The World Stage, Signature Judgements, and War in Israel
Vince Aquilino
August 15th, 2001
In the article entitled: "Stem Cell Research -- Blessing or Curse?" posted on August 10th, 2001, I stated my belief, regarding President Bush's compromise decision regarding Stem Cell research, that: "God will now step up his signature judgements (natural disasters) upon the United States as a result of this evil that has been put forth as good."
Let's take a look at what has transpired in the few days since that decision. Just 19 hours later a 5.5 earthquake was recorded in California. The moderate earthquake rattled a remote area of northern California, being felt as far away as Sacramento and Reno, Nevada, but it caused no major damage or Injuries -- this was a signature judgement of God -- a warning.
Also on Thursday, Hurricane experts boosted their predictions for this storm season, foreseeing as many as a dozen tropical storms, including up to eight hurricanes. That’s up from the 11 tropical storms and seven hurricanes forecast in May.
Then less then a week later, severe thunderstorms, high winds, golf ball-size hail, fatal lightning strikes, waterspouts and flash floods plagued the south over the weekend from Oklahoma to Florida. Heavy rains in the NE and Mid-Atlantic snapped a week-long streak of high & record temperatures and dangerous heat and in the North west and California, drought conditions there helped spark 22 new wildfires. Forecasters also said excessive heat will continue this week across most of Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley. Jackson, Miss., residents experienced major flooding that damaged nearly 200 homes and businesses. Dozens of boat rescues were made as flood waters reached 5-6 feet in some Jackson neighborhoods. Rainfall amounts of 5-6 inches were dumped in the area from Jackson to Hattiesburg to McComb, with isolated amounts up to 10 inches during just a 3 hr. period Sunday morning. And another 3-5 inches was expected. Since January first, more than 43 inches of rain has been recorded at Jackson. That is more than 7.5 inches above normal for the period.
God will continue to warn. On August 13th, Bill Koenig from "Koenig's International News" bill@watch.org wrote:
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"We now have observed the United States government provide funds for embryo research and take steps that have helped lead Israel to the brink of war. Those actions will go along with our government’s previous decisions on partial-birth abortion and abortion.
The Lord has been very fair to our nation. He has given us 24 warnings on the day Israel was asked and forced by the U.S. to give up its covenant land (For example, while Israel was forcing its settlers off the covenant land (Ezekiel 11:17), the stock market was melting down. On October 15,the market lost 266 points. On the same day, Hurricane Irene hit North Carolina, and on the morning of the 16th, a powerful 7.1 earthquake rocked the Southwest). These warnings have been some of the most expensive and forceful storms in American history, along with earthquakes, and a Presidential sex scandal.
So what gives? As a watchman, it could be war in Israel, or a Congressional decision on stem cell research, or it could be a convergence of two or more key events. Whatever happens, God has patiently warned us, and His judgment now seems so near. Can God’s judgment be stopped? Yes, if the President were to take a courageous position and forbid any kind of stem cell research, and if he were to end the U.S. complicity in the Israel land giveaway, this nation could be spared. If not, judgment will likely fall. The Lord has allowed the peace situation to play out on the world stage, and the world’s eyes are now focused on Jerusalem. He has also allowed the stem cell and the talk of life’s sanctity to be debated on the world stage. Jerusalem has become the burdensome stone Zechariah prophesied, and now we are about to tamper with embryos, the root of life.
We might be annoyed or angry watching this all happen, but the Lord has taken this opportunity to warn, educate and expound on the sanctity of life and the importance of Israel for the world to see.
WHEN WILL JUDGMENT FALL?
The warnings continue, and soon the Lord will respond forcefully and powerfully.
It is likely that the United States will experience a massive event or series of events in response. John McTernan believes that when Israel goes to war, something will happen to the United States. We have been sponsors on every peace deal since Madrid, including Oslo, Wye, the Tenet report and now to the Mitchell Agreement. The irony is that both sides have trusted us more and have continued to want us involved.
In summary, the President is a good and decent man. He needs our prayers. He was raised for this moment. The decisions he is making right now have enormous implications because we are just minutes before midnight on God's time clock. Let’s thank the Lord that he is our president and not Al Gore. The implications of a Gore Presidency are scary and ominous to consider.
We are blessed because we are living in one of the most incredible times in human history when so much is riding on a few crucial decisions.
All eyes remain on Jerusalem, God's time clock."
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Let's take a look at the Middle East and Jerusalem -- God's time clock. The situation in the Middle East is growing more tense by the hour. The players are assembled, the stage is set, and the destiny of the world hangs in the balance.
Shakespeare once wrote: "Out, out brief candle! Life is but a poor player who struts and frets his life upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Shakespeare demonstrates wisdom in this parody on life. On an individual level, how many of us have strutted and fretted on the stage of life, not recognizing the shortness of this sojourn we call life as we posture with bravado -- with sound and fury -- but in the final analysis, storing up very little of eternal value.
