Close to Armageddon
Most journalists agree that Israeli f-15i jets made a surgical strike on a military installation inside Syria. The date was September 6.
The Syrians are not talking because they have been humiliated. Other top government officials who know about the attack are not talking either. In fact, they have never been so abnormally secretive about anything! Israel has had almost total censorship, which is nearly unheard of. Why are they all so secretive?
The Spectator quoted “a very senior British ministerial source” as saying this: “If people had known how close we came to World War iii that day there’d have been mass panic. … [Prime Minister Gordon] Brown really would have been dealing with the bloody book of Revelation and Armageddon” (October 3).
This is a reputable newsmagazine quoting “a very senior British ministerial source” who said that to reveal news of this attack would have caused “mass panic”!
Why? Because people would then have known how close we came to World War iii! According to this source, the prime minister of Britain (not of Israel) “would have been dealing with the bloody book of Revelation and Armageddon.” This seems to be about the worst description he could give us.
So if leaders are thinking that way in Britain, what does this mean? It means that nations other than Israel believe the whole world will be pulled into any military whirlwind in the Middle East, especially if it’s nuclear.
Here is another statement from the Spectator: “According to American sources, Israeli intelligence tracked a North Korean vessel carrying a cargo of nuclear material labeled ‘cement’ as it traveled halfway across the world. On September 3 the ship docked at the Syrian port of Tartus, and the Israelis continued following the cargo as it was transported to the small town of Dayr az Zawr … in northeastern Syria.
“The destination was not a complete surprise. It had already been the subject of intense surveillance by an Israeli Ofek spy satellite, and within hours a band of elite Israeli commandos had secretly crossed into Syria and headed for the town. Soil samples and other material they collected there were returned to Israel. Sure enough, they indicated that the cargo was nuclear.
“Three days after the North Korean consignment arrived, the final phase of Operation Orchard was launched. With prior approval from Washington, Israeli f-15i jets were scrambled and, minutes later, the installation and its newly arrived contents were destroyed.
“So secret were the operational details of the mission that even the pilots who were assigned to provide air cover for the strike jets had not been briefed on it until they were airborne” (ibid., emphasis mine throughout).
The world knows that Israel has nuclear bombs and submarines with nuclear cruise missiles.
Syria already has one of the world’s deadliest stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. It wanted the nuclear material to complete its weapons of mass destruction program. This is one of the supreme goals of any terrorist-sponsoring nation. Such a program is the most efficient way to kill large numbers of human beings, including women and children.
Apparently Syria was about to construct a nuclear facility. The Jews believe they cannot allow this to happen since Syria is one of their nearest neighbors. Also, Syria is second only to Iran in state-sponsored terrorism! It isn’t hard to imagine Damascus giving nuclear devices to terrorists.
Do we really know how insanely dangerous this world is?
One of the Trumpet’s contacts in Israel said he wondered why Israel was calling up its national guard before the September 6 attack. After he learned some sketchy details of what happened, he knew why. Israel was preparing for war—possibly a war involving wmds. And we can’t rule out the use of nuclear weapons, even from the Arab side.
There seems to be clear evidence that the Russians had some nuclear weapons stolen. Who got them? Syria? Iran? Many journalists think it was Iran.
This problem goes much deeper than Syria and Israel. Syria is a surrogate of Iran. The king of the Muslim world is Iran.
Charles Krauthammer wrote this in his September 21 Washington Post column: “Iran’s assets in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are poised and ready. Ahmadinejad’s message is this: If anyone dares attack our nuclear facilities, we will fully activate our proxies, unleashing unrestrained destruction on Israel, moderate Arabs, Iraq and U.S. interests—in addition to the usual, such as mining the Strait of Hormuz and causing an acute oil crisis and worldwide recession.
“This is an extremely high-stakes game. The time window is narrow. In probably less than two years, Ahmadinejad will have the bomb.
“The world is not quite ready to acquiesce. The new president of France has declared a nuclear Iran ‘unacceptable.’ The French foreign minister warned that ‘it is necessary to prepare for the worst’—and ‘the worst, it’s war, sir.’”
France is a member of the European Union. You can see that the EU is being drawn into the Middle East vortex.
Europe is going to clash with Iran and radical Islam soon. The EU is going to win, according to Bible prophecy. (Request our free booklet Daniel—Unsealed at Last! for more details.)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Israel must be “wiped from the map.” That statement certainly indicates that he plans on using nuclear weapons to achieve that goal.
President George W. Bush said on October 18: “I’ve told people that, if you’re interested in avoiding World War iii, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing [the Iranians] from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
The president clearly understands that a nuclear Iran will trigger World Wariii! Nuclear weapons will cause it to “push” even harder in its foreign policy (Daniel 11:40).
Bible prophecy agrees with President Bush!
This problem is all about whether human beings can survive. It is time to wake up to what is happening in this sick world! Europeans are just waiting on a strongman to lead their superpower. They won’t have long to wait.
Government officials may continue to keep the Israeli strike shrouded in mystery, but the problem won’t go away. The Middle East is rapidly becoming more volatile, and everybody knows it. We are frighteningly close to World War iii.
Today we have nuclear megabombs—thousands of times more powerful than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. Those tiny bombs (by comparison to our nukes today) caused Japan to surrender quickly in World War ii.
So what is the solution? Is there any hope that mankind can survive?
If we only look to men and women, there is no hope!
Here is the giant paradox. Journalists and politicians keep referring to the book of Revelation and to Armageddon to make us see how serious the danger is, but they never seem to discuss the conclusion of Armageddon. The hope and the solution are imbedded in the Armageddon statement. Read Revelation 16. Armageddon is in the context of God’s wrath because of our sins. We will only escape that wrath if we conquer our sins.
It is God who gathers those armies to Armageddon! (Revelation 16:15-16). The Bible command is: “Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (verse 15). It is our shameful spiritual nakedness that fills God with wrath! If we remove that shame, we don’t have to fear nuclear war!
If people are going to continually invoke the word Armageddon, they ought to understand the conclusion of that bloody scene! Armageddon is concluded by the coming of the Messiah! Even if we don’t remove our shame, He is still coming. That is what Armageddon is all about. Those armies in Armageddon are going to be brought to Jerusalem to fight the Messiah.
This is a biblical prophecy that should cause us to stop and ponder. Before it’s over, the Valley of Jehoshaphat—which runs between the Old City of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives—will flow with blood up to the horses’ bridles! That valley is where most of the soldiers of Armageddon will die.
This is how people must learn lessons if they won’t heed the Bible’s message today. But human nature is rebellious and extremely self-willed. People usually have to learn the hard way.
Thankfully, all of this devastation will end with the greatest news this world and even the universe has ever experienced! And it all follows on the heels of Armageddon.
