EZEKIEL 38:13

13 Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, 'Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?'"'

This verse indicates the targets of the attacking forces. Ancient Sheba (present day Yemen), Dedan (western Saudi Arabia, bordering the Red Sea) and Tarshish (Phoenician term for "smelters" where precious metals were refined, which ancient records seem to indicate was in southern Phoenicia, present day Lebanon).

The ancient legendary gold beds of Ophir are also located midway down the western coast of Saudi Arabia.

I KINGS 9:28

28 And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon. (420 talents = 31,500 pounds or 15.75 tons of gold!)

Ezekiel 38:11-13 above indicate that Russia will be most interested in Saudi Arabia and Israel. Why? Saudi Arabia controls some of the richest oil fields in the world to date, while tiny Israel is mining the minerals of the Dead Sea, which is rich in potash, used mainly for fertilizers and explosives.

Russia has recently edged out Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer in the world, and is using it's oil sales to obtain much-needed hard currency for its economy.

In 2010 massive deposits of natural gas were discovered under the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, and Russia has been frustrated by Israel's refusal to allow them to drill there and construct a pipeline to bring the gas to energy-hungry Europe. Russia covets these fields as it seeks to become an oil and natural gas supergiant.

A successful Russian strike into the Middle East would bring the oil fields of Saudi Arabia under their control, would give them unlimited access to the warm-water ports they have coveted since the times of the Czars, and would give them access to the mineral wealth of the Dead Sea and the Israeli natural gas fields.

And shutting off the oil supply from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (with the cooperation of Iran, Iraq and Libya) would have the rest of the industrialized world on it's knees in weeks. South American oil producers such as Venezuela and Mexico could not keep up with the demand, and their oil is of poorer quality (containing sulfur) than Middle Eastern oil and requires special refining, increasing costs.

This also indicates why the Russians will back a heavily-armed conventional strike force against Israel and Saudi Arabia as prophesied by Ezekiel. Nuclear strikes would leave the oil fields uninhabitable for years, and would gain Russia nothing. But taking them with conventional forces while keeping the West in check with the threat of nuclear strikes would be an irresistible win-win situation.

The attack plan of the strike force as shown in the Bible appears that while the northern nations of Iran, Turkey, Russia (and other Islamic nations not mentioned) attack Israel, the purpose of Ethiopia will be to threaten any shipping entering the Red Sea from the south from the Gulf of Aden, and to keep the military forces of Yemen (ancient Sheba, on the southern coast of Saudi Arabia) in check.

And with Iran closing off the Straits of Hormuz thereby denying access through the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, Saudi Arabia (ancient Dedan) would be effectively isolated from outside help. Any assistance would have to come across the huge, trackless "Rub' Al Kali" ('empty quarter') desert to the southeast, which would present a logistical nightmare in itself.

The rulers of the House of Saud also know that there are many in their own country (backed by Iran) who would like to see them overthrown, so the crown rests uneasily on the brow of the ruling king. When the northern forces attack there could very well be an attempt to overthrow the Saudi rulers from within.

(I have also heard, but have been unable to yet verify, that there is a contingency plan that should anyone try to take the Saudi oil fields, rapid-action forces from the United States would swiftly attack and hold the oil facilities, essentially bringing them under American control.)

Libya's role would more than likely be to keep Egypt occupied. Egypt and Libya have been coldly formal in their relations with each other, and there have been several times in the last several decades where Libya has brought troops to the Egyptian border. And while not actually threatening Egypt directly, the action has prompted Egypt to reinforce it's border to prevent any incursions.

EZEKIEL 38:14-23

14"Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord God: "On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?

15 Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.

16 You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes."

17 Thus says the Lord God: "Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?

18 "And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," says the Lord God, "that My fury will show in My face.

19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: 'Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,

20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.'

21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains," says the Lord God. "Every man's sword will be against his brother.

22 And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord."'

The magnitude of the confederation of forces attacking Israel is given here when God says they will be "like a cloud to cover the land" (vs 16). And again He stresses that this attack will come in the "latter days" (vs 16) , and after "many years" (vs 17), to ensure that there is no mistake as to when this event will occur.

