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Saturday, April 25, 2015

M.T.A. Must Run Bus Ad From Pro-Israel Group, Judge Says

M.T.A. Must Run Bus Ad From Pro-Israel Group, Judge Says

 
A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered theMetropolitan Transportation Authority to display an ad from a pro-Israel group on buses after the agency declined to run it last year.
The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued the authority in October, saying it had infringed on the group's First Amendment rights by rejecting the ad. The authority had argued that the ad could be seen as a call to violence against Jews.
The ad shows a man with a scarf across his face next to the words, "Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah," attributed to "Hamas MTV." Below that, it reads: "That's his Jihad. What's yours?"
The judge, John G. Koeltl, of United States District Court, ruled that the ad qualified as protected speech and granted a preliminary injunction ordering the transportation authority to run the ad. He said the order would not take effect for 30 days so the agency could consider whether it would appeal the decision.
"While the court is sensitive to the M.T.A.'s security concerns, the defendants have not presented any objective evidence that the 'Killing Jews advertisement' would be likely to incite imminent violence," Judge Koeltl wrote in the order.
The judge noted that a similar ad ran in Chicago and San Francisco in 2013 without incident.
Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, called the ruling a "triumph for liberty and truth." The group initially planned to run the ad with others as part of a campaign. Ms. Geller said she would now buy more ad space on more buses since it was running alone.
A spokesman for the authority, Adam Lisberg, said in a statement that the agency was disappointed by the ruling and would review its options.
The set of ads was intended to parody a "My Jihad" campaign by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Those "My Jihad" ads portrayed jihad as a concept of nonviolent individual and personal struggle.
Ms. Geller's group successfully sued the authority in 2012 over another ad that the agency eventually had to run. In that case, a federal judge ruled that the authority had violated the group's First Amendment rights.
Judge Koeltl, in his order on Tuesday, said that there was no evidence that seeing one of the ads on the back of a bus would prompt a violent reaction.
"The defendants underestimate the tolerant quality of New Yorkers," he wrote, "and overestimate the potential impact of these fleeting advertisements."
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Iran Readies for War, Raises Security Level

Iran Readies for War, Raises Security Level - By Dalit Halevi - http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/194274#.VTUnLpuBF9C

 
As Iranian gears up for a possible showdown with Saudi Arabia over Yemen, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed what "American threats."
 
As Iranian ships steam towards Yemen for a possible showdown with Saudi Arabia, the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed what he termed "American threats" as "stupid lies." In a speech to Iranian forces, Khamenei pointed to comments by U.S. security officials this week, to the effect that "America is leaving all its options on the table, and on the other hand they say they want us to stop defending ourselves. This is a stupid comment."
 
"The Iranian nation has proven that it always defends and protects itself with all its might when it is under attack," said Khamenei. "It stands against all illogical invaders, and united it is like an iron fist." On Sunday, Khamenei raised the security level in Iran, calling up and deploying reserves throughout the country, in the event the country is attacked, he was quoted as saying.
 
Khamenei was apparently responding to comments by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter last week. "We're assisting the Saudis to protect their own territory and to conduct operations that are designed to lead ultimately to a political settlement to Yemen," said Carter.
 
The U.S. has imposed an arms embargo on the Yemeni Houthi rebels, who have taken over most of the country, replacing Yemen's legitimate government. Iran has vowed to assist the rebels, but has not been caught smuggling weapons into Yemen yet. U.S. forces have boarded several of the Iranian ships off Yemen's coast - consensually, the Navy said - looking for weapons, but have not found. "We will continue to vigilantly defend freedom of navigation and to conduct consensual searches in an effort to ensure that drugs, human trafficking, weapons trafficking and other contraband are limited," a U.S. Navy official was quoted in The Hill as saying.
 
Meanwhile, seven to nine Iranian frigates are reportedly making their way to the Yemen coast, and there are concerns that they will try to defy the naval blockade Saudi Arabia, along with Egypt, has imposed on Yemen. U.S. officials said that they were not planning to get involved, but in the event that a battle breaks out, the U.S. will "examine the situation carefully," officials were quoted as saying.
 
Speaking Sunday, Khamenei said that the United States and "the Zionist entity" were "the greatest threats to the world and the region." Turning his attention to the framework on nuclear work drawn up in Lausanne several weeks ago, Khamenei said that Iran would "never" allow international inspectors into its military installations, for fear that "spies" will "steal Iran's secrets and compromise our security."
 
 
US Yemen ceasefire bid founders as Saudis resume air strikes, Iranian warships on course for Gulf of Aden - http://www.debka.com/article/24548/US-Yemen-ceasefire-bid-founders-as-Saudis-resume-air-strikes-Iranian-warships-on-course-for-Gulf-of-Aden

 
Just hours after halting military operations in Yemen, Saudi Arabia Wednesday, April 22 resumed its air strikes, bombing pro-Iranian Houthi rebel positions southwest of Taiz, after they seized a brigade base from forces loyal to fugitive President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. debkafile's military sources report that the Saudi-led coalition went back on a promise published Tuesday to shift its focus from military action to peace talks after Houthi rebels opted out of the ceasefire the Obama administration was trying to broker between Riyadh and Tehran. Tehran further refrained from ordering its warships to turn around and told them to stay on course for the Gulf of Aden opposite Yemen.
 
debkafile reported earlier Wednesday:
 
Wide overnight predictions of a Yemen ceasefire coming out of US mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia were unfulfilled by Wednesday, April 22. All that happened was Saudi Arabia's termination of its air strikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels - but not its sea and air blockade of the country. The rebels made it clear that for them, the war goes on. From Washington, US President Barack Obama warned Tehran against delivering weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the region. Speaking in a televised interview on MSNBC's "Hardball," the president said: "What we've said to them is that 'if there are weapons delivered to factions within Yemen that could threaten navigation, that's a problem.'"
 
He was referring to the Iranian buildup of nine vessels, some carrying weapons, and warning that US warships were deploying to defend international navigation in the Gulf of Aden and the strategic Strait of Bab el-Mandeb off the shores of Yemen.
 
debkafile reported earlier::
 
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdolllahian said Tuesday night, April 21, that Tehran is optimistic that 'in the coming hours we shall see a halt to military attacks in Yemen."
 
He did not say whether the Saudi Arabia had accepted a ceasefire after three weeks of air strikes, or its targets, the Houthi rebels and their Yemeni army allies - or both. Their acceptance would terminate the Yemen civil war.
 
