CNN) -- Nearly one in four people worldwide is Muslim -- and they are not necessarily where you might think, according to an extensive new study that aims to map the global Muslim population.
Nearly two out of three of the world's Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia.
India, a majority-Hindu country, has more Muslims than any country except for Indonesia and Pakistan, and more than twice as many as Egypt.
China has more Muslims than Syria.
Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon.
And Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya put together.
Nearly two out of three of the world's Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia.
The Middle East and north Africa, which together are home to about one in five of the world's Muslims, trail a very distant second.
There are about 1.57 billion Muslims in the world, according to the report, "Mapping the Global Muslim Population," by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. That represents about 23 percent of the total global population of 6.8 billion.
There are about 2.25 billion Christians, based on projections from the 2005 World Religions Database.
Brian Grim, the senior researcher on the Pew Forum project, was slightly surprised at the number of Muslims in the world, he told CNN.
"Overall, the number is higher than I expected," he said, noting that earlier estimates of the global Muslim population have ranged from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.
The report can -- and should -- have implications for United States policy, said Reza Aslan, the best-selling Iranian-American author of "No God but God."
Fact BoxReport: Top 10 Muslim countries, by population 1. Indonesia: 202,867,000 (country is 88.2 percent Muslim) 2. Pakistan: 174,082,000 (country is 96.3 percent Muslim)! 3. India: 160,945,000 (country is 13.4 percent Muslim) 4. Bangaldesh: 145,312,000 (country is 89.6 percent Muslim) 5. Egypt: 78,513,000 (country is 94.6 percent Muslim) 6. Nigeria: 78,056,000 (country is 50.4 percent Muslim) 7. Iran: 73,777,000 (country is 99.4 percent Muslim)! 8. Turkey: 73,619,000 (country is about 98 percent Muslim) 9. Algeria: 34,199,000 (country is 98 percent Muslim) 10. Morocco: 31,993,000 (country is about 99 percent Muslim) Source: "Mapping the Global Muslim Population," The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
"Increasingly, the people of the Middle East are making up a smaller and smaller percentage of the worldwide Muslim community," he told CNN by phone.
"When it comes to issues of outreach to the Muslim world, these numbers will indicate that outreach cannot be focused so narrowly on the Middle East," he said.
"If the goal is to create better understanding between the United States and the Muslim world, our focus should be on south and southeast Asia, not the Middle East," he said.
He spoke to CNN before the report was published and without having seen its contents, but was familiar with the general trends the report identified.
The team at the Pew Forum spent nearly three years analyzing "the best available data" from 232 countries and territories, Grim said.
Their aim was to get the most comprehensive snapshot ever assembled of the world's Muslim population at a given moment in time.
So they took the data they gathered from national censuses and surveys, and projected it forward based on what they knew about population growth in each country.
They describe the resulting report as "the largest project of its kind to date."
It's full of details that even the researchers found surprising.
"There are these countries that we don't think of as Muslim at all, and yet they have very sizable numbers of Muslims," said Alan Cooperman, the associate director of research for the Pew Forum, naming India, Russia and China.
One in five of the world's Muslims lives in a country where Muslims are a minority.
And while most people think of the Muslim population of Europe is being composed of immigrants, that's only true in western Europe, Cooperman said.
"In the rest of Europe -- Russia, Albania, Kosovo, those places -- Muslims are an indigenous population," he said. "More than half of the Muslims in Europe are indigenous."
The researchers also were surprised to find the Muslim population of sub-Saharan Africa to be as low as they concluded, Cooperman said.
It has only about 240 million Muslims -- about 15 percent of all the world's Muslims.
Islam is thought to be growing fast in the region, with countries such as Nigeria, which has large populations of both Christians and Muslims, seeing violence between the two groups.
The Pew researchers concluded that Nigeria is just over half Muslim, making it the sixth most populous Muslim country in the world.
Roughly nine out of 10 Muslims worldwide are Sunni, and about one in 10 is Shiite, they estimated.
They warned they were less confident of those numbers than of the general population figures because sectarian data is harder to come by.
"Only one or two censuses in the world ... have ever asked the sectarian question," said Grim.
"Among Muslims it's a very sensitive question. If asked, large numbers will say I am just a Muslim -- not that they don't know, but it is a sensitive question in many places," he said.
One in three of the world's Shiite Muslims lives in Iran, which is one of only four countries with a Shiite majority, he said. The others are Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain.
Huge as the project of mapping the world's Muslim population is, it is only the first step in a Pew Forum undertaking.
Next year, the think tank intends to release a report projecting Muslim population growth into the future, and then the researchers intend to do the whole thing over again with Christians, followed by other faith groups.
"We don't care only about Muslims," Grim said.
They're also digging into what people believe and practice, since the current analysis doesn't analyze that.
"This is no way reflects the religiosity of people, only their self-identification," Grim said. "We're trying to get the overall picture of religion in the world."
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
20 year old murders family, in the name of "Jesus"
(CNN) -- Elizabeth McCutchen and a friend were walking to book club two weeks ago in quaint Farmville, Virginia, when they strolled by a home on First Avenue. "Something smells dead," her friend said.
McCroskey was arrested on September 19. "I'm not sure he gets the severity of everything," his attorney says.
They were thinking animal. A dog, a cat, something like that. They never imagined they were smelling the remains of massacred humans. It was Thursday, September 17. But another 24 hours would pass before police made the gruesome discovery.
Richard Samuel McCroskey III -- a 20-year-old rapper in the underground genre of "Horrorcore" who sang of chopping people into pieces -- has been arrested in connection with the slayings. The crime scene was so horrifying police would not even describe it, saying only that the victims died of blunt force trauma.
The victims were Mark Niederbrock, 50, the beloved pastor at Walker's Presbyterian Church; his 16-year-old daughter, Emma Niederbrock; Melanie Wells, Emma's 18-year-old friend from West Virginia; and Niederbrock's estranged wife, Debra Kelley, 53, a professor at Longwood University.
McCroskey has been charged only in the killing of Mark Niederbrock. Police and the prosecutor's office did not return repeated phone calls from CNN. But in late September, authorities said more charges are pending.
Emma was described as a fan of Horrorcore and had met McCroskey through their mutual affection for the little-known music genre. Police said she invited McCroskey to fly from his northern California home, stay with her in Virginia and then attend the Strictly for the Wicked Festival, a Horrorcore fest in Michigan featuring bands with names like Dismembered Fetus and Phrozen Body Boy.
Nobody saw what would come next.
Anderson Cooper 360
The latest on the investigation into the Virginia murders on AC360.Wednesday, 10pm ET
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The slayings have been the talk of Farmville, a town of 7,000 that is home to Longwood University and nearby Hampden-Sydney College. Senseless is the word you hear most.
It's not just the macabre nature of the killings that has people talking. It's the grotesque lyrics of the Horrorcore singer; it's that it happened under their noses.
McCroskey is a young man with no criminal record who took delight in the blend of horror hip-hop that celebrated macabre killings. He went by the name Syko Sam. In one YouTube video, he holds a hatchet and sings about killing people and putting their remains in black bags: "Last night I was the murderous rage. Now, I gotta get rid of the bodies before the corpses start to get to rotting."
