PRECIPITATING A CASCADE
OF PROPHETIC EVENTS
Part 2 in our series, "Setting Matters Straight"
"Either Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan Horse, or it is on the cusp of a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities."
-- Charles Krauthammer
False prophets who appear and disappear like dead leaves blown in the wind.
For the past two decades (Yes! – it's been that long) we have diligently endeavored to paint for you an accurate picture of the "end of days," and we have done so relying ONLY on the Written Word of God and not on the extra-biblical mutterings and inane babbling of supposed modern-day prophets who claim to have a direct channel to God; charlatans and false prophets who appear and disappear like dead leaves blown in the wind. [Please see our article "Making Zombies out of Christians: the Prophets and Apostles Movement."]
On the basis of the Written Word alone, we have accurately foretold and WARNED you of the following events:
The mortgage meltdown in our 1998 article, "Ponzi Schemes, the Investment Craze and the End of Days" (10 years before that crisis broke out in the United States).
The derivatives crisis in my 1999 article, "It's Later than We Think" (many years before most people even knew what derivatives are, and 9 years before that crisis broke out into the open).
In addition, we accurately anticipated and CAUTIONED you – again, on the basis of the Written Word of God alone – regarding the following events, most of which are on-going today (#s 3-8):
The division of the world's population into a tiny, very wealthy financial elite (i.e., the American elite and the elites of America's client-states throughout the world) and the rest of mankind, most of whom have been (are being) reduced to a state of abject poverty. [Please see our articles, "The Background for the End of the Age: Rich verses Poor;" and "The Third World as a Model for the New World Order."]
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH: Prostituting themselves out to the antiChrist and the American New World Order System. (See #4 and #6)
The development of a CHRISTIAN (so-called) super-state. And we gave a name to that super-state: AMERICA! [Please see our article, "Apostasy: Christianity in the Service of a Religio-Corporate-Terrorist State."]
NOTE: It's not without reason that this dreadful nation is described by Isaiah as an "overflowing scourge:" please see our articles "The Horror of John Dimitri Negroponte" and "The Evil in Our Midst" for a description of the kind of anguish and terror America has been unleashing on the world. Sadly – at least for Americans – this terror is now coming back as "blowback" as the government begins now to unleash this horror on its own citizens in the Heimat (homeland). [Please see our article, "American Dystopia."]
The emergence of an antiChrist figure who will be very UNLIKE what most Christians expect – that is to say, he will NOT be a Guru-like "New Age" figure promoting his policies through "peace initiatives," but rather a BLOODY man of war. [Please see our article, "Beware the Prophetic Daydreams of False Prophets and Empty-Headed Dreamers."]
An antiChrist figure who will seemingly champion the interests of the nation of Israel. [Please see our article, "Israel: Prostituting Herself out to the American New World Order System."]
The convergence of Christianity's many different factions into a vast POLITICAL movement based not on any legitimate form of Christianity, but on HATE; one that is being directed against all those who oppose the "re-making" of America into a "Christian state." [Please see our articles, "Hardening Our Hearts: Becoming Prisoners of a Pathology of Hate," "Teaching American Christians to Hate: Beginning a Crusade against the Gay and Lesbian Community" and "The War against Women."]
The emergence of a radical form of Islam that will challenge the interests of the United States in the Middle East and Central Asia, and that will threaten the existence of the Jewish state in the Middle East. [Please see our articles, "Radical Islam" and "And So It Begins."]
We then went on to foretell the following future events (#s 9-13):
The breakup of the European Union
The probable break-up of the European Union as we have known it, and the re-formulation of its most powerful former members into a ten-nation confederacy under the domination of the United States. [Please see the sub-section of Part 1 of Chapter XII of the New Antipas Papers entitled "The Younger Horn."]
An attack by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities that will precipitate the final Islamic radicalization of the Middle East; an attack that will set the stage for the "Gog / Magog War."
Some kind of mind-numbing event that will lead to a dictatorial takeover of the United States by the Religious-Right in conjunction with America's financial elites and supported by the American military – an event that will precipitate the OVERT imposition of police-state controls on the American population. [Please see our articles, "An American Coup d'Etat," "The Evangelicals and the Mormon Church: Uniting Christ with Belial" and "The Generals' Revolt against the Obama Presidency."]
The signing of a FORMAL defense pact between Israel and the United States; this event will initiate the Tribulation Period. [Please see Part 6 of Chapter XV of THE NEW ANTIPAS PAPERS, the "Gog / Magog War;" please also see our article, "Israel: In that Day There Shall Stand Up a Root of Jesse;" in addition, we urge those who have not read our previous article listing in order all these events, "Setting Matters Straight" to please do so.]
