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No. 229: Fire in the Sand
by H.E.Lafferty
Observers of the complex interplay (struggle) between the “great ones” of the Middle East are warning of an impending disaster of Biblical proportions – a series of disruptions which will affect life all over the planet. It is a fury that has been building for nearly 1,400 years beginning with the successors of Mohammed, the founder of Islam, who died in 632AD.
This struggle in short is between the Shia and the Sunni sects of Islam. They absolutely HATE each other (not an amicable, brotherly disagreement, this!) and are killing each other at every opportunity just as they have been for hundreds of years. Their disagreement is over succession of leadership - of control over everyone - as the Shia believe that only direct descendants of Mohammed may lead the movement whereas the Sunni believe that any worthy man may fulfill that role. It is a deadly disagreement! (See Zechariah 14:13)
When Saddam Hussein was defrocked in Iraq intense fighting broke out in the country. Yes, these sects were resisting the Allied incursion into the country, but the major animosity was between Shia and Sunni. The “militias” of both sects went on rampages instantly in their intense desire to take control of the country. Iran has been striving to make a vassal state of Iraq for itself for decades and now saw its chances markedly increase (in its own scheme of things). That effort is currently intensifying, and is expected to leap ahead with force on January 1, 2012.
Why so soon? Because that is the date upon which Barack Obama has determined to bring every last combat soldier out of Iraq leaving only 160 troops there with responsibility to guard the massive American embassy complex in Baghdad. This evaporation of the West from Iraq is viewed by Islam as a great victory and as proof that their might has expelled the victors; the American move away from Iraq may bring untold conflict and suffering in the intense struggle which is expected there between the Shia and the Sunni.
The “Arab Spring” of earlier this year has brought unexpected and far-reaching changes to the entire Middle East. Western observers hopefully looked on this series of events as grass-roots desires, of liberating movements of democracy-seekers striving to better their lot. The results have been far different, as most readers will already know.
But there is a more serious aspect of it developing. The Shiites of Iran are dead-bent on their way in the Arab world. Their main detractors have been the wealthy Saudis just across the Persian Gulf, who of course, are Sunni Moslems. In a sense these late developments have drawn a line in the sand – literally. Iran is realized as one of the mid-range producers of crude oil for the world’s refineries.
But Saudi Arabia is the giant! Its production is about 25% of world crude oil production at present. Even a threatened disruption of the Saudi oil output would send world crude oil prices to the moon. In 1973 the Saudis voluntarily withheld production for a few weeks and oil prices rose 400% in a short while! We remember customer lines of more than a mile in length at gasoline stations in the Washington DC area, with many being turned away without fuel as the dealers drained their reserves.
There is today the extreme danger of an enforced reduction of world crude oil supplies as the fanatics of Shia Islam vow to have their way with the Sunnis by any available means – one of the most effective of which will be sabotage of the thousands of miles of exposed oil pipelines in the endless sands of the Saudi peninsula.
Since the Egyptian Revolution the pipeline supplying gas to Israel and Jordan in the Sinai Peninsula has been sabotaged eight times. The “Arab Spring” has taken the leash off a 1,300-year-old tsunami – a virtual fireball of devastation that is set to span the entire globe and intrude into your own family’s personal well-being. This is where the rubber meets the road; it may devastate your finances and yield other unthinkable effects.
It is not the imminent collapse of the euro, or the sinking value of the dollar – not a terror strike. It is far more deadly.
It may well bring the world economy grinding down, devastating the financial markets similar to the attacks of 9/11 and the collapse of 2008 – or much worse. It may well shut down air transport, rail service, manufacturing, retail business; mail delivery may be halted; financial markets may be stopped dead in their tracks; banks may be forced to lock their doors and shut down their ATM machines against a bank run. Even though personal preparations may have been made by many, not one family or community will be spared if the worst does happen.
The Middle East has always been submerged in a frightening time-warp. Human rights have never existed prominently. We’re talking about a vast arena in which stonings are common; hand-chopping is prevalent; decapitation is commonplace. Women have no rights whatever and are treated as chattels. Slavery is widespread and entirely acceptable. The most fervent desire of many is to die as a suicide bomber, thus gaining the purely fleshly rewards of Allah’s “heaven.” It is a culture of ignorance, of death and of backwardness.
The contemporary strife is still Shia versus Sunni – and is growing rapidly. Those controlling the puppets are specifically Iran and Saudi Arabia, as leaders of these two sects. Their mutual hatred is monumental – and pervasive. Most prevalent today is the visibly growing animosity of Iran versus Saudi Arabia in contrast to their habit of making nice for several years – at least on the surface.
Iran’s Shiites are vowing to have their way and will do anything to achieve that goal. Observers fully expect widespread disruption of Saudi pipelines and oil processing facilities – even export terminals – in order to bring the kingdom down before the Iranians move in and take over. It is a workable plan as thousands of miles of isolated pipelines sit exposed to almost any kind of interruption.
We also draw attention to three choke-points which Iran might also draw closed in such a case: the Straits of Hormuz at the outlet of the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean; the narrowing of the Red Sea at Sharm el-Sheik; and the Suez Canal itself, through which passes virtually all the oil bound for Europe and much of it being sold to the USA. Iran has openly declared that, if attacked, it will close the Hormuz Straits as retaliation – an action which would bring enormous consequences.
Conclusion: We watch closely for the expected, drastic consequences of the Allied withdrawal from Iraq and the increased unrest that will develop there. Saudi Arabia does not have the people or the ability to patrol its thousands of miles of pipelines, leaving these unprotected against enemy attacks. Such attacks could be foremost among the techniques Iran can use to disrupt and therefore drastically affect oil prices in the world. It is a frightening time of evil in which we live. How sorely does this world need the intervention that we trust will come from on High!
It may indeed be the mechanism by which Iraq is turned savagely against Israel (not so at this time) and driven to join forces with Syria to mount an assault upon Israel as foretold in the prophets. (See Micah 5, e.g.)
<HEL MD/USA Dec 14, 2011>
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No. 228: Sinai Watch
H E Lafferty
That Egypt’s military regime has lost control over the hundreds of thousands of Bedouin in the Sinai Peninsula is the opinion of YNet of November 23, 2011. YNet’s commentators are saying that the Sinai is now an almost-independent state where the Bedouin are living their lives as they wish, subject to no laws or repression.
The governing military council maintains virtually no presence in Sinai, much as an absentee landlord; in the wake of this neglect, the thirty or so Bedouin tribes of the northern and central Sinai have formed themselves into well-armed militias who follow their own notions of right and wrong; they engage in drug smuggling (highly profitable), human trafficking (slaves and human-organ harvesting, resulting in the death of the slave), and even large quantity armament deals. Their supply networks are immense.
An ominous development is another new reality; the Salafi Jihadist movement has proliferated among the Bedouin (see Salafism, further down, for an explanation). Having developed slowly since about 1980, the process has accelerated since the Egyptian Revolution of earlier this year (2011). The Bedouin have left their tribal enclaves to form themselves into entirely new, purely Salafi jihadist encampments – organized strongholds with their own protective devices and services.
There are two major exposures in the uncivilized world in the Sinai; they are (1) the Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel, and (2) the American peacekeeping force stationed there – a cadre of about 1,200 U. S. military people who it is said, take their mission seriously, and have for the last 30 years. These are members of the MFO (Multinational Force and Observers).
YNet commentators say that the wild Arab tribesmen of the area have been “gravely disrupting and abusing the Americans” and feel that the latter are losing their patience rapidly. At some point, they feel the United States will act against the lawless behavior of the Bedouin; in such a case, they reported, “May God have mercy on the Bedouin, who are going a little too far every day.”
We are not quite sure what YNet means by this statement – going a little too far. Probably simple harassment and taunting of the troops, plundering and pillaging supply dumps, etc. Their actions are said to be closely coordinated and in sympathy with the Hamas forces in Gaza, with whom there is free interchange of weapons, men, materiel, and training through many smuggling tunnels under the border. Their children are likely to travel north to schools in Gaza, then return bringing the Hamas indoctrination of hatred for Israel back to their tribes.
This reportage strengthens our feeling that the Sinai portion of Egypt may fall rapidly under Israel’s control along with (at the same time as) the Gaza Strip when Isaiah 11: 13-14 is finally fulfilled – when … the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. The latter three entities lie in southern Israel and in Jordan of today.
Obadiah 1: 20 may well refer directly to such an action: … the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south. We have previously regarded these phrases as addressing merely the Bedouin areas of the Negev, but these are the same tribes as those of the Sinai and probably shall include that vast area.