If you look at a map, you'll see that the El Bekaa valley which runs through western Syria and Lebanon is a natural attack path into the northern mountains of Israel, and it is there that God will destroy the attacking army.

In verse 19, God states that there will be a strong earthquake in Israel, strong enough that all in the area will feel it. Steep mountainous places will collapse, walls will fall, and even the fish of the sea will feel it. God will also rain upon the attacking forces fire, torrential rain and great hailstones, to the effect that the panic-stricken armies will kill each other.

In verse 21 God also says that "every man's sword will be against his brother". There are two major branches of Islam today, namely Shia (Shi'ite), and Sunna (Sunni) Islam. Both branches are bitterly opposed to each other after splitting in 632 A.D. and have been fighting each other for centuries. Most of the northern Arab states are Shi'ite (Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq), and the southern States (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Egypt) are Sunni. Thus when the northern Arab troops attack the southern forces, it will be an Arab versus Arab conflict.

Until recently, I had thought that the earthquake would work to frighten the attacking armies and cause them to turn on each other in their panic, which it would indeed do.

However, in recent years it has come to light that terrorist groups Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both bitter enemies of Israel, have been tunneling like gophers building weapons storage sites and command-and-control centers deep underground to protect them from Israeli bombing.

They also have been building border tunnels which would allow them to appear without warning at Israel's borders in lightning strikes catching Israel totally by surprise. An earthquake of the magnitude described by the Lord would collapse these tunnels and underground bunkers and would bury everything (and everyone) in them. God foresaw this and has planned accordingly!

Also, along with the destruction of the Arab armies and Arab power in the Middle East, the earthquake will level the Dome of the Rock, thus allowing Israel to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount without opposition.

How could this type of event occur? A geological map of the Middle East shows that there is a long fault line, called the Anatolian Fault that starts from the great Rift Valley in East Africa, runs northward under the Red Sea, continues northward through the Jordan Valley in Israel, through the El Bekaa valley in Lebanon and Syria and then dives under Turkey, continuing into central Russia. That there have been earthquakes in this area is well-recorded in the Scriptures;

I KINGS 19:11

11 Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;

AMOS 1:1

1 The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

MATTHEW 27:54

54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’

MATTHEW 28:2

2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

ACTS 16:26

26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

...and continues even to this day.

It is noteworthy that a number of the nations bordering the fault are major oil-producers. They have been pumping oil from deep underground for over 80 years now, and they have put nothing back in to replace it! Rock strata bordering the fault line that has been supported by oil beds since the Flood no longer has that support and must be under tremendous strain by now.

What could cause such a violent storm over the attacking armies as described in Ezekiel 38:22 above? God is endlessly innovative and while it could be a natural storm, God says in Ezekiel 38:23 that He will glorify Himself by what happens and everyone will know that He brought this about.

The magnitude of the storm will be incredible as will the earthquake accompanying it, and while they may appear natural, I think He will do something so spectacular that everyone will know that He is responsible. A possible alternative scenario is shown below;

Recently a small previously unknown asteroid impact crater (creating Umm al' Binni lake) was discovered in southern Iraq when Saddam Hussein drained the Persian Gulf marshlands to try to get rid of the "Marsh Arabs" who refused to bow to his rule. The crater is approximately 2 miles wide, and a close examination would target the impact date.

The asteroid impacted in what was then a shallow part of the Persian Gulf, and the resultant tsunami, heat, shockwaves and acid rains caused the collapse of a number of Middle Eastern civilizations during that time.

And the vaporization of millions of tons of saltwater, sediment, and bedrock which were blasted into the atmosphere could very well have been responsible for two of the plagues of Egypt during the Exodus, namely the massive hailstorm, and the three days of darkness.

A part of the ancient Sumerian Gilgamesh Epic, attributed to being an account of the Flood, may very well instead be a description of this asteroid strike. It says;

"With the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the horizon; it thundered within where Adad, Lord of the storm was riding. In front over hill and plain Shullat and Hanish, heralds of the storm, led on.

