Posts Tagged ‘Israel’
Israel’s Opportune Time to Strike Iran Expires this Weekend
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on August 17th, 2010
“Israel has until the weekend to launch a military strike on Iran’s first nuclear plant before the humanitarian risk of an attack becomes too great, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Tuesday.” Read the rest of this news report here (source: FoxNews.com, August 17, 2010).
The really fascinating part of this news report is the comment at the end confirming Russia has been helping Iran in its nuclear ambitions–ambitions on record as including the aim of the destruction of Israel. If Israel strikes Bushehr, Iran threatens to totally wipe out Israel. If Israel does not strike Bushehr, Iran will be close, very close, to having the capability of destroying Israel anyway:
Iranian officials on Tuesday warned Israel not to take military action. Iranian media quoted Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s defense minister, as saying Israel would be taking a huge risk with such an attack.
"We may lose a power plant, but the whole existence of the Zionist regime will be jeopardized," Vahidi was quoted as saying.
The reactor project has been in existence for decades, but the Russians have helped push it to the finish line.
In Ezekiel 38:5, Iran, by the name "Persia", is listed as an ally of Russia (by the name "Gog") and in verse 7 it is implied that Russia is a support or protector of Iran at the time foreseen in this prophecy. Here’s what the prophecy says Russia and its allies will one day attempt:
" 8 After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. 9 You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. 10 "Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth." (Eze 38:8-12 ESV)
Anti-Semite “Khazar” Theory Refuted By New Genetic Study
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 16th, 2010
Every now and then I get emails from people thinking they are doing me a favour by “introducing” me to the so-called evidence that most, if not all, modern-day Jews are actually descended from medieval Khazars and not, as is commonly thought, from Abraham and the people of Israel in the Bible. This theory belongs with others held by folks who wear tinfoil hats but was given a big boost by the pseudo-historical work of Arthur Koestler in his book The Thirteenth Tribe. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit looking into the claims of these people, that modern Jews have no right to their ancestral lands because they aren’t actually descendants of Israel. Now, I’m glad to share, a recent genetic study adds to earlier genetic research proving that the Khazar-Jew nonsense is just that: nonsense.
The study, published June 3, 2010 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, compared 237 Jewish people from seven regions of the world with 418 non-Jewish people from the same regions and demonstrated that the Jewish people are genetically linked to a common Jewish ancestry concentrated in Persia-Babylon around 2500 years ago (about the same time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah and its capitol, Jerusalem, exiling the population to Babylon). [I first read about this in a summary article published here.]
In short, thanks to modern science, one of the key arguments used by anti-semites in their propaganda of hatred is debunked. Reasonable people can put the Khazar-Jewish garbage out of their minds and be strengthened in their confidence in the Bible. Because in the Bible, Moses predicted both a dispersion of Jewish people around the world and an eventual regathering of their descendants to the land of Israel. The final stages of the dispersion happened under the rule of the Roman Empire. This is consistent with the new genetic study which found that an influx of DNA from non-Jewish converts entered the genetic makeup of European Jewry around that time and that the closest modern “cousins” of European Jews are, drum-roll, Italians. The regathering of Jews to Israel is happening in the present day and has been since the late 19th century.
“And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste” (Lev 26:33 ESV).
“And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other” (Deu 28:64 ESV).
“…then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers”
(Deu 30:3-5 ESV).
What is God doing—gathering together an ancient nation into the young State of Israel—in the midst of persecution and slander? He is setting the stage for a rebirth of souls far more wondrous than the rebirth of a nation.
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deu 30:6 ESV).
The Bear Goes (a little bit farther) South?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on June 29th, 2009
- Image via Wikipedia
An article on WND.com Saturday, June 27 2009, suggests that Russia’s impending military excercises in the Caucases could be a staging ground for an invasion, and take-over, of Georgia:
Moscow has drawn a new “red line” in its confrontation with the regime of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by calling for its end, just as Russia is preparing for its annual military exercise – which last year was used to invade Georgia, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
In a previous blog post, I drew attention to the fact that Moscow is “on-record” with ambitions to acquire control of energy resources in the Middle East. It would not be surprising if control of Georgia, and its strategic location in terms of oil extraction and delivery, is a first-step toward a plan for Russian regional dominance. From a biblical prophecy point of view, Gog (Ezekiel 38) would have to go through Georgia to get to Israel.
The Georgian Times reports concern among parliamentary leaders over Moscow’s intentions:
Georgian lawmakers say the Kremlin is following its plan and [trying] to involve Georgia in a new conflict. The MPs also do not rule out the possibility of a new aggression from Russia against Georgia.
This news comes nearly a year after a five-day war broke out last August between Russia and Georgia, in which Moscow siezed control of the Georgian province of South Ossetia.
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The Russians Are Coming?
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible, In the News on May 14th, 2009
I know, I know, you’ve heard this all before. But a news item caught my eye this morning and it seemed like a good idea to blog it. So read over the following verses from Scripture and then read the quote (below) from Associated Press.