Finally, in connection with all this, one would be well advised to consider as #14 on this list the "spiritual" (as it were) CONVERGENCE OF ANCIENT BABYLON WITH THE BABYLON OF TODAY (i.e., the United States) BECAUSE IT IS PRECISELY THE FORCES OF TODAY'S "NEW BABYLON" THAT NOW OCCUPY THE PRECINTS OF ANCIENT BABYLON (i.e., Iraq). HOW REMARKABLE IS THE PRECISION OF THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES!! [Please see our article, "In Search of Babylon: What Do the Scriptures Say?"]
NOTE: The New York Times reports that the United States is planning to keep long-term access to military bases in Iraq despite its pretense of withdrawing from the area. In this connection, it should also be noted that the U.S. continues to maintain a huge mercenary presence in the country controlled by the U.S. embassy there, an embassy which is America's largest embassy not only in the area, but in the world – a massive fortress comparable to the ancient Templar fortress in Accra by which the Templars controlled the Middle East in the early part of the last Millennium.
The Templars of 1,000 years ago and the Templars of today: American soldiers in the Middle East - both equally dedicated to bringing in the Kingdom of God through BRUTAL armed conflict.
US officials, wary of a backlash regarding America's continued entrée to these Iraqi bases, reported that they were merely looking at developing a continued military relationship with the Iraqi Government that will involve long-term "access" to America's old military bases rather than a permanent operational presence. The four bases they are interested in are said to be (1) the former Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad, (2) the Tallil air base near Nasiriyah in the south, (3) the air base known as H-1 in the western desert, and (4) the Bashur airfield in northern Iraq. H-1 (#3 above), is where special forces teams are currently based; it sits strategically on the route of the oil pipeline to Jordan.
Taking all these events together (events #s 1-13), it thus can be said that we stand very close to the beginning of the Tribulation Period. [Please see Chapter IX of the New Antipas Papers, "The Course and Character of the Last Days."]
All this lends an ominous credibility to Christ's warning:
"When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
"And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye HYPOCRITES, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matthew 16:2-3)
Please see below for a synopsis of
the key events of the Tribulation Period
Press here to see this chart properly
Indeed, the only thing that now seems to be impeding the beginning of the Tribulation is God's mercy:
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
But one should bear in mind that it is a very dangerous thing for one to "take advantage of" or treat in a cavalier fashion God's long-suffering; the Lord warns us:
"... My spirit shall not always strive with man ..." (Genesis 6:3)
A PENDING SURGE OF
PROPHETIC EVENTS
STRIKING AT IRAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES
And just how close we are to the beginning of the Tribulation Period is attested to by what appears to be the certainty of an imminent military strike by Israel against Iran – an attack that will catalyze the final radicalization (Islamization) of the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, which in turn will set the stage for the Gog / Magog War.
Commenting on the seeming inevitability of an Israeli air attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Krauthammer writes:
A CAUTIONARY PROVISO
One should be aware of the fact that it is impossible to say with ABSOLUTE certainty that such an attack will take place. There are NO Scriptures that would lend that kind of certainty to this prospect.
Nonetheless, the belief that such an attack is a very distinct possibility is based on the REAL POLITIK that something rather mind-numbing will have to take place to catalyze the Islamic radicalization of the Middle East (which itself is prophesied in the Bible); that - and the seeming impossibility of Israel being able to live under the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran - lends a great deal of credence to this possibility.
There does undoubtedly exist other possibilities that could radicalize the Middle East, but none so apparent and seemingly irresistible as the one we are discussing here.
"What's alarming is not just Iran's increasing store of uranium or the growing sophistication of its rocketry. It's also the increasingly menacing ANNIHILATIONIST threats emanating from Iran's leaders. Israel's existence is 'an insult to all humanity' says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 'Anyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime'. Explains the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israel is 'a true cancer tumor on this region that should be cut off'."
"Israel's existence is an insult to all humanity;" "Anyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime;" "Israel is a true cancer tumor on this region that should be cut off."
"Israel cannot sit idly by in the face of the most virulent genocidal threats since Nazi Germany. The result then was 6 million murdered Jews. There are 6 million Jews living in Israel today."
