Fifty years ago near-sighted Bible prophecy watchmen were telling everyone that would read their books or listen to their teaching that Gog was about to invade Israel. Hal Lindsey in his book, The Late Great Planet Earth (1970),<\/em> thought the Soviet Union would fulfill the prophecy by the early 1980’s. Even before 1960 Jack Van Impe was saying that the Gog Russian invasion was imminent. Van Impe also identified Russia with the forces of the Soviet Union. These Bible prophecy watchmen were wrong.<\/p>\n I understand their exuberance back then. The Soviet Union of fifty and sixty years ago certainly had the military forces to fulfill the prophecy. However, some ducks were not lined up right and NATO was strong. They would not have allowed the Soviet Union to march into Israel. Not to mention that Turkey was in NATO and the Shaw of Iran was being supported by the US and was pro West. There were other reasons why the tribulation wars could not have taken place that soon. Nevertheless, irrationally exuberant Bible prophecy watchmen thought the second coming was before 1988 so they made the Gog invasion happen before that time in their teaching.<\/p>\n Once again, irrationally exuberant Bible prophecy watchmen are all over the wall saying Gog is coming! Russia is coming! or even Turkey is coming! I have to say, Whoa! Hold your horses! Wait a minute! Take a deep breath! Time out!<\/p>\n Yes, some things have changed that seem to be setting the stage for the alignment of nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 but let’s not continually get the cart before the horse. The Bible prophecy watchmen that think Gog is coming in the next few years will also be proven wrong.<\/p>\n It stands to reason that if Gog invades Israel within the next two decades we would have to start to see the building of this alliance very soon. So, that should not surprise anyone. Even so, the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 and 39 cannot happen for at least another decade.<\/p>\n For being Bible prophecy literalists, these watchmen really overlook a lot of small print written in Ezekiel 38 and 39. I am not saying that these Bible prophecy watchmen are intentionally misleading people. I think they have good motives. They just seem to be irrationally exuberant. They think any signs of an Ezekiel 38 tribal alignment means the Rapture will come and take us Christians away by next Christmas.<\/p>\n Let me first point out what I think are major key points and the scriptures about those points and then I will go into more detail on each of them.<\/p>\n 1. Gog will be turned around.<\/strong><\/p>\n Eze 38:4\u00a0 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:<\/p>\n Eze 38:5\u00a0 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:<\/p>\n Eze 38:6\u00a0 Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.<\/p>\n Eze 38:7\u00a0 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 2. Israel will be at rest and will feel secure.<\/strong><\/p>\n Eze 38:11\u00a0 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,<\/p>\n Eze 38:14\u00a0 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 3. Gog will have a very huge army.<\/strong><\/p>\n Eze 38:9\u00a0 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.<\/p>\n Eze 38:15\u00a0 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:<\/p>\n Eze 38:16\u00a0 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.<\/p>\n Eze 39:12\u00a0 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.<\/p>\n Eze 39:13\u00a0 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 4. Gog will come to carry off a spoil<\/strong><\/p>\n Eze 38:10\u00a0 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:<\/p>\n Eze 38:12\u00a0 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.<\/p>\n Eze 38:13\u00a0 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Apparently, the Gog army was already assembled for some other reason. I think it was fighting a war or at least it was prepared for a major war. The idea to invade Israel came into Gog’s mind and his military forces were turned around. Hooks were put in Gog’s jaws. In other words, invading Israel was not what Gog was intending to do with this army before something happened that changed his thinking.<\/p>\n Putin thinks the collapse of the Soviet Union was a big mistake and he wants to form a new confederation of nations led by Russia. What may evolve could be something like the old Warsaw Pack but with even more allies.<\/p>\n NATO cannot even fight ISIS. Without the U.S. there is nothing that will stop Russia from dominating much of East Europe. Pro Russian factions are rising again in Eastern Europe. The western nations of the EU know this so they intend to form a European army that is totally under the control of Western Europe. They will, but it will take time. Meanwhile, Russia looks west.<\/p>\n I think Russia will once again start expanding its influence toward Western Europe and I think she will establish a new strategic pact. This is not going to happen overnight. It will take years and there will be civil wars in East Europe that will help bring this about. The first step is now underway. Russia is taking over the areas of neighboring nations where there are a lot of ethic Russians. I do not even rule out that Russia will extend her influence all the way to Germany like the original Soviet Union.<\/p>\n That certainly is not possible without some peace agreement with all the nations around them and that will take some time under the best of circumstances. Of course, the “covenant with many” of Daniel 9 could bring the peace but that is not even on the horizon yet. And if the peace covenant starts with the seven-year covenant confirmed by a person that becomes the Antichrist, then the Gog invasion cannot be a pre tribulation war like most of these Bible prophecy watchmen teach.<\/p>\n I think the actual peace covenant starts some number of years before the confirmation of it mentioned in Daniel 9:27. That peace agreement is not on the horizon yet and Israel cannot be at rest and feeling secure before it happens.<\/p>\n The Soviet Union of the 1980’s had a force of about 5 million men. Russia’s military is about a sixth of that today and it is the same story with their military equipment. Russia would have to call up its reserves to even put more than ten thousand fighting men into the Middle East today. Especially with their troops being tied up in East Europe.