.

My post last month, Syria has been testing missiles with chemical warheads, spoke of other attempts by Syria to prepare for all-out war with Israel, and pointed to Isaiah 17 as a warning to the leadership in Damascus.

This article in timesonline.com also calls to mind something called The Sampson Option, which is widely rumored to be official Israeli policy. According to these rumors (which I fully believe), if Israel believes that it is about to be overrun and utterly destroyed they will launch nuclear missles at the capitals of all of their Arab and Islamic enemies in the region. They will take their enemies with them, just as Sampson did in the Bible when he pulled his enemies' temple down on all of their heads.

Ezekiel 38 and 39 speak of a coming war of Russia and the Arab Islamic nations against Israel. Isaiah 17 speaks of the utter destruction of Damascus, capital of Syria. Experts disagree about the exact timing of these events, whether they occur together or not and whether they occur before or after the Rapture and before or during the Tribulation. All agree that they will occur during the End Times. Since we are clearly in the End Times, the fulfillment of these prophesies must take place soon. Events like those discussed above only confirm that the stage is set.

In Mark 16:15-16, Jesus commanded us "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." The time is short. Redouble your efforts before it is too late.