Discerning the Times

There is already mounting pressure in the Persian Gulf area in regard to Israel, the US and Iran and it’s development of nuclear weapons.

But is there something else happening under the surface. Could Iran be looking to conquer the Persian Gulf states and get their oil?

We know that the Persian Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates want Israel to bomb Iran soon as possible. They actually believe that all of Iran’s saber rattling is a decoy around Israel and that Iran is shifting it’s focus away from Israel and trying to conduct a full takeover of the Persian Gulf states.

Most of the Gulf states do not believe that anything could happen between Iran and Israel because of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and Iran’s proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas conducting a regional war against Israel.

Alot of Iranian citizens have immigrated to Gulf states and could in fact be sleeper agents.

An interesting premise and one that could be a part of the Ezekiel 38& 39 framework. It has lead the Saudis to purchase over $60 billion in new weapons systems from the US in August.

Only time will tell if this is true.

So in the meantime keep looking up!

Something big is in the works I can feel it in my spirit. It is also likely not to be good in a worldly sense. Israel is being forced to make a major decision this week concerning the Iranian nuclear program. With the Bushehr plant being loaded by the Russians this week with fuel rods, Israel could be at a major decision point on whether to live with an Iranian nuclear program.

We all can feel that war is imminent in the Middle East and not just the situation stated above. We have a massive buildup in Lebanon by Hezbollah. They have dug tunnels into northern Israel. They also have 60,000 missiles with many chemical warheads all pointed at Israel.

Submarines are offloading weapons to Hezbollah in northern Lebanon. These are special chemical weapons engineered to eat through protective equipment.

Israel is preparing for something big. The air force is conducting long range missions and the IDF reserves have been called up. Israeli subs are sitting off the coast of Iran and the air force has an airbase in Saudi Arabia.

But most disturbing of all is the fact that Israel has intelligence that shows that Hezbollah may attack Israel before months end and try to take out Israeli airbases in the north in order  to stop Israeli planes from bombing Iran.

The repercussions to the world of a Middle East war and an Israeli strike are bad. Gas will top $5 per gallon in the US and Iran may even make that worse if they decide to sink a ship in the Straits of Hormuz.

But who can blame Israel when they are facing annihilation from a radical Shiite government and leadership in Iran.

So keep your eyes open over the next few days and on toward the end of this month things are heating up!

I do not feel like Israel has to attack the Bushehr nuclear plant since it is really the uranium enrichment plants in other parts of Iran that really matter. Russian and Chinese engineers are on sight also at the plant so this would quickly become an international incident. When the plant comes on line fully in 2011 it will be one of the 20 largest nuclear power stations in the world.

Will Israel attack; well only time can tell.

Keep looking up!

There is alot of chatter on the web this week about the fact that Russia will be loading the fuel rods into the Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran by this weekend making the plant go live.

This creates a critical decision point for Israel in regard to Bushehr. If Israel does not attack the plant this week, it will never be able to attack as any attack after the plant goes live will cause radiation to go into the air and potential waste into the Persian Gulf.

So what Israel does this week is critical in setting of the spark for a potential series of events that will shape the world and Bible prophecy for years to come.

Bill Salus of www.prophecydepot.com wrote a great blog yesterday on this topic. He laid out the series of events that could happen if Israel chooses to attack this week.

This scenario is a realistic one and a Scriptural one. Keep looking up as we await Israel’s all important decision.

News reports say that Israel may be facing a real deadline in the next week as Iran and Russia announced surprisingly that they will load fuel rods into the reactor at Bushehr by this coming weekend.

Once these fuel rods are in place it effectively takes this reactor out of the bombing equation as any damage to the reactor would cause major environmental and civilian damage and deaths.

Radiation could leak into the air and could also leak into the waters of the Persian Gulf.

So the question now comes are we going to see an attack by Israel this week? Stay tuned as this is a hot potato issue right now!

Keep looking up!

Here is another interesting timeline to consider.

1. Let’s begin in May 2010 with Russian President Medvedev basically threatening Israel’s right to exist. These are direct threats to Israel’s existence. Russia and Medvedev make deals with Turkey and Syria, call for Hamas to be included in peace talks and his country weakened the UN sanctions against Iran and also is providing Turkey, Syria and Iran with nuclear technology.

