Wednesday, August 31, 2011

How Islam Works


The following article was written by Andrew McCarthy and it is critical for every American to understand. We are not being told the truth by our government about Islam and its plan for us.

Losing Malmo

And Brussels, and Rome, and Amsterdam...

 
Do you remember the jihadist terror campaign that ravaged Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city? Do you recall the bombings, the suicide-hijackings, and the random assassinations that finally coerced the city to surrender to Islamization?
 
No? Funny, I don’t remember them either. Yet there is no question that Malmo has surrendered. Large enclaves of the city, like similar enclaves throughout Western Europe, have earned the dread label “no-go zone.” They are unsafe for non-Muslims, particularly women who do not conform to Islamist conventions of dress and social interaction. They are especially perilous for police, firefighters, and emergency-medical technicians.
 
Why would a community discourage the so-called first-responders? After all, the top priority of law-enforcement officers is to assist crime victims. In an Islamic enclave, a high percentage of these will be Muslims. And obviously, the fire department and the ambulances are dispatched to save lives — here, Muslim lives. Yet, the community is hostile. The police and other emergency personnel are viewed as agents of the non-Muslim state. Their presumptuousness in entering the Islamic enclave and acting under the color of Swedish law is taken as an affront to Islamic sovereignty.
 
An Islamic enclave in the West may as well be the West Bank, and the authorities the IDF. They are regarded no differently. That is why, as Soeren Kern of the Madrid-based Strategic Studies Group notes“Fire and emergency workers . . . refuse to enter Malmo’s mostly Muslim Rosengaard district without police escorts.” And sensibly so: When firefighters attempted to extinguish a blaze at the city’s main mosque, local Muslims pelted them with stones.
 
There is a simple reason why this has happened to Malmo, and why it is happening in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, etc. The European Union forced on its member states the same approach to their swelling Muslim populations that the Obama administration is now trying to strong-arm American cities and states into adopting. It is a suicide theory, holding that the only threat to our security is “violent extremism.”
 
Violent extremism, the theory goes, is wanton and irrational. Therefore, it is mere coincidence that today’s violent extremists are almost uniformly Muslims. Indeed, the big thinkers settled on the antiseptic term “violent extremism” specifically to avoid the word “terrorism,”  which, owing to the inconvenience that Islamic scripture adjures Muslims to “strike terror into the hearts” of their perceived enemies, would give violent extremism an Islamic connotation that is to be studiously avoided, no matter how accurate it may be.
 
With violent extremism as their guide, policymakers instruct security agencies that there is no need to scrutinize any strain of Islamic ideology for the purpose of divining what Islamists want. In fact, the theory continues, because violence is wanton, while Islam is peaceful, violence must perforce be anti-Islamic, and thus Islamists must be just as offended by it as anyone else. Consequently, since by some strange quirk of fate the violent extremists seem to be coming out of the Islamic community, the best strategy is to befriend Islamist leaders and consult them about how we can conduct investigations without causing offense.
 
Naturally, police veterans fully appreciate that this is nonsense on stilts. They know that violence is often barbaric in the execution but almost never irrational in the application. Understanding motivation is the key to solving most crimes. But, hey, if the suits want it to be “violent extremism,” then violent extremism it is.
 
Cops, like most of us, want to get promoted up the ranks. Today, the people deciding who gets promoted up the ranks are progressives. You may remember their visionary criminal-justice theories from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the explosion of crime that resulted from them. Back then, it was all about excusing the savagery and punishing the police for failing to understand the root causes. Today, it is about infantilizing the savages and warning the police not to look for the root causes.
 
If we cared to look for the root cause of what’s happening in Europe — happening primarily without “violent extremism” — the answer is very simple: Islamist leaders have adopted a strategy of voluntary apartheid in their quest to Islamize the West.
 
The strategy has been championed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Its chief jurisprudent, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, urges Muslims to relocate to Europe, Australia, and North America. There, they should live among other Muslims, conduct their affairs in accordance with sharia (the law of Islam), and pressure Western governments to accept the primacy of sharia in Muslim enclaves — enclaves that will grow and spread and connect. By convincing “Western leaders and decision-makers of our right to live according to our faith — ideologically, legislatively, and ethically,” Qaradawi reasons that Muslims would “traverse an immense barrier in our quest for an Islamic state.”
 