THE CAVALIER ATTITUDE OF OBAMA
REGARDING ISRAEL'S PERILOUS SITUATION
Even if Iran develops nuclear weapons, a modus vevindi could be worked out between Israel and Iran. THIS IS THE KIND OF CAVALIER ATTITUDE ON THE PART OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REGARDING THE SECURITY OF THE JEWISH STATE THAT MAKES ISRAELIS "GO BALLISTIC."
Nonetheless, it seems that these threats are not being taken seriously by the Obama administration. This attitude was reflected recently by nuclear physicist and anti-war advocate Gordon Prather who complains that Israel is making "much-to-do-about-nothing" in the -
"... unnecessarily menacing attitude the Israelis have taken with regard to Iran's nuclear ambitions."
Obviously, Prather believes, as does the Obama Administration, that there remains a possibility of "working things out" with the Iranians short of war - and that even if Iran develops nuclear weapons, a modus vevindi could be worked out between Israel and Iran. THIS IS THE KIND OF CAVALIER ATTITUDE ON THE PART OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REGARDING THE SECURITY OF THE JEWISH STATE THAT MAKES ISRAELIS "GO BALLISTIC."
Israeli anxiety regarding Obama's stand against Iran was heightened recently when it was discovered that high officials in Israel's previous government (i.e., the government of Ehud Olmert as well as members of Tzipora Livni Kadima) and members of the Obama Administration had been -
"... making plans for how Israel might live with a nuclear Iran in a state of mutual deterrence."
Bret Stephens writes that this kind of behind-the-scenes duplicity lends credence to Israel's belief –
"... that when President Obama calls a nuclear-armed Iran 'unacceptable,' he means it approximately in the same way a parent does when fecklessly reprimanding his misbehaving teenager."
UNDER-ESTIMATING THE THREAT POSED BY IRAN
Very obviously, most of those connected to the Obama Administration believe that Israel can and should (indeed, MUST) learn to live with a nuclear-armed Iran – just as the U.S. learned to live with a nuclear-armed Soviet Union.
They believe that just as "MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION" ("MAD") prevented the leaders of the Soviet Union from attacking the U.S., so also "MAD" will prevent Iran's leaders from attacking Israel.
However, in making this assumption, the leaders of the Obama Administration are making a huge mistake; like "secular-humanists" everywhere, they are grossly underestimating the power or religion that grasps the imagination of the mullahs of Iran.
Israelis, however, are not making that mistake! They are more than cognizant of the fact that the religious zealotry of Iran's mullahs leads them to believe that they can prevail in a war against not only Israel, but the United States as well, all the evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
Iranian mothers offering their sons up for "holy war" against Israel and the U.S.; Shia worshippers flagellating themselves; needless to say, this kind of fanaticism is not open to rationalism.
Iranian soldiers killed by poison gas in the Iraq / Iran War of the early 1980s
One has only to remember the religious fanaticism of thousands and thousands of Iranian soldiers who, armed only with pocket-size Korans, were sent willingly on what amounted to be suicide missions against well-entrenched Iraqi forces in the Iraq / Iran War of the early 1980s - Iraqi forces that unleashed upon them poison gas. This is the kind of religious fanaticism that the Israelis rightfully fear, and the kind of fanaticism that the Obama administration is ignoring.
A PROBABLE SCENARIO FOR
ISRAEL'S UPCOMING ATTACK
Anthony Cordesman, widely acknowledged to be an expert on military affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recently updated his war-game scenario entitled "Iran, Israel and Nuclear War; An Illustrative Scenario Analysis." Cordesman sees an Israeli air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities as a very real near-term possibility. Cordesman goes on to assume that Israel is targeting Iran's three main enrichment facilities, which if destroyed, would seriously delay Iran's attempt to build an atomic bomb:
· Natanz facility apparently covers some 670,000 sq ft in total, the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) complex was built some 8 meters-deep into the ground and protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters thick, itself protected by another concrete wall.
The Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center (ENTC) is an Industrial-Scale Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF). The U3O8 [yellowcake] is transported to ENTC to convert it to UF6 (Uranium Hexafluoride).
The Arak Facility covers an area of approximately 55,000 sq ft and contains the Heavy Water Reactor [and a completed 'heavy water' production facility] and a set of cooling towers.
Natanz, Esfahan and Arak
In addition, Cordesman believes that the following additional facilities are being targeted:
Lashkar A'bad, site of secret uranium enrichment plants in the north near the Turkish border.
Tehranb, for the central laboratory for developing atomic armaments as well as more uranium enrichment facilities.