Ezekiel 38:3-6, 8-13 Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes- many peoples are with you… In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. ”Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’
Daniel 11:43 might refer to the same events, though it is difficult to be certain: “He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt…” Of course there is no word for petroleum in the Old Testament but the word “treasures” in Dan 11:43 is a likely candidate. In Proverbs 21:20, the same Hebrew word refers to “desireable treasures” that a fool is greedy for. Now have a look at the news item below. Don’t cash in your savings, quit your job and start carrying a sign announcing the end of the world. But do consider how much time we have left in this present age and use this “sign of the times” (if that’s what it is) to spur yourself to faith, evangelism and good deeds.
MOSCOW – A Kremlin policy paper says international relations will be shaped by battles over energy resources, which may trigger military conflicts on Russia’s borders.
The National Security Strategy also said that Russia will seek an equal “partnership” with the United States, but named U.S. missile defense plans in Europe among top threats to the national security.
The document, which has been signed by President Dmitry Medvedev, listed top challenges to national security and outlined government priorities through 2020.
“The international policy in the long run will be focused on getting hold of energy sources, including in the Middle East, the Barents Sea shelf and other Arctic regions, the Caspian and Central Asia,” said the strategy paper that was posted on the presidential Security Council‘s Web site.
“Amid competitive struggle for resources, attempts to use military force to solve emerging problems can’t be excluded,” it added. “The existing balance of forces near the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies can be violated.” (Get the full news item here…)
Flags of the Vatican
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the News on May 11th, 2009
Pope Benedict calls for Palestinian "Homeland"
“Pope Benedict calls for Palestinian ‘homeland’.” (CBC News)
I was fascinated to see on the CBC news that the Pope is being welcomed to Jerusalem with the fluttering of Vatican flags all over the city. The reporter pointed out that this Pope was part of the Nazi Youth, lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust Denier, is in the process of beatifying the man who was Pope during the 2nd World War and that he’s now calling for the creation of a Palestinian State.
It’s not often that these two aspects of a traditional Premillennial (Christ-returns-before-the-thousand-years) Historicist interpretation of prophecy converge in the news like this: the conviction that the Popes of Rome are the Antichrist (“little horn” of Daniel 7:20-21; “man of lawlessness” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 8-9, etc.) and the conviction that “Israel” in Old Testament prophecy generally means the Hebrew nation.
There’s no question in my mind, according to Scripture, that the Pope is an enemy of the true Church. But here’s the question news items like the one above bring to my attention: “Is Pope Benedict XVI a friend or an enemy of the Jewish people?”
Israel War Planes Attack Cush Convoy
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible, In the News on March 26th, 2009
JAFFA, Israel – A source within Hamas has admitted a weapons convoy in Sudan meant for his Islamist organization was struck by a missile in January.
Earlier today, CBS reported the Israel Air Force carried out the attack on a convoy of trucks carrying arms destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, 39 people riding in the 17-truck convoy were killed, while a number of civilians in the area were injured.
The strike would signify a heightened and expanded Israeli response to rampant weapons smuggling into Gaza, sending a message to Hamas’ backers that Israel will target outside the Gaza Strip.
A top source within Hamas’ so-called military wing told WND there was indeed an attack against a weapons convoy in Sudan.
Read the rest of the story here.
It isn’t always easy to see how prophecy could become reality. Scenarios like that in Ezekiel 38:1-6 describe an alliance of nations that seems unlikely under normal circumstances.
Ezekiel 38:1-6 ESV Ezekiel 38:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. 5 Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes- many peoples are with you.
Most scholars would argue that Gog, Meshech and Tubal all involve Russia and confederates in the former Soviet Union. Gomer is probably a people group that migrated into southern Europe many centuries ago–possibly including the Gauls. Beth-Togarmah was in an area probably now part of modern Turkey. The ESV Study Bible has some good explanations for these ancient names of ancient peoples and places. Persia is no doubt Iran. Put is probably part of North Africa, most likely Libya. Which leaves Cush.
Cush is identified by the ESV Study Bible as the ancient region of Ethiopia. That area today includes Sudan. And in January Israeli war planes attacked a convoy of trucks carrying weapons bound for Hamas in Gaza–a convoy travelling through Sudan at that time.
It’s not so hard to imagine a scenario that would involve Sudan teaming up with the other countries in the Ezekiel 38 list. In fact, as the days go by this scenario gets easier and easier to imagine.
AOL News Poll: Quarter-Million Voters Doubt Obama’s Birth
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible, In the News on March 3rd, 2009
An article posted on AOL News introduced readers to what it calls “fringe” element of conservatives, called “Birthers”, who persist in doubting whether Obama was actually born in the USA as he claims. According to the writer this rumour continues to live on in spite of “overwhelming evidence”. I wonder, however, if AOL News expected the kind of response they received? A poll on this story asks a question: “Do you have any doubt about Obama’s eligibility to be president because of his birth status?” The results? One day after the article was first posted (at the time of this post), 501, 655 votes had been registered. Of these half-million voters, 52% said “No” and 48% said “Yes”.