Equally adamant is the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the bloc of governments from the world’s Islamic countries. The OIC purports to speak as a sovereign on behalf of the Muslim ummah. In 2010, it released its now annual report on — what else? — Islamophobia. The report conjures an imaginary tidal wave of anti-Muslim bias while overlooking both the predominance of Muslims in global “violent extremism” and the West’s pandemic of official solicitude toward Islamic leaders. “Muslims should not be marginalized or attempted to be assimilated, but should be accommodated,” the report proclaimed. “Accommodation is the best strategy for integration.”
 
The best strategy for whom? Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, goes even farther, inveighing that “assimilation is a crime against humanity.” With progressives in charge and see-no-Islam in vogue, Erdogan remains the West’s favorite “moderate” Islamist, despite the fact that he rejects the term “moderate Islam” as an insult. “Islam is Islam,” he snaps, “and that’s it.” Meanwhile, he warns Germany’s leaders not to pressure their large immigrant population of Turkish Muslims to become German. The message to Muslims is clear: Integrate? Yes. Assimilate? Never.
 
That is the plan, and it’s making extraordinary progress with a minimum of violent extremism. As Soeren Kern elaborates, in England Islamist organizations are now pressing to turn twelve British cities into Islamic emirates: autonomous Muslim enclaves governed by sharia law, independent of the national justice system. They call one proposed emirate “Londonistan” — surely not to honor Melanie Phillips, who wrote a book by that title, but confirming nevertheless the phenomenon she so brilliantly diagnosed. In these cities, non-Muslims are serially harassed, women are threatened (and worse) for failing to don the veil, and visiting officials such as former home secretary Jon Reid are heckled, “How dare you come to a Muslim area?”
 
In France, the government now posts on its official website the list of 751 Zones urbaines sensibles, the Muslim enclaves considered no-go zones. Non-Muslims are on notice: Enter at your own considerable risk. The police no longer go in. The nation no longer exercises sovereignty. The same pattern is seen in Brussels, Rome, Amsterdam, and the Ruhr: As the number of Muslims increases, so does the number of enclaves. The police will not enter without police escorts, which often means the police  will not enter, period. As one police chief told the German press, the governments may deny it, but everyone knows these no-go zones exist, and “even worse, in these areas crimes no longer result in charges.” The Muslims are “left to themselves. Only in the worst cases do we in the police learn anything about it. The power of the state is completely out of the picture.”
 
These are the wages of a myopic concentration on the physicality of violence coupled with an irrational denial that the violence — jihadism — is only is part of an ambitious plan to govern in accordance with sharia. Violent jihad is not wanton. It is part of a strategy to implement sharia as the foundation of a fundamentalist Muslim society. That is why sharia is worth studying. The idea is not to kill non-Muslims; it is to overcome resistance. Sometimes that is done by “violent extremism,” but it is just as effectively done by demoralizing the police. It is even more effectively done by infiltrating the councils of government policy.
 
The Obama administration has arrived at a counterterrorism policy it publicly calls “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.” It has its roots in the Homeland Security Department’s “Countering Violent Extremism” working group.
 
In 2010, the working group issued its recommendations. The group “felt” it was essential to “delink” law enforcement’s “crime reduction efforts” from studies on “radicalization” in the Islamic community. Law enforcement needs to be more “sensitive,” the working group suggested, to damaging community “perceptions” that can arise from “enforcement actions and intelligence gathering.” Nothing is more important, the group argued, than developing strong relationships between police and communities, and those relationships can be wounded if people “perceive that they are viewed as incubators of violent extremism.” Instead, police should take their lead from “members of the community” who “should be invited to provide training to government personnel.”
 
And who was in that working group, offering advice that is now federal policy? Among others, it included top officials of such Islamist groups as the Islamic Association of North America (an organization shown to be complicit in the Muslim Brotherhood–led conspiracy to finance Hamas, proved by the Justice Department in a 2008 prosecution), Muslim academics, the president of the Muslim Bar Association of New York, and the president of the ultra-leftist Southern Poverty Law Center.
 
They tried the same thing in Europe: Emphasize “violent extremism,” bleach out Islam, build strong relationships with influential Muslim leaders, and — just to prove you’re not one of those “just the facts ma’am” Cro-Magnons — let the Muslim leaders be your eyes and ears in their communities. Trust them to tell you what they think you need to know about Islamic culture. That frees you up to devote your energy to stamping out the scourge of Islamophobia.
 