If the Egyptian authorities in Sinai continue in disarray as they are at this time, it could simply cede control of the Sinai to Israel practically by default in that action by merely not attempting to hold onto the Sinai at all. After all, the turmoil that will likely accompany that action (the conquest of Gaza as well as Jordan and “them of the east,” whomever else may be meant) may cause Egypt virtually to ignore the loss of the Sinai Peninsula.
One fact we are assured about in scripture is the southwestern border of the Greater Israel of that day: it is “the river of Egypt,” or the Nile River. That definition certainly includes the entire Sinai along with the Suez Canal bordering its west, and a sliver of Egyptian territory westward to the River. Yet Egypt as a nation does not seem to figure in that conflict in any important way.
The Bedouin of Sinai are said now to be extreme examples of Salafism, or Muslim Orthodoxy (Fundamentalism) taken from the Moslems of the patristic period of early Islam – the first three generations succeeding Mohammed. These were severely indoctrinated adherents of Islam and are designated by Sunni “theologians” of all generations after the fifth, as being idealists of Islamic thought and law. A reference in Wikipedia reveals these facts:
In contemporary times, Salafism has become associated with literalist and puritanical approaches to Islamic theology. In the West the term Salafi has become particularly associated with Muslims who espouse violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate expression of Islam, the so-called Salafi Jihadis.
Salafism is often used as a synonym for Wahhabism – the brand of Islam followed by the Saudis in particular, which spawned iconoclastic leaders such as the “cleric” Anwar al-Awlaki and also Osama bin-Laden, both of whom were sought-out and killed by American forces in the recent past.
If the Bedouin of Sinai are indeed of such a character, their hatred of Israel and the West is rabid and intractable. As such, they will be rewarded the same fate as Hamas and Hezbollah along with Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority’s Palestine Liberation Organization.
The returned Messiah of Israel will abide no such challenges to His authority in His day!
The eradication of all these forces along with others further abroad (Assyria, Lebanon, the Saudi dynasty, and perhaps others such as Kuwait), will be the order of the day in the initial cleanup operation of The Land, and expansion of His territories to the full boundaries awarded by covenant to Abraham beginning in Genesis 12.
A commentator speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy is quoted in Policy Watch (#1872: Special Forum Report) of November 20, 2011, Ehud Yaari, comments that the resultant anarchy in the Sinai endangers the extremely brittle Egyptian-Israeli Peace. The Bedouin of this southern area are not restrained by border fences which would divide Sinai from Israel’s Negev, nor even any fences barring them from crossing eastward into South Jordan. Bedouin don’t really have much regard for sovereign borders!
In the recent past, the Sinai served as an effective buffer between Israel and Egypt, but is rapidly growing into an abandoned arena in which dwell expansive terrorist networks, which developed after Egyptian police forces collapsed in the wake of the Egyptian Revolution which overthrew Mubarak. We feel the consequences of these developments will become more important in the coming months, endangering Israeli and American interests in the Sinai.
Although Israel is accelerating construction of a 150-mile long, 17-foot high security fence along its border with Sinai, it is not nearly finished. But the new barrier will not prevent such activities as the recent attack on Al-Arish’s police station, seven disruptions of the Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline (sabotage/explosions), and the August 18th attack on three separate Israeli targets just north of Eilat, which was supposedly designed to take Israeli hostages but failed to do so.
So what is the current state of affairs in the Sinai? Well, for the moment it seems dominated by a fundamentalistic, quite-capable, well-armed criminal group led by Salem Abu Lafi, whose people are based in the Wadi Amr region and in the Halal Mountains. The ability of this group is “enhanced” by the presence of large numbers of former Egyptian criminals who broke jail in Egypt during the lax security measures of the Revolution. The group is capable and volatile; it is bent on forming alliances with Hamas in Gaza and other Islamists for the proper fee! Its great facility of movement within the Sinai is an extreme challenge to defeat without a great number of soldiers; yet it can respond lethally and very rapidly to any attempted enforcement by the authorities. Its lawlessness is therefore rampant and uncontained.
So … these Sinai developments deserve our attention as we strive to “keep up” with events which are rapidly and most certainly fulfilling the inspired words of the prophets of the great God of Israel. <HEL MD/USA November 25, 2011>
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No. 227: Events in the Sinai
H E Lafferty
The Sinai Peninsula lies on the southwestern border of Israel stretching from the Gaza Strip on the north to Eilat on the Red Sea in the south. This boundary is around 200 km in length and offers a porous border for infiltrators into Israel from Egyptian territory.
In September numerous members of Hamas/al-Qaeda slipped under the Gaza border with Egypt through smuggling tunnels and made their way southward along the border of Sinai with Israel. They could do so because the area is desolate, lawless, and relatively uninhabited, and at the time contained few Egyptian police or military forces.
It was almost an open doorway to terrorism against Israel’s Negev desert.
The Hamas terrorists, estimated to have numbered about twenty men, discovered a stretch of the border protected only by a flimsy barbed wire fence; just beyond was a roadway leading southward to Eilat, some dozen miles further south. They attacked three targets; about 17 people were killed:
1) A three-man cell riddled an Egged (Israeli) bus taking Israeli soldiers to Eilat on leave.
2) A second group of terrorists fired several anti-tank missiles setting a second bus on fire and hitting two civilian cars; in one car four passengers were killed; in the second a woman was killed.
3) Then an Israeli army unit hurrying to the scene of the attacks ran over roadside bombs which had been placed on the route. The passengers in that vehicle were killed.
Meanwhile, a police patrol soon located the team of three which had attacked the first bus, and killed them all in a hail of gunfire. Two of their bodies were loaded with booby traps (explosives) which could have killed the Israelis even after the terrorists’ deaths. Four more of the insurgents were found and killed. Egyptian police from the Sinai killed two more of the terrorists.
These attacks had to have been meticulously planned over some time; yet they were carried out with no warning to the Israelis. Part of the reason is the desolate character of the Sinai. Few Israeli or Egyptian army patrols were present in the area. Perhaps weeks of preparation by the terrorists had gone undetected. Although the US and Israel on August 17th were intent on keeping the Egyptian army updated on Palestinian and al-Qaeda movements in Sinai, they apparently did not observe these twenty fighters who had moved into the area on a main road and taken up positions along the border, awaiting the command to move ahead with the attacks.
In spite of this surveillance, only 17 hours later the terrorists struck. Israel and the US, both of which maintain a network of observation stations in the area, had noticed no unusual activity. The group of gunmen had driven down a major route toward Eilat. Yet neither Israel nor the US had any real-time information on their activity.
This is a disconcerting fact, as a group of 20 fighters conducting such a complex operation had to have been engaged in planning the scheme several days or weeks prior to the attacks. Advanced preparations would have included careful scouting missions, meticulous observation of Israeli activities, bus schedules, presence of patrols, etc. They would have been brought to the scene of the attacks weeks in advance for familiarization with the terrain and to pick their targets, and to do detailed operational planning … all carried out on the Israeli side of the border!
Yet all this went unnoticed. The attack was devastating, and said to be in avengement for the killing of Osama bin Laden a few weeks earlier. Two branches of Al-Qaeda were set to claim responsibility for the attacks but delayed doing so because they feared Israeli counterattacks on their operations in Gaza.
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu voiced his concern about the increasing threat from Egypt’s Sinai, saying just after the attacks, "There are those seeking to use Sinai not merely as a staging area for attacks [on Israel] from Gaza but seeking to use Gaza as a staging area for attacks from Sinai. This is obviously a very troubling development," according to Debkafile. It is a double-edged sword, both edges cutting Israeli citizens and interests.
Another gauge of the lawlessness of the Sinai is the repeated bombing of the Egyptian gas pipeline carrying natural gas northward to Israel and Jordan. Two days prior to the prime minister’s statement, the pipeline had been sabotaged for the sixth time since President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had been deposed.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeated Mr. Netanyahu’s concerns; he revealed officially that Israel had accepted increased Egyptian army forces in Sinai in order to bring about a higher level of security. Israel had approved, in accordance with the peace treaty with Egypt, the entry of Egyptian tanks into the northern Sinai in mid-August.
Later, on October 13, Egyptian General Reda Hafiz, chief of the air force, defiantly stated that "’Sinai is our land and we do not need permission to increase our forces on our land’ in direct contravention of the 1979 peace treaty signed with Israel which demilitarized Sinai by common consent” according to Debkafile..