Ardekan, at the southern tip of Iran, where more uranium enrichment facilities are located.
Saghand, Iran's main uranium mining region.
Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf shore, Iran's biggest nuclear reactor built by Russia.
Gachin, near the Strait of Hormuz, the site of more uranium mines and enrichment facilities.
Finally, Cordesman predicts that Israel will also target all ten of Iran's military aircraft bases, Iran's known ballistic missile sites, and Iran's known air-defense surface-to-air missile sites.
RESULTS OF AN ISRAELI ATTACK
ON IRAN: BRINGING THE WORLD TO THE
PRECIPICE OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD
But there will undoubtedly be a heavy price Israel will be forced to pay. Krauthammer explain:
"They [the Israelis] can expect a massive counterattack from Iran, 50,000 rockets launched from Lebanon, Islamic Jihad firing from Gaza, AND WORLDWIDE TERROR AGAINST JEWISH AND ISRAELI TARGETS, as happened last month in Bulgaria."
Moreover, America – regardless of whether it supports the attack militarily or not – can expect much the same thing.
The fallout from an Israeli air attack on Iran's nuclear facilities will –- in addition to fulfilling what we have enumerated as "event #10" in our descent into the Tribulation Period ("An attack by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities that will precipitate the final Islamic radicalization of the Middle East; an attack that will set the stage for the "Gog / Magog War") --- also precipitate:
event #14 ("The emergence of a radical form of Islam that will challenge the interests of the United States in the Middle East and Central Asia, and that will threaten the existence of the Jewish state in the Middle East") – which will unleash the kind of frightful religious fanaticism that undergirded Iranian soldiers in the Iraq / Iran War we just described,
A "manufactured" event similar to 9-11; Please see our article, "What's Really Behind 9-11."
event #11 ("Some kind of mind-numbing event {and possibly 'manufactured' 9-11-type incident} that will lead to a takeover of the United States by the Religious-Right in conjunction with America's financial elites and supported by the American military – an event that will precipitate the OVERT imposition of police-state controls on the American population.") [Please see our articles, "An American Coup d'Etat," "The Evangelicals and the Mormon Church: Uniting Christ with Belial" and "The Generals' Revolt against the Obama Presidency."]
THE ACTION-REACTION SPIRAL
OF RELIGIOUS WARFARE
The action - reaction spiral of religious fanaticism
As Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa begin their descent into RADICALIZATION as a result of Israel's attack on Iran, one can only imagine the furor and increased tempo of deadly Islamic terrorist attacks on Israel (the "little Satan"), and – concomitantly – on the United States (the "big Satan").
But in striking Israel and even more, in striking the United States, this furor will inevitably unleash what Paul Hockenos calls in his book Free to Hate, an "action-reaction spiral" of Muslims raging against Christians and Christians raging against Muslims - one group "raging" against another – and once such a downward spiral begins, who knows the depths to which it will descend?
Muslim terrorist holding the head of a Serbian Christian - and it worked both ways.
As religious mobilization progresses, even those who had at first put little value in their religious identity will be pressed towards religious mobilization.
The opportunity of choosing between a "moderate" religious identity and a radical religious identity will slowly disappear as the rhetoric between the two camps becomes ever more heated - forcing more and more individuals in each religious group to adopt radical religious identities.
This is what happened in the former Yugoslavia. For example, take what happened to one "moderate" Bosnian Muslim school teacher:
"We never, until war, thought of ourselves as Muslims. We were Yugoslavs. But when we began to be murdered because we are Muslims, things changed. The definition of who we are today has been determined by our killers." [Please see our articles, "Civilization Conflict: Wars and Rumors of Wars," "Culture Wars and Civilization Conflict" and "More Lies and Deception Concerning Kosovo."]
And so we have the fulfillment of event #12 on our list ("The absorption of the great MASS of Christians into the APOSTATE church") which is precisely what happened to Christians in Hitler's Germany – all of which lends a somber credence to Luke 18:8:
"... when the Son of man cometh, shall he find [REAL] faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)
THE RADICALIZATION OF AMERICA'S
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY (event #12)
Already, the radicalization of America's Christian community is far-advanced, and is largely centered on what Christians perceive as the "Secular-Humanist Conspiracy."
The fact is, as things stand now, one-third of the American electorate identifies with the belief that secular-humanists have stolen the country from Christians and unleashed what can only be described by them as a hedonistic society of homosexual licentiousness, militant feminism, unchecked pederasty and even bestiality, militant atheism, and on and on and on. If one were to add increased Islamic terrorism in the American homeland, the expansion of the Religious-Right beyond its present limit of one-third of the electorate would be not only inevitable, but very, very rapid.
