Is the war of Psalm 83 and a enlarged Israel imminent as in the book “Isralestine”?
One of the great mysteries for those who study Bible prophecy is the timing of the wars mentioned in Psalm 83 and the war described in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. They are obviously different wars but which war occurs first and when? Are they pretribulational wars or tribulation wars? How can Israel be living in peace and security prior to the Ezekiel war as the prophecy clearly indicates? That is the ongoing debate.

Bill Salus in his book “Isralestine” offers a solution but the thesis is very difficult to accept in light of real world realities but that does not mean the thesis he offers based on his selection and interpretation of certain scriptures is wrong. I have had a very difficult time reconciling the issues in his book and think that you really need to read the book and judge the merit of this hypothesis for yourselves and not just rely on my review.

The thesis of the book is that the war of Psalm 83 is imminent. It occurs before the tribulation. The war brings about the defeat of the Arab nations and it allows a very large territorial expansion of Israel into the Arab states by conquest. After the war of Psalm 83 the greatly expanded Israel then lives in peace and security until the war of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 where Gog (Russia) comes against Israel with Iran and other allies. At that time God intervenes for Israel and Israel expands to the entire land area promised to Abraham. Bill Salus also believes the Ezekiel war is before the “Day of the Lord” and that the rapture could be before or after the war of Psalm 83 but will be before the “Day of the Lord”.

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I have not read the book “Isralestine”, by Bill Salus but it sounds like an intriguing prophetic explanation of end time events. Almost all futurist Bible prophecy students will agree that there are three end time wars involving Israel. However, we disagree somewhat on the timing of first two wars. Those wars being the Ezekiel Chapter 38 and 39 war where Gog comes down with a host of nations and the Psalms 83 war where a confederacy of nations attempts to cut Israel off from being a nation. In the mix somewhere is the destruction of Damascus since the prophecy has never been fulfilled yet.

I have heard enough about this book to know that Bill Salus makes a strong case for the war of Psalms 83 coming first. I believe the premise is that after the aftermath of the Psalms 83 war that brings the destruction of Damascus, Israel will expand its borders. That will allow Israel to have the security that is implied by Ezekiel at the time of the Gog invasion. At that time Russia will come down with a host of nations against Israel and God will intervene.

In the past, I have tended to put the Ezekiel war first and I placed the Psalm 83 war in the middle of the tribulation making that the reason why the Jews flee to the mountains. However, Bill Salus may be correct, it does answer a whole lot of questions.

If you have read this book I would appreciate your own insights.

Israel destroys Damascus, then Russia invades

Indeed Russia and Iran are ready to make their moves, but what about Syria? Oddly Syria, who today panders alongside Iran for Russian affections, is not included among the elite nine members of the Ezekiel 38 and 39 consortium of attacking nations. Why not? What knocks their quiver of missiles out of the Ezekiel military equation?

As I have documented in my recently released book, “Isralestine, The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East,” the Bible makes quite clear that in a distinctly separate Psalm 83 episode Damascus, the capital of Syria, soon ceases to be a city, and subsequently shortly thereafter Russia and Iran advance against Israel.

Furthermore “Isralestine” explains how the destruction of Damascus followed by the Ezekiel invasion sets the stage for the final tribulation period, whereby the Antichrist rallies his Armageddonites together in one last days ditch effort to destroy the Jewish race.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

Thus there are three scheduled end time advances against Israel, not just Ezekiel’s. First comes Psalm 83, the Arab-Israeli war, followed promptly by the Ezekiel 38 and 39 Russian – Iranian invasion, and lastly the campaign of Armageddon by the Antichrist.

The destruction of Damascus will be such a powerful world event that Isaiah was instructed to boldly and succinctly state, the burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap.” (Isaiah 17:1, NKJV) Isaiah further announces that the fortified cities of Syria will be forfeited into Israeli sovereignty. (Isaiah 17:9) This suggests that the dooming of Damascus and conquest of Syria results from of an Israeli Defense Forces campaign.

Amos and Jeremiah echo this 2,800-year-old Isaiah prophecy by prophetically uttering some additional details they were given. Amos declares that the capitol building of Syria will go up in smoke, and that the nation as a whole, will go into captivity. (Amos 1:3-5) Jeremiah concurs and furthermore declares the Syrian military will be decisively defeated, and in addition many young men will die in the blood-stained streets of Damascus. (Jeremiah 49:23-27)

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I believe Hal Lindsey will be correct that Russia will now actively seek to regain its former empire. It might not be all the same nations of the former USSR at least at first. But Russia will intimidate the nations of Eastern Europe to join a regional alignment of states to counter the West. Especially if the West is mired in the economic and Islamic caused turmoil that looks almost certain to come. These Eastern nations were not in the original Roman Empire and they will not be in the revived.