"For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?" (ECC 6:12)
On a macro level, as we view the stage of the Middle East and observe the posturing of the world powers, we can be impressed with the sound and fury of their impassioned pleas, the continued calls for land for peace, peace at any cost, the calls for Jihad and Israel's total destruction. But in the final analysis, for all the rhetoric, it means little as all the players have hidden agendas and secret objectives. The only agenda that has merit is God's agenda:
"And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 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." (Eze 38:3-4)
There will come a time when God will enter into judgement against Israel's enemies as He draws them into an ill-fated attack on Israel. And when they do come it will be a massive invasion: "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." (Eze 38:9)
In the natural, Israel's current situation appears desperate. She is surrounded by her traditional enemies and the court of world opinion is now almost totally against Israel.
"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zec 12:3)
I cannot tell you if this is the time God will put the hook into the jaw, we can only pray for the peace of Jerusalem and watch and pray that we will be found worthy to escape the judgement that is coming upon the earth. As we watch the stage, it appears that this indeed could be the preliminary stages of a move against Israel.
As I pen this article, Israeli troops, tanks, and armored personnel carriers have been assembling in the hills between Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority-controlled Bethlehem to the south.
According to Middle East Newsline, Russia, the Gog of Magog, who leads the invasion of Israel, is now projecting a Middle East war within three to six months. Russian defense analysts are predicting a regional war which would engulf Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The Russian strategists said Egypt could be swept into such a conflict. Russian strategist Yevgeney Stanovsky unequivocally stated: "We are moving inexorably toward a war." He indicated that the trigger for the war could take place in September. The Russian analysts expect an Israeli offensive against the Palestinian Authority triggered by Palestinian bombings of Israeli cities. Such an offensive, they said, could prompt Egypt to direct its Third Army to enter the Sinai. The Third Army is scheduled to conduct an exercise near the Suez Canal next month.
Egypt has indeed weighed in for the main event as the the London-based Sunday Times reported on Monday, August 13th, 2001 that they do in fact intend to dispatch its Third Army to the Sinai Desert, even though that area is a neutral zone. Quoting a high ranking Egyptian military officer, the newspaper account said that if Israel keeps on its attacks against the Palestinian civilians, the Egyptian army will enter the scene.
On Wednesday, the Arab League convened in emergency session. On Sunday, Syria held high-level military talks with China as Syrian Chief of Staff Gen. Ali Aslan met a Chinese military delegation on a visit to Damascus. Syrian sources said the two sides discussed ways to promote military relations. U.S. officials said China has renewed missile component and technology exports to Syria and other Arab and Middle Eastern states.
The China-Syrian meeting is suspect considering that a Hong Kong newspaper reported last Friday that China has finished preparations for what it says will be its largest ever-military exercises just off Taiwan. The paper quoted Chinese military officials as saying the drill would simulate how the People's Liberation Army would "smash at any time any plots by Taiwan independent separatists." This could serve as a distraction for the United States as Israel's enemies move against her.
The clock is also ticking for Turkey and Turkey (the house of Togarmah - Eze 38:6) is a key player in the Ezekiel 38 invasion.
As has been discussed in past analysis, the Israeli-Turkish alliance is critical to preventing a Middle-East War. Israel and Turkey signed a military pact in 1996 that reversed years of frosty ties, but Turkey has begun to waver on support to the U.S.A. as well as Israel. Turkey is an ally of both the United States and Israel, but Turkey's close ties with Israel included military agreements and military cooperation such as in the recent Air force maneuvers using F15 and F16 fighter jets. But that may be changing. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said after talks with Yasser Arafat last fall indicated he supported the principle of Palestinian statehood. But was even more disturbing was that Arafat pointed out that Turkish soldiers are in the West Bank city of Hebron assisting a Palestinian army unit.
Turkey is an important regional power and it is continuing to move toward the Arab world. President Suleyman Demirel visited Egypt last year with hopes increasing economic cooperation and to consolidate already close political ties with Cairo. King Abdullah of Jordan also said during a visit last year to Amman that Turkey should play an important role in middle eastern peace making: ``Changes in the region dictate that our relations with Turkey assume a strategic dimension which we hope will set an example for Arab-Turkish ties,''
Of particular note was Intelligence Digest's observation at that time that " Syria cannot possibly go to war with Israel until Turkey is neutralized." In their eyes, Turkey is the linch-pin to stability in the area.
Then on April 19, 2001, in a move which would have been considered out of the realm of possibility only a year ago it was announced that Syria and Turkey are exploring the prospect of military cooperation. The Damascus-based Syrian News Agency, SANA, said the talks concerned "means of developing cooperation between the two armies." Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said Ankara and Damascus are discussing a framework for military cooperation that would include mutual visits by commanders, joint training and invitations to exercises. They said the issue was first explored during a visit by a Syrian military delegation to Ankara in January. Officials said Turkey has even proposed to Syria projects to jointly develop defensive systems that would increase border surveillance. They said the Foreign Ministry in Ankara has taken the lead in a Turkish effort to improve relations with the Arab world, including Iraq and Syria.