DOMINION IN THE "HERE AND NOW" ...
And what is it exactly that the Religious-Right wants? The same thing Islamic fundamentalists want: DOMINION !
George Grant, a leading intellectual in today's Religious-Right," says:
"IT IS DOMINION WE ARE AFTER. Not just a voice ... not just influence ... not just equal time. It is dominion we are after."
The late David Chilton, another well-known intellectual in today's Religious-Right echoes Grant; he writes:
"The Christian goal for the world is the establishment of a WORLDWIDE Christian Republic." [Please see the subsection entitled "The Geographic Extent of Prophetic Babylon" in Part 1 of Chapter XII of the New Antipas Papers."]
One might ask himself what kind of "new America" will we be confronting: it will be a society that advocates laws mandating the death penalty for homosexuals, drunkards, blasphemers, heretics, females guilty of "unchastity before marriage," adulterers, and (probably) telephone psychics. And not only that, it will be a society that, according to Gary North, another leading intellectual in today's Religious-Right, penalizes children with the death penalty.
And if this occurs – and it will – one might ask himself what kind of "New America" will we be confronting: it will be a society that advocates laws mandating the death penalty for homosexuals, drunkards, blasphemers, heretics, females guilty of "unchastity before marriage," adulterers, and so forth and so on. And not only that, it will be a society that, according to Gary North, another leading intellectual in today's Religious-Right, penalizes children with the death penalty for being disobedient to their parents: North writes:
"When children curse their parents, it unquestionably is a capital crime. The integrity of the family must be maintained by the threat of death."
This kind of thinking should frighten any right-thinking Christian; Christians that Jesus commanded -
"LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, do good to them which hate you,
"BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
"And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
"Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
"And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
"And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
"But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." (Luke 6:27-36)
These verses, of course, have been stricken from the Bible of today's Christians – at least those who inhabit the precincts of the Religious-Right.
The racism held by Rushdoony is not unlike the kind embraced by the racist tome, The Turner Diaries. [Please see our articles, "The Coming Bubba Revolution" and "Rage on the Right."]
RENEWED RACISM
Moreover, it will most likely be a society that has reverted back to the kind of racism that dominated America up until the early 1960s. Take, for example, what the late R.J. Rushdoony, the father, so to speak, of much of the thinking that undergirds the belief systems of many of those in the Religious-Right today:
"They [i.e., blacks] are an example ... of 'inferior (genetic) stock'."
And again,
"The white man has behind him centuries of Christian culture and the discipline and the selective breeding this faith requires ... The Negro is a product of a radically different past, and his (racial or genetic) heredity has been governed by radically different considerations."
And still again:
"The background of Negro culture is African and magic, and the purposes of the magic are control and power over God, man, nature, and society. Voodoo, or magic, was the religion and life of American Negroes. Voodoo songs underlie jazz, and old voodoo, with its power goal, has been merely replaced with revolutionary voodoo, a modernized power drive."
HATE AND PROPHETIC FABRICATIONS
OF THE WORST SORT ...
Pastor John Hagee
The sad truth is, just as the Nazi Party was dominated by HATE and wild belief systems of the worst kind, today's Religious-Right is saturated with the same kind of HATE as well as historical and biblical FABRICATIONS that are absolutely whacky. One has only to peruse the belief system of John Hagee, pastor of one of the largest "evangelical" churches in America. Hagee and his cohorts in CUFI (Christians United for Israel) buy into the belief that the Antichrist will be an Islamist. This, of course, is pure nonsense.
So involved are Hagee and his "friends" in CUFI in attempting to smear Obama that they have been at the center of a conspiracy of sorts that promulgates the idea that Obama is the Muslim Antichrist. Moreover, it's not just Hagee and his "friends" at CUFI that are spreading this lie; the fact is, ever since Barack Obama started running for the White House, there has been a number of pieces that have appeared in the so-called "Christian Press" wondering if he was the Antichrist.
Indeed, this belief permeates the thinking of many of those at Liberty University (the largest evangelical university in the world), and the opinions of such "biggies" as Adrian Rogers, the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention and C. Peter Wagner, heard of the New Apostolic Reformation. [Please see our recent banner article, "Obama Seeks to Become Global Dictator."]