<\/p>\n The U.S. at the peak of its power with a coalition of 28 nations put 670,000 troops together to fight Iraq in Desert Storm. We even had to call up our reserves to accomplish that. How could Russia form such a mighty army today?<\/p>\n Russia’s age heavy demographics do not allow for a large peace time army anymore and Russia really is struggling financially because of low world energy prices. That will have to change before Russia can draft a large army and support them. More likely, to form this army they will form a\u00a0coalition of many nations like back in the days of the Warsaw Pact. That will take time.<\/p>\n The cloud coming against Israel like a flood to cover the land probably is millions of troops. It takes everyone in Israel seven months to just bury most of Gog’s army. This is not talking about 50,000 men, it is talking about millions. It would take years to build up such a coalition of forces. Like I said, back in the days of the Soviet Union there was such an army north of Israel but today there is no such force.<\/p>\n We will have years of lead time before such an army even becomes a possibility. Even so, Israel still does not see this force as a threat to them or they would not be feeling secure. I think the Gog expansion toward West Europe must take place first.<\/p>\n The wording says that all the army will be splendidly equipped. Turkey is not splendidly equipped and today it cannot even defeat the Kurd’s controlling East Turkey. Sudan, and Libya are military basket cases; they cannot come against Israel. And Iran thinks it has been given a green light to become a nuclear state. Iran is not about to risk its nuclear program to come against Israel now.<\/p>\n If it is about Islam, why does Gog come down to take a spoil, cattle and goods? Maybe it is because the main army was fighting north of Israel in Europe and a cold winter in Russia and Europe made Gog realize that he needed to make a change of plans for the winter to feed his army.<\/p>\n Gog turns his army south toward Israel to get a spoil and convinces other nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 to join with him (they actually end up fighting each other). Perhaps, Tarshish and the young lions mentioned in Ezekiel question if Gog comes to carry off goods because they know that Gog still has a battle to fight against their forces in Western Europe. Perhaps Gog thought that Israel would be easy pickings and that his allies would occupy North Africa and the Middle East in this world war. Instead his armies met their destruction in Israel.<\/p>\n Bible prophecy watchmen with their newspaper exegesis have flaws even if they seem to have good intentions. I think all astute Christians will use some newspaper exegesis at times but we do have to stick to the script given in Bible prophecy.<\/p>\n I know that watching the Bible prophecy watchmen can be interesting. I enjoy it. They will keep you informed on news that you will not get from MSM but don’t buy into everything that these watchmen are selling. The wall beats standing on a soapbox.<\/p>\n Contrary to what some Bible prophecy watchmen are teaching there is about zero possibility that Gog can come against Israel with such a mighty army within the next ten years.<\/strong><\/p>\n The real threat for the next decade is the continuing fall into immorality, other wars, terrorism, police states, rule by tyrants, politically correct speech police, economic collapse, riots, the rise of the Harlot, persecution of Christians,\u00a0drug use, internment camps, a cashless society, famine, resistant diseases, the destruction of gender identities, the destruction of the family, the destruction of nation states, deceptions from outer or inner space, genetic engineering, spiritualism (occult secret arts) and the likelihood of critical infrastructure failure.<\/p>\n The clearest sign that judgment is coming on the world within the next two decades is the genetic crossing of species that is already underway. However, Bible prophecy watchmen generally are not talking about that.<\/strong><\/p>\n God will not allow his created human being image bearers to become trans-humans. The breakthrough in gene splicing is allowing humans to combine their DNA with animals and these are also being crossed with other animals and insects. Species are crossing barriers that God set up for good reason. Thousands of\u00a0 laboratories are already involved in genetic manipulation and with the recent breakthrough with CRISPR<\/a><\/strong> gene editing technology it will now take place in basements and garages.<\/p>\n Jesus said it would be like in the days of Noah just before His coming. Before the flood, flesh on earth was being corrupted by fallen angels. The demonically inspired science of today with their belief in evolution makes it possible and acceptable to genetically cross species again. They think they can help man evolve. This crossing of species is the clearest sign that God will soon put a stop to the corruption of His creation.<\/p>\n Instead of selling a “Danger! no trespassing sign!” to the scientists and the billionaires that are carrying out and funding these genetic experiments toward trans-humanism, Bible prophecy watchmen want to sell “a keep off the grass sign” to whomever they think is Gog.<\/p>\n Russia really is not intending to invade Israel, nor is Turkey. Turkey hopes to join the EU by next decade. The destruction of Gog’s army really is a sign to the Jews. God’s intervention against the unexpected<\/strong> invasion from the north restores Israel’s faith in Yahweh. That is why the timing of the Gog invasion and other details about that event will not be clear to Israel or totally clear to Bible prophecy watchmen before that idea is placed in Gog’s mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fifty years ago near-sighted Bible prophecy watchmen were telling everyone that would read their books or listen to their teaching that Gog was about to invade Israel. Hal Lindsey in his book, The Late Great Planet Earth (1970), thought the … Continue reading 1. Gog will be turned around.<\/span><\/h2>\n
2. Israel will be at rest and feeling secure.<\/span><\/h2>\n
3. Gog will have a very huge Army.<\/span><\/h2>\n
4. Gog will come to carry off a spoil.<\/span><\/h2>\n
Bible prophecy watchmen on the wall.
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