Look how well it’s worked out.
 
 
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributor Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at the National Review Instituteauthor of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad and most recently The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America. He blogs at National Review Online's The Corner.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Will Biblical Israel Become a Nation Once Again?


Isaiah prophesied some 2700 years ago that Israel would be brought back to their land. This spectacular event was to be a 'flag waving' event for the nations. In other words, when the nations saw this re-gathering they would know God's clock of history was winding down.

Until the 20th Century, skeptics said it would never happen. Many Bible scholars said it was to be taken symbolically, or that it applied to the Church.. However, when the time was right, God began bringing them back, and doing it just as He said He would.

Israel went into captivity because of their sin. Read Leviticus 26:43-45 and you will see that it was exactly fulfilled. Yet, even then God promises to bring them back to the land of their fathers.

“Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.“– Leviticus 26:44, 45

The final judgment came after as a nation they rejected their Messiah. Regrettably, the first Church, which was largely Jewish, also suffered the judgment. The break came in two parts; 1) the people of Israel were separated from their covenant land and 2) the believers of Israel were separated from their role as leaders in spreading the Gospel and building the Church. Both these breaks will be healed.

In 1948, God began to restore the break with the land.

"’Return, faithless people,' declares the Lord, 'for I am your husband. I will choose one of you from every town and two from every clan and bring you to Zion." - Jeremiah 3:14.

They have returned as a 'faithless' nation. Zionism is largely agnostic in philosophy, but that will change. Often times only one or two of a family survived the Holocaust.

"In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance." - Jeremiah 3:18

They went into exile as two nations, Judah and Israel, but they came back as the single nation of Israel just as Jeremiah prophesied. The Hebrew language, which was dead, is now a living language. The 1st break is being restored.

The 2nd break is beginning to be healed also even now, as the Church begins embracing the 'One New Man' that Paul teaches about:

'His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two (Jew and Gentile), thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.' - Ephesians 2:15, 16 (emphasis added).

While some Jews have accepted Jesus as their savior, they are called Messianic Jews, the days are coming, and very soon, when a series of wars leading up to the great war prophesied in Ezekiel 38 & 39 and known as the war of Gog and Magog will reveal to the Jews that their only protection is God Himself. That war will start the final process of Israel returning to their Messiah, Jesus Christ.

 "So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. - 'And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord GOD." – Ezekiel 39:7, 29.

This begins the process of restoration that will be finished in the battle known as Armageddon in which all Israel will see Jesus the Messiah returning with the armies of heaven to rescue Israel from the antichrist.

While there are some calling themselves Christians who claim that the Church replaced Israel, that message is not found in the Scriptures. Instead we read the Apostle Paul saying just the opposite –

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"?  But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.  But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, To this very day." . . . I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. … For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." – Romans 11:1-27

The seeds of the Replacement Theology were growing even during Paul’s day but, he reminds us of a VERY important point – “remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” The true Church’s roots are not in Rome – they are in Israel!

Why should we be praying for Israel and the ‘peace of Jerusalem’? Because, we, the Church, will not be complete without them.

Pastor Charles Cooley

Saturday, August 20, 2011

The Battle of Gog and Magog_part 3


In part two we identified most of the nations led by Russia against Israel in the war of Gog and Magog: Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and others. Ezekiel 38:9 says –

"You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you."

There may be other nations and people that join with Russia in this attack that are not specifically named, but their purpose will be the same, to destroy Israel. While they may not like or trust each other, their hatred of Israel will join them together for this war.

While Israel is left alone to face this attack something strange happens. The world and even Israel will be amazed as God Himself gets involved. He causes even the natural elements of wind, fire, and hail to fall on the attackers. He will strike them with confusion so that 'every man's sword will be against his brother' much like the LORD did for Gideon (Judges 7:22). The KJV says only a sixth of Gog's armies will survive.

But God does not stop with the armies; He causes fire to fall on 'Magog and those who live in safety in the coastlands.' Is this fire nuclear or is it God's supernatural command of the elements? One thing is clear, the people of Magog will be judged for their anti-Israel and anti-God stance as well as their armies. Who the 'coastlands' represent is not as clear. Some believe this represents the lands of Gog's allies. But, I believe it represents those of the west who chose to let Israel face this threat alone, thinking they would be safe from the conflict. The word translated 'coastlands' can also be translated “continents”. Perhaps it represents a pre-emptive attack on the U.S. by Russia or Iranian terrorists to insure it does not get involved. One thing is certain; Israel will know the name of the LORD and the nations of the world will know that God is the holy One in Israel.

