This wk episode Road 5 Very controversial subject dual fold. First WAR. People die atrocities occur evil seizes the opportunity There are many wars told foretold in the Word some still remain. Two we will cover today. Second subject of controversy is Israel. This is a subject that to many Christians is not a touchy subject but those who may decide to listen today may have apprehensions of the nation and the land & who owns it. Which is why 10/7/23 is an important date. Conflict has arisen it will not cease. The conflict in Israel has spread beyond the borders of the holy land, our lives are affected by it whether we have control over it or not. The question is how is one of the smallest nations on the earth bringing seismic activity all the way to America?

Ever notice that there is a mass amount of animosity being pushed toward Israel and militaries are now on high alert. Everywhere you look the sides are drawn. Some blame Israel for the banking failure, the media corruption and the human trafficking, others point the fingers are their opposition and claim a globalist scheme is pitted to slander her and destroy her.

As promised the world is now in a fast forward to the rapture but 2 prophecies must be filled before we get to the Tribulation since all this started on October 7 2023. Isaiah 17 focuses on Damascus which is very identifiable today. This is the largest city in Syria, oldest city in existence.  This prophecy details Israel responding to an attack, involving Syria and Iran.^[1] The conflict with what the mainstream media has coined as ‘radical Islam’ and the terrorist groups which have emerged from these sects and their role in terrorism against Israel such as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh are jihadist groups but not alone, Hurras as-Din who carried out attacks in 2021 in Damascus and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. All have ties to Damascus. All have hostility toward Israel. But Damascus is not mentioned in the alliance of nations in Ezekiel 38 which means this conflict will precede the Gog-Magog conflict, nor is it mentioned in Psalm 83 and the coalition mentioned in that chapter who brings conflict against Israel.

Asaph in a Psalm over 3000 years ago prophesized an alliance of Arab states will unit to destroy Israel. Similar to Gog-Magog but is different, they have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” (Psalm 83:4, New International Version). Psalm 83 predicts a climactic, concluding Arab-Israeli war that has eluded the discernment of today’s top Bible scholars, many scholars who are acclaimed from many centuries back get this prophecy wrong believing the church is in volved in this.^[2] There is no rational reason to belove that since the church was a mystery of God in the Old Testament times. The cast of characters mentioned in Psalm 83 as mentioned are not as obvious are a 10-nation alliance of mostly neighbors to Israel and house organizations known for terrorism such as Hamas, and Hezbollah. Verses six through eight mention the tents of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarites, Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia, and Tyre, as well as Assyria and the children of Lot. When translated into modern times this is who will be included:

• Tents of Edom = [descendants of Esau] Palestinian Refugees and Southern Jordanians
• Ishmaelites = Saudi Arabians
• Moab = Palestinian Refugees and Central Jordanians
• Hagrites = Egyptians
• Gebal = Northern Lebanese
• Ammon = Palestinian Refugees and Northern Jordanians
• Amalek = Arabs South of Israel
• Philistia = Palestinian Refugees and Hamas of the Gaza Strip
• Inhabitants of Tyre = Hezbollah and Southern Lebanese
• Assyria = Syrians and perhaps Northern Iraqis included
• Children of Lot = Moab and Ammon

These nations have never grouped together at once to take on Israel, but that day is coming, and it could be very soon. Here according to verse four is not to capture the land, but to wipe Israel off the map. But rest assured while this is what will be seen, the real reason will be for the real God to show who he is. Verse eighteen gives us a reason to see this is a spiritual war, manifest in the physical and another attempt by Satan to make God look like a liar, but in the end, the truth begins to emerge. “Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord that you alone are the Most High over all the earth” (Psalm 17:18, New International Version).

The hostility is growing, the tensions are increasing and the word to the children of God is do not fear, these situations only further prove what we believe in, only should strengthen our faith that every word we read in the Holy bible is true.

There is another prophecy which will grow in effect to the world found in Zechariah 12: 1-9 A prophecy: The word of the Lord concerning Israel.

The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: ² “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. ⁵ Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong because the Lord Almighty is their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding people right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.

⁷ “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

2 days post the attacks Greg Sheridan of the Australian asked if this leads to World War III? He asks this knowing that the USA will send support against this atrocity by Hamas who provides challenges to civilized governments everywhere.^[3] This is true, this conflict is not new to the world and the cast of characters who have stoked the flames is a who’s who of political and spiritual leaders who are calling for realignment such as former President Barack Hussein Obama and the current Pope.^[4] This proves the prophecy of Zechariah to be true as the world is stumbling on this small piece of land which eighty years ago at its foundation was truly a wasteland. As Chuck Missler used to always say, “So goes Israel, so goes the world. If you want to know where we are on God’s prophetic timetable, watch Israel.”^[5]

The message will also deal with the participation of the United States of America in the conflicts of Israel, not just in the giving of billions of dollars of funding, but in way of military armament and personnel.^[6] This fact will also be given along with the fact of the United States also funding the Palestinians who ignited this conflict.^[7]

The prophecy is clear though, that all will gather against her, yet Israel will stand, and it is they who will fall, and if we are to take the prophecy for as it is written that means that even the United States will come against Israel, and indeed fall. Yet, historical editorials claim that it was the United States who pressured the United Nations to bring about the nation that was born in a day (another prophecy fulfilled ironically, from Isaiah 66:7).^[8]

While there is much emphasis on the battle in Megiddo to come as prophesized in Revelation 19 and before it in Zechariah 14, the real damage is done to Israel during the Great Tribulation when she is ruled, like the rest of the world by the man known for his chief trait; being anti-Christ. In scripture he is also known as the Beast and his system to rule the world will be explored further in an upcoming post, but his emphasis will be on Israel. Yet, despite that, a man who controls all the world’s resources and currency has more might than any world ruler in history, who will unleash unrestrained malice to those who will not bow to him, Israel will remain even after he is gone at the return of the true King of kings. So, no matter what you are facing, dealing with, fighting through, remember your life is in his hands. Have faith that he will work all things to good (Romans 8:28, New International Version). The road to the end demands Israel be put in the crossfires of the world, but the hand who cut the covenant with Abraham will defend her!

[1] Sawyer, John F A. Isaiah 17. Isaiah through the Centuries /. Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119441151.ch17.

[2] Wesselschmidt, Quentin F. Psalms 51-150. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2007.

[3] “Israel’s agony portends risk of global conflict.” Australian [National, Australia], October 9, 2023, NA. Gale Business: Insights (accessed September 5, 2024). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A768254976/GBIB?u=vic_liberty&sid=summon&xid=a62f70b6.

[4] Survival : Global Politics and Strategy. December 2023-January 2024, Israel and Gaza, Horror and War. 226, S.l: ROUTLEDGE, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003429395.

[5] https://www.khouse.org/

[6] WINOGRAD, MARCY. “How Nations Could End Israeli Genocide: Stop the Weapons; Stop the Oil; Stop the Tech.” CounterPunch (2024), 1-14.

[7] BEHNAM, M. “Democracy vs. Hypocrisy: US in Palestine.” CounterPunch (2024), 1-7.

[8] Chamberlin, Paul Thomas. The Global Offensive : The United States, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Making of the Post-Cold War Order. Oxford ; Oxford University Press, 2012.66