And now it appears that Turkey may be yet one more step closer to allying herself with Israel's enemies exactly as prophesied by Ezekiel. On August, 10th 2001 a European union senior conservative minister has again criticized restrictions on Turkey's civil liberties in an escalating public row with the powerful army that has sparked debate on whether Turkey can improve its crippled democracy and join the European Union. Speaking in a television interview late on Thursday, August 9th, 2001, Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz warned that Ankara's failure to expand freedom of speech and thought would spell an end to its bid to join the 15-nation EU. "If Turkey does not abolish these unnecessary restrictions soon, in September or October, it will miss the EU train and move away from the contemporary world. That is the real threat," Yilmaz said. The latest comments by Yilmaz, the leader of the conservative Motherland Party (ANAP), marked the latest episode in a row with the army.
This may be the last straw for Turkey. If she gives up on her quest for a western-like identity, she would join with the Israewl's traditional enemies. In these comments by the European Union, we once again have mention of the September/October time-frame. It is the same time-frame predicted by Russia as a possible flare-up date for the war in the Middle East. It is also about the time of Rosh Ha'Shannah -- a possible date for the Rapture this year or on some year in the future. Turkey now also has a date with destiny as she will eventually join with Israel's enemies and invade Israel. War looks likely in the Middle East as Israel is no longer showing constraint.
On August 9th, Fox news reported that: "It appears Israel is preparing to implement its final option: break battle gridlock with the Palestinians and destroy them once and for all. Rather than tolerate the continuation of random, spontaneous violence, the Sharon strategy will be to silence them entirely. It will require a massive military blow against the Palestinian political infrastructure. It will involve the decapitation of the Palestinian leadership and the exile or deaths of the political elite. There is also a chance that Israel may apply this strategy to two other long-standing problems: the Syrian control of Lebanon and the potential Iraqi military threat against Israel. International condemnation, including the potential for sanctions, will follow any Israeli action. From Israel's point of view, a broader strike carries minimal additional cost. The current absence of external constraints against Israel by the United States and regional neighbors may lead Sharon to consider expanding his elimination strategy against Syria and Iraq as well. A confluence of factors, stemming from the Six Day War in 1967, is driving Israel toward such a massive military option."
Yet, just the day before, (Aug 8, 2001) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was ready for painful concessions for peace, but Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must decide if he sought to head an independent state or a "gang of murderers." "Israel wants to start the peace process as early as possible," Sharon said after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in Ankara. "There's only one thing to understand - we are committed to peace and I am ready to make painful concessions for peace but I will not make any concessions on the security of the people of Israel," Sharon said.
Ok, where do we stand.
First of all, Ariel Sharon continues to use the twin words "peace and security" for Israel just as prophesied by Scripture: "For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape." (1 Thes 5:3)
As a Watchman I see a few possible scenarios (I am sure there are more we could not even imagine) that are most probable at this point in time (unless the circumstances change):
1) The Arab's, including Turkey, will join with Russia, while America is distracted either by a national disaster or a Chinese move against Taiwan or some other military incursion that will require a commitment of the now thinly deployed American military). Israel's enemies will use this time of uncertainty in America to move militarily against Israel -- the long-awaited Ezekiel 38 invasion of Israel - an invasion that includes the use of nuclear weapons and which also includes, in my opinion, God's judgement on the United States of America. We know that for certain Biblical prophecies to be fulfilled, that the United States must fade as a world power so that Europe may rise as the seat of anti-christ power in the revived roman empire.
or;
2) Syria will launch an attack on Israel which will provoke Israel to destroy Damascus and trigger the Ezekiel 38 invasion of Israel: " "Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap." (Isa 17:1)
or;
3) An incredibly wise and charismatic man will enter stage-left onto the stage of world affairs with a solution to the intractable peace process in the Middle East. This would be "the man of peace", the anti-chirst, although that will not be verified until he exaults himself above all that is called holy and declares himself to be god. The latter requires that the temple (or a least a "wilderness" tabernacle - a tent) be erected on the Temple Mount so the Jews can once again begin sacrifice). It is likely that the anti-christ's solution will involve access by all major religions to the temple mount and Israel will begin the construction of the third temple.
All these events will occur, but the order is not yet clear. So we need to wakeup and prepare.
`It is now the hour to awake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith.'' (Rom 13:11)
Purify yourselves daily by the reading of the Word. Jesus is returning for a Holy and Spotless Church. ``Today is the day of salvation for many who are perishing; their tomorrow shall not see my return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Today is the day of their salvation." Don't delay. Time is short. You have no guarantee that you will even see tomorrow. If you die without receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your eternal destiny is fixed.
As we see the signs of His return drawing close, what manner of holy life should we be living? Remember that Jesus is returning for a Holy and Spotless Bride. Whether His return is today or 10 years from now is irrelevant since eternity is only a heart beat away for any of us. So choose this day whom you will serve, ask the Holy Spirit to search you to see if there be any iniquity in you, and then call upon Jesus your Deliverer. He is faithful for forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unfaithfulness.
"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. "For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36)
"I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty." (Hag 2.7) "Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
"Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
Maranatha and Blessings on you all as we all wait for the return of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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