The people of Israel will burn the weapons of Gog's army for seven years.  The fuel value will be so great that the forests will not have to be used for fuel. Russia is reported to have been making weapons of compressed wood since the year 2000. Or is it just the fuel that they burn? There has been much speculation how this might happen, but whether the weapons are modern or ancient, they will be burned.

People will be burying Gog's army for seven months. Men will be continually employed to travel throughout the land looking for remains and marking their location for burial. It almost sounds as if they will be contaminated, which could suggest nuclear radiation. But, also in Judaism any dead body would represent contamination. A special place of burial called the Valley of Hamon Gog will be made on the east side of the Dead Sea, an area presently controlled by Jordan. So what happens to Jordan?

This war will usher in great changes in the world. For one, all the dispersed of Israel will be brought home.

"..I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel ..." 39:25

There are yet millions of Jewish people living in others countries such as the United States, Russia, European countries and others of South America. The ‘Aliyah’, or return, has not yet been completed.

Another major change will be the breakdown of Radical Islam and I expect a great many Muslims will be turned towards the LORD. Israel’s borders will be extended; probably to include much of present day Jordan, much of Syria, and some of Southern Lebanon. This is the area promised by God to Abraham and it is the area controlled by Solomon during his reign.

No doubt the anti-Christ government in Europe will begin ascending after all; there is never a ‘power vacuum’ very long in the world of politics. According to the prophet Daniel and the revelator John it will begin with a ten nation structure that will give its power to the ‘beast’. He will make a seven year treaty with Israel and I expect the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt during this time. What is truly amazing is that when God so clearly shows His care for Israel in just a few years they will sign a 'covenant of death' with the anti-Christ (Isaiah 28:15 ; Daniel 9:27).

Many Bible scholars believe this war is about to break out. One of the signs is the sudden turning of Turkey against Israel. One of the confederates of Gog is listed as Beth Togarmah which has always been understood to be the area of Turkey. But, until recently Turkey has been friendly toward Israel, even trading with her. However, the new leader of Turkey has clearly turned against Israel in a bid to appease its more radical neighbors, such as Syria.

Another sign of the soon outbreak of this war is the tension growing between Iran and Israel. While the U.S. and other western nations threaten sanctions on Iran it continues to move ahead with its nuclear program and several analysts believe Iran will have a nuclear bomb by the end of the year. Russia, whom many believe is the Gog of Ezekiel, is also threatening the western nations not to levy sanctions against Iran. According to Koenig's White House Report, they are continuing to supply sensitive information to Syria, Hezbollah, and Iran as they did during the Lebanon war:

"The Russians are building a port in Tartus, Syria, along the Mediterranean Sea. According to The Jerusalem Post, during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, the Russians translated Israeli troops' cell phone conversations with their families and passed their location and deployment information on to the Syrians — who transferred that information to Hezbollah on the front lines, who were awaiting the Israelis' arrival. Most of the Israeli deaths can be attributed to these actions"

In the light of these points, we have Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, giving away to the Russians sensitive data on our nuclear armaments and missile defense system. President Obama has indicated personally and through diplomatic channels that if Israel doesn't do what he wants, they can forget U.S. help. Of interest is the fact that Ezekiel doesn't seem to include the U.S. in any defense of Israel.

This prophesy is not only a warning to Russia and the Islamic nations but also to those western nations who should stand with Israel, but don’t. God has allowed us all to see the outcome – all that is required is that we believe Him!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Battle of Gog and Magog_part 2


Following is a link for an on line Bible. The quotes for this study are taken mostly from the KJV and the NIV. You may use this link to bring up Ezekiel 38 and 39. Bible Gateway on the Web
 

(Continuation of Battle of Gog_1)
Rocket fired from Lebanon
Some believe the event that forces Russia's hand is an outbreak of hostilities between Syria and Israel. Syria continues to arm Hezbollah and build up its forces on the northern Israeli border trying to provoke an attack. Isaiah prophesied a Destruction of Damascus, Syria which has not yet happened.

