Prophecy Update: Russia, Zapad 2017, Israel and the Temple.

I want to do a follow up from last weeks post on Russia. Some background information first. The Russians have a strange obsession about their borders. Many of the generals involved with trying to protect Western Europe are constantly talking about this obsession. The Russians believe that NATO is moving into the states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia for a future attack on Russia. They do not like the idea of their enemies being on their doorstep. They also believe that they are land locked and need a warm water port. President Putin uses this obsession to his advantage when talking to his own people. It may be hard for us to understand as Americans but Russia suffered greatly in WW2, and they believe this obsession so strongly it propelled them to invade Crimea and take eastern Ukraine back. When the United States pushed for Ukraine to be in NATO, the Russians went ballistic. For them it was World War Three! When you think about the city of Kiev, what do you think about? I immediately think that it is a major Russian city. Kiev is the capital of the Ukraine and the Russians will not stop until Kiev is theirs! After the fall of the Soviet Union, President Putin said that it is the worst tragedy of the 20th century. He has written often of his desire to have the states of Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Belarus as his!

The West believes that it is important to put defensive weapons in the countries of Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and that freaks the Russians out. The Russians attacked and took back the Crimea partly because of these moves from the West. It is unfounded in any military doctrine that defensive weapons are offensive, but the Russians do not look at that way. They see the move of a defensive missile shield as a threat to their country. Now here is the rub you might say. Ukraine is not in NATO so when Russia attacked her, there was nothing that the West could do. Even making this statement makes me sick to my stomach because there was a lot that the West could do, but the spirit of Neville Chamberlain prevails in NATO.