Don't Miss
WWBT: Mother, daughter laid to rest in Farmville
WWBT: 'Horrorcore' rapper tipped Farmville police
'Stinkiest rascal I've ever smelled'
Authorities have not specified when the Virginia killings occurred, but at 4 a.m. on Friday, September 18, tow-truck driver Elton Napier was called out to Poor House Road to help McCroskey, whose car was stuck.
Napier said McCroskey was wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt and "was really smelling bad, like real bad. I can't describe it."
McCroskey was driving Mark Niederbrock's Honda. Napier said two sheriff's deputies were at the scene and McCroskey was ticketed for driving without a license. At the time, authorities didn't know the pastor had been slain.
When McCroskey hopped into Napier's flatbed, the tow-truck driver said he started gagging from the odor and immediately rolled down the windows.
"I just held my head out the window so the wind would hit me in the face," he said. "That was the stinkiest rascal I've ever smelled."
Napier drove McCroskey about four miles to a convenience store. McCroskey told Napier he was visiting his girlfriend and her father lent him the car. McCroskey fetched a black bag from the Honda before they parted. Napier went inside to get a cup of coffee.
According to police, McCroskey eventually caught a cab to Richmond International Airport. By mid-afternoon that same day, police found the bodies at the home on First Avenue. McCroskey was arrested the next day at the airport, where he had spent the night.
When he was being led to jail, McCroskey told reporters, "Jesus told me to do it."
Suspect's family, community grieve
Sarah McCroskey of California told CNN-affiliate WWBT that her brother had been looking forward to his visit to Virginia for weeks. She mourned his arrest and struggled with the accusations against him. "I want to hear his voice. I am so concerned, so worried -- not just for him [but] other people, other families involved dealing with this loss," she said. Read WWBT's special coverage
Defense attorney Cary Bowen told CNN, "I don't want to say he's in shock. That's a medical term, but it's a big experience for him. ... I'm not sure he gets the severity of everything right now."
The community is still devastated by the events as it struggles to move forward. Memorial services were held over the weekend for Emma Niederbrock and her mother, Debra Kelley.
The Rev. Sylvia Meadows of Farmville United Methodist Church baptized Emma at age 5 and her father when he was an adult. The pastor said the church has invited an occult specialist to speak with members of the community to help them come to grips with the dark side of humanity.
"We have looked evil in the face and cannot deny that it exists," Meadows said. "God is stronger than evil. God is bigger."
Luther Glenn, a member of Walker's Presbyterian Church where Niederbrock was pastor, took issue with McCroskey's comment about Jesus telling him to act. "I think it's deeply rooted in Satan, if you want to know the truth."
Elizabeth McCutchen, who passed the First Avenue home some time after the slayings, said the killings have affected every fabric of the community: the churches, the colleges, and their youth.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
War with Iran inevitable..
By Jeffrey T. Kuhner
War with Iran is now inevitable. The only question is: Will it happen sooner or later? Tehran's recent missile tests and war games suggest that the apocalyptic mullahs have reached the same conclusion.
Iran is on the march. Their medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles can reach Israel, the entire Middle East and parts of Europe. Tehran is slowing expanding its regional sphere of influence. It has backed insurgency groups in Iraq, which have killed U.S. soldiers. It sponsors Hamas and Hezbollah. It has transformed Syria into a political vassal. It has forged an alliance with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. It has purchased key air defense systems from Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust-denier and virulent anti-Semite. He is a Persian Nazi strongman who vows to wipe Israel "off the map." He is a revolutionary Shi'ite. He believes the Jews must be extinguished in order to usher the coming of the Shi'ite Messiah, the so-called "Hidden Imam."
For years, the fascist theocracy has invested considerable resources into developing a clandestine nuclear weapons program. Mr. Ahmadinejad insists Tehran only wants atomic energy for "peaceful purposes." Yet, he cannot answer one simple question: Why does a country with the world's second-largest natural gas reserves and third-largest oil supply need domestic nuclear power?
Moreover, Mr. Ahmadinejad is a congenital liar. He repeatedly insists that Iran is a "democracy." Rather, it is a brutal police state based on rigged elections and the torture and murder of dissidents. He claims that Iran has "no homosexuals" and that women are treated "fairly." In fact, the Islamist regime routinely executes gays and subjugates women. He says Iran has "nothing to hide" about its nuclear program. The West, however, recently discovered a hidden, underground facility near the holy city of Qom capable of producing highly enriched uranium for weapons-grade nuclear material.
Since establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran has been engaged in an ideological struggle against the West. Its two main enemies have been the United States ("the Great Satan") and Israel ("the Little Satan"). From its inception, Tehran has sought to erect a world Muslim empire; to restore medieval Islamic civilization to its former dominance. The regime is reactionary and - in a twisted manner - even utopian. Nuclear weapons are about more than attaining great-power status. They are the means to achieve the final triumph of messianic Shi'ism.
Iran is on the verge of acquiring the bomb. The mullahs have reached the point of no return. Israel - the country that has to live in that dangerous part of the world - believes the mullahs are six to nine months away from getting it.
Hence, President Obama's policy of diplomatic engagement combined with possible sanctions is doomed to fail. It is ineffective, naive and reckless. Direct talks, like those conducted in Geneva on Thursday, only give Iran more time. Mr. Obama is simply providing the mullahs with the cover they need to finish completing their nuclear arsenal.
Washington now has two choices: Sanction an American or Israeli military attack to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities or allow Tehran to go nuclear. Either option means war.
A devastating strike would likely trigger a fierce Iranian response, including waves of suicide bombers targeting Israeli civilians and U.S. troops in Iraq. Iranian missiles would pound Israeli and, maybe, European cities. Vital shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf would be disrupted, driving the price of oil to more than $300 a barrel - plunging the West into a possible depression. Hezbollah sleeper cells might be activated within the United States, unleashing deadly atrocities on American soil.
Yet, allowing a nuclear-armed Iran is likely to lead to an even worse regional war. Once the ruling clerics get their hands on nukes, a military showdown with Israel is inevitable. They will seek to destroy the Jewish state once and for all. Jerusalem will not stand by and commit existential suicide. It will retaliate. The result would be a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East.
The winds of war are blowing across the Persian Gulf. Following this summer's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the Iranian regime is weak, desperate and fracturing. Washington should vigorously pursue a policy of internal regime change; otherwise, Tehran will drag the Middle East into a certain conflagration that could lead to the slaughter of millions.
Instead, Mr. Obama has ruled out "meddling in Iran's internal affairs." His peace-at-any-cost diplomacy guarantees military conflict. It is no longer a question of if this will happen, but when and on whose terms. Mr. Obama is sleepwalking into disaster. America and the Middle East will pay the price.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
War with Iran is now inevitable. The only question is: Will it happen sooner or later? Tehran's recent missile tests and war games suggest that the apocalyptic mullahs have reached the same conclusion.
Iran is on the march. Their medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles can reach Israel, the entire Middle East and parts of Europe. Tehran is slowing expanding its regional sphere of influence. It has backed insurgency groups in Iraq, which have killed U.S. soldiers. It sponsors Hamas and Hezbollah. It has transformed Syria into a political vassal. It has forged an alliance with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. It has purchased key air defense systems from Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust-denier and virulent anti-Semite. He is a Persian Nazi strongman who vows to wipe Israel "off the map." He is a revolutionary Shi'ite. He believes the Jews must be extinguished in order to usher the coming of the Shi'ite Messiah, the so-called "Hidden Imam."
