As we approach the end of this generation, with every passing day we see the entire world aligned against Israel. This alignment includes countries and religious groups (Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, 'Palestinians', Turkey, Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, etc.) who overtly call for Israel's destruction, and those who are complicit behind the scenes and working with this first group (U.S., EU, Russia, China, etc.) and essentially represent the rest of the world. Almost every move we see today, from "the nations" involves hurting Israel and enabling their devout enemies. Consider that thought for a minute.
This is exactly what we should expect as we approach the Tribulation.
As with the rest of remaining prophecy - you can actually reduce everything down to the destruction of Israel as the main common denominator for so-called 'end times prophecy'. If you look at Daniel 2,7 and 9. If you look at Revelation 6-18. If you look at Zechariah 12 and 14. Ezekiel 38-39. And on and on it goes. Israel is the focus of the world's attention, and her destruction is the goal.
"On that day, when all the nations are gathered against her..." (Zechariah 12:3)
"I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army - your horses, your horsemen, fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords...you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel...You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the land." (Ezekiel 38)
"When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child" (Revelation 12:13)
"The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation." (Revelation 13:5-8)
"They will trample on the holy city for 42 months" (Revelation 11:2)
And on and on it goes.
This process is remarkable and entirely consistent with the news today - literally. Take a look at today's news through the lens of bible prophecy and the hatred that will be directed towards Israel. The stage is clearly being set for the Tribulation which is rapidly approaching:
An influential Iranian cleric has warned President Obama not to include Israel in any nuclear negotiations because the Jewish state must be destroyed.
“What is visible is that Obama has agreed to include the fake Zionist regime (Israel) in future negotiations,” said Ayatollah Mohammad Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts.
“However, we firmly believe [Israel] must be wiped off the face of the earth and we don’t recognize [its existence].” Khatami said according to IRNA, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday that all further discussions will have to leave out Israel, IRNA reported, because Iran would not attend a meeting with a state that is headquartered in Jerusalem.
“We consider the Zionist regime as the biggest danger to the region and the world,” Zarif said.
Khamenei called Israel a “rabid dog,” “unclean,” “illegitimate” and “a bastard.”
“The Zionist regime is destined to destruction because this miserable regime was imposed (on the Middle East) based upon force, and no imposed phenomenon can last,” he told the Basij forces.
Basij commanders in return issued a statement Wednesday: “The everlasting covenant with the supreme leader will continue for the full elimination of arrogant powers (America) and the destruction of the Zionist regime. We ask God the same way that had Muslims through the renewed alliance with the Prophet (Muhammad) enter Masjid al-Haram (the grand mosque in Mecca upon the conquest of Mecca by Muhammad), this renewed alliance (with the supreme leader) also prepares the dignified and victorious believers into Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam in Jerusalem).”
When we complain about the blindness of our friends and family, we really need to point at the source: the leftist monopoly over our Organs of Propaganda. There is no genuine debate in American media. Nothing honest or worth learning. As in Europe, our Big Corporate Media peddle 24/7 leftist agit-prop. If you want to see Crony Socialism at work, simply look at NBC and its Fat Cat owners, GE/Comcast. You can be sure they benefit financially from their alliance with the Left.
This tendency reaches its nadir when the media sell our people on a purposely genocidal foreign policy. They don't use those words, of course. But that's the unmistakable goal.
The most obvious case of genocidal agitation and propaganda today is the decades-long campaign against the existence of Israel, which declared independence in 1948.
There is no international Leftist campaign to destroy the independence of any country but Israel. Obama seeks to undermine Israel at every opportunity, just like the socialist ruling class of the EU.
You can't slander a small democratic nation that is under siege by murderous enemies, day after day, year after year, without revealing your real goal: the abolition of Israel as a defensible state.
That means genocide, which is precisely what the Nazis did in cahoots with Muslims like the Mufti of Jerusalem.
This is not an exaggeration.
