Prophecy Update: Gog Magog: Setting the Stage. 1/15/20
Ezekiel 38-39 details for us a future war. The last 30 years some of the design features of the war have come into view. Russia and Iran have been fostering a relationship, both militarily and economically for the past 25 years. That relationship is leading to more and more cooperation militarily in Syria. This is a very important development. Also, since 2000, Turkey has left the relationship it had with the United States and Israel to become an enemy. This nation also has joined Russia and Iran militarily in Syria. These are very important developments!
First, Russia leads a coalition of nations to attack Israel. The coalition is led by a person called ‘Gog’ from Russia. Ezek.38:2 says, “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” Joel Rosenberg likes to say, ‘I do not know if Putin is Gog but he sure acts Gogian like.’
Second, Iran, Libya, Turkey, Ethiopia, and a few more nations will align themselves with Russia to come and attack Israel. Ezek.38 5-6, “Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you.”
For the first time in October, Russia and Iran conducted joint military maneuvers in Syria. Here is the headline: In face of protests, Syria, Russia and Iran conduct joint military exercise in Deir az-Zour. “Syrian regime forces are conducting joint military exercises with both Russian and Iranian troops west of Deir az-Zour, a new development that may signal a significant change to recent unrest in the east of the country.” This is a huge development because it has never happened before. It complicates the situation for Israel because they bomb Iranian outposts frequently. More on this later.
Also, in November, Russia and Turkey started joint military maneuvers! Here is the headline: Russia and Turkey begin joint patrols in northeast Syria. Another headline pulls this together, Turkey, Russia, Iran: Filling the Vacuum in the Middle East. Therefore, we can see that the last few months have increased the cooperation between the major players in the Gog Magog Prophecy. The fact that they are operating in Syria is also amazing.
Syria: when the civil war broke out in Syria, the United States decided under President Obama to disengage. When the US disengaged it gave Russia an open door to enter into a nation strategically placed next to Israel. This is very significant to the stage setting of the prophecy. The way that Obama treated the Syrian civil war is the way the west will treat the invasion of Israel in the Gog Magog War. How did Obama treat the civil war? He drew a red line over using chemical weapons. Bashir Assad and his Shiite armies were losing to the Sunni forces. In August 2013, in the middle of the night on August 21, the Syrian military had attacked rebel-controlled areas of the Damascus suburbs with chemical weapons, killing nearly 1,500 civilians, including more than 400 children. This brazen assault had clearly crossed the “red line” that President Barack Obama had enunciated a year earlier—that if Assad used chemical weapons, it would warrant U.S. military action. We never attacked because the Obama administration negotiated with Russia to remove chemical weapons from Syria. Obama brought Russia into the fray in 2013. When the USA refused to act, Russian forces entered Syria to support the Shiite militias and Syrian army under Assad in 2015. This in turn brought Iran into the fray because they are the natural Shia allies of Syria. Obama’s response—-nothing!
Fast forward from 2015 to today and you will see 8 Russian military outposts on the northern border of Israel on the Golan Heights. You used to see UN troops there as I did in 2014. The UN troops are gone and Russian and Iranian troops now are entrenched on the northern border of Israel. This is a huge step forwards for the prophecy. What happens when the forces of Iran and Russia unite?
The prophecy includes an important detail about the passivity of the rest of the nations. There is no super power to stand in the way of Russia and all of the nations with her. Ezek.38:13 describes the passive way the nations respond to this attack: “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?’”’ No one comes to Israel aid because God wants to get the glory for rescuing His people. This does not fit the circumstances we see today. The reason is that the USA would fight for Israel under President Trump. We would not have fought for Israel under President Obama. What will cause the USA to be a passive observer like the prophecy reveals?
There is no doubt that Russia is the king maker in the Middle East right now. The US exercises power thru Israel but we are not currently at war and the US wants to pull out of the Middle East. We have beat ISIS and President Trump wants to get out. We do not need their oil anymore, why put up with the headache? Although we are pulling out, we would still fight for Israel. Here is an article about this.
Is Putin the New King of the Middle East? Patrick J. Buchanan | October 18, 2019 “Russia Assumes Mantle of Supreme Power Broker in the Middle East,” proclaimed Britain’s Telegraph.
The article began: “Russia’s status as the undisputed power-broker in the Middle East was cemented as Vladimir Putin continued a triumphant tour of capitals traditionally allied to the US.” He gets on with everyone. He is welcomed in Iran by the Ayatollah, meets regularly with Bibi Netanyahu, is a cherished ally of Syria’s Bashar Assad, and this week was being hosted by the King of Saudi Arabia and the royal rulers of the UAE. October 2019 has been a triumphal month.”
One day God says He will put a hook in the jaw of Gog and drag him down for war with Israel. Ezek.38 3-4, says this, “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. “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 splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords.” Why is God doing this? God is going to punish all of these nations for their hatred of God and His people Israel. God has enough reason to do this now for how Christians have been treated in all of these places. What are the hooks in the jaws? The pieces of the puzzle are partially there but not all the way yet. The hooks are being set!
