MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

As the number of Jews coming to Messiah steadily increases, so too does the rage of a devouring Beast. Messianic Pastor Asher Intrater says that all we see happening today in the Muslim world with jihadists setting their sights against Israel is itself focusing the eyes of the world upon Jerusalem and setting the stage for the coming of Yeshua. In light of this interview, one must wonder: Is the Second Coming of Messiah the catalyst that brings about Israel’s belief in Yeshua, or will Israel’s belief in Yeshua be the catalyst that brings about the Second Coming of Messiah? …

Matthew 23:39, “For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

Flashback: Drawing Nearer

• Late Jewish Rabbi: Messiah ‘Yehoshua’ To Return After Ariel Sharon’s Death
• Jews Begin Reclaiming Jesus As One Of Their Own, ‘I’m Jealous Of Christians’
• Religious Jews In Israel: Only Messiah Can Save Israel During Gog-Magog, ‘The Next Leader Will Be The Messiah’

CBN News – “Asher Intrater, director of Revive Israel Ministries and pastor of Ahavat Yeshua Congregation in Jerusalem, has authored several books about Israel and its role in history.

Intrater was raised in a conservative Jewish home in the United States, but came to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) by what he describes as a series of supernatural experiences in the late 1970s.

Asher has helped write several books, including From Iraq to Armageddon, which offers an in-depth analysis of end-time prophecy concerning the Middle East, whether there’s a deeper reason for the war in Iraq, and how close the world may be to the battle of Armageddon.

Intrater spoke with CBN News in depth about what’s really happening in the Middle East from a biblical perspective.

What are the two prerequisites for Christ’s return? Are more Jewish people putting their faith in Christ? He answers this and more.” Source – CBN News.

Below is a 4-minute snippet of the highly recommended 18 minute interview …

Joel 3:1-2, 11-12, “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land… Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.“

As numerous scholars and historians will attest, by the time Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70 AD the Roman Legions responsible for the destruction were dominated by eastern peoples from Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor (Turkey) and that general area. Even though they were considered Roman citizens, all those who “scattered [the Jews] among the nations” and divided up God’s land for gain according to Joel 3:2 were Middle Eastern. Today, they are Muslim nations.

Following the destruction of 70 AD, the Jewish people were dispersed and exiled into captivity again for over 1800 years. In 1948, however, God began restoring the nation of Israel after 2/3 of all Jews in Europe were killed during the Holocaust of WWII. But, as before, the very same peoples that surrounded the tiny new Jewish State of Israel wanted nothing more than to eradicate the Jews and divide the land for gain. Unfortunately for the surrounding nations, however, this time the Jews of Israel are not going anywhere. After God brought His people back to the land again the second time the Prophet Joel tells us that He would also then gather the surrounding nations for judgment “on account of My people, My heritage Israel” who would never again be uprooted and scattered. And no matter how hard the Islamic nations surrounding Israel today fight to “liberate” the land and eliminate the Jews, when God makes a promise, it’s a promise He intends to keep …

Amos 9:14-15, “… I will bring my people Israel back from exile. ‘They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,’ says the LORD your God.”

• Flashback: The Miracles Of The Six-Day-War Of 1967
• Flashback: Fmr Israeli Commander: God Protected Us In 1973 Battle
• Flashback: Islamic Movement: All Negev Lands In Israel Belong To Islam
• Flashback: Tens Of Thousands Of Israeli Jews Are Embracing Jesus (Yeshua)
• Flashback: Hamas Official: We Will Expel Or Kill All The Zionists From The Land
• Flashback: Hamas: Our War Is Not To Lift The Blockade But To Liberate Jerusalem
• Flashback: ‘A Cloud Protected Us’: IDF Officer Describes Divine Protection In Gaza
• Flashback: Gaza Terrorist Firing Rockets At Israel Laments How ‘Their God Changes Their Path In Mid-Air’

Isaiah 54:17, “‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,’ says the LORD.”

“Does it shock anyone that world events are now aligning more and more with the state of affairs that the ancient Hebrew prophets spoke of just prior to the return of Jesus? In pondering all of these things, we must all tremble.” Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch …

Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

By Joel Richardson, WND – “As the focus of the world is now fixed on the Gaza Strip, students of the Bible would do well to stop to consider what the ancient Hebrew prophets had to say about the future of this little piece of land. Let’s consider a few passages. First, according to the Scriptures, the return of Jesus and the subsequent judgment will largely revolve around what the prophet Isaiah referred to as, ‘the legal cause,’ or ‘the controversy of Zion’:

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)

No doubt, today the ‘controversy of Zion’ rages throughout the nations, as the state of Israel seeks to crush the Gaza-governing Hamas, a group with the stated goal of exterminating the Jewish people and setting up their capital in Jerusalem.

