2017: Ezekiel war, the Beast, and the Rapture

This year is shaping up to be a very interesting one. Following the data points in the news and Biblical prophecy leads to some earth shaking predictions. First, consider some recent headlines:

Ezekiel War?

Russia has long-term ambitions in the Middle East: Israeli official / Reuters, November 15, 2016

Israel should be concerned about the deepening disconnect between Russia’s aims in the Middle East and its own goals, according to a senior Israeli official who held high-level meetings in Moscow last week.

Avi Dichter, chairman of Israel’s foreign affairs and defense committee and the former head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, said Russia’s views on Iran, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah were in sharp contrast to Israel’s and a growing source of potential conflict.

While he said Moscow appreciates the good ties it has with Israel and takes the diplomatic relationship seriously, it won’t hesitate to impose actions that serve its interests on any countries in the Middle East, including Israel.

“Russia thinks and acts as a superpower and as such it often ignores Israeli interest when it doesn’t coincide with the Russian interest,” he said.

“Syrian 5th Corps” is new Shiite foreign legion / DEBKAfile Special Report December 4, 2016

Its command structure is already taking shape in a form that is new for the Syrian army and indeed any other fighting force in the region. Syrian, Hizballah and foreign Shiite officers will make up this command, but not direct their own forces, only mixed units composed of Iranian, Syrian, Shiite and Hizballah servicemen.

It will be the first Shiite army or foreign legion ever seen in the Middle East.
An oblique reference to the novel force came from a Hizballah source this week who said: “The Fifth Corps is an important turning-point for the ties between allied forces within the same axis – Syria, Iran, Russia and Hizballah.”

New Putin move to win a military base in Libya / DEBKAfile, November 28, 2016

Libyan Gen Khalifa Hafter arrived in Moscow Sunday, Nov. 26, with a request for Russian arms and military support for his army. He was welcomed in Moscow, which saw an opening for Russia to gain its first military base in North Africa, 700km from Europe. debkafile: President Vladimir Putin began to envision a second Mediterranean base on the coast of Benghazi, twin to Hmeimim in Syria’s Latakia.

This is an interesting line-up: Russia, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah. The Bible gives exacting detail to a future “Ezekiel war”…

Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops-many people are with you. (Ezekiel 38:1-6)

The Beast

The next geopolitical data point is the rise of “The Beast”. The Bible has a great deal to say about this man, and the recent headlines are lining up with prophecy more every day:

Erdogan calls on Muslims to ‘protect Jerusalem’ / Israel National News, November 30, 2016

Turkish President urges all Muslims to “defend the Palestinian cause” and protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from “Israeli discrimination”.

He also underscored the need for a “two-state solution” to solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“The only way for permanent peace in the Middle East is a free and independent Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem,” said Erdogan, according to Al Jazeera.

“It is not possible to provide peace in the region without bandaging this wound in the Middle East,” he added.

Israel and Turkey recently restored ties that were severed in 2010 after the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.

Turkey Shifts Closer to Expanding Powers for Erdogan / ABC News, December 10, 2016

Turkey’s ruling party on Saturday submitted proposed constitutional amendments that could greatly expand the powers and extend the mandate of the country’s president.

Private news channel NTV broadcast images of the parliament speaker receiving the proposal, which garnered 316 supporting signatures from the 550-seat assembly. If cleared by a constitutional committee and approved by parliament, the reforms would pave the way for a referendum on granting the largely ceremonial presidency full executive powers.

Critics feared the proposed reforms would allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has retained outsized influence over his party and the levers of government, to rule unchecked.

“This is a regime change, plain and simple: one-man rule,” lawmaker Seyit Torun of the Republican People’s Party was quoted as saying.

The UN Security Council endorses Russian-Turkish Syrian peace effort / DEBKAfile, December 31, 2016

The UN Security Council Saturday adopted a resolution supporting efforts by Russia and Turkey to end the violence in Syria and encourage the continuation of peace talks. The Russians are also keen on UN involvement in the peace talks between Damascus and the opposition due to take place on Jan. 15 in Kazakhstan, promising to supplement the UN peace effort, not replace it. Moscow is seeking to involve regional players such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan.

The end time events are accelerating now, as Putin (Gog) and Erdogan (the Beast) link up. This link will be temporary. After helping bring peace to Syria, the Beast will soon offer up his services to help mediate a peace agreement between Israel and all of her Arab and Muslim neighbors. This is fitting with his Neo-Ottoman Empire dreams. Keep in mind, Turkey’s Ottoman Empire dominated Jerusalem for 400 years, from 1517 to 1917. One hundred years later, 2017, Erdogan will try to usher in his new order.