It is interesting that at that time the negotiations seemed to be making progress toward the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a prisoner exchange with Hamas when, as it was about to be concluded, Egypt gave permission for the Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzuk, based in Damascus, to move into a posh apartment in Cairo, indicating Egypt’s solidarity with that terrorist organization which continues to vow to destroy Israel and NEVER to make peace with or even recognize Israel.
These events point up the reasons for our own special interest in the affairs of the south of Israel – her interface with Gaza and Egyptian Sinai. We have been acutely aware for years of Israel’s prophesied defeat of Edom (the “Palestinians” – or the Philistines!) of Gaza and the south.
But what about the militants of Sinai? What is their destiny?
We believe that Obadiah has revealed that destiny in verse 20, but we had really not paid particular notice to it in this context before. Obadiah’s relevant prediction is: and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
We have no other option than to take Obadiah at his word – for his word is that of the Spirit of God. The statement is more open-ended than we had realized. “The cities of the south” includes the Negev, of course, the entirety of which is south of the main body of Israel. But the “border” of the Negev Desert with the Sinai Desert is only an invisible boundary on the map. The Negev is contiguous with Sinai in every way, including its forbidding climate, its desolate character, its endless tracks of wasteland, and its present lack of water.
At the same time, it is a vast hiding place for terrorist activity against Israel, as the foregoing shows clearly.
So we think of this factor relating to the future age of the kingdom of God. Its boundaries are stated multiple times as being “from the River of Egypt (the Nile) to the Euphrates.” This southern border shall include the entire Sinai peninsula, its oil and gas fields, the Suez Canal (through which pass millions of barrels of oil each day bound for Europe and the West) and the east bank of the Nile, including portions of Cairo and Giza as well as the fertile farmlands of the Eastern Nile Delta. It is a possession which we do not often consider in much detail, but which nevertheless shall be part of Abraham’s inheritance!
Egypt as an enemy is not mentioned significantly in the final conflicts leading to the expansion of Israel under the Christ and appropriation of the nearby Islamic states which are slated for His conquest in Psalm 83. Yet, we may be assured that Israel will conquer and annex all the lands stated in the promise down to and including the Nile River.
Exactly HOW the Egyptian territory of Sinai shall pass into Israeli hands without much seeming conflict is not yet clear; we shall have to wait to see these developments. But the end-result is certain. The Sinai peninsula, useless as it now is as productive land, shall pass into the possession of the King of Israel and His people; and that desert, too, shall blossom as the rose! <HEL MD/USA October 14, 2011>
No. 226: Endtime Role of Michael the Archangel
The student of scripture will note that the last two chapters of Daniel are linked by the phrase “at that time,” indicative of the time when the last King of the North has been defeated and the State of Israel is coming into being. The narrative is of a cloth – a continuous revelation divided into two chapters.
The Archangel Michael is specifically concerned with Israel, the people. But when there is no cohesive collection of the sons of Jacob, Michael is apparently not especially tasked with their care.Therefore, when the resurrection of Israel from the nations (from “Egypt”) is eminent, and their formation into the State of Israel is near, Michael becomes operative on their behalf in an invisible role.
It is in this context that we see the first verses of Daniel 12:
Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book, prefiguring resurrection from the dead.
The phrase “at that time” indicates the events of the previous account in Daniel 11:45 where it is said of the King of the North, yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
We believe that this prophecy was fulfilled on the occasion of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire – the last King of the North – by Great Britain in Palestine in 1917, when they drove the Turkish forces out of God’s Land by a sound defeat. The Ottoman Empire, as a result did come to an end, and was replaced by Gemal Ataturk’s modern state of Turkey.
History was at that time swiftly closing in on the establishment of modern Israel as haven and homeland for the Jews of the world. As custodian of the Holy Places of the time, Britain had ostensibly conquered the Land for the benefit of the Jews of the world and not for its own imperial interests. Therefore, Britain did not fulfill the role of another King of the South as some had supposed it would.
Daniel then
addresses the immediate “time of trouble” which should develop for the Jews of
Europe – the greatest concentration of the Diaspora of the time. Adolph Hitler
and the Third Reich mounted an unprecedentedly fatal campaign against innocent
people within the Reich and in conquered lands, hunting them out of every
isolated recess of these countries and murdering them simply because they were
Jews. It was termed The Shoah by the
Jews; it was indeed a time of trouble for
them such as had never been forced upon any group of people up to that time. But Daniel gives hope to some of them who
should be most fortunate. Utilizing the “standing up” of Michael the Archangel, the
Almighty would rescue some of His people from that Holocaust: and at that time thy people shall be
delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Not all the people were to be
delivered. Only about one third of the known group of Jews lived through this
time of extreme persecution. They constituted a remnant of the overall group, and are pointedly addressed as such
in many references to that time.
As an example, consider these words of Isaiah 10:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Several facets of that passage are important to note.
(1) In that day is a code for the Endtime. The Shoah occurred well within the time constraints of that period … the Latter Days.
(2) The remnant of Israel – of the house of Jacob – could not have been more concisely designated: only a small portion would remain. This process has been repeated over and over through history because of Israel’s disobedience when they dwelt safely in their land at the first (cf. Ezekiel 39:26 – a specific reference to that time, prior to the Babylonian captivity).
(3) Those who should escape should no more stay (i.e., depend) upon him that smote him (i.e., the Nazis of Germany and the German people who the Jews had trusted, and with whom the Jews had tried to assimilate up to that time). Their socio-political goals were to be deflected to another path – toward their Father and their covenanted Land, as indicated in the next phrases.
(4) As a result, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God – which, as we have seen, indicated their immigration to the Ensign of Israel (the State of Israel as soon as it was formed – cf. Isaiah 11:12).
(5) The consumption decreed (the Shoah) shall overflow with righteousness is indicative of the physical salvation, the refuge which came into being at the end of that terrible period of persecution for a fortunate remnant. The Almighty’s righteousness would surely prevail for those who He marked out to escape death in that awful period, bringing them “home” to their Land as a place of refuge and safety. In this reaction to His invitation, they would be returning unto the children of Israel as the prophet Micah revealed that they should in Micah 5:3.
It was prophesied to occur – and did occur – at and subsequent to, the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth … a clear indication of the human mechanism of Zionism bringing forth (bringing to birth) the Nation of Israel in May, 1948! – Zionism being the entirely secular machine (directed by the Almighty and His Agent, the Archangel Michael, as we see indicated here) who obviously arranged, devised, manufactured and developed the refuge of The Land for the Jews of the world.
But now the menacing Death-Ring of Islam is tightening, intensifying, concentrating again on another remnant of six million of God’s chosen people. The “Arab Spring” has begun to show its real colors – and they are not the fresh, green hues of spring! ‘’’ A reader recently wrote, “How can six million Jews stand up to countless millions of heathen Islamists? We know how!!”
The simple answer is that, alone, they could not effectively resist those foes. Were it not for His love for and care of them, they should again be ripped and torn apart and scattered to the winds.
But fear not! Such a fate is NOT His plan! The Father has already prepared a defence for them in advance: Jeremiah 31:6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. 7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
This is clearly the time of their return to their Land in the Endtime. Their intention is to go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. They are not alone in this initiative. Daniel clearly states that “at that time” shall Michael the Archangel stand up for their assistance.
Angelic assistance, however, is completely invisible to the eyes that see not, viz., those eyes not energized by faith in God’s word. Michael has evidently been assisting Israel through all its wars and conflicts, through terror and mayhem, in time of conflict as well as economic hardship. To deny that fact is to deny the promise of the Father for His people.
Their dogged determination to return to Zion has been singularly remarkable; it has been successful beyond all reasonable expectation. Today Israel’s economy is steaming ahead at about 7% growth per year – one of the most successful polities on earth in these uncertain times.
As they accumulate in Zion in great numbers the danger from their enemies round about grows exponentially; in human terms the threat to their survival is extreme – as it is today. The prophet cries in response, revealing the present (supernatural) outcome: Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
His cry does not go unheeded. Their salvation shall be accomplished by the only Agent Who can save them – their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ – Who appears to them in a spectacular apocalypse, soundly defeating their enemies [and HIS enemies: Psalm 83:1-3] as He delivers them from their enemies’ murderous quest to drive the Jews into the sea and take their lands.
Clearly, their enemies’ plan is not His Plan; that certain destiny is stated clearly in many portions of His Word; one instance is Ezekiel 36:24 - For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
We currently behold this process in mid-term fulfillment! The inflow of His People to His Land is unstoppable. Their greater volume of return lies ahead of this time when, under Messiah’s benevolent reign, all Israel shall come home to dwell before the Lord and to observe His ways; and all the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2: 14; Numbers 14: 21.