It is the literal truth.
The international Left has systematically pursued a barely disguised genocidal campaign against a small, sovereign country that is under daily siege from a truly primitive set of enemies, including the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas) and the mullahs of Tehran (Hizb'allah). Obama is now shamefully supporting 60,000 Al Qaida gangsters in Syria. The Benghazi fiasco had a U.S. ambassador secretly smuggling Libyan arms to those nice folks, in collusion with radical Islamist gangs in Libya, who turned around and slaughtered him.
And now Obama and the Europeans have openly flipped to the side of the warrior priests of Qum. The new face of the mullahs today is Hasan Rouhani, who led the El Quds truck bombing that killed 299 U.S. Marines and French peacekeepers in Beirut in 1983. He is a killer priest. They are no better thanSaddam Hussein. They have a bloody reign of terror over there, and now Obama has taken their side against a good and decent democratic nation, the only stable and progressive nation in the Middle East.
It was startling enough to hear acomparison of the Geneva accord with Iran to the Munich accord with Hitler, widely blamed for paving the way for WW II. But there is a good argument to be made that Geneva was actually worse.
In Geneva, the participants came to the talks with different goals: The Americans and Europeans wanted an agreement; the Iranians wanted nukes. Each party got what it came for. Before the deal, the mullahs' existing facilities were said to be within four to seven weeks of nuclear "breakout"; under the new constraints, they'll be eight to nine weeks from breakout.
Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal argued that Geneva is actually worse than Munich. In 1938, facing a German seizure of the Sudetenland, the French and British prime ministers were negotiating with Berlin from a position of profound military weakness: It's easy to despise Chamberlain with the benefit of hindsight, less easy to give an honest answer as to what one would have done differently playing a weak hand across the table from Hitler 75 years ago. This time round, a superpower and its allies accounting for over 50 percent of the planet's military spending was facing a militarily insignificant country with a ruined economy and no more than two to three months' worth of hard currency - and they gave it everything it wanted.
George Santayana's famous dictum, "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it," is chillingly apt now. Hitler's madness was far less evident in 1938 than the Ayatollah's madness today.
President Obama is neither clueless nor gullible. On the contrary, he full knows what he is about and his unbecoming rush to embrace the Iranian mullahs is destined to become an historic catastrophe for the Free world, the West and for America’s few remaining allies in the Middle East, especially Israel.
the Muslim partner.
As Ettinger also points out, “… that is why the November 23, 2013 agreement with Iran is a colossal mistake and has provided Iran with the most essential resource – time – to attain nuclear bomb capabilities, thus transforming Iran from a tactical - to a strategic - threat.”
The same Iranian terrorists blew up the Jewish Community Center in Argentina killing 85 civilians, including children, and maiming scores more. Over the years, Iran has financed and armed terrorist movements including Hamas, Hezbollah, so-called rebel groups fighting in Syria, and has provided lethal improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan which have killed and maimed hundreds of American soldiers.
In developing its nuclear weapons and the missiles to carry atomic warheads, Khamenei’s hand-picked president, Rouhani, while smiling at his duped Western counterparts, has every intention of sacrificing millions of Iranians in a nuclear war with what he calls the Big Satan (America) and the little Satan (Israel). This is why all agreements with Iran are not worth the paper they are printed
Shi’ite Muslims believe that the Twelfth Imam, or Mahdi, is the last in a line of saints, descended from Ali, the founder of their Shi’ite sect. The belief is that this Mahdi vanished down a well in 941 AD but that after the beginning of the apocalyptic wars, which Iran’s nukes will usher in, the Mahdi will be revealed and the entire world will submit to Islam.
This end times belief is the driving force that was behind Ahmadinejad’s incessant doomsday rants, and remains the undying belief of the Ayatollah Khameni, leading members of the Iranian regime, and tens of thousands of fanatical mullahs.