Then the gods of the abyss rose up; Nergal pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the war-Lord threw down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki, raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup.

One whole day the tempest raged, gathering fury as it went, it poured over the people like the tide of battle; a man could not see his brother nor the people be seen from heaven. Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the firmament of Anu; they crouched against the walls, cowering like curs."

A tremendous earthquake, thunderous noises, intense light, flooding (tsunami), fire, howling storm winds, intense darkness - sounds like an asteroid strike in a shallow sea to me. And impact-generated winds could have carried the dark vaporized debris cloud and water vapor over Egypt to create the plagues of lightning and hail, and the three days of darkness as recorded in Exodus .

EXODUS 9:22-26

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt--on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt."

23 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.

24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

And;

EXODUS 10:21-23

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt."

22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.

23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

I honestly feel if scientists were to accurately date the impact site, they could accurately date the time of the Exodus.

Another asteroid strike of similar size in southern Lebanon could have the same effects that God described as that destroying the attacking armies. The violent updrafts from the blast would suck the moisture in the area into the rising mushroom cloud and could very well pull the prevailing moisture-laden western winds from the Mediterranean up and over the Lebanese mountains before they have a chance to drop their moisture.

The superheated mushroom cloud would pull the moisture into the upper atmosphere where it could condense and come down as a massive hail storm and violent rain storm in the El Bekaa Valley to the East. The heat flash from the impact would also incinerate everything for many miles in all directions, and the force the impact could be enough to set off the fault.

And such a pinpoint asteroid strike over the attacking armies would be hard to deny being an 'act of God'.

But this is just speculation on my part.

We need to consider a few things at this point. Israel will be attacked by a massive Russian-backed confederation of Islamic forces bent on taking the whole Middle East and starting World War III.

What of the United States? Is this country mentioned in prophecy anywhere concerning this event?

Actually it is the absence of the United States in prophecy that is significant.

Far too many people try to twist Scripture to indicate that the United States is mentioned in prophecy, when it is not directly mentioned at all. Why? Mainly for the reason that only nations that have directly threatened Israel as a nation in one way or another have mention in Scripture.

Rome, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Moab, Philistia (Philistines), Canaan, Syria, Egypt, Ammon, Persia, Edom, Amalek, and Hattusha (Hittites) have all threatened Israel, usually for the worse. Why aren't Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia or other later nations which have slaughtered Jewish communities wholesale in the past mentioned? Because from 73 A.D. to 1948 A.D. Israel was not a nation.

The above-named civilizations directly affected Israel as a nation, and when Judea was destroyed by the Romans in 73 A.D., Scripture became silent as to the nations that have persecuted the Jews until Israel was once again resurrected as a nation in 1948.

Now, back to the issue of the United States. Granted, Israel is again a nation but we have had really little effect on them as a whole. However, when the prophesied Russian-backed forces come against the Middle East, we cannot allow them to accomplish their goal. The next chapter of Ezekiel below will bring this issue into greater focus.


EZEKIEL 39:1-6

1 "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;

2 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.

3 Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand.

4 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.

5 You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord God.

6 "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.

Here is the crux of the entire prophecy, and the fate of the United States. First, God states that He will bring a massive Russian and Arab army against Israel, and will proceed to destroy the attackers all at once. And verse 6 says that God will send fire on Magog (Russia), and "on those who live in security in the coastlands."

Russia and Islamic nations will be making a go-for-broke power play in this prophecy. Ostensibly it seems like they cannot lose, for their intent will be to conquer the entire Middle East, destroying hated Israel and keeping the West in check with the threat of nuclear war. However, God intervenes and destroys the attacking forces with a massive earthquake, heavy rain, a massive hailstorm, and fire.

The fate of the United States is to be destroyed along with Russia. While God does not specifically mention the United States in prophecy, the description of raining fire "on those who live in security in the coastlands" describes our country perfectly. We have no real enemies on any of our borders, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have long been buffers to any forces attacking from Asia or Europe.

