On 05/05/09, Jeff Snyder quoted Steve Asher: "Destruction of Israel in
11 days".

SA> Iran is again threatening to destroy Israel, according to this
SA> Google-translated article on http://www.n-tv.de/1148049.html


Hi Steve. Personally, I would be very hesitant to totally trust the contents
of a Google-translated article. Such translations are seriously lacking, as
the one you posted clearly demonstrates.

SA> God long ago revealed His intention to gather nations such as Persia
SA> against Israel, to destroy them. Whether this threat will result in the
SA> fulfilment of prophecies such as Ezekiel 38 & 39 is something
only God  can
SA> know, for He will choose the day and hour, not Iran and "allah".
SA>
SA> "And you shall come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover
SA> the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring you against  my
SA> land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in  you, O
SA> Gog, before their eyes." (Ezekiel 38:16)


Back in April of 1999 I wrote an article regarding the famous Battle of Gog
and Magog called "Battle Of Gog And Magog And War In Yugoslavia!". After a
careful study of the Scriptures, I came to the following conclusions:

----- Begin Quote -----

Some of my Christian friends have recently suggested to me
that this war might be the start of something much bigger;
that is, they believe that it might be the catalyst for the
long-awaited Battle of Gog and Magog. This awesome battle is
described for us in great detail, both in Ezekiel chapters
thirty-eight and thirty-nine, as well as more briefly in
Revelation chapter twenty; however, as I explain in such
articles as "From Armageddon To The New Earth", "Hell And
The Lake Of Fire", and "The Great Tribulation And The
Rapture", based upon my current understanding of the Holy
Scriptures, I believe that those people who place this
battle in our near future, may be in error. This quick,
decisive, post-Millennial battle against the Saints, is
described for us in the following verses:

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be
loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and
Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom
is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth
of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about,
and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of
heaven, and devoured them."
Revelation 20:7-9, KJV

As you can see, these verses give us a precise timeframe for
the Battle of Gog and Magog. They specifically state "when
the thousand years are expired". As I point out in the
aforementioned articles, this thousand years will not begin,
until Jesus Christ returns in all of His Power and Glory,
and defeats the Beast and the False Prophet at the Battle of
Armageddon. Now, if we turn to the the thirty-eighth chapter
of the Book of Ezekiel, where the Prophet begins to describe
Gog and Magog, in verse eight we read the following:

"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 been always waste: but it is
brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell
safely all of them."
Ezekiel 38:8, KJV

Please notice that just as we are told in John's Revelation
that the famed Battle of Gog and Magog will occur "when the
thousand years are expired", that is, when the Millennium is
at, or at least nearing its closure, Ezekiel likewise tells
Gog that his battle in Israel will be "in the latter years".
While we can argue that the Latter Years, or the Last Days,
or the Endtime, has been in effect since the time of Christ,
which is indeed true, as I explain in such articles as "The
Seven Heads", we cannot deny the similarities between these
two verses. Allow me to ask you a question: If what is now
occurring in Yugoslavia is the beginning of the Battle of
Gog and Magog, how can we truly say that it meets Ezekiel's
description of "in the latter years", that is, at the end of
years, if the one-thousand-year Millennial Rule hasn't even
occurred yet? On the other hand, if it occurs "when the
thousand years are expired", precisely as John tells us,
that truly would be "in the latter years"; that is, in the
final end years of the Millennium. In comparing Scripture
with Scripture, this definitely seems like a more reasonal
interpretation in my opinion. It simply is not the end of
years, or the latter years, if we still have at least
another thousand years to go, is it?

The only logical way to refute my interpretation, would be
to suggest that there may actually be two different Battles
of Gog and Magog; that is, one which occurs sometime before
the Millennium begins, which would place it in our very near
future, and then a second Battle of Gog and Magog a thousand
years later near its very end. In other words, one would
almost have to say that this theoretical first Battle of Gog
and Magog will lead into the final Battle of Armageddon at
which time Christ returns, or else that the Battle of Gog
and Magog and the Battle of Armageddon are the very same
thing, which they most certainly are not in my view. In
short, to accept any other interpretation than the one which
I have presented, simply creates a very confusing situation,
and is much more difficult to prove in a Scriptural sense.
If John tells us that the Battle of Gog and Magog occurs
after the Millennium expires, then that is what we should
believe.

The truth of the matter, is that this whole idea of the
Battle of Gog and Magog occurring soon, is based upon the
popular interpretation of Endtime prophecy, which states
that the Beast and the Ten Horns of the Books of Daniel and
Revelation, is either Rome and ten European nations, or else
Russia and ten European nations. As I explain in a variety
of my Endtime articles, I too embraced this interpretation
for quite a few years; however, this was based upon what I
had been taught by others, and not upon my own personal
study of the Scriptures. Now that I have taken the time to
thoroughly look into this matter, as I explain in the series
"The Seven Heads", and other articles, I am more inclined to
believe that the Beast will be an Arab/Islamic nation and
its leader, who will lead ten other Arab/Islamic nations, in
their hellish war against the state of Israel. This is the
battle which will be occurring in our near future, in my
view; and it is not the Battle of Gog and Magog, but rather
the Battle of Armageddon. Of course, this war will most
likely be marked by heavy American and Russian involvement.
For more details regarding these events, please study my
Endtime articles. The Battle of Gog and Magog will not occur
until some one thousand years later, after the Millennium,
at the time of the Final Rebellion, which again, is what
John tells us.

----- End Quote -----

So as I note above, it seems to me that Iran may actually be involved in the
Battle of Armageddon, and not necessarily in the Battle of Gog and Magog which
occurs a thousand years later.

Your thoughts?

Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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