The finger on the Iranian nuclear button is by no stretch of the imagination a rational finger. Rather it is the finger of doom.
It took Iran from early 2009 until November 2013 to produce 200 kg of 20% enriched uranium. Some simple math would suggest a rate of 40 kg per year, but Iran greatly increased its production capabilities during that time, and can probably produce upwards of 1,000 kg per year, enough for about 7 bombs every year (1.7 months per bomb). In terms of Iran's current production capabilities, six months is a long time. Their current program needs to shrink, but this deal keeps it in place.
It is easy to further enrich moderately enriched uranium to weapons-grade levels, which is why no one uses less than weapons-grade uranium in bombs. This enrichment process can be performed in a small, covert facility, safe from nosy inspectors.
A uranium bomb is a very simple design; so simple that the Little Boy design was untested until used against Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Right now, Iran is just a few dozen kg short of being able to fabricate a 20% bomb, but in 6 months, Iran could easily have 3 weapons-grade bombs on the assembly line, all made in a facility we know nothing about.
In terms of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, this deal accomplishes identically nothing.
The foreign policies of the Obama administration have been a never-ending tragedy of failures. The only success has been the sanctions imposed on Iran, by Congress, against Obama's objections. This author knew people from Chicago's Palestinian and Middle Eastern community in which Barack Obama was heavily involved. Many of them believed Obama to be a Muslim, and all of them knew that Obama viewed Israel as a mistake that needed to be corrected. As with all of Obama's perceived failures, were they really failures due to his inexperience and lack of critical thought, or were the outcomes the ones he desired? Even guessing, he should have had a few successes. Either way, there can be no confidence in his Middle Eastern policy, or any of his policies.
Unnamed Israeli officials denounced US President Barack Obama on Friday night for presiding over failed negotiations with Iran under which they said the sanctions pressure on Tehran is collapsing and the Islamic Republic has been granted the right to enrich uranium. The entire wall of sanctions, painstakingly constructed over years, is already crumbling and “will collapse within months,” the officials were quoted as saying.
In comments reported by Israel’s Channel 2 news and attributed to unnamed senior Israeli officials and official sources in Jerusalem, Obama was castigated for ostensibly showing he “will do anything to avoid a situation in which he will have to resort to force” against Iran.
Under Obama’s supervision, the unnamed officials said, the Geneva talks had produced a failed interim deal under which Iran has been granted the right to enrich uranium, and years of international sanctions pressure on Iran is now melting away.
Publicly, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed the Geneva deal as a “historic mistake,” said Israel is not bound by it, and vowed to thwart Iran alone if necessary.
Privately, the unnamed officials were quoted as indicating Friday, Jerusalem is feeling a bitter, dismayed and helpless sense of “We told you so.” Noting that officials and businessmen from around the world — notably including China, Turkey, France, Russia and India — are already converging on Iran, ready to resume large-scale oil, banking and all manner of other business dealings as sanctions are eased in the wake of Sunday’s Geneva deal, the officials were quoted saying that Israel knew the sanctions pressure would collapse, “but even we didn’t imagine it would happen this fast.”
The Channel 2 report quoted one official saying that the US was “not leading but is being led” by Iran, and that the Obama administration has indicated that it has “no red lines” in its dealings with the Iranians.
Remember the crowd at the Democrat convention booing Jerusalem? Obama is lifting sanctions on Iran for them. He wants to give Democrats a happy feeling over their morning cup of coffee, instead of another stomachache reading about those 5 million people who have lost their health care and will be voting Republican in 2014.
Democrat "progressive" ideas on national defense date from a hundred years ago -- before World War I and World War II, before the 6 million dead Jews, the 20-60 million dead Russians, the 70 million dead Chinese, before the rise ofNazi-infected Islamism in the Arab world, before al-Qaeda and 9/11.
It is no longer 1913. It is not even 9/10/2001. We have learned to take demented dictators with modern arms seriously. The Israelis certainly have. As before, the Jews are the first targets, considered expendable by an American president.