2. August 2010 – Bushrer nuclear plant in Iran is coming on line by the 21st of the month. Russia is also positioning S-300 anti-aircraft systems along the Black Sea coast in Georgia to counter US carrier groups in Black Sea and Mediterranean. This could effectively block a northern route if Israeli preemptively strikes Iran.

Results are: Russia is experiencing a 1,000 year drought, major wildfires cuasing smog and over 700 deaths a day in Moscow, possible radiation issues near Chernobyl, and a massive wheat crop failure that has cost the country $17 billion to date and 25% of the crop harvest.

There is no rain predicted for the rest of August so the situation could actually get worse. A ban on wheat exports in in place indefinitely.

You can decide if this is the judgment of God, but we know from Scripture that Russia will play a key leadership role in the coming Gog-Magog war found in Ezekiel 38-39.

Keep looking up!

Iran feels as if it is country to bring the Mahdi forward. The Mahdi is the Islamic Messiah. The Shia branch of Islam believes this person is the 12th Imam, a direct descendant of Mohammed.

The belief is in order for this man to come forward there must be upheaval and war in the world. So because Iranian supreme ruler Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad believe they are already in contact with the Mahdi and it is there job, their calling to accelerate his coming.

Hence all the anti-Israel talk, the nuclear warhead program etc. Well Iran continues on this path in the two most recent articles I have seen over the last few days.

The first article highlights the IAEA saying that Iran has activated a second set of centrifuges in its uranium enrichment process. This will increase the amount of uranium Iran has enriched at the key 20% level.

This of course is contrary to the new UN sanctions against Iran affirming that they need to suspend all enrichment related activities.

Iran is also trying to punish nations that supported the UN sanctions by no longer accepting payment for their oil shipments in dollars or euros but all payment needs to be in rials.

The second article about Iran concerned the unveiling of new submarines to be used in the Persian Gulf area. 4 new subs were added to the Iranian fleet. These subs all have sonar evading technology and can launch torpedoes and missiles simultaneously.

New warnings were also issued by senior Iranian officials about potential retalitory actions in the Gulf in response to an Israeli or American attack on Iranoan nuclear sites. Threats were made to closing the Straits of Hormuz for decades. Up to 40% of the world’s oil flows through the Straits.

Again we know that Ezekiel 38 and 39 tell us that Iran will play a large part in an end-time coalition that will come against Israel in the latter days.

We are fast heading towards those days. Keep looking up!

Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei is creating a controversy among Muslims when he issued a fatwa (a religious edict) last week claiming ultimate spiritual authority on earth.

He demanded that all Islam should obey him as the representative of the prophet Mohammed and Shia’s 12th Imam on earth.

These claims are not all that strange to Shia Muslims. The Shia Grand Ayatollah has always been considered a representative of the 12th Imam. However, Sunni and other Muslims deem these claims to be a joke and do not listen to him at all.

Just 2 weeks ago, Khamenei, claimed to have spoken to the hidden 12th Imam personally and was told that the end of the world would be coming under his rule.

Khamenei also is telling all Muslims to fight against Britain and America. He also claims a major war will begin soon that will end in the ultimate defeat of America and Israel with Iran leading the way.

We are in the last days folks and we are in the lull and quiet before the storm. It will come upon us wuick and sudden just like Scripture tells us.

Watch events in Iran as it gets more and more interesting every day.

Keep looking up!

Interesting analysis from Hal Lindsey, great prophecy teacher, this week. His analysis of the Israel-Iran situation was spot on. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of harboring al-Qaeda for much of the last decade. This is interesting in light of the fact that prior to the 9/11 attacks it was Saudi Arabia who harbored al-Qaeda. So what has changed? They want the world to know how serious they are when they say they that they do not want Iran to go nuclear. This accusation comes about due to the same logic that they leaked the fact that they would be willing to allow Israel to use their airspace.

Most people do not understand that Saudi Arabia, most of the Persian Gulf states and Egypt are even more afraid of a nuclear Iran than Israel is. They can’t get President Obama to even understand this.