<HEL MD/USA September 20, 2011
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No. 225: The Turkish Lie
The Turks are talking large these days. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is full of bluster and expansiveness. Some of his admirers refer to him as “the Middle East’s new sultan in a neo-Ottoman empire.”
However, the simple truth about the Kingdom of Erdogan is very different; his economic power is extremely weak; his state’s bubble of credit is tending toward bursting and bringing down Turkey’s economy, which at last measure stood at 10% growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)! But the world is rightly disturbed.
Why so? It is because Turkey’s budget deficit now stands at 9.5% of GDP, which is dangerously high. This means Turkey owes nearly 10% more than the total worth the country creates each year; even the interest on such debt is oppressive. [By contrast, Israel’s budget deficit is currently at 3% and should recede to 2% by year’s end – an unqualified economic success.] The measured 10% growth of Turkey’s overall economy (its GDP) is said to be entirely the result of financial manipulation.
What is meant by such a statement? Well, like the US mortgage lenders of several years ago, Turkey’s banks issued loans of all sorts (including mortgages) to borrowers who were unqualified to receive them. In addition, these loans were made at very low interest rates – a seemingly wonderful gift!
Because the interest rates were so low, Turks used the greatly expanded amount of credit mostly for consumer goods – which would decrease in value rather than, as investments, would probably increase. It was a disaster for the country.
And the bigger problem is, Turkey’s Central Bank (similar to the USA's Federal Reserve Bank) financed this wild party by money borrowed from the rest of the world, which increased Turkey’s deficit to the frightening level of 8% of Gross Domestic Product. It is projected to reach 10% by year’s end (2011).
As a result, the country’s debt levels actually doubled during the last year and a half; significantly, this was an election campaign period when Erdogan was handily re-elected.
It is now quite apparent that Tayyip Erdogan ‘and company’ actually purchased the voters in the recent elections, most of whom are said to have voted for him not because of his thrust toward Islamic principles, but because he handed out very low interest loans to literally everyone. Essentially, Erdogan provided everyone with an inexpensive money supply in exchange for the “shopping addiction” that it induced in them! Actual investment in the Turkish economy only amounted to about 15% of the deficit; the remainder was a mountain of externally borrowed funds, in exchange for which the public re-elected Mr. Erdogan, the Islamic Fundamentalist. It bodes not well for the State or the people of Turkey.
The Israeli Factor
So, the plot thickens! As all “bubbles” eventually burst, Turkey’s is due to explode at any day.
Erdogan has expressed the hope that the Saudis will contribute funds to his dilemma, but many say this is doubtful. The deadlines for loan repayments are coming swiftly and Erdogan seems to have little recourse. Most countries that might assist him are wary of Erdogan’s obtuse conduct, called “thuggery” by many.
Hence, many feel this is the motive for his aggressive moves against Israel, specifically. He has very serious domestic problems. Unemployment in Turkey is at 13% of the available work force at present and the Turkish lira has fallen sharply against the American dollar – again. It is reportedly now at its lowest level since the worldwide currency crisis of 2009. The Turkish stock exchange has lost about 40% of its value in dollars in the last 180 days – and now the inept, irresponsible Erdogan wants to be ruler of the Middle East!!
When the economy tumbles, Erdogan will receive his just desserts by the oppressed citizens of Turkey. He has irrationally arrested journalists, falsely accused military officers, restrained his scientists and other politicians – and most of all kept down the general public while making almost “free” money available to them … feeding their addictions to consumerism. But why should any of these support him now, faced with the prospect of economic downfall?
Our overall consideration of this affair must include Togormah's and Gomer's final destiny as outlined in the Almighty's sentence upon them (Turkey as part of the Gogian host) in Ezekiel 39:3 - And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee:
We are also reminded of Solomon's observation in Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
So … he picks a fight with Israel; with such an external crisis brewing, he doesn’t have to address the coming economic wall – the disgrace that is approaching rapidly.
His self-generated crisis against Israel is completely artificial and preemptive. The ‘Marmora Affair’, in which blockade-running “relief” ships from Turkey were headed off by the Israeli navy, and several “activists” were killed, is well in the past, and has been adjudged by the UN to have been justified on Israel’s part. Such an approach creates a lot of diverted interest elsewhere rather than to the torpedoed economy of Turkey! So Erdogan’s navy says it will escort any new “relief” convoys to Gaza and dare the Israeli navy to detain the boats.
In addition Turkey will concentrate interest also on Israel’s newly discovered energy fields in the Mediterranean Sea, and perhaps even attack them – disrupting the rightful and peaceful Israeli exploration of their energy resources. These resources will create enormous wealth for Israel, and Erdogan just can’t stand the thought of it. So we wonder if he actually plans to try to take control of these resources for Turkey, which has little or no energy resources of its own.
Such an acquisition could solve his economic dilemma!
It seems indeed to be the mindset of a new Ottoman Caliph, doesn’t it? Be a winner – and winner takes all. Our thought is that Benyamin Netanyahu’s Israeli planners will act to stall the Turkish aggression – perhaps aided by Turkey’s economic mess – until Israel can get its missile defense systems fully installed (planned for the end of next year).
Something shall doubtless occur to retard the aggression of Turkey for a later time, when it is plainly labeled as a participant in the Gogian host of Ezekiel 38 and 39. The Almighty’s stated plan shall not be distorted or pre-empted by any ‘upstart’ of any nation on earth. The Father's overall diktat in Isaiah 25:11 is even more to the point: And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands
<HEL MD/USA 9-2011
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No. 224: Turkey Threatens Israeli Oil and Gas Fields
Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is rattling his sword by threatening Israeli oil and gas interests off the coast of Haifa. Indeed, Debkafile has reported that “Erdogan plans to send his warships into this water for two missions:
1. To split the Israel's small Navy into two heads – one for sustaining the blockade against Gaza and one for safeguarding the gas and oil rigs opposite its shores.
2. To scare Israel into the full or partial stoppage of its offshore oil and gas operations, thereby robbing it of energy power status and substantial economic gains. Erdogan is determined never to let Israel overshadow Turkey in the regional stakes and (intends to) put a stop to the Jewish state's progress – even if military aggression is called for.
A contributor has confirmed: “Now, Turkey is talking of naval surveillance of Israel's coast, (targeting) its oil and gas installations in the Mediterranean; they are (also) talking of action in the European Court against Israel for their blockade of Gaza and even suggesting they will shepherd ships through the Israeli blockade.” It seems certain that Turkey covets the huge Israeli petrol/gas discoveries and thinks they can take them away!
Meanwhile, Debkafile reported on September 9th in some depth, its headline reading, “Erdogan drives toward armed clash with Israel. Oil and gas at stake.” On Thursday night, Sept. 8, on Al Jazeera television, the Turkish prime minister … said he had taken steps ‘to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the Eastern Mediterranean.’”
Erdogan did not disclose just what steps he has taken. But for some time now, he has moved mountains to isolate Israel militarily and diplomatically. Some Israeli observers say Tayyip Erdogan wants war with Israel! This wild notion might be because he sees his prestige slipping in the Islamic world and wants to make a mark.
Debkafile's military sources report that "the Turkish prime minister is resolved to corner Israel into an inescapable military confrontation. It might not happen at once or even within a week, but it will happen a lot sooner than many Israeli politicians and military chiefs imagine because he is using Israel as his ticket to regional prestige.
“Erdogan is driven to assert Turkey's importance (because of) the way he was shouldered aside in Libya. Ankara invested heavily in its support for the Libyan rebels. But when British, French, Jordanian and Qatari special forces stormed Tripoli on Aug. 21 and overthrew the Qaddafi regime, Turkey was left behind and forgotten in the heat of the action.
The report said further, that “From Ankara, the Turkish leader watches the sharing out of Libyan oil as the spoils of war among the Western powers and Qatar – as an outsider. Since he can't pluck up courage to intervene in Syria, he has plumped for seizing eastern Mediterranean natural resources to elevate Turkey's standing. Not only will he try to snatch the ‘treasure’ out of Israel's hands but no less important, he will challenge his country's traditional rival Greece whose military ties with Israel are growing stronger.”
So you see, the entire picture is very complex.
For some reason, the Turks seem to be depending upon President Barack Obama’s support in any military clash with Israel. However, it might be just a bit early for such presumption with the American political climate as it now stands. Mr. Obama needs as much assistance as he can get at the moment from Jewish interests here and may not yet risk abandoning Israel.