My advice to the U.S. and Israel is not to wait too long to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities because within a very short time Iran will be protected under a Russian nuclear umbrella (thou hast been to them for a guard., Ez 38:7, YLT) and then we will not be able to take them out without a nuclear war with Russia. The cold war between East and West is coming back fast. If NATO can claim that an attack on any of their alliance of states is an attack on them all, then Russia feels it can and will do the same with the nations in their sphere of influence.

Right now the U.S. can delay a nuclear Iran by 10 to 20 years by almost complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities. Israel cannot do this alone. The most Israel can do is set them back is a few years and there will not be any second chance because of the Russian umbrella that is about to open. If we get a weak president like Obama you will see Russia open this nuclear umbrella near the start of his term. If McCain gets elected they might not risk it just yet.

Oh, my Gog! (Hal Lindsey)

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, most of these republics broke with Russia to form new alliances with NATO and the West – an event for which I was widely ridiculed at the time.

How could most of Magog, like Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey, all firmly allied with the West, also be part of Russia’s Gog alliance?

I didn’t know. But I didn’t pen Ezekiel’s prophecy. I only reported it.

Now, Gog has evidently decided to reclaim its former Soviet empire, starting with Magog. Despite weeks of promising to withdraw almost any minute, the Russian military continues to dig in and consolidate its forces in and near the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea.

The Russians introduced tight restrictions of movement on Georgian citizens, refusing to accept anything except Russian documents. Despite agreements to the contrary, the Kremlin now says that “Russian forces will leave in their own time.”

When Poland was contemplating an agreement that would allow the U.S. to deploy missile interceptor batteries in its territory, Russia warned them that by entering the treaty agreement they ran the risk of a Russian nuclear attack. When the Poles signed the treaty in defiance of the Kremlin, Russia promised its response would “rise above the level of diplomacy,” a reference to the principle that “war is the result of failed diplomacy.”

The Russian invasion and apparent occupation of Georgia is feared by many analysts, particularly those from former Soviet republics, that Vladimir Putin plans to re-conquer and restore the former empire.

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David Flynn’s “Temple at the Center of Time: Newton’s Bible Codex Deciphered and the Year 2012, is probably all very interesting but can you really tell significant biblical events on the earth from the distance from the Temple in nautical miles or feet?

As in the Bible Code, what we have here more likely than not, is selecting what supports the theory and ignoring what does not. If God was going to make a unified system of Bible prophecy everything would fit not just what the author choose to select.

I also do not believe the Millennial temple will be at the Temple Mount of Old Jerusalem. It is much too large. So what does that do to the exact measurements when you do not even know the exact point on the earth to measure from? Are you measuring from Ezekiel’s Millennial Temple or the ancient Temple Mount?

Was God using our modern calenders and nautical miles for events? That would not be likely. Why measure to London just because it took over that area of the world in 1917 and then apply London to the year 1948 because it is 1948 nautical miles to London? The British hindered the return of the Jews in the end, so it seems more fitting to me use the nautical miles to the UN in New York city should be used but that distance would not fit the 1948 theory. Why were Nautical miles used in one measurement and feet in another? Just because they fit?

The book is being compared to the “Bible Code” but as far as I am concerned the Bible Code has been adequately debunked. These theories all sound good because the author stacks the deck. Only after
the scholars and skeptics give their reason why the theory does not hold up is there any balance brought to the speculations. It is like going to court and only hearing the case against the defendant and not ever
hearing the defense. This is why those that give doctoral theses also have to give a defense of their thesis.

I have not read the book so I cannot comment on the details in it but I surmise that after the scholars critique the book it will fittingly join with the Bible code.

It seems that an awful lot of people have figured out a date for the start of the tribulation or the second coming. Many are jumping on the 2012 to 2019 bandwagon others are picking 2032 2033 as the return of the Lord. Did we not also hear not so long ago about dating schemes built into the Great Pyramid where the end was going to come in 2000? Now we have the Mayan Calendar influence for 2012 that is plaguing us and helping to spawn these new theories. I have news to a certain TV Bible prophecy teacher and everyone else, God has no reason to follow pagan calendars and theories. Why should any Christian believe they contain truth?