For years, the fascist theocracy has invested considerable resources into developing a clandestine nuclear weapons program. Mr. Ahmadinejad insists Tehran only wants atomic energy for "peaceful purposes." Yet, he cannot answer one simple question: Why does a country with the world's second-largest natural gas reserves and third-largest oil supply need domestic nuclear power?
Moreover, Mr. Ahmadinejad is a congenital liar. He repeatedly insists that Iran is a "democracy." Rather, it is a brutal police state based on rigged elections and the torture and murder of dissidents. He claims that Iran has "no homosexuals" and that women are treated "fairly." In fact, the Islamist regime routinely executes gays and subjugates women. He says Iran has "nothing to hide" about its nuclear program. The West, however, recently discovered a hidden, underground facility near the holy city of Qom capable of producing highly enriched uranium for weapons-grade nuclear material.
Since establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran has been engaged in an ideological struggle against the West. Its two main enemies have been the United States ("the Great Satan") and Israel ("the Little Satan"). From its inception, Tehran has sought to erect a world Muslim empire; to restore medieval Islamic civilization to its former dominance. The regime is reactionary and - in a twisted manner - even utopian. Nuclear weapons are about more than attaining great-power status. They are the means to achieve the final triumph of messianic Shi'ism.
Iran is on the verge of acquiring the bomb. The mullahs have reached the point of no return. Israel - the country that has to live in that dangerous part of the world - believes the mullahs are six to nine months away from getting it.
Hence, President Obama's policy of diplomatic engagement combined with possible sanctions is doomed to fail. It is ineffective, naive and reckless. Direct talks, like those conducted in Geneva on Thursday, only give Iran more time. Mr. Obama is simply providing the mullahs with the cover they need to finish completing their nuclear arsenal.
Washington now has two choices: Sanction an American or Israeli military attack to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities or allow Tehran to go nuclear. Either option means war.
A devastating strike would likely trigger a fierce Iranian response, including waves of suicide bombers targeting Israeli civilians and U.S. troops in Iraq. Iranian missiles would pound Israeli and, maybe, European cities. Vital shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf would be disrupted, driving the price of oil to more than $300 a barrel - plunging the West into a possible depression. Hezbollah sleeper cells might be activated within the United States, unleashing deadly atrocities on American soil.
Yet, allowing a nuclear-armed Iran is likely to lead to an even worse regional war. Once the ruling clerics get their hands on nukes, a military showdown with Israel is inevitable. They will seek to destroy the Jewish state once and for all. Jerusalem will not stand by and commit existential suicide. It will retaliate. The result would be a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East.
The winds of war are blowing across the Persian Gulf. Following this summer's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the Iranian regime is weak, desperate and fracturing. Washington should vigorously pursue a policy of internal regime change; otherwise, Tehran will drag the Middle East into a certain conflagration that could lead to the slaughter of millions.
Instead, Mr. Obama has ruled out "meddling in Iran's internal affairs." His peace-at-any-cost diplomacy guarantees military conflict. It is no longer a question of if this will happen, but when and on whose terms. Mr. Obama is sleepwalking into disaster. America and the Middle East will pay the price.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
Gay Man Sues Bible Publisher..
'Gay' man sues Bible publisher for 'mental anguish'$10 million sought for 'negative connotation' toward homosexuals
Posted: September 09, 20098:55 pm Eastern© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Bradley Fowler (RightPundits.com)
A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for "mental anguish" after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals.
Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges Tyndale House Publishers manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale's New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term "homosexuals" in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9.
"One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether," Fowler wrote in a statement on his blog.
, Fowler, who had a blog on Sen. Barack Obama's campaign website last year, filed his initial complaint against Christian publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson Publishing. Fowler, who represented himself in both lawsuits, said in his complaint against Zondervan that the publisher intended to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group's conclusion to cause "me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence ... including murder."
According to JoAnne Thomas on RightPundits.com, Fowler explained his complaint on his blog last year, referencing the I Corinthians 6:9 passage:
In 1970, I Corinthians 6:9 read as followed [sic]-
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulteres [sic], nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.
In 1982 ,the same scripture read like this-
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodimites [sic].
In 2001 the same scripture reads like this-
Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not inherit God’s kingdom. Do not be fooled, those who sin sexually, worship idols, take part in adultery, those who are male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob thses [sic] people will not inherit God's kingdom.
When Fowler filed his initial claim against Zondervan, he alleged its Bibles' references to homosexuality as a sin made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of "demoralization, chaos and bewilderment."
Both civil complaints were dismissed because Fowler did not file his complaints before the three-year federal statute of limitations expired.
However, Fowler filed a lawsuit against Tyndale House Publishers in January and is still seeking $10 million in damages. Fowler filed a motion for entry of default and a motion of summary judgment in district court, but the judge denied his motions, saying Fowler presented no proof that he served the defendant properly. The judge ordered him to reissue the original summons and complaint to Tyndale.
Fowler wrote on his blog that he has "a long battle awaiting him."
"[W]hen William Tyndale Publishing [sic], Inc., Zondervan Publishing, Inc., and Thomas Nelson Publishing, Inc. began revising the scriptures, each publisher implemented the term homosexuals within its Bible, yet failed to follow what the scripture teaches about doing so," Fowler wrote on his blog. "As a result, homosexuals have endured a life long struggle of being accepted within the American culture."
Posted: September 09, 20098:55 pm Eastern© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Bradley Fowler (RightPundits.com)
A homosexual man is suing a third national Bible publisher for "mental anguish" after he says the company published Bibles with a negative connotation toward homosexuals.
Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., alleges Tyndale House Publishers manipulated Scripture when it published Tyndale's New Living Translation Holy Bible and the New Life Application Study Bible by using the term "homosexuals" in a New Testament passage, 1 Corinthians 6:9.
"One Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether," Fowler wrote in a statement on his blog.
, Fowler, who had a blog on Sen. Barack Obama's campaign website last year, filed his initial complaint against Christian publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson Publishing. Fowler, who represented himself in both lawsuits, said in his complaint against Zondervan that the publisher intended to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group's conclusion to cause "me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence ... including murder."
According to JoAnne Thomas on RightPundits.com, Fowler explained his complaint on his blog last year, referencing the I Corinthians 6:9 passage:
In 1970, I Corinthians 6:9 read as followed [sic]-
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulteres [sic], nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.
In 1982 ,the same scripture read like this-
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodimites [sic].
In 2001 the same scripture reads like this-
Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not inherit God’s kingdom. Do not be fooled, those who sin sexually, worship idols, take part in adultery, those who are male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob thses [sic] people will not inherit God's kingdom.
When Fowler filed his initial claim against Zondervan, he alleged its Bibles' references to homosexuality as a sin made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of "demoralization, chaos and bewilderment."
Both civil complaints were dismissed because Fowler did not file his complaints before the three-year federal statute of limitations expired.