Meanwhile Iran is working feverishly to surround Israel with its heavily-armed proxy nations and organizations: Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran is doing this for two reasons: (1) by forcing Israel to guard itself on so many different fronts, it makes an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities even more difficult and (2) if something happens and Iran is not able to achieve nuclear capability, then a pincer movement by its proxies may still allow Iran to apply the death grip to Israel.

Lastly, Israel recently went to the extreme measure of revealing some of its important intelligence information about Hezbollah in the hope that the world would understand the gravity of the situation it faces on its northern border. How did the UN Security Council respond? The same way the mainstream media responded: with a yawn.

Couple all this with the report that Palestinian President Abbas told members of the Arab media that in March he told members of the Arab League that he is in favor of a pan-Arab military attack on Israel- but only if they will join together to do the deed.

Israel is still all alone in this situation. Do not let the gamesmanship from the last Netanyahu-Obama meeting fool you. That meeting occurred only because of political reasons from the Obama side. A little tip is this: do not accept what the administration says about Israel, watch what they do about Israel.

Meanwhile the potential for an Israel alone strike on Iran grows by the day. The results of this would be catastrophic. The results in Iran would be the nuclear and missile programs for Iran would be seriously damaged, but Ahmadinejad’s hold on power would become more stable.

More missile attacks on Israel will occur, a sharp rise in world oil prices would occur as the Straits of Hormuz could be closed and Israel would have to attack again due to Iran’s determination.

This is a fast changing situation. Please keep looking up as the Lord’s return is nearing! 

Well it appears that Turkey is really cooling its interest in joining the EU. As a matter of fact, Turkey is looking at things quite a bit differently these days. The EU really needs Turkey now more than turkey needs the EU. Most Turks are beginning to believe this as well. A recent poll of the Turkish people shows that less than 50% of Turks support joining the EU. The EU is now an economy with severe debt, financial instability, hello Greece, and an uncompetitive work force.

While the Turkish economy is growing and dynamic. Most are beginning to think it is better for Turkey to steer clear of the EU and all its problems, while their economy is successful and they are courting their Muslim neighbors to the east.

The key person behind this recent shift is foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu. He is a key figure in the ruling AKP party that has ruled turkey for the last 8 years and he is now seen as the prime mover in his country’s cooling off towards the west.

Mr. Davutoglu has what many describe as a neo-Ottomanist world view. seeking to recreate the days when Turks wielded clout from central Europe to the Persian Gulf. Turkeycould be reaching a tipping point where there is no turning back from.

Even Prime Minister Erdogan has made statements describing how the EU has allowed new members from the “decrepit” former Communist bloc countries and has kept Turkey out. Erdogan went on to point out that these countries are far behind Turkey.

The AKP party philosophy is likened to a Calvinist approach to Islam, its followers combine religious observance with a Protestant-style work ethic. To supporters like Britian the rest of the Muslim world in the Middle East would benefit from a version of Islam like Turkey.

Turkey wants to lead the Muslim world. The Bible says that in the last days Turkey would be a part of a coalition ofnations that attacks Israel (Ezekiel 38&39). Turkey is moving rapidly to fill that destiny.

Most Americans still consider the US as the lone superpower in the world. But that is so far from the truth now it is actually frightening. China is quickly becoming a major power from an economic and military perspective. But there is another rising power in the East and West as the country is so large a landmass that it can be classified as West and East. The country is Russia.

The Bear has awakened. Russia today is stronger both economically and militarily than it has ever been before.

For example try to name the number one oil producer in the world? It is not Saudi Arabia. It is Russia. The also recently have become the number one oil exporter in the world. And are also the number one exporter of natural gas in the world.

Russia is in a very strong position in a world straved for natural resources. The Russian economy is booming. Russia is projected to grow their economy by 5% in 2010.

But they are not just an economic superpower. Russia is using this new found economic power to rapidly update and modernize their strategic nuclear forces and its conventional military forces.

On June 15th of this year Russian PM Putin climbed into the 5th generation fighter jet and boldly announed it was superior to the US f-22 Raptor.

They are also shipping and spreading their power and influence around the world again in Iran, Turkey and Syria just to name a few.

The world has changed and is still continuing to change and the US needs to wake up and change with it and trust in God again in order to have His protection again.

Keep looking up!