I get documents from people writing books who have the timing of the second coming or the start of the tribulation all mathematically figured out to an exact year and feast day. However, I notice when one starts with what one believes to be the prophetic date and then makes all their data conform to fit that date it will come out to the date they want it to come out.

We are getting close to the end. We can see that by world events but when you are tossing out your precise theory of when Jesus will return or reading someone else’s profound theories on that date, you might not sell the farm quite yet.

Is Temple Mount God’s time bomb?

Was the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem more than a place of worship?

Was it, indeed, a roadmap to future events – a kind of prophetic landmark whose significance is only now revealed through the development of satellite imagery?

That is the contention of an explosive new book, “Temple at the Center of Time: Newton’s Bible Codex Deciphered and the Year 2012,” by David Flynn.

The book asserts it has “deciphered Isaac Newton’s greatest paradox: None other than ‘the unified field theory’ of Bible prophecy.”

The Romans established Londinium in about A.D. 47. It was a civilian settlement built where the Thames became narrow enough for a bridge to be built across it but was still deep enough to admit large ocean vessels. In the 16th century, William Camden believed that the “London Stone” was a Roman milestone from which all distances were measured in the province. In the 17th century, Christopher Wren was able to observe the foundations of the London Stone underneath Cannon Street during the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. With this information, it is possible to extend a measuring line from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to the exact center of ancient London, and by fixing a point on the site of the temple mount, a measuring line extended over Jerusalem to the center of London produces 1,948.40 nautical miles.

Therefore, incredibly, recorded in the earth between the Temple Mount of Jerusalem and the historic center of London is what Flynn sees as the fulfillment of Newton’s own prediction: Israel became a nation again May 14th, 1948, corresponding perfectly to a distance between the temple and London of 1948 nautical miles.

As the reader moves through Temple at the Center of Time, these time-length correlations accumulate quickly, including numerous ancient dates such as 1441 B.C. when the Exodus from Egypt occurred. It turns out is 1,441,000 feet from the Jerusalem Temple to the Great Pyramid in Giza. Flynn finds dozens of other key dates in the past through similar satellite mapping measurements including some related to the United States, Russia and Rome.

Before it is even officially released, Flynn’s book is causing a sensation in some circles where it is being compared to “The Bible Code.”

Today Sept 17th I am adding the following information because some are saying that Flynn never implied a set a date for the end of the world. Obviously WordNetDaily is hyping the 2012-2013 date in order to sell this book. The following quote was taken from the article posted on WND today. The belief that world will end in 2012-2013 is prophetically preposterous.

“But,” says Flynn, “there remains a valid aspect of Newton’s calculation. There is reason to believe he was correct in his assumption that there would be 1,260 years until the return of Christ at the rebirth of the Roman Empire, but that the year he chose was incorrect. There is actually a better date based on the founding of Rome and the methodology of Daniel’s prophecy.”

Flynn explains: “The Romans had fixed the birth of the city of Rome and the Empire in 753 B.C. It was believed that the patriarch of the city, Romulus, had marked out the boundaries for the wall of Rome in this year. Known as Ab Urbe Condita (literally, from the founding of the city) the Roman calendar began with 753 B.C. according to the dating of Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 B.C.) who lived at the time of the Empire itself.

Because of how the prophet Daniel divided the prophetic week in half, Flynn believes the original founding date for the empire of the prophecy, Rome, would follow this pattern and be bisected. Therefore, correcting Newton’s date, the year 753 B.C. designates the founding of the physical Rome while A.D. 753 establishes the rebirth of spiritual Rome. Counting 1,260 years forward from A.D. 753, one arrives at the year 2013.

Additional significance can be attached to this finding when considering that 2013 follows the end of the great cycle of the Maya calendar and the planetary cycle of the Aztec calendar, which concludes Dec. 21, 2012. This date has raised apocalyptic fears in corners around the world. According to “The Bible Code,” the world will end on this date due to a collision with a meteor, asteroid, or comet. Another theory – the “Novelty Theory” – claims time itself is a “fractal wave,” which will end abruptly in 2012. Even the popular television program X-Files speculated that colonization of the earth by “aliens” would occur in December 2012.

The Maya themselves describe past visits of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, descending through a “hole in the sky” on a rope ladder. They believe at the end of 2012 the serpent rope will emerge again from the center of the Milky Way, and Quetzalcoatl will return, heralding a new era at the start of 2013. Another version of the story has Quetzalcoatl sailing down on a winged ship, causing some to speculate that a UFO armada or “mother ship” could descend and take up position over earth on that date.

