Over the weekend, Russian forces repelled a major Ukrainian long-range combined drone and missile attack, downing more than 500 targets, mainly long-range kamikaze drones, as well as ten FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles and at least nine munitions fired by US-made HIMARS systems.
PROPHECY UPDATE
PROPHECY RELATED NEWS AND COMMENTARY
Monday, July 6, 2026
Multiple blasts rock Kiev (VIDEOS)
Masses accompany Khamenei funeral procession through Tehran as throngs chant for revenge
Flag-draped coffins of slain leader, relatives paraded on truck through crowded capital, as mourners call for death to Trump and Netanyahu; Katz vows same fate for new supreme leader
A sea of mourners dressed in black flooded into Iran’s capital Monday for a procession as part of the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with throngs of people calling for the death of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin, and those of members of his family killed in a February 28 airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat on board a truck decorated to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam. The massive turnout, encouraged by Iran’s theocracy as a sign of strength, came as it negotiates with the US over a permanent end to the war that killed the 86-year-old cleric who ruled Iran for decades.
Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a huge crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi Square for miles down a multilane street of the same name.
The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Gen. Qassem Solemani, which drew over 1 million people.
Authorities offered no immediate crowd count as the truck, covered in flower petals, crept down the street.
“Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day,” mourner Fatima Hassan said. “We are not here to say goodbye to him, we are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”
An effigy of Trump being hanged was seen along the funeral procession’s route.
Mourners reached out to touch the truck, and some threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing. Attendants, some on the ladders of firetrucks, sprayed misted water across the crowds to cool them in the heat.
Authorities appeared concerned about the dangers of having a large crowd alongside the procession, with officials on loudspeakers urging the public to walk slowly, not to push and to stay to the edges of the street.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to state news agency IRNA.
Crowd surges during Khomeini’s farewell killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.
It is unclear what level of access and proximity the public will eventually have during Monday’s procession, but authorities are mindful that in 1989 they were forced to use a helicopter to transport Khomeini for burial after mourners stormed his vehicle, causing his burial shroud to tear and his body to fall to the ground.
“If I am to compare this ceremony to that one, I can say they are not different at all. But the crowd this time seems more enthusiastic,” said Gholamreza Khanbabaei, 58, attending the procession.
Tehran’s airspace was closed on Monday as the country stood still to remember the former leader.
The coffins will be taken through the streets of Tehran on a 12-hour journey to Mehrabad International Airport, said IRGC Gen. Hasan Hasanzadeh, who is overseeing the procession.
“We are here to show that his path will continue, and every single one of these people will continue down his path with clenched fists and soon we will certainly avenge his death against the US and Israel,” said mourner Sahar Zaraatgar.
US federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump’s ordering the 2020 killing of Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force.
As Iranian chanted for revenge, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that any future Iranian leaders who try to harm Israel will face the same fate as him.
Khamenei, Katz said, “was assassinated by Israel because he set in motion and led the plan to destroy Israel.”
“The assassin was assassinated,” he said. “Any Iranian leader who tries to push plans to destroy Israel again will also be thwarted.”
Seven Proofs of a Pretribulational Rapture
Michael Filipek
In previous articles on the Rapture, we have defined the Rapture, alluded to the different views regarding the Rapture’s timing, and discussed the Rapture’s imminence. In all of these articles, we’ve advocated that Scripture describes the timing of the Rapture as pretribulational (meaning it takes place prior to the Tribulation, or the final seven years that are characterized by God’s eschatological wrath). Also, for video teachings, see our YouTube channel. To access this article in video form, see here.
In this lengthy article, we will seek to go deeper into the numerous Biblical reasons that suggest the certainty of this doctrine. We believe that there is more than enough evidence in Scripture to form a strong opinion on this issue and to rest in complete assurance that this is a Biblical truth. We will offer seven convincing proofs of the pre-tribulational timing of the Rapture.
1 – The Mutual Exclusivity of Israel and the Church
When a literal or plain interpretation of Scripture is consistently applied, a downstream result is the understanding that national Israel and the Church are distinct entities in God’s prophetic program. We can also then understand that God deals with them mutually exclusively. Our outline for this perspective is given in Daniel 9. This chapter records how in the mid-500s BC, the prophet Daniel was given the seventy-weeks prophecy, which declared seventy weeks or heptads of years that would take place for national Israel and Jerusalem.
It is critical that we recognize that, according to the text, these seventy weeks are specifically designated for the Jews and Jerusalem – not the Gentiles or the Church (Verse 24 – “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city”). These seventy weeks amount to a total of 490 years (70 x 7). This acts as the framework for all future Bible prophecy.
A beginning point and ending point are provided for marking the first through the sixty-ninth weeks of years. The sixty-ninth week of years ended with the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in 33 AD, just days prior to His crucifixion. According to the prophecy, it is clear that this prophetic time-clock for national Israel stopped with the completion of the sixty-ninth week, leaving one future week – the seventieth week – to still be completed.