Hostility to Israel is now the majority position among Democrat voters. The threat from a nuclear Iran to Israel's existence doesn't make them blink. Democrats were asked to choose for which side, Israelis or Palestinians, they have more sympathy. Only 34 percent of Democrats picked Israel (67 percent of Republicans did).
Obama may not understand the economy, the health care system,energy policy, or national security, but he understands how to pander to his base. The domestic politics motivating the president's decision to bow to Iran is obvious in the many happy editorials and blog posts from the Democrat media. They are announcing peace in our time and delighting in the discomfort of Republicans. Trusting Iran and other Islamist entities, including the Palestinians, has long been a natural policy for liberals.
These are the people who were happy when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton helped the Nazi-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood depose America's ally, President Mubarak, in Egypt. They like the idea of America making concessions to Iran. It makes them feel good. This is not a fringe element in their party; it is the mainstream
Obama supporters think that only rednecks and cowboys see Islamic radicals as enemies of America. To them, the serious enemies are Tea Party and evangelicals. They always believed that Obama could turn the Islamists into friends. Now he is doing it.
Even before Kerry had time to lobby Congress on the deal, Iran was boasting that it would never give up its nuclear weapons program, and that the agreement did not require it to do so. Nor have the Iranians even felt obliged to shut up for one minute with their Mein Kampf crowd-pleasers. Just four daysago:
Iran's "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Khameni has assured his militiamen that Israel is "doomed to failure and annihilation." In the same speech, which was broadcast live on State television, Khameni added that "Zionist leaders cannot be called humans."
Sen. Mark Kirk described Kerry's pitch as "very unconvincing" and "fairly anti-Israel." According to Kirk, Kerry asked the Senators to disbelieve everything the Israelis were telling him. A Committee staffer added that every time a Senator mentioned the Israelis, Kerry would cut the Senator off and admonish that "you have to ignore what they are telling you."
Add in the progressive distaste for Israel and Jews as Western, by definition colonial oppressors, and you can begin to understand why Secretary of State Kerry horrified U.S. senators by repeatedly telling them not to believe the Israelis, but to believe Iranian assurances that all they want is peaceful nuclear power.
If it comes to war, the destructive retaliation Iran will unleash on America, the Middle East, and Europe will be Obama's signature achievement. It will outstrip ObamaCare on the Richter scale of self-imposed progressive disasters.
I truly never thought I'd have a day in the Obama Presidency when I was more disheartened than upon the passage of Obamacare. But this weekend's "deal" with Iran topped it for me; I see an unnecessary step toward millions dead and do not think that analogies to Munich are overwrought.
13 comments:
"This process is remarkable and entirely consistent with the news today - literally. Take a look at today's news through the lens of bible prophecy…"
Good reminder, Scott. What's truly remarkable is that even among believers there seems to be few paying attention, watching, and ready. This website should be inundated with believers keeping abreast the headlines… perhaps they will still show up, soon.
I'd like to know if anyone can recommend a prophecy book that gives a good description of the different "Rapture positions." I believe, as things progress, it's important to be able to articulate the major differences between these different beliefs. I'm pre-trib & can articulate that position well, but have never seen, in print, a thorough comparison, side-by-side, with the other positions (mid-trib, post-trib, pan-trib). I'm aware that there's a good comparison in Pentecost's book, "Things To Come," but was hoping to buy a smaller book if one exists. Due to my vision limitation, I must read everything on my Kindle software-- anybody have a suggestion?
Its a waste of time IMO,, and this isn't the place for it here. Read Showers "Maranatha, Our Lord Comes" and his book dissecting the fallacies of the pre-wrath view
"Pre-Wrath Rapture View". Thats all you need right there, as you will never find (on either side) in terms of references and biblical discussion.