Besides this type of speculation, an unusual number of important events will occur beginning in 2012. NASA is predicting the next Solar Maximum will arrive in 2012 and will be the strongest in 50 years. At the same time, the sun will align with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in 26,000 years, on the exact date of the end of the Mayan calendar, Dec. 21, 2012. This will also be the year when the United States and the United Nations elect a new president and a new secretary general, considered by some to be the two most powerful “thrones” on earth, and the seat from which prophecy experts say the Antichrist will rule or receive power.

On a YouTube video here, well-known preacher Jack Van Impe says that the year 2012 and the end of the Mayan Calendar could mark the return of Jesus Christ.

Based on his research into the Jewish Feasts, Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries (as laid out in a series of two DVD teachings produced by WND Videos called “The Feasts of the Lord”) believes this time frame between 2012-2015 could be prophetic and may signal the return of Christ. He says for people who believe in a “pre-tribulation rapture,” this would make the year 2008 very important. For those who believe in a mid-tribulation rapture, 2012 may mark their departure. And on his website, he adds “if you’re prewrath, then 2014 might be interesting [and] if you’re a posttribber, 2015 is the date to watch for.”

Full article

This is a very good analysis of the Russian Georgian conflict by Terry James. I also think that this is the turning point with Russia to achieve its manifest destiny. From now on you will see Russia act militarily or at least forcefully on conflicts that support their national interest of building a counter force to the West and in doing so Russia will attempt to achieve control over much of Europe’s energy. Yes, Russia is now totally controlled by the old KGB and thugs and Putin’s groomed fascist brown shirts will soon be put into positions of power. There has been no real change in Russia since the cold war. They just got a fresh start thanks to the West and don’t use the term communism anymore. They never were pure Communists anyway they have been and are again very much Fascists.

The next major step for Russia may be the Ukraine. The people in the Ukraine are torn with many wanting to join NATO and many of the Russian ethnics wanting to join with Russia. Russia will prevail. I doubt if NATO will have the guts to really oppose a nuclear power like Russia. After the Ukraine goes to Russia expect other dominoes near Russia to again fall into the sphere of a new Russian Fascist Union.

By the way, Check out this Bible prophecy Today Blog as often as you can. This Blog actually does have the best collection of the very latest thinking of astute Bible prophecy teacher/thinkers. I have a link to Bible Prophecy Today Blog on my sidebar.

Bible Prophecy Today • Bible Prophecy News And Commentary By Today’s Leading Bible Prophecy Scholars • News and Commentary From A Biblical Perspective

Gog And The Magog Chess Match

By Terry James

Russian moves, begun this past Friday in the Caucasus region and other parts of what was the former Soviet Union, should sound the siren alarm of things to come for the spiritually attuned Bible prophecy student.

We have watched Iran’s posturing and repositioning during the past months, with the area of ancient Persia coming into focus as a predicted player on the regional chess board that will be part of the end game, as foretold by Ezekiel the prophet. Now, the nation-state that is at the heart of the coalition foretold to storm toward the oil-rich Middle East and Israel seems to be demonstrating intention to achieve its manifest destiny.

First of all, this article is not exactly true the Temple Institute did not just begin preparing for the Third Temple by making priestly garbs. The Temple Institute has been preparing for the building of the Third Temple for decades. It is interesting to watch the effort continue but remember, these Jews do not believe in Jesus and what they say is often self serving and scripturally just plain wrong. For Example: Rabbi Yehuda Glick in this article says the prophets say that all the nations will be coming to Jerusalem and take part in building the Third Temple and that it will unite the nations around one central house of prayer.

What prophets wrote that I might ask? The ones I read in the Bible actually said that all the nations will come against Jerusalem to destroy it in an attempt to cut off Israel from being a nation.

All nations will be judged at Jerusalem when God stands up for Israel for the sake of His own holy name and his unbreakable Covenants to Israel. After that period of nearly complete destruction on earth a fourth Kingdom Temple will be set up when Jesus comes to rule and reign in His Kingdom on earth. The Kingdom Temple will be north of the Temple mount area (Ezekiel chapter 40 - 48) it is too big for Mt Moriah. Even Ezekiel in these passages on the Millennial Kingdom did not say anything about the nations coming to Jerusalem to build the Kingdom Temple. Although the wealth of the nations will be used toward that end. The only thing the nations will be coming to Jerusalem for prior to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom will be for their judgment.