According to several prophets, the controversy will only intensify as we draw closer to the return of Jesus, when a vast coalition of nations will invade Israel and surround the city of Jerusalem, seeking to commit the final genocide against the Jewish people. The prophet Joel tells us that the Lord will execute judgment against all parties involved in this invasion, and specifically any who force the dividing of His land:

I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land. (Joel 3:2)

Jehoshaphat is the valley that runs north to south, between the Temple Mount, and the Mount of Olives. In Matthew 25, as Jesus was actually sitting on the Mount of Olives looking down at the Valley of Jehoshaphat, He declared that when He returns, He Himself will sit as the judge of the nations. He declared that He would judge the nations specifically based on how they treated his ‘brethren.’ It is clear that Jesus was harkening back to Joel 3, actually inserting Himself into the passage as YHVH, the divine Judge. We must also note that Joel also informs us that the judgment will be based on how the nations treated ‘My people and My inheritance, Israel’ and also on their having, ‘divided up My land.’

As the prophecy continues, it goes on to speak of the Lord specifically executing vengeance against Read more…

Many MidnightWatcher visitors are already familiar with my perspective of Gog-Magog, but there are other views. Here is Brother Jack Smith’s interpretation, author of “Islam: The Cloak of Antichrist” …

By Jack Smith
When the Pieces Fit …

Ezekiel 38 is to Bible prophecy what Christ is to Christianity. Without it’s conditions satisfied, the end cannot be near.  Ezekiel 38 prophesies of a “Gog” (interpreted by yours truly to be Russia) who will lead an alliance of nations/groups (which includes Iran, Ezekiel 38:5-6 NASB) to attack Israel in the end-times. Some interpreters (myself included) see Israel as initially overrun; but in the end, Gog is “turned around” (Ezekiel 38:4) and ultimately defeated, along with his alliance. Gog and his alliance are destroyed by God through a great earthquake (Ezekiel 38:19-20) which leads to Gog and his forces turning their swords against one another. Ezekiel 38:21-22.

For most students of Bible prophecy, the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 in the modern-day seems imminent — even without the recent declaration by Sunni Salafi-jihadist al-Bagdadi of his establishment of the Islamic caliphate. (Not since 1924 has Islam been united under one leader (“caliph” or “sultan”) and one Muslim community. In 1924, Kemal Ataturk, president of Turkey and the sultan of the languishing Ottoman Empire renounced the sultanate and disbanded the Islamic empire in favor of a secular state. (Read more.) One example of the imminence of the tribulation is recent international pressure placed upon Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians in the formation of a two-state solution. At times in the peace process, it appeared as if the entire world was aligned against the Israelis, a condition bringing to mind several end-time prophecies about Israel: Zechariah 14:2; Zechariah 13:8-9; Revelation 11:2.

Yet, in spite of the seeming immanence of the tribulation, there is a major impediment to the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 in the modern-day Read more…

“Another significant reality now that the caliphate has been restored is that it is actually mandatory for the caliphate to engage in perpetual jihad until there are literally no non-Muslims left throughout the world, or they submit to being subjected peoples.” Sounds a little like something that a man named John once described about 2,000 year ago. Are we witnessing before our very eyes the fulfillment of the second Beast that will ultimately be destroyed forever by the Lord Himself as prophesied by Daniel? It certainly looks that way today. As such, “let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” …

Revelation 13:15-18, “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate [‘psēphizō’ – reckon] the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is χξς.”

By Joel Richardson, WND – “Two weeks ago, our illustrious President Obama stood in the White House and made the following statement:

Like a decentralized and elusive swarm that is out to devour everything in its path such as, oh, say a swarm of locusts, perhaps? In the 12th Century an Islamic scholar named Abul Ala Mawdudi wrote a book describing the spiritual homestead of Islam — modern day Saudi Arabia — as the “Abyss of Darkness” to introduce non-Arab readers to Islam. Incidentally, the “locusts” of Revelation 9 are themselves described by John as coming out of the darkness of the Abyss …

Revelation 9:2-3, 11, “When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth… They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).”

By Thomas Escritt, Reuters – “Radical Islamist groups in the Netherlands have become a decentralized and elusive ‘swarm’ that may broaden their focus from the conflict in Syria to the wider Middle East, the Dutch intelligence service warned on Monday.