God has long protected us from our enemies and blessed us with power and strength to help other nations fight their enemies because of our fundamental belief in God, as a nation. Since the 1700's we have professed to be a Christian nation, and as long as we followed God's commandment, as a country we prospered.

Our nation has since gone downhill incredibly fast in recent years, to the point where it was said by ex-President Obama in 2009 that “we are no longer a Christian nation”. We are morally bankrupt, the increasingly dictatorial government is forcing Christians to accept the blatant sins of others as normal and is threatening Federal prosecution or the withholding of Federal funding for those who resist.

The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was a shot across our bow, an indication that God is now allowing our enemies to attack us. This signifies the removal of His protection of our country. We are now suffering invasion by illegal aliens from different countries and our lawmakers do nothing or promote their invasion as a ”human right.”

In fact our politicians are granting illegal aliens the right to vote in the belief that these grateful illegals will vote for the politicians and the political Party who granted them that right in order to keep themselves in power. Politicians are so vote-greedy that they are blatantly ignoring the fact that Islamic immigrants are coming here with the avowed intent of destroying us and making everyone submit to Allah and Shariah law.

Our music is filled with explicitly obscene lyrics which glorify illicit sex, drugs, and violence, and the majority of our television shows are heavily salted with sexual situations and vulgar language. Television award shows constantly show female celebrities walking around while wearing little clothing and in numerous cases leaving nothing to the imagination, and they are lauded and called "daring". Movies are beginning to come out with explicit warnings to parents to not allow their children to watch them because of obscene language, graphic violence, drug use, nudity and lewd behavior. Is it any wonder that God in his wrath has slated for this country to be destroyed?

The United States has long been a feared entity because of our military might and moral strength. During WW II we fought two brutal empires (Germany and Japan) at the same time and won.

Now, weak nations like Iran and North Korea openly threaten us, the corrupt United Nations is trying hard to force us to submit to their rule, and our southern border is being overrun by thousands of invaders from Mexico and South America to name a few recent events.

The only way that Russia and the Muslims would dare to make a move to take the entire Middle East would be if they thought the United States was too wracked by internal turmoil to be a credible threat.

Even now we have agitators promoting racism; people whining that they need “safe spaces” because “words hurt”; students graduating today have no clue of past history or their own rights under the Constitution; power-hungry, vote-greedy politicians are promoting proven failed Socialist agendas while openly fighting those trying to make this country great again.

Is it any wonder that our enemies will see us as too weak to oppose them?

And here is where the list of countries that will be attacking with the Russians becomes significant.

When the Russian and Islamic coalition forces are destroyed by God, Russia, rather than face the humiliation of having to surrender to the West, or perhaps blaming the destruction of their forces on the United States, will launch a nuclear strike at our country. We will retaliate, and the resulting nuclear exchange will destroy both nations.

During the 'cold war', Russia and the United States kept each other in check by the concept of MAD, or Mutual Assured Destruction. In other words, no one would win if a nuclear exchange occurred. Given the amount of nuclear weapons that both nations still possess, this concept is still valid. Thus God will rain fire on Magog (Russia) and "on those who live in security in the coastlands" (United States) as stated in chapter 39, verse 6 which says;

EZEKIEL 39:6

6 “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.”

What about Europe and NATO? This is where things become interesting. Unfortunately Europe will declare neutrality when the war starts. The prophetic Bible books of Daniel and Revelation state that Europe will be the power base of the soon-coming Empire of the Antichrist. According to the books of Daniel and Revelation his power base will be a confederacy of 10 European nations, from which he will rule the world. And with United States and Russia being destroyed, Europe will gain control of the NATO nuclear assets stationed in their countries, allowing the Antichrist (called "the Beast", mentioned in Daniel and Revelation) to threaten any nations who resist him with nuclear destruction. Thus the prophecy of Revelation 13:4 will be fulfilled which says;

REVELATION 13:4

4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"

The Antichrist (shown in the book of Daniel as a fearsome beast) will be empowered by Satan himself (the dragon spoken of in the book of Revelation) and he will be militarily unstoppable.