For example, in December 2008, Mat Staver - Dean of Liberty University's Law School - said that it was entirely understandable that people were worried that he was the antiChrist:
"No wonder, then, that Obama triggers such fear in the hearts of America's ... Christians."
Staver says that while people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, they're not nuts:
"They are expressing a concern and a fear that is widely shared."
John Kyle, writing for the liberal publication RWW, wonders –
"... I don't think that Staver's views have changed since then because it sure sounds like he's convinced that Obama is out to make himself some sort of global dictator. For example, the other day he and Matt Barber, LC's Director of Cultural Affairs, dedicated their radio program to explaining how Obama, from the very beginning, has been focused on systemically weakening America so that he could ultimately position himself to take over the entire world:
LEFT: Mat Staver, dean of Liberty University's law school; RIGHT: Matt Barber, LC's Director of Cultural Affairs.
Staver:
"When President Barack Obama was running for president, when he became president, I've long since stated that his end game is not being President of the United States of America; that he has a broader worldwide agenda. And that's why he's to go to places around the world and down (i.e., "diss") the United States of America, because he thinks that's going to gain him popularity in some of the other foreign areas. And that's really where I think his eyes are focused, not on [being] President of the United States."
Barber:
"Now here's the scary thing, I believe that that is true, but in order to have a post-American world, you have to have a post-America. And that's why his policies are pushing us into a post-American world. He is destroying American exceptionalism and is trying to do away with our free market system here in the United States. He's trying to create the climate where we have a post-American world."
"Well, because America is always going to be, or at least it has been up until now, a world player. And for him to be on the world scene, he's going to have to bring America down to the level of some of the European and some other countries with regards to commonality. And America always had the exceptionalism and you can't really have worldwide influence if you've got the America exceptional nation because you're going to have to have them all basically on the same level.
"So for him to go into this national, or global, leadership - which he wants to do - it's no wonder why he wants to make America's economy like the European economy; it's no wonder why he wants to downplay Christianity so he can up-play Islam.
"This man does not respect America. He never has."
OBAMA ADDRESSING A HUGE CROWD IN EUROPE WHERE – ACCORDING TO CONSERVATIVES – HE BLAMED MUCH OF THE WORLD'S ILLS ON THE UNITED STATES TO THE CHEERS OF HIS EUROPEAN LISTENERS.
NOTE: Those who buy into the thesis that Obama is the Muslim Antichrist offer an extremely convoluted explanation of how such a thesis could "play out;" it goes something like this: After being chased out of the United States by Christians who have seized control of America, Obama flees to Europe, which by then has succumbed to the Islamic onslaught and adopted Sharia Law, and organizes an attack on Israel; the US sides with Israel against the Islamic forces of Europe and the Middle East and defeats Obama; the Millennium then begins. Naturally enough, this explanation ignores vast amounts of Scripture – not the least of which is that portion which deals with Israel's Covenant with Death and its Agreement with Hell. (Is. 28:18) [Please see Chapter XV of the New Antipas Papers, "The Gog / Magog War."]
As a result of all this, it should come as no surprise that CUFI and countless other Christian groups and individuals believe that the Obama administration is serving the cause of evil; they see Obama as the antichrist who will bring universal peace to the world and the establishment of a one-world government based on Sharia Law. [Again, please see our article, "Beware the Prophetic Daydreams of False Prophets and Empty-Headed Dreamers."]
WORLD ON VERGE OF ARMAGEDDON
Plainly, IT IS THE BELIEF OF HAGEE AND CUFI COHORTS THAT THE WORLD IS ON THE VERGE OF ARMAGEDDON, a war in which Israel – undergirded by the forces of the United States which has now been cleansed of Obama - will defeat the forces of anti-Christ which are now centered around the European Union - at least according to CUFI members.
NOTE: Insofar as Russia is concerned, Hagee views the Russian Federation as an ally of the anti-Christ and - ipso facto - the European Union in the upcoming war against Israel. According to Hagee, THE ONLY QUESTION THAT NEEDS TO BE ANSWERED NOW IS, ON WHOSE SIDE WILL THE UNITED STATES ALLY ITSELF? [Please see our articles, "America vs. Europe" and "Reducing Europe to the Status of Greece in the Days of Rome;" please also see Chapter XII of the NEW ANTIPAS PAPERS, "The Beast of Revelation 17," finally, we urge you to see our DVD, "Greed Is Good."]
The European Union and the Russian Federation; supposed allies of the anti-Christ and Islamic jihadists in what Hagee sees as the coming "Battle of Armageddon."