There are indications in scripture that indicate that a third temple will be built on Mount Moriah and that the daily sacrifice will be started again but the same passage says the daily sacrifice will be stopped and that the Antichrist will enter this temple and defile it claiming to be above anything called God. Scriptures also indicate that this period will start the worst time on earth that ever was or ever will be (Mt 24:21). So in reality when they start building the temple they will really be setting the stage for the fulfillment of the prophecy about the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer chap 30). Perhaps these Rabies should read these scriptures and the destruction that all their prophets talked about instead of skipping over that part and telling us that all nations will come to help build their Third Temple. Only a minority remnant of Jews will even survive the time after the desecration of the Third Temple.

It is interesting how the religious Jews spin the scriptures to read what they want to read into it. Postmodern Christians are now doing the same thing but make no mistake, judgment will come before any lasting restoration of Israel and the Church is not going to bring the Kingdom on earth by Christian social actions.

Another thing I wish to point out is that Glick and other Rabies like him like the support that the Christian Evangelicals give but they have also heard from the Evangelicals about the second coming of
Jesus. They have heard what we say scripture says about the judgment coming to Israel but they have rejected that message and substituted it with their own postmodern relativism by reading into scripture what they want to hear rather than what it actually says. All religions in the world can talk about religious pluralism and how the world will all become one but that is not what God says in the Bible. There will be no uniting of the world until the King of Peace comes, judges the nations and sinners and establishes His Kingdom on the earth.

Third Temple preparations begin with priestly garb | Jerusalem Post

On Monday, the Temple Institute started preparing to build a Third Temple on Jerusalem’s Mount Moriah, the site of the Dome of the Rock and the Aksa mosque, by inaugurating a workshop that manufactures priestly garments.

Priestly garments have not been worn since the destruction of the Second Temple by Rome in 70 CE and cannot be functional until a Third Temple is constructed.

The secret of the correct shade of blue has been lost since the destruction of the Second Temple, as the identity of chilazon, the snail from which it was extracted, was uncertain until the Ptil Tekhelet nonprofit organization identified it as the murex trunculus, aka hexaplex trunculus, the banded dye-murex found near the Mediterranean Sea.

“The Temple is not a message [just for] the Jewish people. It reunites the world all around one central prayer house. All the prophets say that at the End Times all the nations will be coming to Jerusalem and take part of building [the Temple],” Glick says.

Another significant factor in all this is that Russia’s economy is only thriving because of the high price of gas and oil in the world. Russia’s national wealth is totally dependent on the export of its vast natural resources. That also could be the very reason why Russia marches to the Middle East like Ezekiel says to take a spoil. The day may soon come when a powerful Russia built up with oil and gas money will suddenly see a crash of oil and gas prices. AT that time a Russia dependent on energy exports will become desperate and decide to take a spoil and move against Israel just like Ezekiel said in his chapters 38 and 39 prophecy.

Oil and gas could crash because of a world economic collapse or some energy breakthrough or even because of some massive new finds of deep oil deposits - perhaps found in Israel. I am expecting this conjecture to be fulfilled in about ten to twenty years. Meanwhile, a fascist system is being set up by Putin and he could rule Russia for decades. In my opinion, there is a better chance then not that Vladimir Putin is Gog.

Russia: A totalitarian regime in thrall to a Tsar who’s creating the new Facist empire | the Daily Mail

No decision of any significance for the Russian people or the rest of us will be made in the foreseeable future without the say - so of Medvedev’s unsmiling master.

Just before he stood down as President, Putin declared: “I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning til night, and I have given all I could to this work. I am happy with the results.”

As he surveys the nation today he reminds me of that chilling poem by Ted Hughes, Hawk Roosting, in which the dreaded bird sits at the top of a tall tree musing: “Now I hold all Creation in my foot - I kill as I please because it is all mine - I am going to keep things like this.”

Russia may be a member of the G8 whose GDP (because of oil) should soon overtake the United Kingdom, but, in many ways, it is more like a Third World country.

Stricken with an epidemic of AIDS and alcoholism which both contribute to a male life expectancy of 58 years, the population is projected to shrink from 145 million to 120 million within a few decades.

So where has all the oil wealth gone? According to an Independent Experts Report, written by two former high-level Kremlin insiders who have had the courage to speak out, “a criminal system of government [has] taken shape under Putin” in which the Kremlin has been selling state assets cheaply to Putin’s cronies and buying others assets back from them at an exorbitant price.

The threat of prosecution for tax fraud is the Kremlin’s weapon of choice against anyone who dares to challenge its hegemony.

When Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, used his oil wealth to promote human rights and democracy, Putin detected a threat to his throne.

The oligarch was duly arrested and convicted of fraud. He now languishes in a Siberian jail where he is in the third year of an eight-year prison sentence.