Although Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are (now) less confident of US support, we believe the time has not come yet for the complete abandonment of Israel by the US – so the Turks may be entertaining a great misconception of their potential ally, the USA. But if the US did intervene, Turkey would have a definitive edge in a military confrontation. This potential advantage is seen as a high cost to Israeli security by the reticence of Israeli leaders aggressively to face up to their latest security threats from most of the enemies on their borders.
Another certain fact is that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas would also suffer a loss of prestige by being put aside from public discussions by any conflict between Israel and Turkey. (In addition, his bid in the United Nations is thought highly likely to backfire on the so-called “Palestinians” and give them even less advantage than they now possess.)
The Turkish leader observes at least the potential sharing of Libyan oil among the Western powers and Qatar – from the outside. So, because he cannot muster the spine to intervene in Syria he seems to be planning on seizing Israel’s Eastern Mediterranean petroleum fields in order to elevate Turkey’s lowered standing.
You see, human pride and arrogance are playing a huge part in all these events! If he can successfully snatch Israel’s prize petroleum discoveries Erdogan will make a name for himself and hurt Israel in several strategic ways; but in doing so he would also challenge Turkey’s closest and oldest rival, Greece, whose military ties with Israel are growing stronger by the day.
The prophetic implications of these complex maneuvers by these Principal Players in Endtime prophecy is that they are just too uncertain at this time to make any detailed projections about the near-term outcome.
The longer term outcome however, is concretely stated by scripture and prescribes the most drastic defeat for Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq as well as all the Gogian host of Ezekiel 38 and 39 in terms of the deadly hallows (sentences) clearly visible in Obadiah, Micah 5, Isaiah 17, Psalm 83, Ezekiel 35, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 63 and others. These enemies are doomed to complete and ajbect failure of their campaigns to overthrow and destroy God’s people, Israel. <HEL>
N0. 223: Turkey Moves Toward Fundamentalism – and Suffers
A recent news snippet reports: Ankara's published impressive GDP growth rate of 11 percent is artificially inflated by out-of-control credit pumped out by its central bank to create a short-term bubble. In fact, Turkey is fast sliding into deep economic slump. Its current account deficit has reached almost the same crisis level as those of Greece and Portugal and its currency faces devaluation.
It appears that Turkey is following faithfully in the economic waywardness of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Yet Turkey is one of the most progressive Islamic states in the world … indeed nearly the only one!
In one way Turkey does not resemble an Islamic power at all. Although it is over 99% Muslim, its cities are as modern as Paris or Milan. Its people are prosperous and well-educated. A visitor encounters almost no one dressed in traditional Islamic dress: essentially he sees almost no burkas or wound headdresses; poverty seems almost nonexistent. When we visited Turkey in the last decade its currency had been drastically devalued but the economy was at the time moving ahead comfortably. I brought home several Turkish one million lira notes, each worth about 83 cents at the time!
But its situation has markedly worsened under the Islamic regime of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and its abrupt change of relations from friendly to antagonistic against Israel. Erdogan seems to be exerting nearly every lever in his arsenal to confront Israel and draw it into conflict. We wonder if the motivation of the prime minister is simply pride. Recently he sided with the Libyan regime of Moammar Qaddafi and was rebuffed by the Allies who took the side of the rebels. Turkey’s approach was not logical as it is trying to affiliate with Europe.
In 2010 Turkey sponsored a blockade-running flotilla which attempted to reach the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip over the legal objections of Israel and its official blockade; the latter intercepted the flotilla and killed several of the “activists” when the ships failed to allow inspection or to be escorted to Israeli ports. Turkey has been demanding reparations and apologies from Israel but is getting no satisfaction, as Israel considers it has clear legal right to blockade the renegade Gaza Strip.
A recently issued UN report verifies that fact; Israel is without blame in the matter.
Why is all this important? Turkey is represented by Togarmah and Gomer in the Gogian confederacy of Ezekiel 38. Aside from genealogical listings these powers are only mentioned in Ezekiel 38:6. We have therefore been frankly mystified by the recent friendly demeanor of Turkey toward Israel but at the same time have soberly realized that its attitude would soon have to begin to polarize against Israel. A correspondent has written: “On the matter of Turkey, (our) thinking over the years really has not assessed the Turkish situation properly. Turkey has to be(come) a strong Islamic 'hook' to draw Turkey (Gomer and Togarmah) into their proper orbit for the Gogian adventure” (emphasis that of editor).
That has finally quite abruptly happened, and seems nearly as complete as it needs to be.
A report in early September from Debkafile is headed: “Turkey's sharp economic downswing undercuts its regional status,” and reports that “US sources disclose that the Erdogan government may act as though it calls the shots in the region to cow Israel, but Turkey is fast sliding into (a) deep economic slump.
Early last week the prime minister palpably challenged Israel’s sovereignty in the matter of the Gaza blockade. He also provoked confrontation over the Israeli oil and gas reserves being exploited in Israeli coastal waters. He seems bent on procuring these properties for Turkey! However that is a different but connected matter.
So, on Thursday evening last he proclaimed that Turkish warships will escort any future Turkish “aid” vessels bound for the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. He therefore seems determined to hinder Israeli actions, preempting it on two important fronts. His efforts against Israel amount to a double rope around Israel’s neck from two diplomatic angles.
If Erdogan follows up on his threat to escort “aid” vessels to Gaza with his navy, he will be the first Muslim leader to intervene on behalf of the “Palestinians” of Gaza against Israel; all the others simply talk and don’t act. His ploy might be effective if it results in naval conflict with Israel, even if he suffers defeat (a given?).
In this action the prideful Erdogan may hope to shame the Arab nations which have fought Israel several times in the past and to prove his nation strong and decisive. It would be confrontation with Israel that even the blaggarts of Iran has not had the courage to take. That would greatly promote his standing with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, especially, who are watching Turkey’s activities closely and suspiciously. Egypt’s navy just agreed to join Turkey’s naval forces in upcoming joint exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean, which may indicate Erdogan’s tactics are bearing fruit.
Such a show of force would be intended to intimidate Israel, but we doubt that it would do so. Turkey’s naval fleet is said to be no match for Israel’s adept missile boats, its fast attack boats, its missile jamming technologies, its other agile surface ships, and its submarine fleet – especially coupled with the Israeli Air Force’s smothering air cover.
This drama is extremely interesting because its end result is already recorded by the prophet Ezekiel, whose revelation is found in Ezekiel 38:18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog (including Togarmah and Gomer) shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother. 22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
It is a blindingly terrible end for the ungodly foes of the God of Israel! <HEL>
No. 222: The Original Blueprint
We see this critical time in our history as our last opportunity to return to The Original Blueprint of God’s plan. Some folk today stress that to save itself, America must return to the teachings and principles of the Founding Fathers. Unfortunately, this cannot “save” America for eternity. That is so because America is not actually a Godly institution, although those who called it forth claimed to be God-fearing – and were, by their own standards.
But their foundations were not true to The Original Blueprint. Like almost all mankind, they had inherited the false theories about life, immortality, evil, and godliness, substituting three co-equal gods in one Godhead in direct repudiation of God’s revelation.
Today’s strife, terror and lawlessness is surely the beginning of the long road to true recovery for mankind, bringing him and his posterity eventually back to Eden, and to sinlessness and true godliness. That movement must begin at the Household of Christ – indeed SHALL begin at that Household as history is brought forward toward the righteous conclusion for which the entire world is destined.
For more than 150 years brethren of Christ have been preaching and teaching the revived, pure doctrines of The Master in contradistinction to the perversions of “men of the cloth” of the past two millennia. It has not been a popular quest, to bring true knowledge of God’s plan into the open and present it in the marketplace of mankind. And by man’s standards, it has not been terribly successful! Jesus’ axiom, “many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22: 14) comes to mind here!
The high ones of the earth (self-appointed priests, doctors and pastors) have repudiated Truth at every opportunity, and turned it into a profit mill for Mammon and Self Esteem. And into giant, costly cathedrals and churches the likes of which the Master and His original believers never visualized. They quickly perverted the pure truth of God, changing it into a lie (Romans 1:25)and worshipped the creature more than the Creator – thus condemning themselves and all their followers to depravity and defeat in matters of true faith.
And so a full return to the Original Blueprint is needful – and is the only path to salvation for mankind. Back to the old ways! we cry. Every man to his tent, O Israel! Huddle in your secret rooms of prayer and meditation ye soldiers of Christ, preparing for the great battle for the Theocracy of the Almighty – the kingdom of God on earth! For when He appears Whose right it is, the battle shall be joined in earnest, and for all eternity!