The conflict between Iran and the USA is part of the hook. Taking out Soliemani is pushing the anger of Iran to attack Israel. Iran cannot invade Israel alone and they need the power of Russia to help beat Israel. Iran knows that they need many others to accomplish their ultimate goal. It was Soliemani’s job to increase the proxy groups ability to attack Israel. Trump attacking Iran like he did causes more and more people to want to get rid of him. Iran put an 80 million dollar reward up for anyone who would kill Trump. The passivity of the USA will have to happen when Trump is out of office. Here is what others said of Trumps action against Iran:
Joe Biden said of Trump killing Soliemani—“President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox.” Elizabeth Warren said, “this reckless move escalates the situation with Iran.” Bernie Sanders said, “Trumps dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East.” If these leaders understood Bible Prophecy they would never have said what they did. In Joe Biden’s world, the problem in the Middle East is Israel. He was part of the group that gave 150 billion dollars to Iran to attack Jews and kill Americans in the Middle East. Soliemani was using money that Biden gave him to attack our embassy in Baghdad. When Soliemani attacked the embassy, it was an act of war and killing him was part of the war. Biden, Warren, and Sanders all are complicit in giving the money to Iran. Iran wants to attack Israel alone but the prophecy says they will do it with Russia. If Iran does attack Israel alone—it is not the Gog Magog Prophecy!
One of the hooks in the jaw is economics as the prophecy states. Turkey did something very bold by making a treaty with Libya to dominate the Mediterranean Sea and keep Israel from shipping natural gas to Europe. On 14 December 2019, “Turkish ships said to force Israeli research vessel out of Cypriot waters. According to TV report, Turkish navy intercepts Israeli boat, orders it to leave; Turkey’s recent maritime deal with Libya has fueled regional tensions over drilling rights.” Think about this—if Israel attacks Turkish ships to prevent them from stopping Israeli shipping, what would Russia do? Russia does not want Israel to ship gas to Europe. It would be a devastating thing to the Russian economy. The Channel 13 report noted “that tensions could negatively affect Israel’s plans for a submarine pipeline to transfer gas from its offshore reserves to Europe, which is set to pass through Cyprus and Greece’s territorial waters.” Russia is happy about Turkey doing this to Israel. Israel will have to respond with force eventually, keep your eyes on this one.
That brings me to today—the dust up with Iran and America has caused the European Union to revisit the Iran deal. They never left the deal as America did. Here is an article about what the pacifists, enablers of Iran hegemony had to say: France, Britain, Germany trigger Iran nuclear deal dispute mechanism. France, Britain and Germany formally triggered the dispute mechanism in Iran’s nuclear deal on Tuesday, the strongest step the Europeans have taken so far to enforce an agreement that requires Iran to curb its nuclear program. The European powers said they were acting to avoid a crisis over nuclear proliferation adding to an escalating confrontation in the Middle East. “In a statement, they said they still want the nuclear deal to succeed and were not joining a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran by the United States, which abandoned the deal in 2018 and has reimposed crippling economic sanctions.” See this for the smoke screen that it is. The European Union has not shown a backbone when it comes to Iran. Where is the European Union on Iranian troops setting up shop on the border of Israel? That’s right, they are glad it is happening. Why does the European Union lodge complaint after complaint when Israel in an act of defense bombs those Iranian military outposts in Syria? That’s right, because they want Israel to be defeated. Here is an article about that:
SYRIAN ARMY SAYS ISRAEL CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES ON THEIR T-4 MILITARY BASE NEAR THE CITY OF HOMS IN WESTERN SYRIA. “Syria is claiming that Israel has been bombing their military installations and that is probably quite accurate. Israel has to routinely bomb these facilities in Syria because they house Iranian forces and equipment, which is how Iran wages war with Israel by proxy through Syria. Israel has been forced into the unenviable position of have to consistently not only defend themselves from Muslim aggression, but to be ever vigilant and do preemptive strikes as well. As long as there are Israelis who remember the Six Day War, they stand a pretty good chance of not being taken by surprise.”
Russia as of this moment has not supported outright Iranian aggression against Israel. They have not stopped the aggression nor have they stopped Israel defending herself when they bomb Iranian targets in Syria. When you see Russia start defending Iran in Syria, then that will be a sure marker that the Gog Magog Prophecy is in play. Russia is content right now that Bashir Assad is in office and that the Syrian army is winning back their land. There is one inconsistency in this though. Putin has allowed Iran to set up shop on Israel’s border. Why would he do that? He has not told the Iranians to get out nor has he stopped Israel from bombing them. This is another step forward in the Gog Magog Prophecy, Iranian forces are in Syria on the border of Israel and they will be there until the prophecy is complete. Until the day it happens, Israel will keep bombing and trying to stop Iran from getting a stronger foothold. Now the big problem as I see it. Russia and Iran are doing joint military maneuvers in northern Syria, what happens when Israel hits Russian forces by accident or intentionally when they are going after Iranian forces? What happens when Russia and Iran do joint maneuvers in southern Syria on Israel border? Do you see the problem today? This problem has not existed until now in Syria. Since October 2019, the Gog Magog Prophecy took a leap forward because Russian and Iranian forces are uniting in limited places. This is trouble! I am waiting to see Ezek.38:10 fulfilled: Thus says the Lord GOD, “It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan” Putin will start talking about this plan if he is Gog and we will hear it. Pay attention to Putin the next few months, it is close and he may well already be planning to attack Israel!
God has given us a blueprint of the end times and it is important that pastors alert their people to what is happening. We live in the most exciting times ever. I cannot go a day without seeing something in the news that does not relate to Bible Prophecy. This was not true 10 years ago. The birth pangs are getting closer and closer and it means that Jesus is at the door ready to come and get us. I started writing the prophecy updates because God was pushing me to do so. I felt His pleasure over alerting people to the times in which we live—as a watchman on the wall, I pray that all of you are drawing close to your Savior. Maranatha!