Hagee writes in his book, Jerusalem Countdown, that what's going on in the Middle East today -
" ... is all about the end of days, [Armageddon], and how nuclear war with Iran will ignite it."
Sarah Posner, who has written extensively on Hagee, writes:
"In September [2007] Hagee preached that 'World War III has begun' and released a sermon series that purported to 'show the historical and Biblical foundations that explain the war we are in now and point us to Armageddon'. In January he wrote about the Book of Revelation and its prediction that 'Jesus Christ will soon rule the world with a rod of iron from the city of Jerusalem'. And in March, he sermonized about 'the edge of time ... the final countdown has begun'."
WE URGE YOU TO SEE APPENDIX I TO THIS ARTICLE, "THE PROPHECIES OF THE GOG / MAGOG WAR AND ARMAGEDDON."
The Grail Quest
Now one must understand something with regard to Hagee's nutty, extra-biblical prognostication: the DOMINIONIST eschatology embraced by John Hagee and his followers is not an eschatology that is well organized or very well thought-out - and most certainly it is not based on any kind of systematic treatment of the Word.
Indeed, one will search in vain for any theological coherence in it at all. Within the world created by Hagee's system, one will find very few people arguing over its details. There are no details, only broad generalizations and a good deal of talk about a coming "Great Revival," "taking back territory from the enemy," "demonic principalities and powers," the "Coming of Christ in oneself" (i.e., the "Grail Quest" and the "search for inner purity"), and that kind of thing. [Please see our article on the Grail Quest, "The Doctrine of the Antichrist, the Search for Moral Purity and Misogyny."]
Hence, when details concerning the model Hagee has embraced fail to materialize – such as Obama fleeing to Europe, Europe succumbing to Islam, etc. - these points will simply be glossed over. Hagee and his friends and cohorts are caught up in the kind of HATE and PASSION that do not yield to "facts on the ground," just as Islamic fundamentalists are caught up in the same kind of HATE and PASSION that is leading them into a war with the United States that they cannot possibly win and a war that will destroy them "to the sixth part." [Please see our Chapter XV of THE NEW ANTIPAS PAPERS, the "Gog / Magog War."]
AND SO YOU ARE WARNED ...
Again, as I advised you in our last article, "Setting Matters Straight," what you do with this information is up to you; to be very blunt, it's no skin off our noses IF you decide to ignore these things; IF you allow yourselves to take "the easy way out" and be subsumed by the blandishments of the APOSTATE church; IF you decide to ally yourselves directly or even indirectly - no matter – with the American New World Order System; IF you decide to rely on FATALISM to get you through the "end of the age;" IF you decide that it's simply "too much" to study these matters in detail in answer to Paul's injunction to Timothy:
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing [interpreting] the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15) [Please see our article, "Kafka: Der Prozess."]
IT SEEMS THE SISTERS HAVE BIGGER "GONADS" THAN THE BROTHERS
It has recently come to my attention that there are a number of women (dear sisters in the Lord) who have taken it upon themselves to make copies of our flyer and carry them around with them in their cars. Then, whenever they get the opportunity, they have been posting them on bulletin boards and whatever - proving once again that they have bigger "gonads" (to put it bluntly and to the point) and more testosterone flowing in their veins than the men (the brothers) have. This is not the first time in the history of God's people that this has occurred; I am reminded of Deborah - see the Book of Judges, Chapters 4 and 5.
THE PROPHECIES OF THE GOG /
MAGOG WAR AND ARMAGEDDON
CUFI members and their supporters have totally mixed up the prophecies of the Gog / Magog War and Armageddon; that there exists a clear distinction between the Gog/Magog War and Armageddon there can, however, be no doubt! As J. Dwight Pentecost has pointed out, there are a number of considerations which make it very plain that we are dealing with two great wars rather than one during the Tribulation Period.
In the Gog/Magog War, definite allies of Gog are mentioned as opposing Israel - "Magog," "Mescheck," "Tubal," "Gomer" (TURKEY), Ethiopia, Libya, (see Ezekiel 38) and EGYPT (see Daniel 11:42], while at Armageddon all nations are engaged against Jerusalem (Joel 3:2; Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 12:3; and 14:2).
The nations that make up the "Northern Confederation" that will descend on Israel in the "Latter Days."
Gog comes from the North (Ezek. 38:6, 15), while at Armageddon, the armies come from out of the whole earth.
Gog is the head of the armies at his invasion (Ezek. 38:15), but at Armageddon, the Beast is at the head of the invasion (Rev. 19:19).