The prophet Habakkuk (cf., 3:1) wrote his words “upon Shiginoth” – that being not an instrument of music but a fervent attitude and utterance of great spirit and joy. (Psalm 7 is also a significant example of the style of expression – joy and exultation in the Father’s blessings and mercy. It is a fervent cry for His salvation: Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. Psalm 7:9)
Habakkuk 3 is a vigorous picture of that certain outcome – that fervent expectation of the prophet under the inspiration of the Almighty:
Habakkuk 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. 2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
This prophecy is a picture of His initial, incendiary intervention of the Endtime – and the beginning of His vigorous, certain, forcible return to The Original Blueprint – the pathway back to the Garden of Eden. It shall be a long and violent journey solely because of the resistance of Man to His will and purpose. The intense language of the prophet is graphic in its poetry:
Hab 3:6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. 8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? (the heathen nations) was thy wrath against the sea(their peoples), that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
Chariots here (Strong’s H4818, merkabah) are reminiscent of cherubim – the chariots of the Lord, His vehicles of vengeance upon Midian and Cushan. By association these are His immortalized Saints whose privilege it is to “tread down the wicked” as the prophet Malachi reveals in 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness (the Lord of all the earth!) arise with healing in his wings (a better translation is “beams” – of light); and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
Habakkuk continues his enthusiastic narrative: Hab 3:9 Thy bow was made quite naked (as He makes war upon His enemies), according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word (the sharp sword of His mouth!). Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains (earthly kingdoms) saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation (reminiscent of Joshua’s victory over the Amorites in the Valley of Ajalon – Joshua 10: 12): at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. 12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed ; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah
This is the beginning of His vengeance – and the re-establishment of His ways according to The Original Blueprint! The heathen nations are as a drop in a bucket – insignificant before His immense power. He moves quickly to establish His people, and to bring confidence and peace to His trouble, threatened citizens of Eretz Israel!
In the ensuing weeks and months all His foes are vanquished; He acquires additional lands; the wealth of the heathen (nations) is brought to Zion for the glorification of His kingdom. His people are made secure for all time. His will begins to be done in the earth as it is done in heaven. Glory and honor accrue to His holy name from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth!
We recall this specific promise from Psalm 72:7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
And so it comes to pass that The Original Blueprint is re-established in His domain – the whole habitable! Glory and honor accrues to Him universally; His laws are truly founded and observed. The Seventh Millennium shall then be in progress, and His will set in place for all eternity.
We can quote no more significant words here than those of the Lord Jesus Himself to His servant John in Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. It is most surely the Garden of Eden restored – for all eternity! <HEL MD/USA August W 2011>
NO. 221: Saudi Writers: The Secret to Israel's Success
Translated, edited and published by the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), July 29, 2011
On June 7, 2011, two Saudi columnists – the liberal Khalaf Al-Harbi, of the Saudi daily 'Okaz, and Fawaz Al-'Ilmi, of the Saudi daily Al-Watan – published articles comparing Israel's situation to that of the Arab countries. Al-Harbi opined that the secret to Israel's success lay in its democratic regime and its respect for the human rights of its citizens, while Al-'Ilmi wrote that Israel's prosperity was due to its investment in education and science. It should be noted that these articles are a rare phenomenon in the Saudi government press. Following are excerpts of both articles:
Al-Harbi: "Do We Really Still Believe that Israel Is a Temporary Entity Bound to Disappear?"
Al-Harbi wrote: "When we were young, the teachers exhausted us by reiterating that Israel is, without question, a temporary and transient country. When we got old enough to read, newspapers and books filled our heads with reasons why Israel could not [continue to] exist in its Arab surroundings. For years, we waited for the moment when Israel would disappear, and here we are [today, witnessing] the moment when the Arab countries are beginning to topple, one after the other.
"A few days ago was the 44th anniversary of the naksa [i.e., the defeat in the 1967 war], when Israel swallowed up Arab lands... A week or more ago, [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu delivered a brilliant speech before the American Congress in which he emphasized that Israel would not return to the 1967 borders. This statement means that Israel has achieved such a degree of complacency and tranquility that it is no longer willing to negotiate even over those lands it has admitted to occupying [in 1967], much less... over the lands it occupied in 1948. Do we really still believe that Israel is a temporary entity bound to disappear?
"Perhaps Israel will disappear in another 100 or 200 years, as no one can foresee what will happen in the future. However, looking at the current state of its Arab neighbors, I see addled countries, political entities that lack the ability to maintain their national unity, and armies that are not trying to wipe out Israel so much as to wipe out their own peoples...
"The secret to Israel's survival, despite all the great challenges it has faced, lies in democracy and respect for the worth of the [Israeli] individual, regardless of [Israel's] racism and brutality vis-à-vis its Arab enemies. The secret to the collapse of the Arab countries, one after another, lies in dictatorship and in the oppression of the individual... It is impossible for an Arab country, a neighbor of Israel, to succeed in liberating Palestine while denying dignity to individuals [within its own borders].
"Israel won war after war, and scooped up Arab lands larger than [Israel itself] in both size and population. It then went on [to develop] manufacturing, industry, and invention. The [average] income there is double [the average income] in the neighboring Arab countries. [Israel] has rendered itself an inescapable fact. Throughout all stages [of its development], it drew its power from the honor it granted to its citizens, while its Arab neighbors trampled the [poor] creatures known as their citizens under military boots.
"If only we could get in touch with our teachers to let them know that Israel still exists, while the Arabs are headed for destruction. In order to know who will remain and who will perish, one must always check who has democracy, human rights, and social justice."[1]
Al-'Ilmi: Israel Is at the Pinnacle of
Scientific Research, the Arabs at Its Nadir
Al-'Ilmi wrote: "...Tawasul[2] is the official
website of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and, unlike Arab websites, it updates
its entries every 12 minutes around the clock and offers them in Arabic,
Hebrew, Farsi, English, French, and Russian. On January 20, the website
published a report which revealed that the only registry in the world for Arab
bone marrow donors is located in the Hadassah Medical Center, associated with
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It should be noted that the Arabs living in
Israel constitute no more than 1.2 million of the world's Arabs, who number
upwards of 400 million.
"The report, prepared by Avigayil Kadesh, notes that Dr. Amal Bishara, who oversees organ donations at the Hadassah Medical Center – an Arab woman with a doctorate in life sciences and immunology – has single-mindedly visited more than 60 Arab villages and cities since the bone marrow registry was founded in 2008. [She did so] to further her own research and to supplement the Jewish registry, which has been active at the hospital for 22 years. Through lectures and social networking, the Arab doctor added 9,000 [Arab] donors, thereby enabling six [transplants] of donated bone marrow... It should be noted that 60% of Arabs [in need of such transplants] find donors within their families, and 90% of the requests for bone marrow transplants are for Arab children suffering from hereditary diseases due to consanguineous marriages.
"Before these Arab [donors] were registered, the Hadassah Medical Center largely failed to expand its donor registry, or to [arrange] donations from Jew to Arab or vice versa. But, thanks to the Arab doctor, perceptions have changed, and Arabs and Jews are willing to donate bone marrow [to one another] in order to save the life of someone they don't even know.
"This year, Israel published numerous scientific studies that put it in first place worldwide in terms of the number of studies [published] per capita – 12 studies to every 10,000 people. America is in second place, with 10 studies [to every 10,000 people], followed by Britain, with nine. As for the Arab countries, they are all at the bottom end of these statistics.
"Reports on the gaps in science and technology between the Arabs and Israel show that the annual education expenses of the [average] Arab citizen has dropped to $340, while in Israel it is more than $2,500. Indices... that measure income, education, and health levels place Israel at 23rd place worldwide, while Egypt has dropped to 199th place, Syria to 111th, Jordan to 99th, and Lebanon to 82nd. As for the number of scientists engaged in research per one million citizens, Israel has 1,395, versus 136 in the Arab world... UNESCO's statistics indicate that, on average, scientific research expenses in the Arab countries do not exceed 0.2% of the annual budget, whereas in Israel the figure is 4.7%, placing it in first place worldwide...
"For ten years now, Israel has been forming strategic ties with scientifically advanced countries in order to merge [its research] with their research centers, and in order to encourage its scientists to take part in international development programs. Today, there are 21 international science companies in Israel... It knows before everyone else the results of [these companies'] studies, reaping their fruits and using their scientific expertise to advance Israeli inventions.
"The Israeli strategy in science and technology is based on finding new approaches in scientific research and technological invention by training new generations of scientists – especially in physics, chemistry, and the natural and social sciences, as [Israel] is convinced that these sciences will allow it to control the world and direct its course.