Right now there are far more than 10 nations in the European Union, but with the recent massive influx of Middle Eastern Islamic 'refugees', I believe that internal strife, rising nationalism, and economic hardships will cause it to gradually devolve into the final Federation of 10 European nations. Either that, or World War III will cause the contraction of the European Union into 10 tightly allied States.

World War III will also collapse the global economy, and individual nations will be on their own economically and militarily. And out of this crisis in Europe will come the one who will be known as the Antichrist. He will rise to rule over the coalition of 10 nations in Europe after the war.

According to the books of Daniel and Revelation, three of the 10 nations of the former Common Market (now called the European Union) will resist him and he will take them by force. (If I were to guess which three, I think it will be Germany, France and Great Britain.)

I suspect these three nations will try to support the United States at the beginning of the war, but will have their government leaders overthrown by the forces of the Antichrist and puppet rulers will be set up in their places, shown in the book of Revelation. Note carefully what I am saying here. The Antichrist will be in power or in a position to take power when WW III begins.

(For more information on the prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation, please see the End Times studies Part 3 (Daniel) and Part 5 (Revelation) End Times Studies in the section this Web site.)
                                                                              

EZEKIEL 39:7-10 

7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done," says the Lord God. "This is the day of which I have spoken.

9 "Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years.

10 They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them," says the Lord God.

God will use the war to glorify Himself, and to show that military might is nothing compared to His mighty power. And on that day, all Israel and the surrounding nations will know that this has been God's righteous judgment on the United States, Russia and the Arabs. And the resulting radiation, pollution and diseases generated by this horrifying war will generate many of the plagues and disasters described in the book of Revelation.

How will Israel be able to burn the weapons for seven years? Scholars have puzzled over this one for a long time, and even now there is no clear answer and we can only speculate as to what this entails.

Some will say that because the Bible speaks of bows and arrows, that this prophecy was meant for ancient times. But remember these prophecies are made in ancient times and for reasons of His own God chose to not update the phraseology of the prophecies to include modern terms.

Note that the countries named in Ezekiel's prophecy are the names of the countries as they were during his time. For example present-day Iran is referred to by the ancient name of Persia, Turkey is mentioned by its ancient name Togarmah, Russia is called Magog, Western Saudi Arabia is referred to as Dedan, and present day Yemen was referred to as Sheba.

And how do you figure that the ancient prophets would describe modern-day weapons? If modern-day weapons and names were described in ancient prophecies, scholars would immediately write them off as forgeries. Thus the names of weapons of the time were used.

How will Israel be able to burn the weapons, seeing that most weapons nowadays are made of metal? God has kept the means of this to Himself, and we can only wonder and speculate on how this will happen. But, recent developments may contain the answer.

Apparently a Dutch scientist defected to the Soviet Union shortly after WW II, taking with him the secret of compressing wood to the consistency of stone. Known as 'lignostone' this wood has the consistency of stone and burns hotter and longer than anthracite coal. This substance would be wonderful as personal body-armor, and would be lighter, less expensive, and more resilient than steel as an armor for vehicles.

Scientists and engineers are also developing 'nano-cellulose', a substance made from wood pulp that has shown excellent promise for the building of military equipment ranging from vehicle armor to lightweight personal armor, having the hardness and strength of steel and the lightness and flexibility of wood. It also burns well, and is very hot when it burns. It also does not rust or corrode like metals do.

By the same token, the Russian-made AK-47 semiautomatic rifle is one of the biggest sellers in the world, and the Middle East (especially in Arab countries) is literally saturated with these weapons. These weapons have wooden stocks and grips, and after the destruction of the coalition forces, the wood from these weapons could also be used as fuel. But again this is only speculation.


EZEKIEL 39:11-16

11 "It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea; and it will obstruct travelers, because there they will bury Gog and all his multitude. Therefore they will call it the Valley of Hamon Gog.

12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.

13 Indeed all the people of the land will be burying, and they will gain renown for it on the day that I am glorified," says the Lord God.