Earlier Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest tried to play down the danger of a collision between a US naval strike force led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and an Iranian naval convoy believed to be carrying arms for the Houthis. Both were due to arrive in the Gulf of Aden opposite the Yemeni shore. Earnest said the US fleet's mission was "to ensure the free flow of commerce" i.e. the freedom of navigation through the Gulf of Aden and Strait of Bab El-Mandeb.
 
 He did not repeat an earlier statement by US defense officials that The Roosevelt carrier, the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy and other accompanying warships had been sent to pre-empt any attempt by the Iranian vessels to unload weapons for the Houthis - in violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
 
Pentagon officials said an Iranian convoy of nine cargo ships had reached international waters in the Gulf of Aden, but that to their knowledge, the US and Iranian ships had not yet seen each other or made any contact.
 
The tone coming from the White House towards the end of the day was that the US naval buildup opposite Yemen was intended to give diplomacy a military boost, rather than confront the Iranian fleet.
 Reports from Riyadh likewise pointed to active diplomacy afoot for ending the violence in Yemen.
 
A statement read out on Saudi-owned Arabiya TV announced the end of the kingdom's military operation against the Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen. "The alliance had achieved its goals in Yemen through the "Storm of Resolve" campaign and would now begin a new operation called "Restoring Hope."
 
This operation, the statement said, would focus on security at home and counter-terrorism, aid and a political solution in Yemen.
 
 At the same time, debkafile's Gulf sources report the same TV channel carried the opposite message from Riyadh:
 
Saudi Arabia's King Salman Abdulaziz has ordered the Kingdom's National Guard to join the military campaign in Yemen, said another communique. Minister of the Saudi National Guard Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah said his forces are on high alert and are ready to take part in Operation Storm of Resolve, a Saudi-led coalition of 10 states battling the advance of the Iran-backed rebels.
 
The Saudi National Guard is a strong armed force, superior to and better equipped than the Saudi national army. It would provide a solid increment for the Saudi air strikes in Yemen.
 
 Behind this cloud of apparent contradictions hovering over the Yemen conflict Tuesday, is an Obama administration bid to broker the contest between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and bring about a ceasefire. The various parties are meanwhile jockeying for advantageous positions without surrendering their options. If the bid is successful, a truce may be announced in the Yemen war in the coming hours, but it is still hanging fire.
Israel In The Crosshairs Of The Middle East War Drums - Jim Nash - http://watchmansview.com/Commentary_-_Israel_in_the_Crosshairs_of_the_Middle_East_War_Drums.html

 
OPERATION WAKEUP CALL - THE PROPHECIES ARE COMING!
warns Bill Salus... http://www.prophecydepotministries.net/2015/operation-wakeup-call-the-prophecies-are-coming/    
 
The following headlines from the past week should be a Wakeup Call that many wars which have been prophesied for Israel are about to be fulfilled! ...
 
Attack Now - Russian Interference Leaves Israel No Choice
(Jeremiah 49)
 
The Obama Doctrine - scorn your friends, reward your enemies - has finally reaped the whirlwind, namely Russia and its pledge to provide Iran with an array of the most advanced "defensive" missiles on earth. This leaves Israel with no choice except to act BEFORE those missiles are deployed...It's been explained that the S-300 Surface-to-Air Missile System would provide Iran with an impenetrable shield....Israel must attack to remove those nukes before it's too late...There is no choice but to take action now... http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16800#.VTEjy4s2U9V
 
Iran marks Army Day with cries of 'Death to Israel, US'
(Jeremiah 49)
 
"If Israel makes a mistake," the announcer on Iran television said during the broadcast, as heavy trucks carrying armored personnel carriers rolled past, "those in Tel Aviv and Haifa will not sleep at night, not one person."... http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-marks-army-day-with-cries-of-death-to-israel-us/  
 
Iran leader urges military to increase 'preparedness'
(Jeremiah 49)
 
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the country's armed forces Sunday to increase their "defensive preparedness," hitting out at a US warning of possible military action... http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-leader-urges-military-to-increase-preparedness/
 
ISIS appears ready to announce expansion to Gaza
(Psalm 83, Zechariah 12, Obadiah 1)
 
ISIS supporters indicate the brutal jihadist organization is debating when to declare the Gaza Strip part of its expansive caliphate...Israel is so concerned about the prospect of ISIS rising in Gaza that the Jewish state has helped to step up the transport of civilian goods into the territory. Israel fears a shortage could provoke a discontented population to turn closer to ISIS, which has been trying to endear itself to Gazans with numerous Islamic charity initiatives...Any ISIS gains in Gaza would pose a major threat to both Israel and neighboring Egypt... http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/isis-appears-ready-to-announce-expansion-to-gaza/
 
Israeli Officials: Iran Massively Ramping Up Arming of Hezbollah in Preparation for Major Assault on Israel
(Psalm 83 & Zechariah 12, Obadiah 1)
 
Over the last few weeks, Iran has considerably stepped up its operations to arm Hezbollah in order to prepare its terrorist proxy for a large-scale conflict with Israel...Tehran has accelerated its proxy war with Israel on all fronts...Iran has also been attempting to establish a new front for Hezbollah with Israel on the Golan Heights, linking it to the existing one in southern Lebanon... http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/04/13/israeli-officials-iran-is-massively-ramping-up-arming-of-hezbollah-in-preparation-for-major-assault-on-israel/
 
Hamas accelerates its tunnel-building, using heavy machinery
(Psalm 83 & Zechariah 12, Obadiah 1)
 
Hamas is accelerating its tunnel offensive from Gaza into Israel , using specialized digging equipment to speed up the effort...the terror organization was making significant efforts to dig at great speed... http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/36679/despite-humanitarian-restriction-hamas-using-heavy-machinery-to-expand-terror-tunnel-network-jerusalem/#uQFXMWhRCrF9vMaC.97
 
'Lebanon prepares to receive massive shipments of French weapons'
(Psalm 83 & Zechariah 12, Obadiah 1)
 
The Lebanese military is due to acquire some $3 billion worth of French military hardware and Saudi Arabia has subsidized the weapons purchase... http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Israel-concerned-as-Lebanon-to-begin-receiving-shipments-of-French-arms-398426
 
Thousands of Iraqis flee as Islamic State makes gains in Sunni heartland (Psalm 83 & Zechariah 12, Obadiah 1)
 
Thousands of families are fleeing Iraq's western city of Ramadi after an Islamic State advance...U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned that the city is at risk of falling to the Islamic State...Such a large wave of displacement has never happened in the history of the city... http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/thousands-of-iraqis-flee-as-islamic-state-makes-gains-in-sunni-heartland/2015/04/17/b143d9aa-e44d-11e4-ae0f-f8c46aa8c3a4_story.html
 