But after the sixty-ninth week, something “unexpected” happened. After Israel killed her Messiah, rejecting His offer of the Messianic Kingdom (which had been promised and prophesied of throughout the Old Testament), this prophetic seventy-week program of God for Israel was paused, and God instead introduced an interim program called the Church, as the Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost of that same year – 33 AD (Acts 2).
Subsequently, the gospel was to be spread to all nations, as God’s focus temporarily shifted from that of national Israel to His new work called the Church, which focused on all nations. And so, at the Triumphal Entry, the time-clock for Israel’s seventy-week countdown was paused and a gap period we call the Church Age was inserted. In 70 AD, the final harbinger of this shift took place as Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were eventually scattered to the uttermost parts of the earth in what is termed the Diaspora.
The Church Age has been in effect since 33 AD, and will last until the closing event of this age – the Rapture, or supernatural catching away of the Church to heaven described in Scripture (Romans 11:25; I Thessalonians 4:14-18; et al.).
We understand that God’s time clock for the Church will stop with the Rapture, and either immediately or soon after, His time clock for national Israel will again begin, as there remains one final week of years – the seventieth week – to be completed. During this time, Israel will once again become the primary focus of God’s plan during this final seven-year “week” of time often called the Tribulation, or Daniel’s seventieth week. This final week for Israel, the Tribulation (Revelation 6-19), will be a time of great trouble for the world as God’s wrath is poured out – but will be especially focused upon Israel, especially the second half of this seven-year period.
One primary purpose of the Tribulation is to drive the nation of Israel to repentance through great affliction. Sometimes God has to knock us down in order to get us to look up at Him – and that’s what’s happening to Israel during the Tribulation. Through this experience of unimaginable distress, Israel will finally be brought to faith (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25). When Christ does return to the earth at the end of the Tribulation, Israel will be ready to receive Him as their Messiah. This now-righteous remnant of Israel will be rescued from the nations that have gathered to destroy her, and Christ will set up His Millennial or Messianic Kingdom on Earth (Zechariah 12:2-3; Chapter 14).
How does all of this inform our perspectives of the timing of the Rapture? We see that when the first sixty-nine weeks for Israel were active, the Church was not on the scene. But the same year the sixty-nine weeks ended – 33 AD – the Church then began almost immediately after on Pentecost. Israel’s clock stopped and the Church’s clock began. The Church was God’s interim program that He inaugurated after national Israel rejected her Messiah.
This is the time we are living in presently – which we call the Church Age. Again, the Rapture of the Church will be the event that stops the Church’s clock – permanently. But as we’ve discussed here, when the seventieth week begins, Israel’s clock will resume until its completion at the Second Coming – which will take place at the end of the seventieth week.
So, the first sixty-nine weeks and the seventieth week (in other words, all seventy weeks) are designated specifically for Israel, and have nothing at all to do with the Church. In fact, the Church and the seventieth week are completely incompatible. They are mutually exclusive according to this prophetic calendar. This itself is one of the reasons that necessitate the pretribulational removal of the Church from Earth in order for God to begin Israel’s final week. God will not reinitiate His program for Israel until His program for the Church has been concluded (at the pretribulational Rapture). No other Rapture view makes a clear distinction between Israel and the Church.
The Road To Ezekiel 38: Russia's Anger, Turkey's Ambition, Iran's Revenge
NYC health officials warn Central Park visitors after Legionnaires’ outbreak grows on Upper East Side
A Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side has grown to 14 confirmed cases, New York City health officials said Sunday.
The cases are tied to ZIP codes 10028, 10128 and 10075, covering parts of the Upper East Side, including Yorkville and Carnegie Hill. At least one patient lives, works or recently visited the 10075 area, health officials said.
Officials are also urging anyone who spent time along the east side of Central Park between East 76th Street and East 97th Street to watch for flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, chills and muscle aches.
"I want to acknowledge the NYC Health Department’s staff of epidemiologists, water ecologists, community health workers, and many more who spent the last few days working to keep New Yorkers on the Upper East Side informed and safe," NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in a statement.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. People can become infected by breathing in contaminated water droplets, and the illness can be dangerous — even deadly — without quick treatment.
WEST NILE VIRUS DETECTED IN SOUTHERN STATE AS HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN RESIDENTS ABOUT MOSQUITOES
The source of the outbreak remains under investigation. Officials say they are testing cooling towers in the affected area as a possible source, though no specific source has been identified.
Cooling towers, often found on rooftops, can release mist carrying Legionella bacteria. The Health Department said all cooling towers in the affected area are being tested.
The cluster was first announced Thursday, when only two cases had been confirmed. The area of investigation has since expanded as more illnesses were reported.