However, Fowler filed a lawsuit against Tyndale House Publishers in January and is still seeking $10 million in damages. Fowler filed a motion for entry of default and a motion of summary judgment in district court, but the judge denied his motions, saying Fowler presented no proof that he served the defendant properly. The judge ordered him to reissue the original summons and complaint to Tyndale.
Fowler wrote on his blog that he has "a long battle awaiting him."
"[W]hen William Tyndale Publishing [sic], Inc., Zondervan Publishing, Inc., and Thomas Nelson Publishing, Inc. began revising the scriptures, each publisher implemented the term homosexuals within its Bible, yet failed to follow what the scripture teaches about doing so," Fowler wrote on his blog. "As a result, homosexuals have endured a life long struggle of being accepted within the American culture."
Nuclear War To Happen Soon?
By Joel C. RosenbergEvents are moving so quickly in the epicenter it can be difficult to keep track of, much less understand the big picture. So here it is in a sentence: An apocalyptic storm is forming over the Middle East.Consider the data points:
Iran has just been caught secretly building a 2nd uranium enrichment facility on a military base in the religious capital of Iran, a city known as Qom;
A growing number of Western military analysts say the design of this new facility — and its secrecy, and location — clearly indicates it was being built by Iran for the purpose of creating nuclear weapons;
Iran has thus been caught in its third lie since 2002 with regards to building secret nuclear development facilities in Natanz, Arak, and now Qom;
Ahmadinejad refused four times during his NBC News interview last week to rule out the building of nuclear weapons;
A.Q. Khan — the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development program – has just admitted selling advanced nuclear weapons blueprints years ago to Iran for millions of dollars;
The latest IAEA report indicates Iran has enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) to produce enough high-enriched uranium (HEU) by 2010 to produce two nuclear weapons;
Iran has just spent the weekend testing “its most advanced missiles” capable of reaching Israel;
Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began his speech to the U.N. by praying for Allah to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah, which according to his theology requires the destruction of Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it;
Ahmadinejad spoke more openly about his End of the World theology during his U.N. speech than ever before;
Ahmadinejad was asked for the first time by an American reporter to describe his relationship with the “Twelfth Imam” and admitted on camera that he is communicating with this mystical Shia messiah.Humanly speaking, war is coming. The West does not seem determined enough to stop Iran from getting the Bomb. So unless the Lord intervenes, Israel might soon feel compelled to launch a preemptive strike against Iran. It won’t be easy, and the entire region could go up in flames.The stakes couldn’t be higher. So on this day of Yom Kippur, let us commit ourselves to prayer and fasting for the peace of Jerusalem and the physical and spiritual salvation of all of Israel and all of Iran.Related Links
US giant bunker-buster bomb project rushed since Iran's Qom site discovered - DEBKAfile Even Russia accepts that sanctions against Iran are inevitable - Times Online Israel Pushes Harder Line On Iran Nuclear Ambitions - NPR Iran test-fires long-range missiles – then warns Israel - The Guardian Inside the Revolution - Joel C. Rosenberg (Book)
Iran has just been caught secretly building a 2nd uranium enrichment facility on a military base in the religious capital of Iran, a city known as Qom;
A growing number of Western military analysts say the design of this new facility — and its secrecy, and location — clearly indicates it was being built by Iran for the purpose of creating nuclear weapons;
Iran has thus been caught in its third lie since 2002 with regards to building secret nuclear development facilities in Natanz, Arak, and now Qom;
Ahmadinejad refused four times during his NBC News interview last week to rule out the building of nuclear weapons;
A.Q. Khan — the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development program – has just admitted selling advanced nuclear weapons blueprints years ago to Iran for millions of dollars;
The latest IAEA report indicates Iran has enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) to produce enough high-enriched uranium (HEU) by 2010 to produce two nuclear weapons;
Iran has just spent the weekend testing “its most advanced missiles” capable of reaching Israel;
Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began his speech to the U.N. by praying for Allah to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah, which according to his theology requires the destruction of Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it;
Ahmadinejad spoke more openly about his End of the World theology during his U.N. speech than ever before;
Ahmadinejad was asked for the first time by an American reporter to describe his relationship with the “Twelfth Imam” and admitted on camera that he is communicating with this mystical Shia messiah.Humanly speaking, war is coming. The West does not seem determined enough to stop Iran from getting the Bomb. So unless the Lord intervenes, Israel might soon feel compelled to launch a preemptive strike against Iran. It won’t be easy, and the entire region could go up in flames.The stakes couldn’t be higher. So on this day of Yom Kippur, let us commit ourselves to prayer and fasting for the peace of Jerusalem and the physical and spiritual salvation of all of Israel and all of Iran.Related Links
US giant bunker-buster bomb project rushed since Iran's Qom site discovered - DEBKAfile Even Russia accepts that sanctions against Iran are inevitable - Times Online Israel Pushes Harder Line On Iran Nuclear Ambitions - NPR Iran test-fires long-range missiles – then warns Israel - The Guardian Inside the Revolution - Joel C. Rosenberg (Book)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Russians Helping Iran develop nuclear warheads to attack Isreal!
AP:
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists believed by the Israelis to be helping Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. He is said to have delivered the list during a mysterious visit to Moscow.
Netanyahu flew to the Russian capital with Uzi Arad, his national security adviser, last month in a private jet.
His office claimed he was in Israel, visiting a secret military establishment at the time. It later emerged that he was holding talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev.
“We have heard that Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb,” said a source close to the Russian defense minister last week.
“That is why it was kept secret. The point is not to embarrass Moscow, rather to spur it into action.”
Israeli sources said it was a short, tense meeting at which Netanyahu named the Russian experts said to be assisting Iran in its nuclear program.
War of Gog-Magog on the Horizon
THE WAR OF GOG AND MAGOG
Today, as you are reading this, most of the Bible's many prophecies have already been fulfilled. these foretold all of the various dispersions and early regatherings of Israel back into their promised land, the 333 details of the Messiah's first appearance as the Lamb of God, the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the more than 1,900-year scattering of the Jews to all parts of the world, and finally their regathering in the 19th and 20th century climaxed by the nation's resurrection as modern Israel in 1948--these are all uncontestable facts of the historical record.
But there are two prophecies of major importance to these Last Days that still have yet to happen. I speak now of the two great major wars that will serve to glorify God, the two wars the Bible tells us will precede the return of Jesus Christ to planet Earth when he will set up His 1,000-year rule as King of kings and Lord of Lords.
One of these wars has been written about so much and so often, and has been the focus of so many books and motion pictures, that it has by now become a universal symbol of mass destruction and catastrophe. Its name is Armageddon and it will involve hundreds of millions of soldiers who will come into the Middle East to destroy Israel at the end of the Tribulation period.
But the second of these two wars has received much less attention. Yet, in its own way, it is almost as decisive in the scenario of these Last Days as its better known counnterpart. The Bible calls this war the "Battle of Gog and Magog," Ezekiel Chapter 38, verses 1 through 9, prophecies about this war in these words--" And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: and I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee.
"Be thou prepared, yea, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy companies that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them. And thou shalt ascend, thou shalt come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy hordes, and many peoples with thee."