Putin warns Israel: Selling arms to Ukraine would provoke Russian S-300 sales to Syria too (Isaiah 17)
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin's warning to Israel against selling arms to Kiev - in retaliation for the S-300 air-defense missiles Russia has released for Iran - adds a European dimension to the dispute by planting Israel squarely in the middle of Moscow's Ukraine dispute with the United States, The Russian leader's implied threat to hit back by sending the same missile system to Syria...Putin has repeatedly cautioned Washington that arming Kiev with US offensive weapons would bring forth matching Russian steps that would hurt US interests in Europe and other parts of the world... http://debka.com/article/24542/Putin-warns-Israel-Selling-arms-to-Ukraine-would-provoke-Russian-S-300-sales-to-Syria-too
 
Egypt's dangerous stalemate (Isaiah 19)
 
Despite his all-out effort to defeat Islamic terrorism and insurgency, President Sisi has yet to achieve the results needed to prevent the country slipping back into anarchy and chaos...Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is fighting for his country'...Despite the army's all-out effort to defeat Islamist insurgency in Sinai, there is no end in sight...In Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi tribes are poised to take over the strategic Red Sea straits, threatening free passage to the Suez Canal...The fact is that the president has not been able to secure a large enough block to ensure his electoral victory, while the Muslim Brotherhood - though banned - and other Islamic parties can still muster a sizable vote... http://www.jpost.com/International/Arab-world-Egypts-dangerous-stalemate-398383
 
Iranian ship convoy moves toward Yemen, alarming US officials
(Ezekiel 38, 39)
 
U.S. military officials are concerned that Iran's support for Houthi rebels in Yemen could spark a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and plunge the region into sectarian war...Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships - some with weapons - toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels...Iran wants to force a confrontation with Saudi Arabia that it believes it will win, because Iran views the Saudi military as weak and suspects the U.S. lacks the willpower to support its Gulf ally...  http://thehill.com/policy/defense/239295-us-officials-concerned-about-iranian-convoy-headed-towards-yemen  
 
... Why is this prophetically important?  Prophetically the Russia/Iran alliance would benefit from control of this gateway to the Red Sea, when Ethiopia and Sudan also bordering the Red Sea, and all part of the Gog & Magog confederacy, come up against Israel, providing a close access point by sea.  The Red Sea gives access to the Port of Aqaba in southern Jordan.  Aqaba has been a major port since the Iron Age. The Bible refers to the area in (1 Kings 9:26): "King Solomon also built ships in Ezion-Geber, which is near Eloth in Edom (or Mount Seir, part of Jordan - see a Judgment on Mount Seir...Ezekiel 35), on the shores of the Red Sea," in which Eloth refers to a port on the grounds of Aqaba. The port of Aqaba was particularly important after the Ottomans built the Hejaz railway, that connects the port to Damascus and Medina.  This railway and Jordan Highway 65, from the Port of Aqaba pass extremely close to the Jordan River Basin and valley (head waters of the Dead Sea), between Jerusalem and Ammon Jordan, which is bound by the mountains of Gilead and Moab on the east and by those of Samaria and Judah on the west - this is the site of the Battle of Gog & Magog.  Iran's potential control of the mouth of the Red Sea and picking up the armies of Ethiopia and Sudan along the way, would serve for a quick deployment access in mobilizing a war on Israel.  Russia with Turkey would come down from the North and Libya, Algeria and Tunisa attacking from the East likely coming in through the port of Tartus which is currently home to a Russian naval facility, or through a Turkish port and joining Turkey and Russia in the attack on Israel.
 
Putin Issues Warning to Israel Over Possible Sale of Weapons to Ukraine (Ezekiel 38,39)
 
Russian President Vladmir Putin warned Israel on Saturday that the government's decision to sell weapons to Ukraine would be "counterproductive" and flame the fires of conflict. Israel's move to supply weapons to Ukraine come in response to the Kremlin's decision to supply Iran with the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile system...According to Netanyahu, providing Iran with the S-300 missiles "will only encourage Iranian aggression in the region and further undermine the stability of the Middle East."...
 
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/36700/putin-issues-warning-israel-sale-weapons-ukraine-jerusalem/#b1HTGTyelDIGQEBC.97
 
The clear indication from the articles above, is that war related activities and preparation is dramatically and quickly increasing by the sworn enemies of Israel, and they have Israel surrounded on all sides.  The Prophecies linked above are about to be fulfilled as a very dark Middle East War Storm is Coming!
 
My belief on how all of this may go down, based on the current activity and knowing what the Bible tells us concerning the end-time prophetic wars - it may now start with a triggering event, of the IDF attacking Iran.   This is not speculation, but an imminent fact based on the Prophet Jeremiah's warning in Jeremiah 49: 34-39.  It would appear from many of the news stories above concerning Iran, it is readying their main Proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria, who they have armed to the teeth, and they are in strategic positions for a massive retaliatory strike on Israel.  Israel striking Iran will cause an immediate reaction and domino effect - Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Syria will strike Israel from the North - Israel destroys Syria (Isaiah 17) and destroys Hezbollah as well as others in the Psalm 83 Confederacy such as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and the West Bank (east and west of Israel).  As well, I believe IDS will destroy ISIS (in Iran, Syria and factions within every State surrounding Israel), and factions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (attacking from the Sinai south of Israel) and in Turkey, all fulfilling the prophecies of Psalm 83, Zechariah 12 & Obadiah 1.  All of these, mixed with Iranian elite Revolutionary Guards, already in place in Syria, Lebanon and the borders of the Golan Heights, will be neutralized per the fulfillment of these prophecies.  The suggested sequence of this also may dictate that Israel may elect to conduct some level of preemptive strike on Hezbollah and Syria in particular to lessen their ability to retaliate for the Israeli IDF strike on Iran.  Syria likely still has enough firepower and capacity (most likely WMD's they never gave up) to inflict a significant blow to Israel, for Israel in turn, to make it (and other Syrian cities) "a ruinous heap" which "will cease from being a city."  This then likely unites the rest of the Psalm 83 confederacy to ban together and attack Israel..."For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The tents of Edom [Palestinians and S. Jordanians] and the Ishmaelites [Saudis]; Moab [Palestinians & central Jordanians] and the Hagrites [Egyptians]; Gebal [Hezbollah & N. Lebanese], Ammon [Palestinians & N. Jordanians], and Amalek [Arabs of Sinai]; Philistia [Hamas of Gaza] with the inhabitants of Tyre [Hezbollah an S. Lebanese]; Assyria [Syria & N. Iraqis] also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot [Moabites and Ammonites, thus the modern day Palestinians will be the principal power engaged in the confederacy against Israel. The others [ISIS] come to assist them]." ~ Psalm 83:5-8
 
This all results in the Deliverance of Israel "In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem" - Zechariah 12:8 ...and God's purpose in all of these wars will be known and fulfilled for Israel "Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord." ..." I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. 22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward." Ezekiel 38:23 & 39:21.
 