"See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins." - Isaiah 17:1

Considering the strong ties Russia has with Syria, this would certainly be like 'hooks in their jaws." Also a pre-emptive attack on Iran by Israel could also set off this war. As early as 2007 Israel was seeking an all-clear from Washington for just such an attack. Now, four years later and perhaps just one year from Iran testing a nuclear bomb, Israel may launch such a strike without U.S. approval. They see an Iran with a nuclear bomb as a threat to their national life.

Ezekiel reveals that Israel will once again be a nation back in their land, as we see today. God calls this event an 'ensign to the nations'.

“And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isaiah 11:12

When Russia moves, its armies will be “like a storm, like a cloud covering the land”. Most people today do not realize that Russia was the first nation to use paratroops. Some have thought this is describing an airborne attack, which is a favorite scenario of Russia. It is the method they used in Hungary - first the paratroopers to secure airports and strategic positions, then the armored cavalry. When Stalin first introduced paratroops, some advisors observed that they looked “like clouds covering the sky.”

Ezekiel describes the weapons of this battle as shields, horses, swords, bows and arrows. Is this to be taken literally? Here are some possible explanations that have been offered. 1) Ezekiel is describing modern warfare in terms he understood. 2) Israel has developed a gamma ray weapon that destroys all transistorized machines, making mechanized travel impossible. 3) Because Israel is very mountainous, Russia will use horses to transport troops and equipment. It is known from a Reuters’ report that Russia has purchased large amounts of horses and bows since WWII. My feeling is that of the first option. Even in Vietnam we used cavalry units - they were called helicopter troops.

Before we get to the outcome of this war, let's examine Israel's strategic partners. Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say, "Have you come to plunder?" Sheba and Dedan are in the area of southern Arabia, where Saudi Arabia, Muscat, etc. are located. Saudi Arabia is already deeply concerned about any movements by Iran as they know Iran would like to take Medina and Mecca, Muslim holy cities, from Saudi control. They would be doubly suspicious of Iran’s bid to control the Mideast, although they wouldn’t worry much about Israel being eliminated.

There is good evidence that Tarshish is England. The KJV reads "Tarshish and all the young lions". England's national symbol is the lioness and her young lions would be her colonies. A number of considerations point to Great Britain as the Biblical Tarshish. Ezekiel 27:12 states that Tarshish was rich in "silver, iron, tin, and lead" minerals which Britain produces, and this source of tin was known to the Phoenicians as "Barath-anak", which means 'land of tin'. The Greeks interpret this name as Britain. Herodotus also alludes to the British Isles as the 'tin islands.'

Great Britain is proverbially "a nation of shop-keepers", which is perhaps where the allusion to "the merchants" of Tarshish comes from. Great Britain's royal standard is a mother lion, is on every imperial coat-of-arms and her coinage. This could explain her colonies being likened to 'young lions."

But, whoever they are, it is clear they do nothing but diplomatic talk. Much like the UN does all the time. In Israel, the UN is known as "the united nothing". Whenever they control a so-called “security zone” Muslim extremist, like the Hezbollah, seem at liberty to move in and out with UN blessings! And, if liberals are in charge of our Congress, it is doubtful they would do anything without first reading the polls to see which way the wind was blowing. Even a semi-conservative administration, such as George Bush's may refuse to get involved as they recently did concerning Iran. Obama certainly will not take a political chance against Russia and Iran. There is also a possibility that our economy could collapse thus stopping us from any involvement.

Israel, who is largely a secular state, will be left to face the coming onslaught alone. Russia and all the Islamic forces will be advancing on the mountains of Israel. Israel will be facing extinction. But, at this point, God begins to show the world once again that He is control of history. With great earthquakes, torrents of rain, great hailstones, and burning sulfur God will attack. He will strike them with confusion so that 'every man's sword will be against his brother' much like the LORD did for Gideon (Judges 7:22). The KJV says only a sixth of Gog's armies will survive.

(More of this prophesy to be continued in Gog_3)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Battle of Gog and Magog_part 1


 

2500 years ago the prophet Ezekiel forecast a great battle against Israel by a leader from the 'uttermost' North named Gog. Gog is the leader of Magog. He is also called the chief prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. These events are to happen 'after many days' and 'in future years.' Most students of Bible prophesy understand these phrases to point to an end time scenario, especially since they haven't happened yet.

To most people, names like Gog, Magog, Meshech, and Tubal are meaningless, but scholars have studied them for hundreds of years and they actually have fairly clear meanings. In this study, I will use the most common understandings, although some of them do have various interpretations.