Post-Trib isn't worth discussing as it is beyond any rhelm of possibility and is (IMO) only endorsed by those who have done little-no study on the topic. Its so easy to dispute it really isn't worthy of discussion. I'll at least give the mid-trib/pre-wrath some credit for having at least some scriptures that seem pertinent.
I can debunk the mid-trib position in one verse out of revelation 13. "......and it was given power to him to wage war and to overcome the saints....." If the mid-trib position was correct then there would be no saints to wage war against because this chapter takes place at the midpoint of the tribulation and the saints would have just been raptured.
Hart! Its always so good to see you brother! I was thinking about you the other day - hope you are doing well.
Oh - and thats a good point - one that I have never actually considered
Yeah, it's been awhile. Work has been really really tough and by the time I get to comment most everything has been said.
When you think about it.....and I have a lot, the pre-trib position is the ONLY ONE that makes any sense.
Since I'm here and don't get to post often anymore (tho I read daily) I'd like to ask you something. Here it is
What is your view on psalm 83? Do you view it as a pre Ezekiel 38&39 war, a further commentary of the same war or just a prayer for deliverance? I understand this can be a hot topic, I just want your take on it.
Scott
To clarify, was not suggesting Rapture position discussion here. I do, however, want to be able to defend the pre-trib position to others (who I've already, or will, encounter) who believe otherwise. Didn't feel like I knew enough about their positions. Will check out Showers, thanks.
Hart
It is definitely a prayer, but on a deeper level, its a petition for God to make good on his promises of Genesis 12:3 - based on what those surrounding enemy nations and terrorist states have been doing to Israel. This is what many people, including myself, refer to as the "inner circle".
I personally believe that it is the set-up to and a description of the occurrences of Isaiah 17 - which will ultimately lead into Gog-MaGog, the so called "outer circle" (Iran, Russia, Turkey, N. African alliance.).
Harness and leash,
I think Hal Lindsey's book Vanished into thin air is excellent, humble and easy to understand for a good apologetic on Pre trib viewpoint.
Showers as Scott points out is good but I found him repetitive and harder for use to see the comparisons.
Also another really good source with charts included is Charting the End Times by Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice.
God bless you all and thanks for a good post AGAIN Scott.
Waterer - Im glad you mentioned that. I agree - in fact, Hal's book that you mention is about as concise as it gets, yet he hits all of the main points. I would highly recommend that book if its still available. Its easier to read than Showers - but lacks the references and greek/hebrew - yet they are in complete agreement.
When I was responding, I kept thinking "which one of Hal's book was so so good at comparing the views" - but I couldn't think of the title! FWIW, I also think Hal was fair in his characterizations of the differing views, which makes it more compelling, Additionally, Hal has a LOT more depth than many give him credit for.
Another source would be The Truth Behind Left Behind by Mark Hitchcock and Thomas Ice. It explains 5 different Rapture positions; then makes the case for a Pre-Trib Rapture. Hopefully any one of these suggested books will help you.
Some of ISON did survive the sun,
but reports from NBC indicate that
the remnant is ALSO fading away fast.
basically, the thing got vaporized.
gone
a sign of the SON OF MAN ??
so far events from 24 MATTHEW
line up starting with that eclipse
on 3 NOV, as well as meteors
FALLING into the earth's atmosphere....ie.....my sister
read a news report of this teenage
boy that GOT STICHES at an ER from
one of these falling stars so to speak......about a week ago.
But where is Jesus ??
not yet I guess.
there is no way to know how long
between the sign and when HE shows
up. But if i had to guess I would
say not long...
why ??
starting with the sun going dark
and the moon NOT giving her light
(3 NOV was a DAY time eclipse)
and then the next few weeks people
on the mainland getting hit with
these falling objects, the SIGN
on 28 NOV....all of this happens in less then a MONTH ????
you figure it out.
time is running
quickly
Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thanks one & all - selection is sometimes limited on Kindle so I appreciate the multiple titles.
Karalee
Post a Comment