With this Prophesied and massive Israeli victory, there are strong initiations Israel will thereby increase its borders ( http://watchmansview.com/New_Israel_Borders.html ) back to the borders of the Abrahamic Covenant in which God gave all of this land to Israel (Gen. 28:13-15; 35:11-12; and 48:3-4).   Israel will believe they are now able to live in peace, safety & security, without walls or gates.  At this point their will likely be a prophetic Gap of time - see http://watchmansview.com/Commentary_-_The_Prophetic_Gap_Between_the_Rapture_and_Tribulation_Period.html .   This actually Sets the stage and becomes the likely impetus for the next greater War, with Russia, who "makes an evil plan...to take plunder and to take booty" and leads the Ezekiel 38 & 39 War and its confederation (Russia and the former Soviet republics; Iran; Sudan; Ethiopia and Possibly Eritrea; Libya; Algeria and Tunisa; Turkey and possibly Germany and Austria) an outer ring of States, which is listed as all being different from the Psalm 83 (inner ring confederacy, which not one is listed with the Gog Magog confederation - as they are now within a Greater Israel).  It is not hard to see how all of this is likely going to play out - as we get closer to the day of the fulfillment of these prophecies...the light and lens of Scripture overlaying the headline news is making everything previously unknown (or hazy), visible and very clear "for the light is making everything visible" Eph 5:14a ...do not doubt it, we are at the door-step of the fulfillment of these very significant prophetic events!
 
A Proclamation against Egypt (Isaiah 19) and a Judgment on Mount Seir (southeastern Jordan - Ezekiel 35) also find fulfillment somewhere, likely within the same time period as the fulfillment of the prophecies of Psalm 83, Zechariah 12 & Obadiah 1.
 
The next event? ...Enter the Antichrist Daniel 9:27
 
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels." Psalm 122:6-7 ...May PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his new Cabinet members be like "the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do"... I Chronicles 12:32
 
Be assured of the Biblically promised outcome: "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." Zechariah 12:3
 
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."  Zechariah 12:9
 
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper..." Isaiah 54:17a
 
The Bible (God's Word) has prophesied all of this, so you can absolutely count on it all being fulfilled!
 
All things are becoming crystal clear in these end-times...Like Bill Salus is preaching, its OPERATION WAKEUP CALL - WAKE UP CHURCH!!..."for the light is making everything visible. That is why it says, "Wake up, sleeper! Arise from the dead" Ephesians 5:14NASB "Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed" Romans 13:11ESV
 
"Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the Day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near." Joel 2:1
 
"Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."  Luke 21:28
 
"Encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."  Hebrews 10:25b

 
US and Iran headed for a naval face-off over Yemen following the announcement Monday night that the USS Theodore Roosevelt, known as "The Big Stick," was on its way to the Gulf of Aden to join the American naval force of nine warships building up to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying arms for Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Roosevelt Strike Group 12 was dispatched from the Persian Gulf to head off an Iranian naval armada of 8-9 vessels on its way to the Gulf of Aden with fresh military supplies for the rebels.
 
The Roosevelt carrier is accompanied by US Navy destroyers and other vessels, including the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy. The US warships are carrying teams able to board and search vessels bound to deliver Iranian arms in accordance with UN resolutions.
 
The aircraft carrier's arrival will notch up America's active partnership in the blockade Saudi Arabia and Egypt have thrown up around Yemeni shores. It will underscore Washington's resolve to pre-empt any attempt by Iranian warships to break this  blockade, as well as the deepening US involvement against the Iranian-backed rebel forces in Yemen.
 
 High-placed sources in Washington fear that the US, Saudi and Egyptian fleets piling up in the Gulf of Aden may fall to blows with Iranian warships over any attempt to drop military supplies on shore for the rebels.
 
On April 10, debkafile raised the possibility of a Saudi-Iranian collision at sea, after the Saudi army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri, warned: "Iranian ships have the right to be present in international waters, but won't be allowed to enter Yemeni territorial waters."
 
On the same day, Washington announced that the US Air Force had begun aerial refueling missions for the Saudi-led coalition forces conducting air strikes to stem the Houthi rebels' advances.
 
 Monday, April 20, the Saudi charge d'affaires in Tehran was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry for a protest against Saudi air bombardment of the neighborhood in the capital Sanaa close to the Iranian embassy. There were no casualties but the building was damaged. Saudi Arabia said its target had been the largest Houthi arms arsenal in the city, which was located near the Iranian embassy.
 
This protest was indirectly addressed to Washington too, since the United States has made no secret of providing the Saudi Air Force with intelligence feeds for its strikes and therefore approval.
Prophetic implications of Iran, Libya undeniable - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 
There are many differing views on how Biblical prophecy will play out, the timing of events, and how the players come together. One thing among several, however, is certain--that Persia, modern day Iran, and Libya play a role. Both are specifically named among the nations led by Gog against Israel in Ezekiel 38:5, "Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet." Verse 8 says, "...in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel..." Both these nations have been repositioned in recent years by the current US "president" to step into their roles, possibly accelerating end time prophecy.
 
Behind the guise of humanitarian crisis, the "president" used the US military and political maneuvering to back the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda to overthrow and destabilize the government in Libya. The result was a radical Islamic regime that has assisted with destabilizing not only Northern Africa, which would include the territory of ancient Ethiopia, but also reaching into Syria and Yemen. His policies then swept into Syria, arming Islamists with associations to al Qaeda and eventually unifying with the current Islamic State, which is storming through Syria and Iraq, taking spoil to fund its terrorist activities. Through the Islamic State, the world is witnessing first hand the brutality of Islam, the antithesis of peace.
 
The "president" has also aided Iran's ability to be an end time player by assisting it in buying time to develop a nuclear weapon. While the "president" is trying to convince the world that allowing Iran 10 years to develop its nuclear capabilities is a good idea, Iran is holding national military parades featuring vehicles decorated with signs that say "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." The "president" also said that he was surprised that the Russians had held back for as long as they did in delivering S300 missile defense systems to Iran. It almost seems as though the "president" and Russia are working together to ensure that Iran can maintain its nuclear program, which in turn, accelerates Iran's position in prophecy.
 