14 "They will set apart men regularly employed, with the help of a search party, to pass through the land and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.

15 The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man's bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.

16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they shall cleanse the land."'

The 'valley of the passengers, east of the sea' apparently refers to either the northern Jordan valley, or it's continuation as the El Bekaa valley in southern Lebanon. In other words, the attackers will be buried where they fall, in a valley east of the Mediterranean Sea. And the number of the fallen will be so great that it will take seven months for Israel to bury them! And until the dead are buried there will be a stench in the land until the land is cleansed. (The King James version says in verse 11 that the bodies of the fallen soldiers will "stop the noses of the passengers". )

I'm not sure why other versions leave this out and put "obstruct travelers" in its place.


EZEKIEL 39:17-20

17 "And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, 'Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and come; gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.

18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

19 You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you.

20 You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war," says the Lord God.

As a final humiliation of the attacking forces, God will allow all the birds and beasts in the area to feast on the dead bodies. This may also help in the cleansing of the land.


EZEKIEL 39:21-29

21 "I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.

22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.

23 The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.

24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them."'

25 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name--

26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.

27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,

28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.

29 And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord God."

The war will have the purpose of punishing the United States and Russia, destroying Arab/Islamic power in the Middle East forever as well as creating a massive spiritual revival in the land of Israel which will lead to the building of the Third Temple.

As for the United States, a while back God told me, "I will destroy this country with a destruction so great that all who hear of it will tremble." He also said that the aftermath will be so severe that "The living will envy the dead." The abominations of this country have reached the point of where God will destroy us as a graphic example to others who turn away from Him.

He said, "This was once a nation founded on righteousness, but now is full of iniquity."

The righteous deplore what is happening in this country, but do little or feel helpless to try to change it. Our churches are asleep for the most part, religious leaders are more interested in soliciting money and filling seats than preaching the gospel; ministers soft-soap the Scriptures, avoiding controversial issues such as Hell and Judgment for fear of offending their members, to name a few reasons why this will happen.

Rising corruption in politics, increasing explicit obscene language and graphic sex scenes in movies and television shows, rising racism, vulgar lyrics in music, a corrupt, liberal, overloaded and increasingly legalistic justice system all are indicators of the decaying moral health of this country. As with the White House sex scandal concerning ex- President Clinton, we now seem to need lawyers to define what constitutes "sex". Is it any wonder that God is disgusted with this country?

Abortion is so commonplace that we hardly notice it now. Do we think that God is going to withhold His righteous judgement on this country when each year the blood of millions of innocent babies that He created and we have murdered cries out to Him for vengeance?

He told me a long time ago that a nation begins it's fall from greatness when it starts debasing it's currency. We started putting copper in our silver coins in 1965, and went from the gold standard as a unit of currency to a system based on economic output in that same year.

Today we are the greatest debtor nation in the world, and now even our pennies are made of zinc with a thin coating of copper on them.

He also told me that the beginning of the end of a nation happens when the justice system begins to break down. Our justice system is collapsing under the load of frivolous lawsuits in which people are suing each other for the slightest of reasons, lawyers have thrown away common sense for money, criminals are portraying themselves as victims and defendants are using courts as springboards for advancing political issues, such as racial discrimination.

Judgment is about to strike this nation as God prepares to pour out His fury upon us in full measure. We have become an abominable nation in His sight, and His patience with us is about to end. We have come to trust in our own righteousness and power as a nation instead of putting our trust in God as the founding fathers did.

I love this country as much as anyone, and I am saddened by what I see on the news each night. And it saddens me even further to realize that God feels that this nation cannot be saved, and must be destroyed as a consequence of our actions. But as you will see in End Times studies Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 that this must happen for the Scriptures to be fulfilled.

I pray that God will open the eyes of those who read these studies, and will show you the truth of His words. The things that Jesus and the prophets warned us to watch for are happening today, meaning that this is the generation that will see all of these things fulfilled. Are you ready?

                                  

Questions? Comments? E-mail: watchmen_777@yahoo.com

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