 Gog is a term for a leader, either a personal name or a spiritual being such as Daniel's prince of Persia. It is important to note that God is against Gog and you don’t want to be for someone God is against!

Magog was one of Noah's grandsons and is found in the Table of Nations listed in Genesis 10.  Josephus, the Jewish historian from the first century, equates them with the Scythians which moved into what is now southern Russia. Wilhelm Gesenius, author of the foundational Hebrew Lexicon in the 1800's, also equated Magog with Russia. Also, Russia is the only country to the 'uttermost north' of Israel.

Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal have also been linked to Russia. Rosh is said to be a name for Russia (Hebrew Lexicon of Brown, Driver, and Briggs) or it could mean 'head', however Israeli newspapers commonly use the name Rosh when referring to Russia even today. Meshech is most often equated with Moscow and Tubal is equated with Tobalsk. These identifications were made long before Russia ever became a super power.
The confederates of Gog are listed as Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and Beth Togarmah and "many nations with you."

‘Persia’ is easy to identify as it was called this until recently changing its name to Iran. ‘Cush’ represents the upper Nile region and has long been equated with Sudan and Ethiopia. ‘Put’ historically is Libya. Ancient archers from Phut were elements of the Egyptian armies coming from the area of modern Libya.

‘Beth Togarmah’ means house of Togarmah. Most scholars agree that they come from the area of Turkey and Armenia. ‘Gomer’ is harder to locate but many believe is refers to Germany. During WW1 Germany was known as Gomer land. It could also refer to a region north of the Black Sea which is controlled by Russia. If the first is true, then we will see Germany increasingly becoming anti-Semetic.
After many years, Gog is told to gather his forces together and take command of them. Many believe this is what Russia is doing right now. In 1982, Israel made a pre-emptive strike into Lebanon uncovering stockpiles of weapons and documents which proved Russia was ready to attack later that year. This is documented in the book Magog 1982 - Canceled by David Allen Lewis.

Once again, we see Russia building ties with Iran, Syria, Libya and other radical Islamic states. Putin announced that "Russia is determined to enhance cooperation with the Islamic world." Silly American diplomats have handcuffed themselves by joining with the so-called Quartet (Russia, EU, UN, and U.S.) to try and solve the Mideast problems when Mideast turmoil is to the advantage of at least half of the Quartet! But, as usual the nations of the world fail to take into account God’s feelings on the issue. God says "I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army." Two things are clear: 1) God is in charge of the situation, and 2) something will happen to force Russia's hand.

(To be continued in Gog, part two)

Friday, August 12, 2011

We Must Choose - Blessing or Curse



If you are Christian, you have to rise up and protest the treatment our President is giving our ally, Israel. He is demanding that Israel give up half of Jerusalem for the sake of peace with terrorists! He is demanding that Israel negotiate with Hamas who recently stated -

“Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the most exalted wish.”

Their answer to diplomatic initiatives is the following-

“ ... the so-called peaceful solutions to the Palestinian problem, contradict Hamas’ ideological position. Giving up any part whatsoever of Palestine is like giving up part of [the Muslim] faith …. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except jihad. Regarding the international initiatives, suggestions and conferences, they are an empty waste of time and complete nonsense.”

The United States is giving $500 million a year to support the Palestinian Authority who has just recently joined with Hamas, a proven terrorist organization. And President Obama is further giving millions of our tax dollars to Hamas refugee’s right here in the U.S.! All of this in face of the clear Scriptural admonition about the land of Israel —

'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. – Leviticus 25:23

Israel doesn’t have the moral right to go back to pre-1967 borders (Samara and Judea) or give up half of Jerusalem! The land isn’t theirs to give—it belongs to God and the Jews are just tenants in it!

Because Israel depends on us to be a source of military hardware and parts, Obama is threatening Israel with a cut-off if they don’t go along with him. He also is threatening them to not veto the upcoming Palestinian petition for statehood in the UN. All of this from an administration who actively backed the takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently rebuffed a United States offer to negotiate with them, saying “If you want diplomatic relations with us, first stop your support of Israel!” We seem to be quick to back Libyan rebels with armament and weapons and  fighting their battles for them, even though they are past and current supporters of Al-Qaida! It makes me wonder if the information I received, from a source I cannot reveal, isn’t true after all –

Obama is reportedly to have told a high ranking Muslim government official, “Give me Osama and I’ll deliver Israel to you.”