While the Shiite Muslims in Iran and the Sunni Muslims in Libya traditionally are at deadly odds, make no mistake that Sunni and Shiite will band together to come against their most hated enemy--Israel. The Bible says so in these Ezekiel passages. Interesting, however, that virtually the same language as in Genesis describing the father of Islam--Ishmael--"his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren" is found in Ezekiel 38:21, "every man's sword shall be against his brother." When the Lord defeats the Ezekiel coalition that they "shall know that I am Lord," the coalition turns on itself--just as they do when they are not fighting Israel. Sadly, though, the leadership of America has a hand in this, which also has Biblical consequences. 
How does sanctions-ridden Iran find a multibillion war chest to fund 6 armies fighting in 4 Mid East wars? - http://www.debka.com/article/24556/How-does-sanctions-ridden-Iran-find-a-multibillion-war-chest-to-fund-6-armies-fighting-in-4-Mid-East-wars-

 
According to figures reaching debkafile in March, Iran is spending a vast fortune - up to an estimated $6-8 billion per year - to keep six armed forces fighting in four Middle East war campaigns for expanding its sphere of influence.  Month after month, Tehran forks out close to half a billion dollars - and sometimes more - to keep those conflicts on the boil. How Iran manages to keep this war chest flowing so abundantly from an economy crippled by international sanctions has never been explained.
 
Syria
 
As the Syrian war enters its fifth year, Iranian Revolutionary Guards are found to be running it from four command and control centers, our military and intelligence sources report:
 
1. In Damascus, the IRGC operates as a part of the Syrian General Staff, with two imported pro-Iranian militias at its independent disposal. This command center has three tasks: To oversee the Syrian general staff and monitor its operational planning; to guard President Bashar Assad's regime and his family; defend key locations such as the military airport and Shiite shrines, and keep the highways to Lebanon open.

 2.  In the Aleppo region of the north, IRGC officers were engaged in drawing up plans for a general offensive to rout rebel forces from positions they have captured in the city. Tehran attaches prime importance to a peak effort for the recapture of Aleppo, Syria's largest city. The IRGC command has transferred large-scale Hizballah forces from Lebanon to this arena, along with Afghan and Pakistani Shiite militias. Thousands of these combatants underwent training at specialist IRGC bases. Our military sources disclose that those militias recently took so many casualties that Iranian officers decided to hold off the Aleppo offensive.
 
3.  In the Qalamoun Mts., which are situated athwart the Syrian-Lebanese frontier, Tehran has given high priority to flushing rebel forces, including the Nusra Front and the Islamic State, out of the pockets they have seized on the mountain slopes, so as to clear the mountain roads for the passage of Hezbollah units. This offensive has also been delayed.
 
 4.  In South Syria, Iranian officers led a large-scale month-long drive to drive rebel forces out of the area they hold between Deraa and Damascus, in order to position Iranian-led Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia forces face to face with the Israeli army on the Golan. This drive has so far been stalled.
 
Tehran establishes - and pays for - new Syrian army
 
Iranian officers have established, trained and equipped a new 70,000-strong fighting force called the Syrian National Defense Force. Its operations, including the soldiers' wages, are financed from Tehran's pocket.
 
Iran runs airlifts day by day to re-supply the Syrian army with weapons systems and ammunition, and the Syrian Air Force with bombs and ordnance for attacks against rebel forces - of late, mostly barrel bombs. Intelligence sources estimate that Iran's expenditure in the Syrian conflict now hits $200 million per month - around $2.5 billion a year.
 
Iran bankrolls Hezbollah from top to bottom
 
The 25,000-strong Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah operates under the direct command of IRGC officers. All its military equipment comes from Tehran, which also draws up its annual budget. Each month, Iran transfers to Beirut $150-200 million, as well as paying for all the Lebanese militias' expenses for maintaining an expeditionary force in Syria. Hezbollah costs Tehran an approximate $2 billion per annul.
 
An all-Shiite "people's national army" for Iraq, re-supplies for Yemen
 
Iran's deep military intervention in Iraq includes the creation of an all-Shiite "people's national army." It follows the same template as the Syrian National Defense Force and consists of the same number of fighters - 70,000 troops.
 
Tehran has also invested in barricades to fortify Baghdad against invasion from the north and the west.
 
The offensive to retake the Sunni town of Tikrit from the Islamic State was led by Iranian officers, and fed constantly with high-quality weapons systems, including missiles and tanks.
 
 All the war materiel required by the Iraqi army and Shiite militias fighting the Islamic State is airlifted to Baghdad, some directly from Iran.
 
 There is no reliable estimate of the Islamic Republic's current contribution to Iraq's war budget (estimated at a quarter of a billion dollars per month) because part of the cost is carried by the Iraqi government from oil revenues.
 
In Yemen, until Saudi Arabia and Egypt imposed an air and sea blockade a month ago, Iran ran supplies by air and sea to the Shiite Zaydi Houthis and their Yemeni army allies whom Tehran championed, sponsored and funded directly. The deployment of US warships in the Gulf of Aden this week put a stop to this traffic. But by then, Iran had sunk an estimated half a billion dollars in a Houthi victory.
 
Sanctions are no bar to Iran's ambitions
 
This arithmetic is testimony to Iran's mysteriously deep pockets. The sanctions the US, Europe and the United Nations clamped down on Tehran clearly had no effect on its willingness and ability to lay out fabulous sums to promote its ambitions as Middle East top dog.
 
The Mideast Battle Lines are Drawn - By Jonathan Spyer -
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/36669/the-mideast-battle-lines-are-drawn-opinion/#YxO3jTsMyqwbBwde.97

 
In the last decade, the Middle East has been living through a political convulsion of historic proportions.  Regimes that once appeared immovable have been destroyed or have receded.  New forces have risen up and are making war over the ruins.
 
The result of the effective eclipse in recent years of the states of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon has been the emergence of a large and chaotic conflict in the contiguous area once covered by those states.  The failure to develop coherent state-loyal national identities in the areas in question has meant that once central authority disappears, a political-military competition based on forces assembled according to ethnic and sectarian identity emerges.  A sectarian conflict is as a result now raging between the Iraq-Iran border and the Mediterranean.  This dynamic of conflict has now extended to Yemen.
 
In this maelstrom, the Iranians and their clients have emerged as the single most formidable alliance.  Why is this? What are the particular advantages enjoyed by the Iranians and their proxies in this contest?  What explains the belated but determined Saudi-led Sunni reaction to the Iranians' advances in recent days?  And what are the implications of the apparent moves towards a nuclear deal and lifting of sanctions on Iran toward Iranian actions in the region?
 
Iran's partially successful advance across the region
 
Iran has, in the Revolutionary Guards Corps and its Qods force, an instrument perfectly suited for the moment that the region is currently passing through.  The IRGC is an organization specifically created for the prosecution of proxy war, and the mobilization and sponsorship of paramilitary clients.
 