None of this is a matter of public debate in Russia where the media has been muzzled by the Kremlin, their freedom of expression stifled by the government.

Almost every national radio and television station is now controlled directly or indirectly by the state, and the same applies to every newspaper of any influence.

Some 20 Russian journalists have been killed in suspicious circumstances since Putin came to office. No one has yet been convicted for any of these crimes.

Putin calls the system over which he presides “sovereign democracy”. I think a better term is “cryptofascism” - though even the Kremlin’s few critics in Russia recoil when I suggest this.

After all, their parents and grandparents helped save the world from Hitler - at a cost of 25 million Soviet lives. Nonetheless, the evidence is compelling.

The structure of the state - the alliance between the Kremlin, the oligarchs, and the security services - is awesomely powerful.

No less worryingly is popular distaste - often contempt - for democracy and indifference to human rights.

Chuck Missler explains why Israel is God’s land, that the covenant to occupy it is to the Jews, and what this has to do with what we see going on in the Middle East today.

The Betrayal of the Chosen - CWN

For those of us who take the Bible seriously, it is a critical time to be up to date on our homework. There are many dangers in not taking the Word of God seriously.

The Land does not belong to the Palestinians. It doesn’t belong to the U.N., the U.S., or even Israel! It specifically is the Lord’s. Yes, “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”1 And yet, it is strange to note that there is a very specific parcel of real estate which has been set aside as His, and His alone.2 God delights in making and keeping promises. He takes them very seriously.

Ezekiel 36:21-25

This is a startling passage! They are to be regathered, not because they “deserve” to be, but because God’s own reputation is at stake-His Name is on the deal! (Again, it’s always by grace-just as our own blessings are!)

On May 14, 1948, the debate should have been silenced: the State of Israel was reborn in the very Land which God had declared for that purpose. Also, note the “then” in v. 25: they are to be regathered before becoming cleansed by faith and repentance. (It appears that the acknowledgment and repentance of the believing remnant is a precondition of the Second Coming.9)

Here is one great interview with Joel Rosenberg who gives his very astute view of end time events. His latest book is “Dead Heat”

CNN.com - Transcripts

ROSENBERG: Well I think eventually Rome will be the center of the E.U. How is that going to happen? I don`t know. There is a lot I don`t know. The point is the Bible laid out some details it doesn`t give us all the details.

BECK: Is it true that we — we haven`t bombed parts of Iraq because of, not only the historic significance, but the biblical significance of — of Babylon?

ROSENBERG: Babylon itself, Babylon is a province, it`s also a city, but there is no one living in current Babylon, it`s being reconstructed. There is no question American forces were very careful about bombing in the area. However there was some archaeological destruction as troops were coming in and out of there. That was a problem.

But I interviewed for my previous book, “Epicenter,” a nonfiction book, “Epicenter,” you and I have talked about it. I interviewed the chief economic adviser to the current prime minister of Iraq and I said “The New York Times” and others are reporting you have a plan to rebuild Babylon as a cultural epicenter. He said absolutely. He walked me through the plans they have to rebuild the city. They believe cultural tourism in Iraq will be the second largest money producer after oil, two, three, four, five years down the road.

Now, right now it`s almost impossible to imagine people going on a vacation to Iraq.

BECK: Oh, no. Come to Iraq. I mean .

ROSENBERG: I just went there. My family thought I was crazy, president of Crazytown. But look, the Bible says that is what will happen. People will come from all over the world. Revelation describes all the merchants of the earth are coming to Iraq. That`s not that far off I don`t think.

This is a nice article and perspective on Russia. I do disagree on at least one major point. When the next crises comes to Russia Putin will not settle for another economic collapse. He will will move Russian forces into the Middle East to take a spoil as spoken about in Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39.

American Thinker: The Trouble with Russia

While the Putin regime means short-term trouble for us, it also means that another long-term tragedy is looming for the Russian people. Once again, they are living in a police state. Even now, the Kremlin is busily re-building the dreaded Gulag and packing it with Russians whose only crime has been to oppose Putin or to speak out publicly against the dictatorship he and his cronies are tightening every day. And If you’re wondering why Russia has squandered the historic opportunity it had to join the civilized world when the Soviet Union collapsed back in 1991, the answer is depressingly simple: Countries are like people; some learn from their mistakes and move on, while others keep making the same mistake over and over again.