Using the names by which these nations were known during Biblical times, today we know these countries as Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Turkey and the Moslem Republics known as Magog. These will form a confederation to invade Israel and the Middle East, for the specific purpose of conquering the Jews and destroying their country. Theirs will be a religious crusade, what in Islam is called Jihad, with the sole motive of proving that the prophet Mohammed and his god Allah are superior to Moses and his God Jehovah.
Some expositors believe that the references to "Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" in Ezekiel 38 refers to Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk, two of Russia's major cities. Respected sources like Dwight Pentecost and John Walvoord believe that Russia will lead this invasion of Moslem nations. There is a certain degree of geo-political logic to bolster their view. Russia has for many years coveted a warm water port in the Middle East, and if she can take over the oil wells of the Arabian Peninsula, at one stroke the Bear can regain her status as a world superpower to whom the western world must plead on bended knees for the energy needs so vital to modern industrialized economies.
But there is contrary evidence that limits the invading nations to a strictly Moslem confederacy. Research has found that in Bible times, the terms "Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" described tribes that occupied the land mass just north of the Caucusus Mountain range. And the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, citing ancient Assyrian writings, places the location of Magog in the land mass between ancient Armenia and Media--in short, the Republics south of Russia and north of Israel, comprised of Azerbajian, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Chechnya, Turkey, Iran and Dagestan--significantly all of them Moslem nations.
Whether or not Russian troops will be taking part in this invasion, one thing is very clear. Russian weapons and advisers will certainly be involved, since Russia is heavily committed to arming and training the armed forces of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia and Libya, all of them military client states of Russia. Time--and not too much time, in my view--will prove which of these Rosh-Gog-Magog interpretations is correct.
Psalm 83 speaks about this conspiracy against God's covenant people, the Jews, and His nation Israel. Verses 2 through 4 describes this evil plot--" For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You"
This prophetic Psalm was written by Asaph several thousand years ago, but has yet to be fulfilled to this day. Bible scholars tells us there is absolutely no evidence that such a massive regional conspiracy to destroy Israel ever occurred in ancient times. Though Israel's enemies will enjoy massive numerical superiority, the Bible clearly tells us that by the power of God, tiny Israel--"the apple of His eye"--will utterly devastate the invading armies and her allies in this war, a war that historians of the day may likely call World War III.
When the invading armies move across Israel's borders "to take a spoil," what will the rest of the world do to stop the slaughter? According to Ezekiel Chapter 38:13, they will not even lift a finger beyond shouting empty words. Here is how the prophet describes it--"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, (representing the trading nations) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take the spoil? hast thou assembled thy company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?" No doubt this spirited outcry will be heard in the debating section of the United Nations General Assembly without effect.
But Israel will have one ally--no less than the Antichrist! According to Daniel 11, the assault against Israel will be launched by Egypt, known Biblically as the "king of the south," against the Antichrist. Let's look at those Scriptures in Daniel now--"And the king (Antichrist) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.
"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through. He shall enter also into the glorious land (Israel), and many [countries] shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon (Jordan). He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps."
Here we see some of the same nations we met earlier in Ezekiel 38--Libya, Ethiopia, and northen peoples of Gog and Magog. So it is apparent that there has been some sort of mutual defense pact between Israel and the nations behind the Antichrist. Even given the seemingly natural events of warfare, God Himself does intervene on Israel's behalf in a mighty way. Apparently, God will cause these vastly numerical Moslem armies to turn their weapons against each other.
We read about this in Ezekiel 39: 1-6--" And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord GOD. And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."
Perhaps God will cause a kind of civil war to break out among the confederacy, where one ethnic group will turn against other ethnic groups in this alliance--Aghans against Syrians, Iranians against Iraquis--as ancient animosities and rivalries rise to the level of revenge. Israel on her part, faced with such an overwhelming invading force, may well decide with the consent of Antichrist, who apparently has a token military presence in the land, to employ battlefield nuclear weapons. These neutron bombs, about the size of a baseball, when detonated on a field of battle will heavily radiate all flesh within a radius of 500 yards of the explosion.
Unlike thermonuclear weapons, these neutron bombs incapicitate every human being caught in its sphere of penetration, disabling any soldier from the capacity to fight. Within thirty minutes, the most severely radiated persons will die as their vital organs cease to function. Those who survive past a half hour will gradually recover their strength and health over a period of two weeks, and will not suffer any long-term bodily damage. The Pope and the Vatican in 1987 honored the inventor of the neutron bomb, Sam Cohen, with its own peace prize. Cohen was cited as having devised a most humane weapon that affects only combatants in war and does not indiscriminately kill and maim civilians.
As the hordes of invading troops still threaten to overrun Israel, the Israelis will likely opt to exercise their military strategy known as the "Sampson Option." This is a contingency plan drafted by Israel after their War of 1973, when a surprise attacked by Arab nations on the Day of Atonement nearly resulted on the unprepared, outnumbered Jews being overrun by much greater Arab armies.
So prime minister Golda Meier and her war ministers passed a desperate plan ordering that any future Israeli government that sees enemy armies overwhelming their soldiers by sheer numbers, that government must resolve to unleash Israel's considerable arsenal of nuclear weapons against the invading nation's major cities. They called this desperate tactic the "Sampson Option" after their Biblical strongman Sampson.
As described in the Book of Judges, Sampson was captured and blinded by his Phillistine enemies. Chained the pillars of the great Phillistine temple, and being mocked and tortured by a hostile gathering of notables, Sampson tore down the supporting pillars and caused the roof to crush everyone present, himself along all his enemies. In this case, when Israel was faced with inevitable destruction, they have vowed to use all their nuclear might against their enemies, even if they would be destroyed along with the attackers.
The evidence is powerful that nuclear weapons will be unleashed in this bloody Gog and Magog conflict. Besides the fire He promised to rain down on the home-country coastlands of the invading armies, Ezekiel 39:11‑13 tells us this‑‑"and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of them that pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop them that pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah."
Ezekiel continues to describe the aftermath of this coming war with words that read as if they were taken from a modern manual on how to deal with the lingering radiation of an atomic war. Hear how he portrays this radioactive aftermath in Chapter 39, verses 14-16--" And they shall set apart men of continual employment, that shall pass through the land, and, with them that pass through, those that bury them that remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months shall they search. And they that pass through the land shall pass through; and when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city. Thus shall they cleanse the land."
"Thus shall they cleanse the land.." There will be an incredible number of dead and maimed soldiers, along with civilians left behind as a result of this disastrous war. Two prophecies found in the writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah suggest that Damascus, the Syrian capitol, will experience the brunt of the nuclear onslaught. In Isaiah 17:1-2, we find these words--"The burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap."
And in JEremiah 49, 23 through 27, we read--"Damascus has grown feeble; She turns to flee, and fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day," says the LORD of hosts. "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus.."
As a result of this war, Israel will be humbled and suffer losses but will not be vanquished. In fact, the losses suffered by Israel's enemies will be so devastating, it may cause some of these Moslems and pagans to turn to Israel's God, just as Asaph prayed in Psalm 83--"Those who said, "Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession, O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth."