The Sunni Arabs (or indeed any other regional actor) do not possess a comparable force.  The result of the centralized commitment of Teheran and the skills of the IRGC is that the Iranians have been winning in a number of conflict arenas in the Middle East,  and the Saudis and other Gulf countries have been becoming increasingly alarmed.
 
In Lebanon, the effective parallel state maintained by Hezbollah remains the strongest player in the country.  Hezbollah is the prototype and still the strongest of Iran's proxies in the Arab world.  Its strength, the absence of a military tradition among Lebanese Sunnis and Lebanon's small size have enabled the movement to maintain its dominance in spite of the sectarian ferment to its east.
 
Hezbollah has played a vital role in the Syrian civil war and in the Iranian effort to keep its client in Damascus in power.   The movement has lost around 1000 fighters in Syria, including a number of prominent veteran commanders.  It is thought to have around 5000 men committed in Syria at any given time.  Hezbollah's Syria commitment is testimony to the extent that the movement can ignore the wishes of any other Lebanese factor when answering to the call of its Iranian patrons.  It is also, equally importantly, testimony to the ability of Iran to martial all its regional assets to work together in a coordinated fashion for the interests of any one of them.  This centralization is one of the greatest advantages possessed by Iran in its drive for the domination of the region.
 
In Syria, Iranian commitment to the Assad regime has preserved it.  Assad has not been doing well in recent days.  In the south, rebels and Sunni Islamist fighters have captured the historic town of Bosra al-Sham.  More importantly, in the north, a force led by Jabhat al-Nusra, the Qatar and Turkey-supported franchise of al-Qaeda in Syria, in late March captured Idleb City, the second provincial capital to be wrested from government control.  The Islamic State, ominously, is now gaining ground close to Damascus.
 
Despite this, the regime, a long term client of the Iranians, remains the single most powerful element in Syria. It controls around 40% of the area of the country and around 60% of the population.  The continued provision of Iranian funds - reputedly at a rate of around $1 billion per month , and of Iranian manpower and of Iranian military expertise is the single most significant factor in ensuring the Assad regime's survival.
 
The key problem for Assad throughout has been the shortage of reliable manpower willing to engage on his behalf.  The commitment by Iran of its own personnel and that of its Lebanese and Iraqi proxies, and the creation by the Iranians of sectarian proxy militias for the regime (the National Defense Forces and others) have to a considerable degree addressed this problem.  Assad is not close to reconquering the entirety of Syria's territory.  But he is also not in danger of falling.  This is an Iranian achievement, not a Syrian one.
 
In Iraq,  the Iranians are taking a key role in the fight against the Islamic State.  Some observers only half-jokingly  now refer to Qods Force commander General Qassem Suleimani as the true ruler of that country.
 
Suleimani has been intermittently present in Iraq, directing the mobilization of Shia militias before the IS threat, since August of last year.  The three most powerful such militias, the Badr brigade, Asaib Ahl al Haq and the Ktaeb Hizballah, answer to his command rather than that of the Iraqi government.  The government, meanwhile, is itself dominated by the Shia Islamist and pro-Iranian Dawa party.
 
The Shia militias have been playing the key role in the fight against the Islamic State.  They were responsible for the first setbacks suffered by IS, in the town of Amerli in Salah al-Din province. Ethnic cleansing of local Sunnis followed the 'liberation' of the town. They have been crucial in subsequent engagements. The militias also played a key role in the recent victory against IS in Tikrit.
 
Among the Palestinians, Iran has been the sponsor of the Islamic Jihad movement since its emergence.  Since the mid 1990s, Teheran was also engaged in constructing a strategic relationship with Hamas.  Hamas bet on the wrong horse in the 2011-2013 period. It assumed, as did many others, that a Muslim Brotherhood-led new regional alliance was coming into being, centered on Morsi's Egypt and bankrolled by the Emirate of Qatar.  Hamas saw itself as a natural member of this alliance.  As part of its move toward it, the movement closed down its headquarters in Damascus.  Its activists relocated to Doha, Turkey or Cairo.
 
But of course the Muslim Brotherhood led alliance proved a fleeting episode. The military coup in Egypt in July 2013 put paid to it.  Since then, Hamas has been engaged in trying to rebuild its bridges to the Iranians.
 
Teheran has a natural interest in the sponsoring of Palestinian opposition to Israel.  As non-Arabs and non-Sunnis, the Iranians are outsiders twice-over in the largely Sunni, Arabic-speaking Middle East.  Sponsorship of Palestinian 'resistance' organizations is designed to contribute toward rectifying this outsider status - the Palestinian cause being still the great cause celebre of the Sunni Arab world.
 
The latest evidence suggests that Iranian-Hamas rapprochement is proceeding apace.  Tens of millions of dollars have been transferred to the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip, to help the movement re-arm and rebuild its damaged infrastructure.  A new network of tunnels is under construction.  Hamas really has no choice but to return to the Iranians if it wishes to continue its war against Israel.
 
Lastly, in Yemen, Iranian support for the Houthis is of long standing.  But the toppling of the then dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 has paved the way for the growing strength of both Sunni and Shia militias in the country.  Iranian support for the Houthis has been constant, but has become far more overt since the movement took Sana'a in January, 2015.
 
The Houthis in February signed a civil aviation agreement with Teheran for direct flights between Sana'a and the Iranian capital.  This will make the process of supplying Iran's allies in Yemen exponentially easier.  In addition, an Iranian ship unloaded 180 tons of weapons for the Houthis at the port of al-Saleef earlier this month.
 
So across the region, where state authority has effectively broken down, it has been the Iranians who have been gaining the upper hand.
 
Nevertheless it would be simplistic to conclude that the Iranians have simply swept all before them, and that they dominate Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen without serious competition.  The Iranians are providing effective support to one side in a civil war in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.  But in none of these countries have they destroyed all opposition to their clients.  In both Iraq and Syria, Sunni Arab and Kurdish elements remain in control of significant sections of the country, and in no imminent danger of losing these to the clients of the Iranians.
 
Similarly, among the Palestinians, Iran appears to be rebuilding its links to Hamas and therefore to the Islamist half of the Palestinian national movement.  But the Ramallah Palestinian Authority is backed by the government of Egypt, by the west, by Jordan and by the Gulf Arabs.  Its security forces are trained in Jordan, under western professional supervision.  It is in no danger of ceding ground to Hamas at any time in the future.  In Gaza, the Sisi government's closing of the tunnels for north Sinai to southern Gaza is leaving the Hamas enclave impoverished, forlorn and  isolated.  So while the Iranians have an entrée to the Palestinian national movement, their clients are not within sight of defeating their enemies and are at the moment in a somewhat beleaguered position.
 
