Sunday, October 11, 2015

Setting The End Times Stage...........

Setting The End Times Stage

"Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him and say; 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords.  Persia, Cush and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.'

                                                                                              Ezekiel 38:3-6

Gog is one of these supernatural powers, perhaps Satan's counterpart to the Archangel Michael, who is also called a chief prince (Daniel 10:13) and who is responsible for the defense of Israel (Daniel 12:1).  A review of Genesis 10 shows that Gog's name does not appear in the human genealogies there, nor can he be found among their descendants by any other means, but he appears to be well known to God.

On the other hand, Magog does appear in Genesis 10 as the 2nd son of Japeth and brother of Meshech and Tubal. Most scholars believe Magog represents modern day Russia, while Meshech and Tubal likely settled nearby in eastern Turkey, and there's universal agreement that Persia is now known as Iran.

As Russia has moved to re-assert itself as a player on the world stage, one of the first steps has involved the Middle East. This began with the agreement to help Iran build nuclear reactors, supposedly for peaceful purposes. After numerous delays caused primarily by Western objections, the Bushehr reactor has finally come on line. It's the first of what was originally announced as an agreement to build 10 such power plants. Through out all this Russia has been steadfastly opposed to any military efforts aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear program and is now considering the construction of a second reactor at Bushehr.

Then there was Russia's decision to relocate portions of its Black Sea naval fleet to the Eastern Mediterranean, revamping its Soviet era support base in Tartus on the coast of Syria to accommodate its presence there.

Most recently has been Russia's support of the Syrian government in it's efforts to put down the internal strife that has engulfed that country. On two separate occasions, the Russian delegate to the UN has used his Security Council veto to defeat motions that were perceived to be against Syrian government interests.  Since Iran also supports the Syrian government, the three countries have been drawn into a tighter partnership to withstand world wide pressure for a "regime change" in Syria and an end to the violence there.

At this point Russia and Iran have a powerful, even controlling voice in determining Syria's future and will likely determine the interim head of Syria's soon to be necessary, new government. No thinking person would ever expect Russia and Iran to replace the Assad regime with one more tolerant toward Israel. In fact the opposite would be much more likely, and as a practical matter Russia and Iran would also have direct control of the Syrian military, in which both are already heavily involved. Israel's northern border would quickly become even less secure than it is now.  

The stage is set, the players are ready, and the curtain is going up...........HEADLINES ARE JUMPING FROM THE PAGES OF YOUR BIBLE!

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