The question still remains--when? When can we expect this Mideast version of World War III to break out? As always, the Bible holds the answer. A renowned Bible scholar, the late Dr. David L. Cooper, wrote knowledgeably about this War of Gog and Magog when he noted--"It is utterly impossible to locate the fulfillment of this prediction after the Millenial Age. It cannot be placed at the beginning of the Millennium, nor at the end of the Tribulation. It must, therefore, be located prior to the Tribulation, because there is no other logical place for it to occur since the three other dates are impossible.. This war will occur at a time between now and the beginning of the Tribulation."
The Biblical reasoning behind Dr. Cooper's conclusion is found in Ezekiel 39, where the prophet states that it will take seven years to clear away the rubble and burnt out weaponry left behind by the invading armies. Verses 9 and 10 describes the process in these words--"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years; so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord Jehovah."
This seven-year period dovetails with the seven years Biblically allotted to the Tribulation, specifically noted in Daniel 9 and Revelation 11. No similar seven-year period is mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, including following the Battle of Armageddon. Armageddon, which many people confuse with the Battle of Gog and Magog, is a totally different war. Gog and Magog involves a limited number of nations in a confederacy to invade Israel, and God uses natural forces to destroy these invading armies.
But even before the smoke and radiation clears, the world leader the Bible calls the Antichrist will step forward to take rob god of the credit for giving the victory to Israel. Surprisingly, not only will the rest of the world, including Israel, believe the Antichrist's boast and go along with his blatant theft of God's glory, this man of sin will even start believing his own story and self-promoting press‑clippings to see himself as a godlike personage.
The European powers, from which the Antichrist comes and gets his power, will unify behind him so that he will be commissioned to step forward and forge a real peace treaty between Israel and her Arab neighbors. Where before, and even today, neither the Palestinians nor the other Arab and Moslem peoples are serious about resigning themselves to the reality of the Jewish homeland in their midst, in the aftermath of the deadly war and the hundreds of thousands of grieving families throughout their nations, they will at last be ready both emotionally and politically to sit down and sign some kind of interim peace accord with Israel.
That will be the time when the Antichrist will propose a seven-year period to be agreed to by all sides, the peace treaty spoken of by the Prophet Daniel in Chapter 9, verse 27 of his book--"Then he (the Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many for seven years.." One of the provisions of this peace pact is that the Jews will have the right to build a temple or tabernacle on the old Temple Mount, alongside the Moslem holy places of the Dome of the Rock and the El Aqsa Mosque. At that time, they will reinstitute the old Biblical sacrifices as commanded in the Book of Exodus.29 and so they will again begin observing Biblical Judaism instead of the Rabbinical Judaism they have observed since the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in A.D. 70.
But at the midpoint of this seven‑year period, the Antichrist will decide to renege on some of the provisions of the peace treaty he guaranteed to Israel. He does the unthinkable‑‑he orders his troops to stop the Orthodox Jewish priests from offering their ritual daily sacrifices and their sin offerings. But if you think this will make all the Israelites unhappy, think again. There will be lots of worldly unbelieving Jews and unbelieving gentiles who will applaud his action and mock the religious Torah-observant Jews who will protest.
At that time, I also believe the Antichrist will increase the persecutions against Jewish christians in israel and christians everywhere. Jesus Himself alludes to that in Matthew 24--"Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another."
Sometime later, the Antichrist will place some detestable thing upon Israel's Holy Place, the sacrificial altar over the ark of the covenant. We are not told what this despicable thing is, but it must be something that defiles and outrages the Most Holy God the altar represents. Perhaps Antichrist will set up his own throne there, or establish his media headquarters in the Tribulation temple. We know from Revelation 13:15 that it will likely include his own image and likeness--"And it was given [unto him] to give breath to it, [even] to the image to the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed."
How long after the Antichrist orders the daily sacrifice stopped will this final desecration of the temple take place? Daniel 12:11 speaks to this timing--"And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days." The space of 1,290 days expressed in years comes to three-and-a-half prophetic years plus one thirty day month.
Now the Antichrist openly defies the Living God by presenting himself to the whole world "as if he were God," and he will demand from the entire world that he be worshiped. Paul tells us this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3‑4--"Let no man beguile you in any wise: for [it will not be,] except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God."
From that moment until he meets his end, the antichrist will strive mightily to bring the entire world under his absolute control. But he will have made that one colossal blunder, that one crucial ego-maniacal action, when he dares to pollute the Holy Place with some impudent insult to the Living God--and that will trigger the great outpouring of God's wrath that will destroy him at the final Tribulation battle called Armageddon.
Armageddon describes the great battle where all the armies of the world gather against Jerusalem. The Battle of Armageddon culminates when the Lord Jesus Christ returns from Heaven with His raptured church, and He destroys these armies supernaturally with "the sword of His mouth"--simply using His spoken word Wild beasts and flesh-eating birds will devour the dead bodies left behind in a short period of time, after which Christ will set up His millennial reign at once, without any seven-year "waiting period."
that final decisive war of armageddon will be the final vindication for israel because God Himself will fight for Israel as in the days of old and give her the victory. We see this described by the prophet Zechariah in Chapter 12:3 and following of his book--"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.. In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."
Will believers be around to see the outbreak of this war? I believe we will, based on the premise that the war will bring about the conditions that culminate in the seven-year peace treaty between Israel and the Arab nations. But if the war breaks out after the peace treaty is signed and not before, then we who have placed our faith in jesus Christ will already have been snatched away to Heaven in what is popularly called "the Rapture."
Whatever the time frame, one fact remains unchanged. That is the urgent need right now to make your peace with the living God through the Messiah, His eternal Son Jesus Christ, and not have to sweat out the momentous events of these Last Days. Why do I always end these articles with a call to receive salvation and eternal security? Because all the pre-knowledge in the world is not going to help anyone who is not reborn by the Spirit of God into a new relationship.
Even if you have great wisdom, or can speak with the eloquence of angels, and can do wondrous deeds through your talents and gifts, if you have not given your life to Jesus, it is nothing but ashes that will blow away when the winds begin to blow. So this very moment, as you read these words, I urge you to open your heart and mind and ask quietly in your spirit something like this--"Father God, I want to know You in a personal way. I want to communicate with You and have You direct my path, give me the joy of Your salvation and the peace that comes only through the Prince of Peace, through Your Son Jesus.
"please, God, come to me and make me a member of your holy family through the death and resurrection of your Son. I believe He suffered and died for me, and rose from the dead to prove His divinity and lives even now beside you in your throneroom. Hear me, Jesus, and come into my life. Take me, mold me, make me in your own divine image--and let this day be the day of my salvation. Amen."
Today, as you are reading this, most of the Bible's many prophecies have already been fulfilled. these foretold all of the various dispersions and early regatherings of Israel back into their promised land, the 333 details of the Messiah's first appearance as the Lamb of God, the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the more than 1,900-year scattering of the Jews to all parts of the world, and finally their regathering in the 19th and 20th century climaxed by the nation's resurrection as modern Israel in 1948--these are all uncontestable facts of the historical record.
But there are two prophecies of major importance to these Last Days that still have yet to happen. I speak now of the two great major wars that will serve to glorify God, the two wars the Bible tells us will precede the return of Jesus Christ to planet Earth when he will set up His 1,000-year rule as King of kings and Lord of Lords.
