In the Middle East, all things are possible

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Jul 21, 2016 at 04:30

Hi, Tovey.

I said I would watch the convention, then go to bed. Instead, I peeked at your post here. By the way, if you want to see a speech that hits the bullseye, check out Newt Gingrich at the convention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r3Rump6XCc

Your "trick question" concerned whether or not Putin and Russia would join in with Turkey and Iran in attacking Israel. I'm glad you asked that; because most Christians I know seem to believe that:

1. Ezekiel 38/39 and Zechariah 14 speak about the same battle (not true), and that
2. It doesn't matter that they investigate these things, because all the Christians will be raptured ad never have to see these times (also not true).

Here's how I see Russia in all this:

1. Russia is not spoken of specifically in the Ezekiel prophecy. It couldn't have been because the Russian people did not exist in Ezekiel's time. There were certainly people living in what is now Russia; but the very name "Russia" came from the "Rus", a Scandanavian tribe that conquered the Ukraine and parts of present-day Russia in the 9th century. Here is Tom Lessman's excellent map of the world in 600 BC, when Ezekiel was in his 20's:

http://www.worldhistorymaps.info/images/East-Hem_600bc.jpg

Note that the Chernoles are listed as POSSIBLE "Proto-Slavs". The most important people in the "far north", other than the Lydian Empire, were the Scythians, who today are represented by the rather unimportant Ossetians in the Caucasus Mountains. The king of Lydia, moreover, was of the dynasty founded by Gyges (the Greek form of "Gog") about 100 years earlier.

2. The nations mentioned in Ezekiel are:

Ezekiel 38
[3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
[4] And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
[5] Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
[6] Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

In modern terms, all these people are most likely in Turkey, Iran ("Persia"), Sudan (Biblical "Ethiopia") and Libya. All are Islamic states, which in the past have had radical agendas. Russia COULD be among them as a sort of escort service; but this is stretching things. Russia is involved in Syria, because they have an important naval base there at Tartus. They are connected with the Iranians, because of their mutual support of Syria's Assad. They have recently been enemies of Turkey, but have recently tried to mend relations with Turkey... and with Israel, Egypt, Azerbaijan and other countries that oppose Iran and Syria's Assad.

Yes, all things are possible, especially in the Middle East; but Putin is an unlikely ally of what would otherwise be a purely Islamist attack on Israel. Nevertheless,

"TEHRAN (FNA)- Arab media outlets quoted diplomats in Ankara as disclosing that Turkey's President Erdogan was alerted by Russia against an imminent army coup hours before it was initiated on Friday, while a western media outlet said Erdogan asked his supporters to remain in the streets after receiving advice from Tehran. Several Arab media outlets quoted diplomatic sources in Ankara as saying that Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, known locally as the MIT, received intel from its Russian counterpart that warned of an impending coup in the Muslim state..."

-- https://4threvolutionarywar.wordpress.com/2016/07/21/erdogan-warned-of-incoming-coup-by-russian-alert/

That certainly is a cozy relationship among the three. As I said, "In the Middle East, all things are possible".

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