Israel's war cabinet is weighing its response to this week's missile attack from Iran, with Israel's UN ambassador telling CNN that retaliation "will be soon."
His comments came as U.S. President Joe Biden said he does not support a potential Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites but left the door open for Israel to hit Iran's oil reserves.
Well that's something, at least. Though it's doubtful Iran would be able to "wipe Israel off the map" using their oil reserves--just sayin'.
Meantime, it has been one year since the surprise massacre in Israel when Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. And while none of us wants to remember the atrocities committed that day, the Jews can't afford to forget.
Israeli retribution in Gaza & Lebanon came fast and furious, and in our opinion, is justified. After all, Israel has the right to defend and protect its people. On the other hand, Iran's missile barrage against Israel was not justified at all. We agree with Benjamin Netanyahu: Iran made a major mistake.
Meanwhile, many are jumping to the conclusion that the infamous war of Gog & Magog must already have started.
Why? Because the war detailed in Ezekiel 38 will be a multi-pronged, surprise attack that will catch Israel completly off guard.
Last October's attack had many of the same elements the Ezekiel war will have, so the comparison is understandable.
It's possible, some say, that Ezekiel's war has begun slowly, but will eventually escalate from here and become many magnitudes worse if Iran (aka Persia) Russia & Turkey, etc. jump into the fray.
Some believe if Israel retaliates against Iran by targeting their refining and oil production facilities or pre-emptively destroys Iran's nuclear weapons program, Russia will reluctantly agree to honor it's military alliance with Iran and be persuaded into launching a large-scale attack on Israel.
The truth? It's not a matter of if this war is coming, it's only a matter of when.
There are a variety of opinions on when Ezekiel's conflict will happen. Some place it just before the 7-year tribulation; others believe it will occur at the midpoint after the first 3-1/2 years. Still others maintain it's a part of the Armageddon scenario.
And some believe there will be a war with Israel's immediate neighbors first as Psalm 83 seems to suggest.
While the precise timing of Ezekiel's prophecy is unknown, he did leave us a number of clues. For instance:
- It will happen in the 'latter years' (or end times), after the final restoration of the Jews to the Land (fulfilled in 1948), but before their spiritual rebirth (predicted in Ez.37).
- The attack will come from a coalition of nations including an instigator from 'the far North' of Israel. (Though Russia is not mentioned by name, it lies directly north of Israel)
- Persia (present day Iran), Ethiopia and Libya are all specifically included in the list of coalition troops.
The prophecy is quite long, covering two complete chapters and almost certainly predicts this war will be nuclear. Ez. 39:11-16 details the clean-up and burial procedures that follow the battle and they sound as if they come straight from a nuclear protocol manual.
So how close are these events? We don't know, but reports out of Israel indicate that both Iranian and Russian technology was used in last October's attack.
It's possible that the current conflict is completley unrelated to the prophecy detailed in Ezekiel... but we doubt it. The war of Gog and Magog may not be right around the corner...but it definitely could be.
A wiseman once said: "The Bible predicted, thousands of years ago, that the end time events would revolve around Jerusalem. Not San Francisco. Not Los Angeles. Not Moscow. Not Paris. But Jerusalem, this tiny little city, in this tiny sliver of land, will play a key role in the events of the last days. It's amazing when you think about it, because in Zechariah 12:3-4 God says, "I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves" (NLT)."--Greg Laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (PSALM 122:6).
👉👉👉"HOW TO GO TO HEAVEN" ☝
News:
- AP: Israel presses foreward on two fronts as fears of wider war mount
- The Telegraph: Iran only months from the bomb-stopping it may not be easy
- Yahoo! News: The question is not whether Israel will retaliate-but how