Scripture is very clear – God will bless those who bless Abraham and his posterity but, He will curse those who curse them. If we love our country we had better pray that its leaders reverse their present course and we had better let the text of those prayers be heard by Washington as well as by God.

Friday, August 5, 2011

The Ministry of the Prophet


Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. – Amos 3:7

We know God is at work because Jesus said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17). Amos said the Lord GOD reveals what He is doing to His prophets. So, the question is, “Who are His prophets?”

Paul reveals that when Jesus was resurrected He gave ministries to the Church.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: - Ephesians 4:11, 12 (emphasis added)

These gifts to the Church from Jesus have never been rescinded, the ministry of the Church is not yet finished, and the saints are not yet perfected, therefore there is still a need for prophets.

In the Church today we hear of pastors and teachers and even evangelists but, we seldom ever hear of apostles or prophets. Why is that? Did they mysteriously pass away like many claim the gifts of the Holy Spirit were just for another day? Or perhaps, we should be questioning those church leaders who claim to have the authority to pick and chose certain gifts or ministries from listings contained in the same verse as being relevant and others, from the same verse, as not being relevant. I notice the gifts and ministries they usually reject are those who challenge their control. After all, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured out on ALL the body, not just the pastors.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. – Acts 2:17, 18

The list of candidates for the Holy Spirit to work through seems to include everyone in the body of Christ. The problem for those who want to control is stated by Paul when he was listing the gifts of the Holy Spirit -

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. – 1 Corinthians 12:11

The Holy Spirit seems to have the strange idea that as Christ’s empowerment to the Church He should be the one to set the agenda, not man.

Now as a pastor, I understand the pressure to control. It often comes from human intellect trying to get all the programs of the church packed into a one or two hour service. After all, if you are blessed with church growth you likely will have to hold several services each Sunday morning. And if you have more than fifty in your service, to let everyone speak or have a part would end in pandemonium – even though that seems to be what Scripture teaches.

How is it then brethren? Whenever you come together, each has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. - 1 Corinthians 14:26

This Scripture does not say that everyone in the Body has to fulfill all these operations of the Spirit, but that room should be made for all these ministries to come forth, as the Holy Spirit wills, to edify the Body.

There are several possible answers to this seeming problem that keeps the modern church from acting like the original church.

  • 1.   One, perhaps the 1 – 2 hour service is not what God wants. Perhaps He wants His Body to meet for longer periods at a time.
  • 2.   Two, perhaps the frequency of meeting needs to increase as Scripture indicates – “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46, 47).
  • 3.   Three, maybe when church numbers reach an unworkable size a new fellowship needs to be formed. After all, this would not only multiply the members of the Body, but also the leaders and the 5-fold ministry Paul talked about (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers).


As we approach the end of the age, I believe the Holy Spirit is remolding the Church of Jesus Christ into one that can better function in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of Satan is more powerful even now than mere human intellect can cope with. What will it be like when the devil is cast down to earth, as Revelation 12:17 reveals –

“the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

By that time the Church must be clothed in the heavenly armor of the Holy Spirit and equipped with spiritual weapons given only by the Holy Spirit. And, we must be experienced in their use before that time comes! We absolutely need the 5-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers now in the Church.

I began this article with a verse from Amos –

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. – Amos 3:7

While I believe there are prophets among us, they are mostly not recognized nor received. What is a prophet? He is one who hears from God and delivers the message to man. It can be a word of encouragement in the battles of life or it can be a word of chastisement and correction as God often chastises those whom He loves. The message can also be one of revelation foretelling what God is about to do, as it was in Amos.

There is the office of Prophet, given only to a select few, but there is also the gift of prophesy, given to many in the Body of Christ. Jesus reveals –

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. – John 15:15 (emphasis added)

The Body of Christ is to know what the Father is doing because Jesus has called us friends and wants us to know what the Father is doing. That is exactly why one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophesy.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. – John 14:26

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. – John 16:13

Not only will the ministry of the Holy Spirit remind us and teach us all things, He will show us things to come!

When Paul was teaching the Corinthian church about the gifts of the Holy Spirit he said –

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. … But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. – 1 Corinthians 14:1, 3

Jesus wants us to know what the Father is doing and the Father wants us to know what He is doing so we can join with Him in doing it! He has given us the job of “wrestling with principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and even spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). We can speak God’s word into situations and see them change for the better. This is the work of the prophet.<