Russia is now fascist and most of the people in Russia love it. So did Germany under Hitler. Fascism with dictatorial leaders can be a very efficient system. In many ways Putin is following in Hitler’s footsteps. For this reason Russia will prosper for awhile and also because it controls so much of the world’s needed resources. However, no reasonable person should have any illusion where this will all lead. When the Jackals take control of a country you know that they will devour anyone in their way. Russia will become a world superpower again but this time she will be much like Germany was under Hitler. In 10 to 15 years she will be ready to march to the Middle East and fulfill the prophecies of Gog in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Putin’s Iron Grip on Russia Suffocates His Opponents - New York Times

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia — Shortly before parliamentary elections in December, foremen fanned out across the sprawling GAZ vehicle factory here, pulling aside assembly-line workers and giving them an order: vote for President Vladimir V. Putin’s party or else. They were instructed to phone in after they left their polling places. Names would be tallied, defiance punished. The city’s children, too, were pressed into service. At schools, teachers gave them pamphlets promoting “Putin’s Plan” and told them to lobby their parents. Some were threatened with bad grades if they failed to attend “Children’s Referendums” at polling places, a ploy to ensure that their parents would show up and vote for the ruling party.

Around the same time, volunteers for an opposition party here, the Union of Right Forces, received hundreds of calls at all hours, warning them to stop working for their candidates. Otherwise, you will be hurt, the callers said, along with the rest of your family.

When the Russian Orthodox Church head who was a KGB agent and is the most powerful religious figure in Russia joins with an authoritative KGB agent that is the most powerful political figure in Russia, what can be the outcome? Read Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Orthodox Church unholy alliance with Putin - Telegraph

In an unusual move, Alexei II, the Church’s patriarch, has endorsed deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev ahead of next week’s presidential election.The influence of his support on Russia’s estimated 100 million Orthodox worshippers is immense.

It also illustrates the unholy alliance the Church has forged with the Kremlin since Mr Putin came to power eight years ago.

The president, a proud adherent, has allowed the Orthodox Church to regain much of its Tsarist-era lustre and has won the enthusiastic support of religious leaders in return.

With his hand-picked successor almost guaranteed victory in the March 2 poll, Mr Putin is determined to maintain the arrangement by holding on to the reins of power as prime minister.

The relationship might seem odd. It was the KGB, after all, that led persecution of the Church in Soviet times, when priests were regularly jailed, tortured and executed. Neither this nor accusations that Mr Putin is restoring many of the attributes of Soviet rule seem to bother Alexei.Although he has never confirmed it, the patriarch, like the president, is a former KGB agent codenamed Drozdov, according to Soviet archives opened to experts in the 1990s.

Watch this new Russia closely. I believe we are witnessing the rise of Gog of Bible prophecy. Russia’s military capabilities are a major indicator that Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 can be fulfilled. At the rate Russia is going now, I think she will be ready to fulfill the invasion spoken of by Ezekiel by 2020-2025.

clipped from www.independent.co.uk Vladimir Putin has used one of the last major speeches of his presidency to deliver a defiant message to the West, accusing it of unleashing a new arms race that left Moscow no choice but to retaliate in kind. Less than a month before presidential elections that his hand-picked successor is almost certain to win, the speech removed any lingering doubts that Russian foreign policy might become less aggressive after Mr Putin steps down. “It’s clear that a new arms race is unfolding in the world,” said Mr Putin, one that Russia did not start. And he vowed that Russia would respond to the threats by developing newer and more modern weapons that were as good as if not better than those possessed by Western countries.

I was at a small Bible prophecy conference for the last few days. The conference speakers were Chuck Missler, Dave Hunt, Bill Gallatin and Amir Tsarfati.

I guess the theme of the conference was upping the bar because we are getting very close to the rapture.

Amir Tsarfati is from Israel and is a very engaging speaker. If you every get a chance to listen to him do so. He gave us the latest in Israel which really was not news to me since I keep up on these things. He feels the present government of Israel will fall around the end of this month. He sees all the pieces of the puzzle almost in place for the Ezekiel 38 scenario. He also thinks there will be an attack on Iran within months and that Damascus will be destroyed shortly.

Bill Gallation’s message was mainly one of exhortation to the church to do the work of God while we still have time. He also made it clear that he thought America would soon be judged.

Dave Hunt talked mostly about the “New Atheists” that are very evil and are now on a crusade against all religion. Dave is recovering from hip surgery and is getting quite elderly. He was kind of scattered at the conference. It could be medication he is on or it just might be that old age is catching up with him. He said he has to do three debates against top scholars within a week. I simply do not see Dave being very effective in these debates if he performed like he did at the conference. I think Dave needs our prayers that God will strengthen this great defender of the faith.