Even in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is without doubt the single dominant actor in a military sense, the movement does not exercise open, exclusive rule. And were it to attempt to do so, the likely result would be to plunge the country into civil war.  Rather, Hezbollah maintains a parallel state structure created and financed by the Iranians.  This structure acts without consulting the organs of the 'official' state, sometimes in cooperation with them and sometimes in defiance of their wishes.  But it does not seek to openly and entirely supplant the state.
 
So the Iranians are embarked on an attempt at regional hegemony.  The effective creation and mobilization of local proxy political-military organizations constitutes a central part of this project.
 
Iran's ability to mobilize its proxies toward unified goals, and its skill in creating and training proxy political-military groups has brought it considerable achievements in a variety of conflict arenas - but not yet total victory in any of them.
 
Sunni mobilization to resist the Iranians
 
A Sunni coalition which seeks to mobilize to challenge the Iranian advance toward regional domination is now in the process of being established.  Saudi Arabia stands at the head of this effort.
 
The current Saudi-led Sunni mobilization against an attempt by an Iranian proxy to conquer southern Yemen has been the precipitating factor in galvanizing this Sunni response.  It has an importance far beyond the narrow reaches of Yemen.  It represents the next stage in a process which began with the military coup in Egypt on July 3rd, 2013.  That process is the emergence of  a Riyadh-Cairo axis as the central element in current Sunni Arab diplomacy, in opposition to the mainly Shia alliance led by Iran.
 
Three factors contributed to the emergence of this axis.  The first is the apparent abdication of the United States from its role as the guarantor of regional security and the leader of the most powerful group of states in the Middle East.  The second is the advance across the Middle East of Iran and its allies.  The third is the challenge to status quo Sunni powers posed by Sunni political Islam, in both its Muslim Brotherhood and its Salafi forms.
 
The successful brokering by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud of a united Sunni response follows the push by the Iran-supported Ansar Allah militia (popularly known as the Houthis) towards the city of Aden and the strategically crucial Bab al-Mandeb straits.  This move to unite Yemen under their control is the natural next move for the Houthis and their Iranian backers following their capture of the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.
 
For the Saudis and their allies, it is a step too far.  Yemen shares a 1500 km poorly-guarded border with Saudi Arabia.  Control by an Iranian proxy of this border would afford Teheran an additional means of direct pressure on the Saudis.  Nine other Sunni states (Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Pakistan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates) joined the Kingdom in committing to prevent the further advance of the Houthis.
 
So what explains this sudden apparent success of Saudi diplomacy, after a long period in which Sunni attempts to hold back the Iranians and their allies appeared piecemeal and unco-ordinated?  Is the new united Sunni response likely to hold?  What results is it likely to achieve? And what might all this mean for Israel?
 
It is strongly felt in Riyadh and other Sunni Arab capitals that the United States is determined to withdraw from active involvement in the region and in pursuit of this goal is currently pursuing a dangerous path of appeasement of Iran.  This is most notable, of course, in the nuclear negotiations, where Washington now appears to be willing to countenance Iran becoming a 'threshold' nuclear power.
 
But this impression also derives from the US response to Iran's activities across the region. In Iraq, the US appears to be acting in tandem with Iranian goals, with no apparent awareness of the problems in this regard.  In Lebanon, similarly, the west is supporting and equipping the Lebanese Armed Forces, without understanding that the Lebanese state is largely a shell, within which Hezbollah is the living and directing force.  In Syria, the US is pursuing a half-hearted campaign against the Islamic State, while leaving the rest of the country to its internal dynamics.
 
From the perspective of the Saudis, Iranian ruthlessness, clarity and advance combined with the flailing, retreating US policy spells potential disaster.
 
As a result, a fully-fledged Sunni alliance against the Iranians is emerging for the first time, independently of the United States.  The resulting prospect is for a long Sunni-Shia conflict in the region to come.
 
What will be the implications of the current nuclear diplomacy between the west and Iran for the emergent Sunni-Shia conflict?
 
Even under the impact of sanctions imposed because of its nuclear activities,  Iran nevertheless managed to support its clients and allies.  It has continued to support Hezbollah, its clients in Iraq, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad among the Palestinians.  In a pattern familiar to the experience of totalitarian regimes under sanctions in the past, Iran has preferred to safeguard monies for use in service of its regional ambitions, while allowing its non-regime connected population to suffer the consequent shortages.
 
Nevertheless, with increased commitments in recent months deriving from the collapse of regimes in the Middle East, many observers have had a sense of looming Iranian 'overstretch.'  Iran is now committed to supporting its allies and/or engaging directly in active wars in three Middle East countries - Syria, Iraq and Yemen.  It is also heavily committed to supporting its clients in two other fraught arenas - Lebanon and Israel/the Palestinian territories.
 
In recent weeks, Hezbollah in Lebanon has closed down a number of projects, such as the English language website of the al-Akhbar newspaper. It has, according to a recent article in the Now Lebanon website, also reduced salaries to employees, stipends to political allies and wage payments to relatives of wounded fighters.
 
All these are indications of financial distress, as its patron Iran seeks to support an ever widening list of regional commitments.
 
However, should sanctions be substantially lifted in the months ahead, this would allow the freeing up of billions of dollars.  It may be assumed that a considerable part of the funds freed will be put into the service of Iranian regional ambitions.
 
The 'New Middle East'
 
The emerging strategic picture in the Middle East is defined by the coming together of a number of factors.
 
The collapse of authoritarian regimes, resulting in the opening up of chaotic political spaces as would be successors do battle over the ruins.  These successor entities, in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon and Gaza are usually based on local ethnic, tribal and sectarian identities.  In the absence of a firm and crystallized national identity in these areas, these more primordial identifications have come to the fore.
 
The Iranian ambition for hegemony in the Middle East, underlying Teheran's attempt to benefit from the burgeoning regional chaos.  Iran controls a tight, centralized alliance of client organizations.  Its clients control Lebanon, and play a dominant role in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza.
 
The Sunni reaction, deriving precisely from the fear of a rampant Iran inheriting the regional order.  The Sunni interest is preventing overall Iranian victory in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, but is not sufficiently strong to entirely defeat or push back the clients of Iran.
 
Lastly, the absence of the United States from this picture.  Washington is working according to an erroneous reading of the regional map.  It imagines that Teheran is amenable to 'engagement'. The result of this is to encourage Iranian expansionism, and also to encourage the independent Sunni organization to resist Iran which is now under way.
 
