“And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; IT SHALL BE IN THE LATTER DAYS (capitals mine), and I will bring thee against my land (Israel), that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”
Ezekiel 38:16
In January 2017, when I released my article on the Biblical prophecies regarding the coming invasion of Israel by Russia, Iran and Turkey (The War of Gog and Magog) my intent was to, 1.) explain this war spoken of in Ezekiel 38 & 39 and, 2.) to highlight the differences between the War of Gog and Magog and the perhaps better known War of Armageddon. Some have tried to convince us these two wars are actually the same, but they are not! Where the War of Gog and Magog will be launched by a small consortium of 6 nations, led by Russia (Magog) and their leader “Gog”, Armageddon will include ALL the nations of the world led by the anti-christ. Whereas God destroys the armies of Russia, Iran, Turkey and a few of their “minions” (Libya, Sudan, etc.), Jesus heralds His Second Coming at Armageddon and then establishes His 1,000 year Millennium Reign on earth. God defeats Gog during the War of Gog and Magog, but Jesus defeats the anti-christ and his false prophet at Armageddon, throwing them into Hell forever. He also binds up Satan and throws him into the bottomless pit for His 1,000 year Reign on earth.
Another BIG difference is that at Armageddon, Jesus destroys ALL the invaders where during the War of Gog and Magog, “only” 5 of every 6 of the invaders will be killed by God:
“And I will turn thee back, and LEAVE BUT THE SIXTH PART OF THEE (capitals mine), and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.”
Ezekiel 39:2
Interestingly, (at least to me!) is I never noticed until doing the research for this article, AFTER Russia and her allies invade Israel, God does something else! After God kills 5 of every 6 of the invaders on the mountains of Israel, He also then says the following in Ezekiel 39:6:
“And I will send a fire on Magog (Russia), and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
Kinda sounds like a possible retaliatory nuclear strike doesn’t it? If Israel’s security is threatened by these major countries, some of whom have long vowed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, the Israeli’s just and immediate response would probably be to strike back to ensure it doesn’t happen again. With their nuclear arsenal, I could easily see a follow-up response by the Israelis to “…send a fire on Magog.” I encourage you to read that earlier post to get even more information on the details of this war and its aftermath.
The purpose of me writing this post however is not to rehash what I have already presented, but rather in the 17 months since that earlier post was written, so many things have happened which I believe are a clear warning to us today of how much closer we are to witnessing this significant Biblical prophetic event unfold right before our very eyes! The biggest single contributing factor to this belief is because this alliance between Russia, Turkey and Iran is NOW in place and because NEVER before in history have these three countries formed an alliance between themselves. Iran (formerly Persia) and Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) have had many serious military conflicts throughout recorded history. NATO was established to offset the aggression of Russia towards Europe after WWII and Turkey is/was a member of NATO. These three countries have never seen eye to eye!
Yet, on December 20, 2016, the leaders of these three countries met FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER to discuss how to solve the problems in Syria (which borders Iraq/Iran and Turkey and sits on the northern border of Israel). Of course their reasoning was to help Syria and Assad defeat the insurgency in his country. However, as a direct result of this agreement, Russia now has an air base in Syria (along with their previously established naval base there); Iran and her proxies have thousands of troops very close to the Golan Heights/West Bank with over 100,000 missiles and Turkey is also there fighting the Kurdish rebels. The United States was never advised of this meeting and neither was the UN. A BIG question is what will these three countries do with their militaries when the ‘civil war” in Syria is over? And, that insurgency is almost over!
So, 2,600 years ago the prophet Ezekiel outlined a future war, IN THE LATTER YEARS, where Israel would be invaded by armies from the north. Again, Ezekiel speaks of this specific war being on the northern mountains of Israel. At Armageddon however, when Christ returns, He will step down from Heaven on the Mt. of Olives in Jerusalem. Ezekiel specifically says the War of Gog and Magog will happen in the latter days when the Jews are BACK in the land where they have been regathered from ALL the nations.
“After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste: but is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.”
Ezekiel 38:8
Who will do the invading? Again, Ezekiel is very clear when he names them all in Ezekiel 38:2, 5-6. These countries of Magog, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer and Togarmah today are known as Russia (Magog), Iran (Persia), Turkey (Gomer & Togarmah) Sudan, Ethiopia and Libya. Today, Russia, Iran and Turkey ALL have armies in Syria trying to protect the regime of Assad against rebels, ISIS and other groups. Russia, Iran and Turkey HAVE NEVER BEFORE had military forces in alignment only a few miles from the Israeli border in NORTHERN Israel. Not surprisingly, General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s army, recently said: “Our fingers are on the trigger and the missiles are ready to fire. We need to prevent this illegitimate entity [Israel] from continuing to exist even one more day.”
