Prophecy Update: May 26th 2017
With President Trump making a trip through Israel this week, I thought it would be helpful to comment on some of what happened and why it is important to Biblical Prophecy.
Dr. Michael Brown made four points that I would like to comment on. He said regarding the speech President Trump made before the Saudis; “that Trump mentioned terrorism 30 times, identified Iran as the enemy, put Hamas and Hezbollah in the same category as ISIS and Al Qaida, and lastly rejected the theology of martyrdom by suicide bombing.” (Christian Post May 22) It was brave of the president to go into the heart of Islam itself and call out the Muslims for having terrorists and those who inspire them right in the mosques of Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia is the original supporters and leaders of Al Qaida. They have pushed the fantasy that terrorism has hurt Islam more than anything else. All the while preparing terrorists and teaching their children to take over the world for Islam. In fact, the Saudis have been the biggest supporters of global jihad and are spreading their form of Islam to radicalize and motivate fighters around the world. The 9/11 report found that the Saudi ruling elite distributed millions of dollars to Sunni extremists which included those who attacked us on Sept.11th under the guise of Islamic charities.
In a report done by Carol and Jamsheed Chosky, called ‘The Saudi Connection: Wahhabism and Global Jihad’ May/June 2015 in World Affairs, they said, “When Afghanistan, another largely Sunni country nearby, moved from Soviet influence to Soviet control, in 1979, the House of Saud saw an opportunity to project itself as the global defender of Muslims. The madrassas in Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan produced al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The US did not foresee that foreign fighters drawn to the Afghan jihad might carry violence back to their native lands as al-Qaeda affiliates spread across the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Asia. The successful anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan came to be seen as divine confirmation of jihad as necessary for Islam’s global ascendance. Wahhabism in turn emerged as the “indispensable ideology”—as noted in the record of the US Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security—not just for the Saudi state but also for groups such as al-Qaeda, which took up the mission to enforce a purified form of Islam upon the world.”
The United States still lives under the fantasy that Saudi Arabia is our friend and that we can get along with them. If they had their way, every Christian and Jew would be dead or their slave. The Wahhabi leaders of Saudi Arabia are the real leaders of the kingdom and the tension between them and the House of Saud is real and cracking. The cracks are being manifested because of the House of Saud’s compromise with the US and Israel. The House of Saud sees the power and threat of Iran and they know that without Israel and the USA they cannot beat them in a war. Thus, the cozying up with the US and Israel to protect them is anathema to the Wahhabi. In 2015, writing on this subject, The Counter Terrorism Lectures and Consulting group said:
“Muslims have already had their reform period. It was the Wahhabi movement. It is difficult to recognize it as change because it took Islam back to its 7th century origins instead of forward. England’s one 20th century success was containing ‘Core Wahhabism’ in Saudi Arabia.
The Sunni House of Saud and the descendants of the founder of Sunni Wahhabism have intermarried since the middle of the 1700s. Saudi politics and the Wahhabi version of Islam are inextricably connected, and embedded in Kingdom policy.
The Saud family not only controls Medina and Mecca, which means every Muslim on pilgrimage there is touched by Wahhabism, but the University of Medina exports this militant version of Islam by design and intent.”
“University of Medina scholar, Dr. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, the Godfather of Jihad, was sent to Pakistan to teach Wahhabism. His most infamous student was Osama bin Laden.”
So you can see that the compromise with the west is a huge problem. The ideology learned in Wahhabi schools by Osama Bib Laden is still taught in the schools of the Saudi Kingdom. What do the leaders of Saudi Arabia mean when they say that Bin Laden should be condemned? They mean he personally should be condemned and not his teaching. If you are in the leadership and think that the Wahhabi message should be changed or moderated you can be in big trouble. That is the tension now in Saudi Arabia.
President Trump moved onto Israel and went to the western wall to pray. This was a passive way of saying that the wall was in Israel proper and part of Jewish history as a holy site. This is anathema to all Muslims. For the 19 years that Jordan controlled Jerusalem (1948-1967) no Jews were allowed in the old city of David and they were forbidden to go pray at the Western Wall. So much for tolerance! Although President Trump did not declare that he is going to move the embassy to Jerusalem, it will happen automatically by law if he does not sign the national security waiver by May 30th. I am praying that on June 1st that the news is that the waiver has not been signed and the embassy is moving. Please pray for that because it means that the United States is recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel!
As I read back through Ezekiel 36-39 for this prophecy update, I am struck by one of the purposes that God has for bringing the Jews back to the land. The little phrase, ‘that the nations may know’ happens in all four chapters. In fact, the little phrase ‘will know’ occurs 22 times so God wants us to be sure we understand what He is going to do.
Ezekiel 36:23 “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.”
Ezekiel 37:28 “And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”
Ezekiel 38:16 and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.”
Ezekiel 39:7 “My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”
When God brings Israel back into the land and establishes them in the land through war, it is so the nations may know, first: that God did it, second: that God will vindicate His holy name, third: prove Himself Holy, Fourth: sanctifies Israel, fifth: will not allow His name to be profaned anymore among the nations, and lastly: Israel will know the Lord!
This means there are at least two wars to be fought in the near future. The first war is for the rest of the land of Israel which is currently occupied by Arabs in the so called Palestinian state. Ezekiel 36 is very clear that God prophesies to the mountains of Israel and it is those mountains that the UN says is not Jewish land. Four cities that are biblical cities of Israel are currently occupied by Arabs. Those four cities are contested at the moment and no Jews are allowed to live in those four cities. The cities are Shiloh, Bethel, Bethlehem, and Hebron; these are all very important cities to Israel and where great things were done by the Lord for Israel. My belief is that just as it took a war in 1967 for Israel to take control of Jerusalem so it will be true for these four cities. Israel will have to take these cities back through war. The UN, Russia, China, the EU, and most of the nations of the world are against Israel from having these four cities. All of the Muslim countries are against Israel being anywhere in the West Bank which are the mountains of Israel. God is soon going to give all that land back to His people. This promise of God reaches into the nations and makes known to them that God is in charge and moving in history for His people Israel. We will have an opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel when this happens.
The second war is the Gog Magog war that will take place when Russia and Iran mainly invade Israel. That war will be a major way that God will speak to the nations of the world and make it known that He did it.
When God moves in history, the first thing Satan tries to do is to convince people that there is not a supernatural movement of God. Satan will bring out his minions to say it is chance, people, nations doing these things but never God almighty. Our God is a God who moves and does things in history. Be prepared to give testimony that God is moving in our day. He is moving in the nations by bringing the gospel to places that do not want it. He also is moving in the nations to bring the Jews back to their ancient land. Pray and thank God for what He is doing today. It is a thrilling time to be alive!