So the direction of events in the Middle East is toward an ongoing conflict on several fronts between a bloc of mainly Shia forces led by Iran, and a looser, more disparate gathering of Sunni forces in which Saudi Arabia, (and probably also Turkey and Qatar) are set to play central roles.
 
This conflict is set to define the next chapter of the troubled history of our region.
Drama in the Desert Continues to Unfold - A. V. Rauf -
http://bibleprophecyfortoday.com/2015/04/19/drama-in-the-desert-continues-to-unfold/

 
Isaiah 21:1-2-The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
 
Isaiah 21:14-17--The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.
 
The majority of the Middle East is pure desert. Across the border of Yemen in Saudi Arabia there are enormous stretches of desert. Across the western border in North Africa, again there are thousands of miles of desert sands.
 
As the sands blow in every direction this is just what is happening on the socio-political scene in the area. Again, I mentioned that it really is spiritual and any astute student of the Bible can clearly see that God's written words are beginning to come to pass. We are seeing a dramatic shift in power bases as well.   As mentioned in an earlier post, this is the continuation of "Arab Spring,' which began in 2011 and has since seen many a leader toppled and replaced in various countries in the Middle East.
 
In reference to the above mentioned Scripture, we know that Elam and Media make up parts of Persia, otherwise known as Iran. So this verse above is most certainly referring to Iran. Coincidence you say? Ive heard it said that coincidence is not a kosher word. The Bushehr nuclear reactor happens to be located in this same area.
 
Further up the desert is Iran. As we know Iran is no friend of the US (or are they?) or Israel. But Iran is an ally of the forces now dominating Yemen led by the Houthi rebels. Iran and Saudi Arabia do not see eye-to-eye and we may very well have a Sunni vs. Shi'ite war in the making here.
 
Genesis 16:11-12-And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
 
It is being reported that Iran has just forbidden its citizens from practicing the Hajj to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam. Will Iran eventually abandon Mecca altogether? Iran has aspirations to bring the whole desert region under her control. Many believe that Iran will try to destabilize Saudi Arabia and turn it into a Shiite, Iran-controlled nation.
 
Karbala, not Mecca is becoming Iran's holiest place and a history lesson could help in understanding why this may ultimately come to fruition in the very near future.
 
According to the Shi'ite tradition, Al-Husayn ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib was their messianic figure. It was in Karbala that he was martyred.  He was the son of Ali ibn Abi ?alib  who was the fourth Rashidun Caliph of Sunni Islam, and the very first Imam of Shia Islam and Fatimah Zahra, the daughter of their prophet Mohammed himself.
 
Al-Husayn was ultimately killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala on October 10, 680 along with most of his family members.
 
The annual memorial for him, which is celebrated even now is called Ashura  and is a day of mourning for Shi'ite Muslims. One needs to understand that it was the murderous rampage at Karbala that ultimately spawned the later Shi'ite movements. Anger at Husayn's death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine and ultimately overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate which overtook Al-Husayn. I have to mention here that the grim and violent goings on that take place during Ashura are very similar to what the prophets that faced Elijah the Tishbite in the Bible did when they were trying to summon Baal:
 
I Kings 18:27-29-And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.  And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
 
One must have at least a basic understanding of Sunni and Shiite hatred. These two sects of Islam have been feuding with one another since the beginning of Islam. Not much has changed. The only common denominator here is their mutual hatred towards Israel and the Jews. If anything, this is now coming to a fever pitch and something is going to give. Shi'ite Iran's worldview is predicated on the belief that appearance of the Islamic Mahdi is now apparent and the spread and dominance of the Shi'ite sect of Islam will ultimately come to fruition.
 
Just a few days ago, at the behest of Vladimir Putin, Russia lifted a ban on the sale of a sophisticated air-defense system to Iran. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the move to end the ban on shipping the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran was prompted by the recent progress in talks over Tehran's nuclear program. The ban had been in place since 2010. This was five years ago.
 
The decision was also applauded by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who also said: "But Russia is an important neighbor for us, an important partner."
 
Did you hear that? Iran (Persia) and Russia (Gog) are important partners. What does the Bible have to say about this? Im glad you asked. The preliminary stages of the great war of Gog and Magog also referred by some scholars as World War 3 as outlined is outlined in Ezekiel 38 & 39 are beginning to materialize. And I haven't even mentioned what has been happening in Turkey. (Please see my previous posts Antichrist and the Assyrian Connection and the War of Gog and Magog Parts 1-4)
 
I want to mention a certain scripture and tie this in to what is happening in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen:
 
Ezekiel 38:13-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?
 
I mentioned in the previous posts that Sheba was the ancient name for Yemen and Dedan was the ancient name for Saudi Arabia. I also mentioned that the name Brittania, from which Great Britain gets its name, means a land of tin, and it is an island beyond Tarsish. Now in the ancient world, Tarsish was thought of being at the tip of Spain. The area we know as Gibraltar. The young lions thereof are the commonwelth that sprang from Britain as in the United States of Ameica.
 
Most Bible commentators and analysts agree with this exposition. But let's get back to the desert here.
 
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized control of the capital of Yemen and are trying to establish diplomatic relations with Russia and China. They feel threatened by Western support for Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have just sent a delegation to Russia to build this relationship.
 
Keep in mind that remember that Russia is already at war in Ukraine and tension between U.S and Russian relations are escalating.
 
Let's also remember that Russia has just announced that she will stand by and help the Palestinians set up their desired state within the borders of Israel.
 
Remember I recently posted that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have been actively engaged in high-level talks with the goal of possibly creating a joint military alliance to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Today the prime minister of Turkey is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Today the Turkish army is on the Syrian border.
 
Meanwhile, ISIS has been expanding rapidly in Syria and is now just a stone's throw from Bashar Assad's residence in Damascus. Parts of Damascus have already been brought to ruins.
 
Isaiah 17:1-3-The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria.
 
Could this be a precursor of the Isaiah 17 war to come?
 
Jeremiah 49:23-27--Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.
 
It won't belong before Israel jumps in the foray and takes center stage in this drama in the desert that is unfolding. Remember when Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor in Iraq? Had that not happened then perhaps the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein quite possibly could have been a nuclear confrontation. Israel will not allow Iran to have these weapons. It is blatantly obvious that the pages of your Bible are literally coming to life! The sands of the hourglass are diminishing day by day, minute by minute, second by second.........
 
I again plea with you to study the Scriptures and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior while there still remains time and before time runs out. Pray for your family and friends. I didn't even mention the Rapture in this article and that may precede all of what is yet to transpire as mentioned in this article.  
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
 
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