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I echo the sentiments of conservative believers everywhere when I reiterate the expectations of Extreme Islam that their Islamic Messiah will be soon coming upon the scene. Iran's Mahmoud Amadhinejad clearly desires to be part of the historic entrance of the Last Mahdi who will lead Islam to victory over America and Israel and usher in a period of Islamic global domination.
At least that is how the video plays out below.
It comes as no surprise to students of prophecy that these elements are coming together now. Even though we are early in predicting that unrest in the multiple states in the Middle East is a sign of reorganization of the Islamic masses in the expectation of the coming Mahdi, most Americans are blissfully ignorant of the growing trend.
Most people do not view the Middle Eastern issue as a spiritual or even religious issue. Politics is and has been the focus of discussion in most arenas. Politics is shallow and inadequate as a medium to express the deeper trends of spiritual movement in the Middle East and all over the world.
God's eye is on Jerusalem...and He will fulfill his promise to the Jews to give them Israel as a possession forever. No amount of politicking can change that reality of God's Word. But God will also punish His chosen people by bringing the nations of the earth against Israel in the last days. Because of their refusal to follow Him. God has dealt with His people the Jews in this fashion throughout history. He uses other nations to judge Israel and His people. These armies spoken of in Luke 21 are no other than the Ezekiel 38 invasion.
Luke 21:20-24
20“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
This will happen after an Islamic antichrist confirms a "covenant with the many" for 7 years. But in the middle of the 7 years...the abomination of desolation takes place (in the temple), also corresponding to the surrounding of Jerusalem with armies...as the desolation of Jerusalem is ready to take place.
Daniel 9:27
27He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’i In the middle of the ‘seven’j he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him
Matthew 24:15-21
15“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’b spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
Do you notice how the abomination of desolation in the temple and the desolation of Jerusalem happen at the same time? Jesus speaks of this in Luke 21 and in Matthew 24 respectively as he mentions the same warning..."flee to the mountains".
Ezekiel 38 lays out the details of what armies will come against Jerusalem at this time. It is any surprise that all the names mentioned in Ezekiel 38 are modern day Islamic countries? The same countries and areas in which revolution is taking place? Jesus said that "wars and revolutions" must take place...but the end is not yet. These things must happen.
Ezekiel 38
1The word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince ofaMeshech and Tubal; prophesy against him 3and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince ofb Meshech and Tubal. 4I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. 5Persia, Cushc and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.
7“‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
10“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme.11You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.” 13Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villagesd will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’
14“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.
17“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. 19In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. 21I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’
When God is done with the judgment against Israel...which he brings at the hands of these invading armies, he will cause the armies to turn against themselves. VERSE 21 above.
God will begin his judgment against these armies when His wrath is unleashed during the trumpets of Revelation. VERSE 22 above.
Revelation 8 and 9 also correspond to the judgments spoken of in VERSE 22 above.
Revelation 8
2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
The Trumpets
6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11the name of the star is Wormwood.a A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”
Revelation 9
1The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.a
12The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the hornsb of the golden altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
17The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
This is what is in store for those who side against Israel and the saints of God. God will not be mocked. By anyone...including his own people.
However, because of His promise to Israel, God always keeps a remnant of His people Israel...and it will be no different during this time of punishment. God will seal and protect His remnant of the Jews before unleashing all this terrible wrath on the unbelievers.
Revelation 7:1-8
144,000 Sealed
1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
So this is the future regarding God's plan for Israel. Visit us again as we continue to explore the current events of today and how they line up prophetic scripture.
Remember that God is in control...and we know the end of the story. We win. Because we have Christ in us.
God Bless you as you seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.
The Strong Watchman
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The Last Days 