I am a great Church Missler fan but Chuck Missler was a let down for me. He just did the same 10 year old material at the conference. It was about the same stuff you would get from his through the Bible in 24 hours series. He seemed to be there more to sell his material than to give us any new insights on Bible prophecy.

Missler started his own Internet Bible institute where if you buy his material and do a small amount of interaction and pass a multiple guess test you can get credit for completing the course. He presently has three levels of achievement: bronze, silver and gold. He claims that up to half his credits can be transfer to a certain Internet correspondence University and be used toward a bachelor, masters or PHD program. My problem with that is that a degree from Universities like this is probably useless in the real world anyway. So what it comes down to for me is that you end up paying twice as much for Chuck Mislers MP3’s so you can hang a ridiculous huge Medellin around your neck. Chuck was wearing his Gold around his neck for the entire conference.

So far there has been a couple of hundred people who have completed the Bronze course. Chuck was asked but did not indicate that there were any who have made it to Gold yet, although he did say that dozens were given honorary Gold.

I guess there are several motivations for this institute. Chuck feels the church is ignorant on the Bible and what is going on in the world and needs educating. I would agree with him on that point but usually those going to Bible prophecy conferences are not the ones that need to be targeted.

Chuck also feels the Church will soon need to go underground and the best way to do this is to use Internet technology. I have some concerns with that and I brought a couple of my concerns up with Chuck. If fundamental Christian teaching become illegal it will not be a problem for the Government to filter out any Christian material or even track down anyone. For example, they could use the word “Chuck Missler” and automatically dump any article with that name being indexed, hosted or going through an ISP. They could also do it with the words “second coming” or “rapture” or any other word or phrase they want. They are already doing that in China and some other countries.

Some might say you could encrypt the information but then the government could require all encryption software companies to give them the encryption keys. I brought that up to Chuck but Chuck just said that they did not even need encryption keys. If that were the case (and in real time operations it is not) then Chuck just proved my case.

Chuck teaches that there will be a satellite within five years that will provide Internet access for everyone on earth. That probably is not true. One satellite is not going to cover the whole earth. It might be that in five years there will be the beginning of a satellite system that will eventually cover the whole earth but the whole system would be many years down the line. The media companies are not investing hundreds of billions of dollars in fiber cable and WiMax technology because it will be all obsolete in five years.

Even if there were a satellite system, it would change nothing about filtering capabilities. If all communications were coming from the satellites, someone could still filter the information just by having the data downloaded to government censors before uploading it again to the satellite and sending it back to the earth.

Another argument Chuck used was that we would be under-the-radar so to speak. Nobody is under-the-radar of a filter.

So I am finding this underground Church idea to be incredibly naive. Government right now, in the name of nation security, is being told to monitor all Internet traffic. Any underground church that wants to be under the radar better separate itself from any electronic media.

Anyway, for what my opinion is worth, I find this whole institute of Missler’s to be not well thought out. I also do not feel that he should be using a quarter of his time at a Bible conference that I paid for with the entrance fees promoting his institute during his speaking slots. 

Missler brought up one interesting point at the conference that I will have to think more about. He makes a distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. He claims that the passages about those Christians practicing the sins mentioned where it is said that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, is not talking about whether they will be saved or not. Missler claims that the inheritance is ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ in the Millennium. Thus, Missler indicates that some in Christ will not rule or even be in the Millennium reign or Kingdom of Heaven but they still will be saved in the Kingdom of God. I have not thought through the concept yet, so I do not take a position on it. But, if it were true, it could explain why people who are obviously believers are told that if they are practicing these sins, they will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven which comes to earth for a thousand years.

Tony Blair says that security for Israel will have to be guaranteed for peace in the Middle East.

We know that this security for Israel must take place before Ezekiel 38 and 39 can be fulfilled. It now looks like this security will soon come. Tony Blair is likely to become the first President of the EU under the new EU treaty and he could see to it that the EU guarantees Israel’s security. The US might do it at first but I think the US will have too many of its own problems in the near future and the EU will take over this role. Then at some point in the near future a man will arise in the EU that will confirm the peace deal (probably already in place) for seven years. That is when the seven year tribulation starts.

If we see the first steps for all this scenario taking place today. How long will it be before the tribulation actually begins?  I believe everything will be fulfilled within two or three decades. 

Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said on Friday he believed a deal could be clinched between the Israelis and the Palestinians before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009, but emphasized that any agreement reached would have to guarantee Israel’s security.

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