Since 2014, Russia has systematically taken back eastern Ukraine, the Crimea, and they moved troops into position to take back the Baltic States of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. To counteract that, this year America moved more assets into position to stop them. This included a missile defense shield into Poland and military hardware into the Baltic States. When the missile defense shield went up Putin warned these states of possible war. Fox News in May of 2016 had this report: “Romania and Poland are in the potential crosshairs of Russian rockets because they are hosting parts of the U.S. missile defense shield that Moscow considers a threat to its national security, President Vladimir Putin warned Friday.” Here is where the drama gets even bigger and more dangerous. Zapad 2017 is about to happen in the middle of September, a military exercise of over 100,000 Russian troops.
Before I talk about Zapad 2017, a little history; since 2013 President Putin has ordered a series of no-notice snap exercises, often involving up to 50,000 troops. Four of these drills took place in 2013 and a fifth in February of 2014. These snap drills included airborne troops, armoured vehicles, attack helicopters, and a variety of nuclear scenarios. The fifth snap exercise was the invasion of Crimea and launched the war with Ukraine. In Russia, they see the war with Ukraine as a war with the United States and her allies. In an earlier exercise called Kavkaz 2008, Putin launched an invasion of Georgia! Military deception is an art at which Russia excels! So do I worry that Zapad 2017 is the pretext for war with the Baltic States? Yes I do, and I would not put it past the Russians to use the threat of nukes to make the Neville Chamberlain states of Germany, France, and Greece to make sure that NATO does nothing. Article Five of the NATO treaty states that if any of the 28 countries of NATO are attacked then the other 27 have to come to her defense.
Since Ukraine was not a NATO state, none of the other nations were obligated to come help her, but that will not be the case when Russia attacks the Baltic States! If Latvia invokes article five, then all of the states of NATO have to come to her aid or the treaty is useless. When you hear Germany, France, and Britain state publicly that they should not be responsible to help the Latvians, I shudder! When President Trump called out the NATO states that do not live up to their financial and military obligations, then all of the press attacked Trump as the one who would not keep Article Five. It is exactly the opposite, these states do not want to go save the Latvians or any of the Baltic States, they have the spirit of Chamberlain, they will watch the Russians take back the Baltics and say they can do nothing about it. That is the spirit of the day in which we live. The only ones with the courage to keep Article Five are the Americans, the Polish, the Baltic States, and the British military. I have real doubts about the rest.
I say this because of all of the news reports that I have read the last few years on the subject and because of one man, General Sir Richard Shirreff, Deputy Commander of all NATO forces. Since he retired in 2016, he has been speaking out about this problem and wrote a book about it called “War With Russia.” Shirreff explains that since NATO has decided to weaken her forces and downgrade all of their conventional forces, the only thing to deter Russia is the threat of nuclear weapons. Here is his quote, “The most terrifying scenario is that without strong conventional deterrence—tanks, planes, artillery, ships, and boots on the ground—the only remaining line of defense for a NATO facing imminent military defeat is nuclear weapons. The growing weakness of the West’s conventional forces means that the only way Russia can be deterred or defeated is by the threat or use of nuclear weapons. The USA, UK, and France are the only nuclear states in NATO and the Russian president will calculate that they would never risk the near total destruction of human civilization in the US and Europe for the sake of three small Baltic States.” Do you hear what this general is saying, he is sharing his heart over many years of pleading with the European states to spend on their militaries so that there is a deterrence. He said, “This is why maintaining an effective conventional deterrent—military forces that can fight and hold off the Russians if they attack, but above all to persuade them not to attack in the first place—is critical.” (War With Russia pg.xxxvi) I would say it like this, since NATO has mostly decided to depend on the United States to do all of the heavy lifting, they have decided to put their money in other places and let the defense of Europe fall to the Americans once again. There are exceptions of course, but the bottom line is that the Russians are taking advantage of the situation.
Another problem we face with Russia is the constant violation of the Vienna Accords, designed to avert misunderstandings during war games. The accords stipulate that any drill involving more than 9,000 troops requires advance notification of at least 42 days and any exercise involving more than 13,000 troops must be preceded by an invitation to the other 56 participating states to send two observers. Russia has never obeyed or followed the accords.
Operation Zapad will include more than 100,000 troops and they will practice the launching of tactical nuclear weapons. Since Russia always breaks the rules with their snap exercises, NATO sits idly by and watches, nervously wondering if war is about to take place, hoping but doing nothing. All of the moves made by the United States and NATO up to this point are not a deterrent to Russia. It is seen as weak and ineffective by the Russians and they are dancing with glee over how weak the West has become. The last Zapad drills four years ago, the Russians announced that they would only use 12,000 troops and it was 72,000 troops.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia and Belarus have staged the Zapad combined strategic exercise in 1999, 2009, 2013, and this September 14-20 in Belarus. The Jamestown Foundation news division reports that the exercises will include both ‘defensive and offensive operations rehearsed against a scenario driven by US/NATO intervention into Belarus.’ NATO believes that the Russians are going to annex Belarus and use it as a launching pad for fighting in the Ukraine and the Baltic States. So the Russians are on the move and very confident of their military ability to overcome anything NATO does. This confidence by Russia is also being exhibited in Syria.
In Syria, the Russians have deployed the S-400 anti-missile defense system and Y-Net news reported, “Russia stations S-400 batteries near Iranian arms factory in Syria” This news is bad for Israel on several fronts. This gives Iran the ability to ship more missiles to Hezbollah and with the Russians help, Israel is in grave danger. Y-Net also reported about this: “Hezbollah, which has already accumulated over 100,000 rockets, is now seeking to target specific sensitive sites in Israel. To that end, it has been trying to obtain long-range guided missiles by smuggling them from Iran through Syria.” This war coming with Iran and Hezbollah is prophesied in the Bible. However this war happens, God will use it to bless Israel and prepare them for the “Day of the Lord.”
Israel is telling the world of this problem: “At the start of a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu said Iran was turning Syria into a “base of military entrenchment as part of its declared goal to eradicate Israel.” The intensity of these meetings is clarified in this statement by Prime Minister Netanyahu, “Netanyahu made a statement on Wednesday during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, claiming that Israel would bomb Bashar Assad’s palace in Damascus unless Iran gives up its activities.” Isaiah 17 talks about God destroying Damascus. This city has seen its fair share of destruction the last few years so it is systematically being destroyed. The final blow is coming very soon. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled in our day, turn your eyes up and pray to the Lord for mercy. God is not mocked, whatever man sows this will he reap. The Middle East and Russia/Iran axis has sown seeds of war, God will give them the whirlwind! This is the greatest time to be alive, consider it all joy my friends. The Lord knows how to keep His people in times of trouble and the shouts of war, war when there is such a false peace. Maranatha!
The Temple will be rebuild out of the chaos of this war. God is already moving the wheels of history to make that happen. I hope your ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you for this fact of prophecy. As many Christians believe that we should not have a temple on the earth, God says it will happen, it will be His temple, and anti-christ will pervert it. Are you ready!