An AOL News Poll, as of March 3 2009
Although the AOL News article spun this story to make “Birthers” (those who doubt Obama’s eligibility to be President because of the “natural born citizen” clause in the US Constitution) appear as a fringe element, unstable, embarassing to other conservatives, and so on, a quarter of a million people who read this article doubt Obama’s eligibility while about the same number had no doubts. The “Birthers” are clearly not a fringe element.
Having now read both sides of the controversy, I now have some serious questions about Obama’s actions. In particular, if he has nothing to hide regarding his status as a natural-born US citizen, then why are his lawyers squashing every attempt to uncover relevant documents? The Certification of Live Birth image released by Obama’s campaign last summer does not, in spite of protests to the contrary, settle the issue. There are questions about its authenticity, yes, but even if it is the real thing it appears that this particular kind of document doesn’t necessarily prove where a person is born even though it looks like it does. The only real proof is an authentic Birth Certificate, such as US citizens have to produce to get a driver’s license. Obama has never yet produced a Birth Certificate for examination.
What does this all have to do with prophecy? In Ezekiel 38:10f, we read about “Gog” (thought by many to be Russia) deciding to invade Israel:
Ezekiel 38:10-15 10 “Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11 and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’ 14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord GOD: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army.
The point here is that as long as the USA has been a strong protector and ally for Israel, any agressor had to count the cost of taking on not just Israel, but the US as well. But if, in addition to the developing economic crisis in the United States and around the world, there is also a constitutional crisis regarding the basic qualifications of the President, his legitimacy, and the legitimacy of all of his official actions, appointees, commands and so on, would this not completely disable the United States of America as a defender of weaker nations?
How did the USA get to this point? How did a once great nation, established upon biblical values as “One Nation Under God” come to be so divided along idealogical lines so that the population is increasingly polarized between those who hate the President and those who resemble a rock-star’s fan club? Looking deeper than the Obama issue, I suspect that Dr. Dell Tacket of the Truth Project is right in saying that the present crisis is one of worldview. This has led me to recall that the Bible predicted that Satan would employ a worldview in order to influence international leaders to become hostile to Israel.
Revelation 16:13-16 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The spirit that comes out of the mouth of the dragon, in verse 13, is an ideology, a worldview, based not on the Bible, but on something else. Dr. Oral Collins, in his commentary on Revelation published in 2007, writes,
[The fulfilment of verse 13] must reflect conditions existing… [in] the later 19th century to the present. These spirits are “unclean” in the sense that they are demonic. They promote ideologies that oppose the true Gospel and the People of God. The spirit “from the mouth of the dragon” suggests atheism or some pagan ideology. In the mid-twentieth century many identified it with atheistic communism. Much of this Marxist philosophy still prevails in the institutions of education today. We see this in the prevalent existentialism and relativism of post-modernist philosophy, which rejects absolute truth. Today, we must consider the Satanic spirit of Islam, most noticeable in radical Islam. (The Final Prophecy of Jesus, p. 386)
So what should Christians do? Check out the Truth Project. Write your government representatives so that they hear your voice. And pray.
Not Justice, Not Sovereignty But Prosperity
Posted by: Joe Haynes in In the Bible, In the News on February 24th, 2009
We live in interesting times.
This morning I came across three articles that caught my attention.
The first one was this one about a US Army soldier, currently serving in Iraq, announcing his intention to defy President Obama’s orders and to join a lawsuit demanding that Obama produce documents to prove his eligibility to serve as President of the United States under the Constitution’s “natural born citizen” requirement.
The second one referred to the growing “Tea Party” movement of angry Americans scheduling Boston Tea Party styled protests to condemn Obama’s lets-borrow-obscene-amounts-of-money-in-order-to-get-out-of-debt economic stimulus “plan”. I didn’t know what the Tea Party movement was so I found the video clip that started it all.
The third one was this article in which Dan Gainor vehemently criticized Obama’s destructive policies and revived the old movie quote, “I’m mad as **** and I’m not going to take it anymore!” He called the Tea Party groundswell a “populist rebellion”. But the thing that really caught my attention here wasn’t what the columnist wrote, it was the nearly 6,000 reader comments (at that time) venting anger, frustration, desperation and mabye even sedition.
If one was prone to worry it might appear as if the USA is coming apart at the seams–or at least like that possibility is less unlikely than ever before. And that led me to wonder.
In Ezekiel 38:13, we read this:
Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you, “Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?
This unified voice appears to be trans-regional, economy-driven, and more concerned with a threat to prosperity than with basic issues of justice or a nation’s sovereignty. The event this unified voice is protesting is the invasion of the land of Israel by “Gog” and its allies, whom many scholars believe to be some alliance of nations under the leadership of Russia.
Two conditions seem to be necessary in order for this prophecy to come to pass: 1) The USA must become weakened in some way so that fear of US retaliation is not sufficient to deter Russia from invading Israel. 2) International political bodies must come to a point when they are much more concerned with the right to prosperity than with “human rights” like justice or the sovereignty of the State of Israel. This group of diplomatic/economist leaders that raises a mild protest in Ezekiel 38:13 does not exist to promote justice or national sovereignty but prosperity.
When we come to a time when the world political climate reflects these two conditions, perhaps the time will be ripe for a Russian invasion of the Middle East?