One of these wars has been written about so much and so often, and has been the focus of so many books and motion pictures, that it has by now become a universal symbol of mass destruction and catastrophe. Its name is Armageddon and it will involve hundreds of millions of soldiers who will come into the Middle East to destroy Israel at the end of the Tribulation period.
But the second of these two wars has received much less attention. Yet, in its own way, it is almost as decisive in the scenario of these Last Days as its better known counnterpart. The Bible calls this war the "Battle of Gog and Magog," Ezekiel Chapter 38, verses 1 through 9, prophecies about this war in these words--" And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: and I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee.
"Be thou prepared, yea, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy companies that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them. And thou shalt ascend, thou shalt come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy hordes, and many peoples with thee."
Using the names by which these nations were known during Biblical times, today we know these countries as Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Turkey and the Moslem Republics known as Magog. These will form a confederation to invade Israel and the Middle East, for the specific purpose of conquering the Jews and destroying their country. Theirs will be a religious crusade, what in Islam is called Jihad, with the sole motive of proving that the prophet Mohammed and his god Allah are superior to Moses and his God Jehovah.
Some expositors believe that the references to "Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" in Ezekiel 38 refers to Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk, two of Russia's major cities. Respected sources like Dwight Pentecost and John Walvoord believe that Russia will lead this invasion of Moslem nations. There is a certain degree of geo-political logic to bolster their view. Russia has for many years coveted a warm water port in the Middle East, and if she can take over the oil wells of the Arabian Peninsula, at one stroke the Bear can regain her status as a world superpower to whom the western world must plead on bended knees for the energy needs so vital to modern industrialized economies.
But there is contrary evidence that limits the invading nations to a strictly Moslem confederacy. Research has found that in Bible times, the terms "Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" described tribes that occupied the land mass just north of the Caucusus Mountain range. And the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, citing ancient Assyrian writings, places the location of Magog in the land mass between ancient Armenia and Media--in short, the Republics south of Russia and north of Israel, comprised of Azerbajian, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Chechnya, Turkey, Iran and Dagestan--significantly all of them Moslem nations.
Whether or not Russian troops will be taking part in this invasion, one thing is very clear. Russian weapons and advisers will certainly be involved, since Russia is heavily committed to arming and training the armed forces of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia and Libya, all of them military client states of Russia. Time--and not too much time, in my view--will prove which of these Rosh-Gog-Magog interpretations is correct.
Psalm 83 speaks about this conspiracy against God's covenant people, the Jews, and His nation Israel. Verses 2 through 4 describes this evil plot--" For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You"
This prophetic Psalm was written by Asaph several thousand years ago, but has yet to be fulfilled to this day. Bible scholars tells us there is absolutely no evidence that such a massive regional conspiracy to destroy Israel ever occurred in ancient times. Though Israel's enemies will enjoy massive numerical superiority, the Bible clearly tells us that by the power of God, tiny Israel--"the apple of His eye"--will utterly devastate the invading armies and her allies in this war, a war that historians of the day may likely call World War III.
When the invading armies move across Israel's borders "to take a spoil," what will the rest of the world do to stop the slaughter? According to Ezekiel Chapter 38:13, they will not even lift a finger beyond shouting empty words. Here is how the prophet describes it--"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, (representing the trading nations) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take the spoil? hast thou assembled thy company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?" No doubt this spirited outcry will be heard in the debating section of the United Nations General Assembly without effect.
But Israel will have one ally--no less than the Antichrist! According to Daniel 11, the assault against Israel will be launched by Egypt, known Biblically as the "king of the south," against the Antichrist. Let's look at those Scriptures in Daniel now--"And the king (Antichrist) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.
"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through. He shall enter also into the glorious land (Israel), and many [countries] shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon (Jordan). He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps."
Here we see some of the same nations we met earlier in Ezekiel 38--Libya, Ethiopia, and northen peoples of Gog and Magog. So it is apparent that there has been some sort of mutual defense pact between Israel and the nations behind the Antichrist. Even given the seemingly natural events of warfare, God Himself does intervene on Israel's behalf in a mighty way. Apparently, God will cause these vastly numerical Moslem armies to turn their weapons against each other.
We read about this in Ezekiel 39: 1-6--" And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord GOD. And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."
Perhaps God will cause a kind of civil war to break out among the confederacy, where one ethnic group will turn against other ethnic groups in this alliance--Aghans against Syrians, Iranians against Iraquis--as ancient animosities and rivalries rise to the level of revenge. Israel on her part, faced with such an overwhelming invading force, may well decide with the consent of Antichrist, who apparently has a token military presence in the land, to employ battlefield nuclear weapons. These neutron bombs, about the size of a baseball, when detonated on a field of battle will heavily radiate all flesh within a radius of 500 yards of the explosion.
Unlike thermonuclear weapons, these neutron bombs incapicitate every human being caught in its sphere of penetration, disabling any soldier from the capacity to fight. Within thirty minutes, the most severely radiated persons will die as their vital organs cease to function. Those who survive past a half hour will gradually recover their strength and health over a period of two weeks, and will not suffer any long-term bodily damage. The Pope and the Vatican in 1987 honored the inventor of the neutron bomb, Sam Cohen, with its own peace prize. Cohen was cited as having devised a most humane weapon that affects only combatants in war and does not indiscriminately kill and maim civilians.
As the hordes of invading troops still threaten to overrun Israel, the Israelis will likely opt to exercise their military strategy known as the "Sampson Option." This is a contingency plan drafted by Israel after their War of 1973, when a surprise attacked by Arab nations on the Day of Atonement nearly resulted on the unprepared, outnumbered Jews being overrun by much greater Arab armies.
So prime minister Golda Meier and her war ministers passed a desperate plan ordering that any future Israeli government that sees enemy armies overwhelming their soldiers by sheer numbers, that government must resolve to unleash Israel's considerable arsenal of nuclear weapons against the invading nation's major cities. They called this desperate tactic the "Sampson Option" after their Biblical strongman Sampson.
As described in the Book of Judges, Sampson was captured and blinded by his Phillistine enemies. Chained the pillars of the great Phillistine temple, and being mocked and tortured by a hostile gathering of notables, Sampson tore down the supporting pillars and caused the roof to crush everyone present, himself along all his enemies. In this case, when Israel was faced with inevitable destruction, they have vowed to use all their nuclear might against their enemies, even if they would be destroyed along with the attackers.
The evidence is powerful that nuclear weapons will be unleashed in this bloody Gog and Magog conflict. Besides the fire He promised to rain down on the home-country coastlands of the invading armies, Ezekiel 39:11‑13 tells us this‑‑"and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of them that pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop them that pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah."
Ezekiel continues to describe the aftermath of this coming war with words that read as if they were taken from a modern manual on how to deal with the lingering radiation of an atomic war. Hear how he portrays this radioactive aftermath in Chapter 39, verses 14-16--" And they shall set apart men of continual employment, that shall pass through the land, and, with them that pass through, those that bury them that remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months shall they search. And they that pass through the land shall pass through; and when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city. Thus shall they cleanse the land."
"Thus shall they cleanse the land.." There will be an incredible number of dead and maimed soldiers, along with civilians left behind as a result of this disastrous war. Two prophecies found in the writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah suggest that Damascus, the Syrian capitol, will experience the brunt of the nuclear onslaught. In Isaiah 17:1-2, we find these words--"The burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap."