In a surprising twist that confirms Bible prophesy, the deal will most likely be forced by a land-for-peace deals and a land swap that includes a 7 year lease.

Open letter to Erdoğan: Be a peace broker between Palestinians and Israelis / Hurriyet Daily News, April 13, 2006

An open letter to Prime Minister Erdoğan by prominent Arab writer Latif Lakhdar

Mr. Erdoğan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party and prime minister of Turkey,

You are a rare Muslim leader. You displayed, indeed, a rare quality of being able to quickly shift from the theology of suicidal jihad to modern politics, with all that the shift requires in terms of adjusting the means to the sought after objectives, taking into account the specific historical conditions. To this aim, you implemented most of the European Union requirements in terms of penal law, you fully recognized the rights of the Kurdish minority and you adopted the modern institutions and values of rationality and global humanism at the expense of old values of specificity. And it could never be overstated how your intellectual flexibility allowed you to adapt to current-day requirements.

This is what encouraged me to send you this letter, with the hope that your initiative — to be outlined below — may help the more intellectually flexible segment in the Hamas leadership and the rest of Arab political Islam to revise their old assumptions and adopt your own pragmatic approach, based on an objective reading of the current balance of power, not the old religious texts…

Dear Prime Minister Erdoğan, I personally believe that your worthy initiative may well succeed, since Hamas’s psychological complex is mainly due to the refusal of the world to deal with it, in addition to being on the United States and European Union’s list of terror organizations. As a result, its moderate wing may well find it a good deal to give up jihad in exchange for international recognition.

Your initiative will give your party and your country regional and world prominence, and you will personally enter history as a major peacemaker in the Arab/Israeli conflict.

Erdogan’s ‘win-win’ on the world stage / Al-Monitor, September 9, 2016

It is true that the current Turkish government is central to geopolitics, and there is no one who is more aware of this fact than Erdogan himself. His awareness — and perhaps even more than that, his political wit — is the main reason he is snubbing Europe and the United States and going freelance in Syria.

His snubbing produced dividends, and his contacts with US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China, are clear indicators of this.

Anybody who knows Erdogan closely and understands his modus operandi knows that his flirting with Russia and Iran was a “win-win” policy.

If Turkey was sidelined by the Western world, he would have done the necessary groundwork to be on the same page with Russia and Iran in a new international alignment that would replace Turkey’s Western vocation. That would be a win. His flirting with Russia and Iran would also work as leverage in getting the United States and Europe to support him. That would also be a win.

And he won. Erdogan is like a master poker player. He not only plays his own cards very well, but he also has the gift of seeing the cards in the hands of the others across the table.

Turkey can help Middle East peace process / The Great Middle East, April 7, 2016

Turkey will make a “significant contribution” to the Middle East peace process following reconciliation with Israel, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday.

In a TV interview on TRT Haber, Cavusoglu said the six-year hiatus in Turkish-Israeli relations had hindered Ankara’s role in bringing peace to the region.

“Turkey will make a significant contribution to Middle East peace in the next process,” he said. As he spoke, 11,000 tons of aid from Turkey was making its way to the Gaza Strip.

Before this historic event, the “Confirmation of the Covenant,” the Russian / Arab invasion will happen. This will be a direct result of the forced recognition of Palestine, which is being orchestrated right now:

Abbas: 2017 will be the year of Palestinian statehood / Times of Israel, December 31, 2016

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday told Fatah party officials that 2017 would be “the year of the independent Palestinian state.”

With their hopes for gaining independence in a deep freeze, the Palestinians had a rare week of optimism. First, the US allowed the UN Security Council to adopt Resolution 2334, which declared Israeli settlements illegal. Then, Kerry delivered a farewell speech that harshly criticized Israeli settlements, saying Israel’s continued construction was imperiling hopes for a peace agreement and endangering the country’s democracy.

Palestinian officials say they are now counting on the French-hosted Mideast peace conference to build on the momentum and set clear terms of reference for any future negotiations with Israel. Some 70 nations are expected to attend, although Israel and the Palestinians will not be participating.

The latest UN resolution, along with Kerry’s speech, essentially endorsed the Palestinian position by calling for the pre-1967 lines to serve as the reference point for a final border.

The Ezekiel invasion will end in disaster for Russia and her allies:

“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. 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, 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.’ 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. 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. 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.”‘ (Ezekiel 38:18-23)

The Bible describes the destruction of Israel’s enemies as total and complete. Workers will need to spend seven years just to clean the fields of bodies and weapons:

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.
(Ezekiel 39:9)

The Rapture

Many readers miss the fact that these seven years are the Tribulation years, and are a clue as to the timing and sequence of the End Times.

With the preparations for the Ezekiel battle being seen daily in our news headlines, our need to be prepared for the Rapture has never been greater!