"Since 1949, Israel has established marine geology and nuclear physics institutes, as well as [institutes] for the study of desert regions and information technology. Israel makes use of scientific research and technological development to secure its coasts and meet its [other] strategic defense and security needs, and in order to protect the environment, discover and develop natural resources and use them before others, produce electricity, communications, and information technology, and research [alternative] energy..."[3]
NO. 220: The WEU Dissolves Itself
On March 31, 2011 the President of the Permanent Council of the Western European Union (WEU) made the announcement below … on behalf of the High Contracting Parties to the Modified Brussels Treaty – Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.” These are the core of the nations charged with security and war-making in the EU. These are referred to as “The Ten.”
The terse announcement of the WEU said in part, “With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, a new phase in European security and defence begins. Article 42.7 of the Treaty on the European Union now sets out that, if a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States [the entire EU] shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power … The WEU has therefore accomplished its historical role.[i] In this light we the States Parties to the Modified Brussels Treaty have collectively decided to terminate the Treaty, thereby effectively closing the organization …”
Note: “The WEU has therefore fulfilled its historical role.[ii]” It is quite patent in the above text that the ten members of the WEU were legally ending its existence and ceding its entire authority and charter over to ALL the nations of the European Union (EU) as it is now known. This event is greatly important to our thinking, extremely relevant to Endtime prophecy.
What possible importance could such an event have in Bible prophecy? Why would one give it a second thought? Those are good questions; their answer may surprise and thrill you if you are a believer in God’s holy Word, and the predictions of His prophets!
Many have been convinced for a long time that the European Community is identical to the Beast of Revelation 17 and 18, upon which a drunken Harlot rides carrying a cup of filthy abomination in her hands. This present discussion shall concentrate on only a few verses of these chapters as overall discussion is beyond the scope and interest of this consideration.
The verses in which we are interested here are surely related to “The Ten” – the nations named above. The reference is Revelation 17:12..” And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast”.
For years Biblical scholars have watched the establishment and developments of the products of The Treaties of Rome (1957), the founding date of the European Economic Community (EEC) and of Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community – its first name – founded by those Treaties of Rome, of which this is a brief summary and extension: there are generally three parts.
2. The "British problem" and the enlargement of the EEC in 1973
3. Progress in European integration and the enlargement to "the Europe of the Twelve" (1973-1986)
The overall purpose of these treaties was stated as “The Treaty establishing the EEC affirmed in its preamble that signatory States were ‘determined to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe.’ In this way, the member States specifically affirmed the political objective of a progressive political integration.This, we believe, was the origin of the Beast of Revelation 17. One surely must agree that the prophecy is quite transparent at this late stage of its development! Its destiny surely is to resist the Lord Jesus Christ when He appears among those nations. Their future is grimly
forecasted by John in the next verse of the above text: Revelation 17:14. “ These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful”.
This development raises our antennae to great heights when we realize the intimate connection between the two events, informing every student of the dire portent of the legal steps just undertaken by these unsuspecting Ten Horns of the Beast – those horns (powers) which have until recently been charged with matters of security and defense of the EU overall, HAVE JUST GIVEN THEIR POWER AND STRENGTH UNTO THE BEAST (verse 13). It is an unusually clear fulfillment of prophecy in our day!
For years, students of prophecy have speculated over the Ten Toes of the Image of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2); they were full of anticipation when the EEC was formed and headed for a membership of ten nations. But it has gone to about 27 nations to date; so many became disillusioned. Yet here, “The Ten” could be the answer to the puzzle, for ten of the major members of the EEC (the WEU countries) having from the first been saddled with security and military matters for the entire EEC have come to the end of their charter and have turned their power over to the greater Beast!
It is reasonable to believe this confirmatory, voluntary relinquishment of power portends the next major event for those nations – to make war with the Lamb, Who shall overcome them! Although the prospect for this conflict lies at some indeterminate time in the future the wise scholar will keep these things in his mind and be strengthened by them. The fact remains that The Ten (horns/kings) were certain of only one goal – that of relinquishing their power to the Beast. They have now accomplished that goal!
The prophecy foretold a “one hour” association of the ten horns with the beast before they gave up their power to the Beast. The actual period of time was presumably 1957 to 2011, or approximately 54 years – a short time in prophetic affairs. Does that amount of time have any significance? We need to investigate further to determine that. <HEL MD/USA August 11, 2011>
This is the logo of the Western European Union (Union d’Europe Occidentale in French).
[i] Here the “historical role” of The Ten is defined: it was always to fulfill its security/protective functions until such time as it deemed itself to have fulfilled those duties. Its raison d’etre all along was to turn over its authority to the Beast! It has just done so! That action is thus an excellent, easy to see, completely reassuring event for the Watchers of God’s unfolding Plan!
[ii] This assigns the former power of “The Ten” to all the 27 nations of The Beast.
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NO. 219: An Arab Spring?
H E Lafferty
The current uprising across North Africa and the Middle East has been termed “an Arab Spring.” The connotation that is intended is that of trees leafing forth in spring, clearly heralding the nearness of summer. Spring follows winter – a period of cold, unpleasant, raw weather in many parts of the world. Therefore, spring is an harbinger of greater comfort for mankind – of an easier, more pleasant existence, of the renewal of life, and of an entirely new start. It is thus a time of hope – and great expectation.
The Lord Jesus utilized this simile when he spoke the parable of the budding of the fig tree. One biographer states Jesus’ words in this way: Matthew 24: 32: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:” Then Jesus adds this significant fact: Matthew 24:33 “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”Summer is nigh – following immediately after spring.In another figure, the Father had dried up the waters of the Euphrates (Revelation 16: 12) to make room for many of these new nations. If one looks up the history of Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Yemens, Oman, Muscat, the UAE, Bahrain, he will find most of them to have been recently emergent; that most of them were established in these “dried up” areas of the newly conquered power that had dominated the Mesopotamian Valley (the Ottoman Empire) leading up to this same period. It was a period of renewal of tribal elevation in the Arab world, and could have been a springtime similar to that of Israel – except for internecine and tribal rivalry, intrigue, hatred, and greed. Instead, these nations rapidly settled down to a hot summer, a stormy fall and a bitter winter of discontent under their oppressive imams, mullahs and preachers of hate toward nearly everyone and especially one another – but most of all toward Israel!
Observers today therefore look at the sudden, gigantic convulsions in the world of Islam as another chance at a new beginning – another Arab Spring. At first, observers of this pandemic, uproarious, pervasive uprising in the Arab states looked upon it as a strong undercurrent of the common people’s need for democratic change – of the forcible overthrow of the despotic Arab/Islamic rulers who have held them in thrall for decades. As such, it could have become a bona fide Arab Spring!
But like the Iranian “revolution” of 1979, in which the initial freedom-seeking Iranian people were entirely preempted by Radical Islam – Fundamental Islam – these too would lose their opportunity to stronger forces. They too are destined to move directly and rapidly into the deep freeze of an ideological winter of Islamic Fundamentalism – greater than that from which they might be thought to be emerging.
The overall regional process of revolution/convulsion has not yet played out fully so we may only conjecture about some factors of it. But we may make numerous observations of facts “on the ground” which are decisively leading in a different direction.
In Egypt it is quite obvious that the Moslem Brotherhood is making great progress toward taking control after initially stating its near disinterest in participating in the future government! The Brotherhood’s strength is growing rapidly; its support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip is now overt and strong.
The rebels in Libya do not yet seem to have a definitive spokesman/leader, but one shall surely arise. The western portion of the country is moving forward with a new government while the eastern sector seems doomed to prolonged fighting and perhaps even extended control by Gaddafi.
The Yemenis fully expect the leaders of al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula to take over if their president ever leaves office; their resistance to him continues and is increasing in intensity. That government is extremely unstable. Its president was severely injured in a rocket attack on the government in Sanaa, and flew to Saudi Arabia for medical attention; it is doubtful at the time of writing whether he will ever return. Within the past week, (early June 2011) al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) established a shadow capitol in Yemen, from which it hopes to spread its influence and power.
Iran is fomenting resistance against the ruler of Bahrain, a tiny but wealthy island nation in the Persian Gulf, by reinforcing the Shiites of eastern Arabia; in the same way they are working for the overthrow of the rulers of Oman, which occupies the horn of Arabia in the Indian Ocean. This move is specifically to counter the Sunni government of Saudi Arabia. Iran claims Bahrain as its 14th Province. It is also anchorage to an entire American fleet on station in the Middle East; that facility could be subject to surprise attack much as was Pearl Harbor in the last century.