Take all this into consideration and I believe you will agree the table is set for a soon coming war with those countries named 2,600 years ago by Ezekiel. Interestingly, recently President Trump separately imposed sanctions on all three countries for a myriad of reasons which have absolutely devastated their economies. While apparently independent, they nonetheless have had a very similar negative impact on all three countries. For example, the Turkish lira has depreciated 40% due to these sanctions. Russia’s ruble has declined over 50%. Russia and Iran’s economies are in shambles directly as a result of these sanctions.
On August 16th the WSJ reported Turkey now has the highest level of personal indebtedness of any of the Top 40 economies in the world. Now, you are probably wondering why the President would cause this mayhem on these three notable enemies of Israel. Again, while independent decisions, collectively they have had the same results AS INTENDED, i.e., the crippling of their economies.
- Russia – Sanctions were recently imposed due to the Russian government using chemical weapons to try to kill a former British spy and his daughter on August 6, 2016 in the UK. It is estimated these sanctions, due to begin August 22, 2018 will affect 70% of the Russian economy. The International CBW Act of 1991 justified this move by President Trump and was endorsed by a number of our European allies.
- Turkey – The Turkish government has held Pastor Andrew Brunson for almost two years on made up espionage and treason charges. In reality, the Turks want the US to extradite a former Turkish official who now lives in the US on charges he caused the attempted 2016 coup to remove President Erdogan from office. When President Obama refused to do so, they imprisoned a Christian pastor who has lived in Turkey for over 20 years, ministering to the Christians there. President Trump has demanded his release and when the Turks refused, he issued sanctions against some of their top officials.
- Iran – On May 8, 2018 President Trump withdrew the US from the very flawed Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA) signed by President Obama based on the fact that Iran continued to break the rules of that agreement. In backing out of the agreement, sanctions formerly in place will be re-instated effective August 7, 2018. In anticipation of those sanctions, the Iranian economy has already begun to suffer. Interestingly, Turkey has said they will continue to do business with Iran even though the sanctions will also apply to those countries supporting Iran.
When you consider these three events, while seemingly independent, but cast in the realm of accurate Biblical prophecy, I believe you can see 3 rogue countries violently opposed to the existence of Israel, now militarily aligned together for the first time ever in history; with armies established right on the border of Israel and hurt tremendously by the actions of the US, taking aggressive military action to bring their people together while fighting the turmoil of a suffering economy. This deception happens all the time. For example, the internal problems the Germans faced as a result of their loss during WWI only fueled the desire of their people to get back to their former standing and was one of the main reasons for electing Adolf Hitler and their starting of WWII. The easiest way for these leaders to win back the support of their people is to finally do what many Muslim countries have tried to do before (and failed to do), i.e., destroy the Jews in Israel.
Do you want to know something else that is amazing? When these countries invade Israel, NO ONE except God will come to the defense of the Jews in Israel! What will the response of the US, Europe and others be to this invasion?
“Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil.”
Ezekiel 38:13
Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish and the young lions (offshoots of the British Empire) have long been interpreted to represent Europe and North America. Instead of coming to Israel’s defense, instead we/they will question Russia, Turkey and Iran’s motives and ask “Why are you doing this? Are you doing this to take their wealth?” The beauty of this is God’s answer which is VERY clear:
“Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 38:23
In much the same way the world was truly amazed during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 when the Jews were able to hold off WITH NO OUTSIDE HELP the invasion of Arab armies less than 3 years after their near annihilation during the Holocaust, is a testament to the Glory of God AND His keeping of His Eternal Promises to the Jews. When these countries invade Israel, it will NOT be the Jews or their very few allies who destroy them. It will be God. And, the world will know it! Does this mean all in the world will then accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Unfortunately, no. Satan will continue his deceptions BUT I do believe this will cause a global evangelical movement unlike anything we have ever seen.
As I have stated repeatedly, my intent is NOT to set dates nor to try to scare anyone with the prophecies clearly spoken of in the Bible. But, the Bible does give us prophecies so we may know God’s Ultimate Plan for us. The key thing here is to recognize, whether you are a believer or not, God has stated in the latter days the nations of Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan and parts of eastern Europe will invade Israel in their north and be defeated IN ONE DAY by God Himself. Furthermore, the Bible says it will take 7 months to bury the dead and 7 years to burn their instruments of war. This was told to us 2,600 years ago by Ezekiel! Only within the last year or so is everything NOW in place for this to occur. What other conclusion can we come to except we are VERY close to the War of Gog and Magog taking place? IF you are not a believer, please remember the details of this article and what was told would happen. It is not me saying what will happen. It is the Holy Bible! The absolute specifics are undeniable and irrefutable. If you don’t believe and you see this happen EXACTLY as the Bible says, please consider it as proof God exists and does not wish anyone to miss out on His promise of Salvation.
If you are a believer, make sure you share this with your friends in order they may also see the Truth of God’s Holy Word and be saved. We don’t have much time! Like me, don’t do it to frighten anyone. Do it as we are instructed by God to do and that is to “…therefore comfort one another with these words.” Do that and we are Promised a special reward in Heaven.
May God Bless you!
Excellent incite and well laid out. Thank you.