And in JEremiah 49, 23 through 27, we read--"Damascus has grown feeble; She turns to flee, and fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day," says the LORD of hosts. "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus.."
As a result of this war, Israel will be humbled and suffer losses but will not be vanquished. In fact, the losses suffered by Israel's enemies will be so devastating, it may cause some of these Moslems and pagans to turn to Israel's God, just as Asaph prayed in Psalm 83--"Those who said, "Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession, O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth."
The question still remains--when? When can we expect this Mideast version of World War III to break out? As always, the Bible holds the answer. A renowned Bible scholar, the late Dr. David L. Cooper, wrote knowledgeably about this War of Gog and Magog when he noted--"It is utterly impossible to locate the fulfillment of this prediction after the Millenial Age. It cannot be placed at the beginning of the Millennium, nor at the end of the Tribulation. It must, therefore, be located prior to the Tribulation, because there is no other logical place for it to occur since the three other dates are impossible.. This war will occur at a time between now and the beginning of the Tribulation."
The Biblical reasoning behind Dr. Cooper's conclusion is found in Ezekiel 39, where the prophet states that it will take seven years to clear away the rubble and burnt out weaponry left behind by the invading armies. Verses 9 and 10 describes the process in these words--"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years; so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord Jehovah."
This seven-year period dovetails with the seven years Biblically allotted to the Tribulation, specifically noted in Daniel 9 and Revelation 11. No similar seven-year period is mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, including following the Battle of Armageddon. Armageddon, which many people confuse with the Battle of Gog and Magog, is a totally different war. Gog and Magog involves a limited number of nations in a confederacy to invade Israel, and God uses natural forces to destroy these invading armies.
But even before the smoke and radiation clears, the world leader the Bible calls the Antichrist will step forward to take rob god of the credit for giving the victory to Israel. Surprisingly, not only will the rest of the world, including Israel, believe the Antichrist's boast and go along with his blatant theft of God's glory, this man of sin will even start believing his own story and self-promoting press‑clippings to see himself as a godlike personage.
The European powers, from which the Antichrist comes and gets his power, will unify behind him so that he will be commissioned to step forward and forge a real peace treaty between Israel and her Arab neighbors. Where before, and even today, neither the Palestinians nor the other Arab and Moslem peoples are serious about resigning themselves to the reality of the Jewish homeland in their midst, in the aftermath of the deadly war and the hundreds of thousands of grieving families throughout their nations, they will at last be ready both emotionally and politically to sit down and sign some kind of interim peace accord with Israel.
That will be the time when the Antichrist will propose a seven-year period to be agreed to by all sides, the peace treaty spoken of by the Prophet Daniel in Chapter 9, verse 27 of his book--"Then he (the Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many for seven years.." One of the provisions of this peace pact is that the Jews will have the right to build a temple or tabernacle on the old Temple Mount, alongside the Moslem holy places of the Dome of the Rock and the El Aqsa Mosque. At that time, they will reinstitute the old Biblical sacrifices as commanded in the Book of Exodus.29 and so they will again begin observing Biblical Judaism instead of the Rabbinical Judaism they have observed since the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in A.D. 70.
But at the midpoint of this seven‑year period, the Antichrist will decide to renege on some of the provisions of the peace treaty he guaranteed to Israel. He does the unthinkable‑‑he orders his troops to stop the Orthodox Jewish priests from offering their ritual daily sacrifices and their sin offerings. But if you think this will make all the Israelites unhappy, think again. There will be lots of worldly unbelieving Jews and unbelieving gentiles who will applaud his action and mock the religious Torah-observant Jews who will protest.
At that time, I also believe the Antichrist will increase the persecutions against Jewish christians in israel and christians everywhere. Jesus Himself alludes to that in Matthew 24--"Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another."
Sometime later, the Antichrist will place some detestable thing upon Israel's Holy Place, the sacrificial altar over the ark of the covenant. We are not told what this despicable thing is, but it must be something that defiles and outrages the Most Holy God the altar represents. Perhaps Antichrist will set up his own throne there, or establish his media headquarters in the Tribulation temple. We know from Revelation 13:15 that it will likely include his own image and likeness--"And it was given [unto him] to give breath to it, [even] to the image to the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed."
How long after the Antichrist orders the daily sacrifice stopped will this final desecration of the temple take place? Daniel 12:11 speaks to this timing--"And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days." The space of 1,290 days expressed in years comes to three-and-a-half prophetic years plus one thirty day month.
Now the Antichrist openly defies the Living God by presenting himself to the whole world "as if he were God," and he will demand from the entire world that he be worshiped. Paul tells us this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3‑4--"Let no man beguile you in any wise: for [it will not be,] except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God."
From that moment until he meets his end, the antichrist will strive mightily to bring the entire world under his absolute control. But he will have made that one colossal blunder, that one crucial ego-maniacal action, when he dares to pollute the Holy Place with some impudent insult to the Living God--and that will trigger the great outpouring of God's wrath that will destroy him at the final Tribulation battle called Armageddon.
Armageddon describes the great battle where all the armies of the world gather against Jerusalem. The Battle of Armageddon culminates when the Lord Jesus Christ returns from Heaven with His raptured church, and He destroys these armies supernaturally with "the sword of His mouth"--simply using His spoken word Wild beasts and flesh-eating birds will devour the dead bodies left behind in a short period of time, after which Christ will set up His millennial reign at once, without any seven-year "waiting period."
that final decisive war of armageddon will be the final vindication for israel because God Himself will fight for Israel as in the days of old and give her the victory. We see this described by the prophet Zechariah in Chapter 12:3 and following of his book--"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.. In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."
Will believers be around to see the outbreak of this war? I believe we will, based on the premise that the war will bring about the conditions that culminate in the seven-year peace treaty between Israel and the Arab nations. But if the war breaks out after the peace treaty is signed and not before, then we who have placed our faith in jesus Christ will already have been snatched away to Heaven in what is popularly called "the Rapture."
Whatever the time frame, one fact remains unchanged. That is the urgent need right now to make your peace with the living God through the Messiah, His eternal Son Jesus Christ, and not have to sweat out the momentous events of these Last Days. Why do I always end these articles with a call to receive salvation and eternal security? Because all the pre-knowledge in the world is not going to help anyone who is not reborn by the Spirit of God into a new relationship.
Even if you have great wisdom, or can speak with the eloquence of angels, and can do wondrous deeds through your talents and gifts, if you have not given your life to Jesus, it is nothing but ashes that will blow away when the winds begin to blow. So this very moment, as you read these words, I urge you to open your heart and mind and ask quietly in your spirit something like this--"Father God, I want to know You in a personal way. I want to communicate with You and have You direct my path, give me the joy of Your salvation and the peace that comes only through the Prince of Peace, through Your Son Jesus.
"please, God, come to me and make me a member of your holy family through the death and resurrection of your Son. I believe He suffered and died for me, and rose from the dead to prove His divinity and lives even now beside you in your throneroom. Hear me, Jesus, and come into my life. Take me, mold me, make me in your own divine image--and let this day be the day of my salvation. Amen."
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