Similarly the regime in Turkey has turned sour toward Israel within the past year. It has become markedly more violent toward Israel, even sponsoring “flotillas” intended to break Israel’s protective blockade of Gaza. A new flotilla is schedule to depart for Gaza later in this month of June 2011.
When Allied forces leave Iraq later this year that weak government will doubtless be taken over by Militant Islamists from Iran, setting that country up for alignment with Syria in their prophesied assault upon Israel (Micah 5).
President Assad of Syria is having difficulty holding onto his control of that country. More and more, the forces of the Moslem Brotherhood are supporting him, striving against his overthrow. His fall would seriously affect Iran’s utilization of Damascus International Airport, through which much of its commerce with the West passes as a “neutral” transfer point. The killing of Syrian citizens proceeds apace while the nations dawdle and hesitate.
Lebanon has fallen under the control of Hezbollah, which won its victory through democratic elections. Its backers are Iran and the Moslem Brotherhood of Syria. It has amassed thousands of missiles which it intends to fire at Israel when it considers the time is right. Israel knows where most of them are!
Gaza is under the full power of Hamas, which is backed by the Moslem Brotherhood of Egypt, and now being supplied by it with huge quantities of arms to be used against Israel. The border with the Sinai (Egypt) was suddenly opened to unhindered cross-border movements of all traffic and unhindered by border inspections. However, four days later it was closed by Egypt’s military governor. Egypt is decrying the destabilization of the Sinai by rogue forces entering from Gaza.
Jordan is drifting rapidly toward alliance with Iran, lessening its level of cooperation with its “peace partner” Israel, except on matters of the Jordan River border between the two powers. The “Palestinian” population of Jordan is about 70%, all of whom are inveterate enemies of the monarchy there. These “Edomites” are a different brand of Arab from King Abdullah II and his group, which are from the Hejaz of Saudi Arabia.
After spending billions in Afghanistan, the West may try to vacate the country within the next year, at which time the extremist Taliban forces there will doubtless reassert themselves, as much of the population there is inclined toward Sha’aria Law – strictly enforced by the Taliban. The corrupt government will knuckle under to Sha’aria. The Taliban is in no hurry; it will bide its time until conditions for its reassertion are ripe, and when success is nearly certain.
All these events are in the Islamic mind – the Fundamentalistic Islamic mind – events of a new springtime: a new, progressive advance for their ungodly philosophy … their slavish following of the proud mullahs and their manufactured, oppressive Sha’aria Law – precursor to a hoped-for Caliphate across the entire area. If this should come about, national boundaries would be erased, the peoples absorbed by the Caliphate, and the most un-democratic form of control would be instituted upon the millions of ignorant, poor and wretched followers of Allah!
Fortunately for them, such is not in the offing! A new, completely unsuspected Factor is about to enter their world in a crashing, crushing, operation that will obliterate the principles (and principals!) of Islam in the entire region – and eventually in the entire world. Their stubborn hatred for God’s people does not augur well for their future; instead, they are destined for wholesale destruction and utter defeat at His hand. Rather than living in most oppressive circumstances for decades, most of them shall die … a decidedly preferred fate, truth be known!
Obadiah, Ezekiel 35, Psalm 83, Micah 5 and many other references spell out this certainty. There is no escape for all who remain in their entrenched mindset of hatred and animosity for God’s people. The rare instances of repentance and turning from this poisonous philosophy shall bear great reward for the apparent few who do turn away from militant Islam. There unfortunately will be very few exceptions according to the ministers of God who have delivered his judgments upon them millennia in advance (for He has always known their evil intentions).
If any reader thinks this assessment to be overly harsh he does not understand the extremity of their hatred for God’s people and their deep desire to take Israel’s reclaimed Land for themselves – and the divinely forbidden quality of that intention! He also does not discern the absolute empty vanity of their philosophy (Islam),
He also does not comprehend the nature of our God. The omnipotent Father of Israel exhibits infinite patience; but He will not brook such stubborn opposition much longer. So far He has given His enemies ‘all the rope they need to hang themselves;’ they have done so most effectively. They must think God is on their side – or would, if they even understood the concept of a benevolent, faithful and loving Father (instead of the hate-filled, obstreperous, vindictive god that they adore). But the fact is He has been observing their conduct for years – a concept which He makes known in these words of Ezekiel, and couples with their sentence of oblivion:
Ezekiel 35:7 “Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. 9 I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: 11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them (Israel!), when I have judged thee. 12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, they are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. 13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them. 14 Thus saith the Lord GOD; when the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate”.
Unfortunately for them, they know not the God of the Bible. Their fate is sealed. Their destiny is established and immutable. For the unchangeable Father of all the earth has spoken.
<HEL MD/USA May 31, 2011>
NO. 218: Iranian Death Spiral?
Because the active conflict of Iran with Israel seems to be occurring “too early” we have been expecting some factor to enter the picture to slow down its progress toward a viable ability to attack Israel. We are assured that Iran (ancient Persia) has a key role to play in the Gogian affair of Ezekiel 38 and 39. Iran is not indicated to be aggressive to Israel in any marked way prior to that time – which appears some distance in the future.
There are now (in May 2011) undercurrents of strife between the “Great Supreme Leader” (Ayatollah Khameini)
After the Supreme Leader charged President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and his Revolutionary Guards with fraud they answered by placing clandestine cameras and listening devices in the religious headquarters and many classrooms – and even in the Ayotallah’s office! This angered the mullahs who condemned Ahmedinejad for the general policies of his government. The Revolutionary Guard reacted by placing troops in the “holy city” of Qom to prevent any real action by the Ayatollah against them. Then Khameini acted to take control of all oil revenues and place them in the hands of a special committee headed by himself. Ahmedinejad and the Guards see this as a fraudulent move and an attempt to hold back revenues from the president and his cabinet. He called Khameini ignorant, and a fool! That’s strong language for a subordinate to use against his supreme leader! Ahmedinejad did not attend cabinet meetings for about two weeks in his pouty response to the Ayatollah.
So now the two groups are essentially fighting it out in the streets of Teheran, in the open. Their animosity toward each other is fierce. Yet some observers see Khameini and Ahmedinejad as “Siamese Twins, fused at a vital part of their anatomies, and separation might well be fatal to both. Each has weapons aimed at the other’s heart, and the weapons consist of information of massive fraud and theft,” according to Michael Leeden of Pajamas Media (May 9th).
Another player, Mr. Mousavi, head of the Green Movement, desiring high office for himself, is said to have put in place a plan to make both the other leaders fail – for the regime simply to implode. He thinks that if the pressure on Iran can be continued it will become an inoperable government. He hoped the needed pressure would have come from the West months ago, but that failed to materialize even in the light of big claims by Obama and Europe. America’s brave credo that it will not stand by and see despots killing their own “freedom-seeking” citizens has long gone by the way side. The US and its allies have become a laughingstock! So with this lack of input from the West, his ploy has not worked well to date, but the external factors of Stuxnet and the extensive boycotts have slowed Iran’s progress perceptibly. We see this reflected in Iran’s future prophetic involvement as a fierce enemy of Israel alongside Gog.
So we observe greed and self-interest governing even the highly idealistic “religious” leaders and governmental trusts of Iran. Reminiscent of the self-righteous and high-minded Osama Bin Laden who was discovered to be absolutely immersed in pornography despite his constant berating of “the West” for its decadent practices!!!
This blatant pursuit of self-interest has severely weakened the Iranian regime; observers think it may simply collapse from internal decay. If so, Mousavi and the Greens could take over Iran. Now, I’m not familiar with their ideology, but one could guess that just like the group now in control, it is not at all favorable to Israel either!
Iran just announced (May 2011) a new installation of 8,000 new centrifuges in a new location where it continues to “spin” uranium toward higher and higher concentrations. These new machines are presumably free of the Stuxnet worm and deemed reliable tools. Ninety percent quality is necessary for uranium bombs, but I understand that the jump from 20 percent to 90 percent is not much more difficult than the attainment of 20 percent concentration.
When it comes, the final showdown promises to hold singularly terrifying prospects for the world, giving new and unfamiliar meaning to the warning that there will be many men’s hearts failing them for fear of those things which are coming upon them! In contrast to evil men’s intentions upon Israel the Father is in complete control of their destiny – and it is NOT to be incinerated by nuclear force! But for now, the Doctrine of Unrealized Consequence has gripped mankind: the subliminal feeling that just because an event has never happened then it shall not happen. As Shakespeare observed, “What fools these mortals be!” <HEL MD/USA May, 2011>