There is a protest against Gog's invasion (Ezek. 38:13), but at Armageddon there is no such protest because all the nations of the earth have joined themselves with the Beast in his attack against Jerusalem.
Gog is overthrown by divine intervention through the convolutions of nature (Ezek. 38:22), but the armies at Armageddon are destroyed by the sword which goes out of Christ's mouth (Rev. 19:15).
· Gog's armies array themselves in the open fields (Ezek. 39:5), while at Armageddon they are seen in the city of Jerusalem.
Gog's armies are destroyed outside of Jerusalem on the mountains and in the valleys (Ezek. 39:2-4), while the Beast and his armies are destroyed in the city of Jerusalem itself (Zech. 12:2; 14:2).
The Lord calls for assistance in executing judgment on Gog (Ezek. 38:21), while at Armageddon He is viewed as treading the winepress alone (Rev. 19:15; Isaiah 63:3-6).
The invasion by Gog will be sudden and will come with relatively little warning (Ezek. 38:11), while Armageddon will be no sudden and unexpected event.
Thus, as Dwight Pentecost has suggested,
"Two diverse movements (wars) must be acknowledged."
Moreover, to suggest, as some NINCOMPOOPS do, that the Scriptures that reference the Gog/Magog War refer to some sort of event that occurred in antiquity is pure nonsense. The truth is, NO prior invasion of the land of Israel is sufficient to be the fulfillment of this prophecy. There have been invasions in the past which have wrought hardship on the land and the people of Israel, but NONE answer to the details given here. The destruction of the Temple in AD 70, for example, was accomplished by the Romans who came from the west. But the invasion described here comes from the direction of TURKEY and Persia to the north, and EGYPT, Ethiopia and Libya from the south.
This fact is attested to by almost all Orthodox Jewish scholars (who themselves consider these prophesies to be as yet unfulfilled). These passages, then, can only refer to some as yet future event in Israel's history - and this is clearly indicated by the phrase, "... in the latter years" (Ezek. 38:8). Dwight Pentecost, Robert Duncan Culver, and David L. Cooper agree with the Orthodox Jews. For example, Cooper writes,
"... it is utterly impossible to locate the fulfillment of this prediction (i.e., the Gog/Magog War) after the Millennial Age. It cannot be placed at the beginning of the Millennium, nor at the end of the Tribulation. It must, therefore, be located (at the beginning) of the Tribulation, because there is no other logical place for it to occur since the three other dates are impossible ... There will (thus) be a time between now and the beginning of the Tribulation when [this war will occur which will initiate the seven years of the Tribulation Period]."
This thesis is substantiated in a somewhat backhanded way by Ezekiel 39 when the prophet reveals that a full SEVEN years will be needed to clear away the wreckage of the Gog/Magog War:
"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons ... and they shall burn them with fire SEVEN years ..." (Ezek. 39:9)
The seven years referred to here by Ezekiel could be none other than the seven years of the Tribulation Period - since no such seven years will follow Armageddon; after Armageddon, the beasts of the field and the fouls of the air will clear away the wreckage - and that by divine direction and in a short period of time. Then the Millennium will begin - there is no seven year interval here. Thus, the Gog/Magog War will immediately precede the events of the Tribulation period. There is, as Cooper suggests, simply no other place to put it which will conform to the pertinent Scriptures; and it (i.e., the Gog/Magog War) will initiate the great happenings of that era (i.e., the Tribulation Period).
It should be noted in reference to the Gog/Magog War described above that this great conflict has nothing to do with the conflict described in Revelation 20:8; the war that is described there takes place AFTER the Millennium (Rev. 20:7), while the conflict which is described in the passages above and later in Daniel clearly takes place BEFORE the Millennium. "Gog" is obviously a reference to an evil, angelic prince who possesses Satanic dominion over those nations which have arrayed themselves against Israel - much in the same way that the "Prince of Persia" and the "Prince of Grecia" (Greece) [described in Daniel (i.e., Daniel 10:13-20) with whom Michael, the archangel of God, fought] possess. Evidently, Gog will be loosed with the devil one final time after the Millennium (please see Revelation 20:7-8).
The Gog/Magog War, then, will precede the Tribulation and will act as a catalyst for the great events of that period, while Armageddon will bring to a conclusion the events of the Tribulation Period. A FAIR READING OF THE PASSAGES IN SCRIPTURE THAT DEAL WITH THESE GREAT WARS WILL YIELD NO OTHER RESULT.