Its report reflects widespread concern in Europe at the threat posed by European citizens – mainly from Islamic immigrant milieus – leaving to fight in Middle East conflicts, then returning battle-hardened and posing security threats.

Dutch authorities estimate that 120 Dutch citizens have fought in Syria’s civil war, with 14 having died in combat, and that there are hundreds of jihadi militants in the country eyeing missions abroad, with thousands more sympathizers.

The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Agency (AIVD) said in its latest assessment of the threat posed by underground jihadi groups that they were stronger and more self-confident.

It said such militants continued to pose a ‘substantial’ threat to the Netherlands, one notch below the highest alert.

Most of the potential fighters were of Moroccan background although some were native Dutch converts to Islam.

The agency said the phenomenon was becoming ever harder to track as social media made it possible for increasingly ‘professionalised’ radical movements to coordinate themselves without the need for a centralised authority.

‘The movement has taken on the character of a swarm,’ the agency said. ‘There is a less hierarchical structure than at the turn of the millennium, which makes it more flexible, effective and less vulnerable to ‘attack’ from outside.’

European governments have struggled to stop their nationals, some just teenagers, from traveling to Syria where the conflict, which began as peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad and evolved into an armed rebellion is now in its fourth year. More than 160,000 people have been killed.

Daniel 7:7, “… in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast — terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts …”

Recommended: Islam In Bible Prophecy: “So, what was John talking about when he described the army of locusts? A fleet of 21st-century military helicopters? Some modern-day teachers who promote trendy, pop interpretations of prophecy see nothing more than helicopters in these verses. Christians of the past, who know history better than most of us do, saw this army of locusts as a prophecy of the rise and spread of Islam… Why an army of locusts to represent an army of Arabs? About 900 years before John’s Revelation, the Prophet Joel has symbolically described an invading, attacking army as a swarm of locusts. Any large, invading army might be compared to a swarm of locusts, but the Arabs and Muhammed have a unique connection to the locust: ‘In the Bedoween romance Antar, the locust is introduced as the national emblem of the Ishmaelites [one of the ancestors of the Arabs –DB]. And it is a remarkable coincidence that Muslim tradition speaks of locusts having dropped into the hands of Muhammed, bearing on their wings this inscription – ‘We are the army of the Great God.’” Read more.

“Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil’s propagation.” – Hosea Ballou

And for those who believe that laying down their lives for the glory of “Allah” grants them guaranteed entry into paradise, death is not a deterrent. It is an incentive …

Revelation 6:8, “And I looked, and behold a [χλωρός – “green“] horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts [θηρίον – “savage, brutal, bestial men“] of the earth…”

By Walid Shoebat – “Anthony said: ‘It is hard to imagine how the planet can continue much longer, judging by the rate it is descending into barbarism.’

What is happening Anthony is that we are approaching a revival of a dark history when Islam proudly built pyramids out of human skulls and made blood flow in ravines. And when you see this revival of Islam complete is when you will look back at our current time now and say: ‘these were the good old days’.

These fighters who gather in Iraq and Syria are not there for the primary goal to fight Maliki and Assad. Abu Omar, a Sunni jihadist fighting in Aleppo said, ‘If you think that all these mujahideen came from around the world to fight Assad, you are mistaken. All of them came here as it was foretold and promised by the Prophet. It is the war He promised us; the war of The Great Tribulation.’

The Jihadists have a set of belief that one third of the Muslims in the world will be killed.

They study Bible Prophecy and are very aware of the text in Revelation and prepare to be the antithesis of what Christians believe; the white horse rider is the soon to come Mahdi and the ‘Euphrates’ in Revelation 9 to them is their Caliphate in Iraq and the one-third who are slain they consider it about them, the only true Muslims:

‘Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.’ (Revelation 9:14-15)

They even have their prophetic narrative which includes the peace treaty which they believe is made between the Muslims under the leadership of the Mahdi and the Roman (crusader Christian world) and speak of a battle between the two in which they believe that one-third of the Muslims will lose to join the Christians and betray Islam. These will be unforgiven and end up in hellfire. The other third will be martyred to enter paradise and yet another will gain the victory in Armageddon which they even spell out in their teachings.

The mission they have to to do is a great slaughter in which blood will be spilt as a river and heads will pile up in mounds. Indeed, on June 10 the Islamic State in Al-Sham (ISIS) burst upon the world with the capture of Mosul in Iraq, the effective obliteration of the Iraq/Syria border (and possibly the Iraqi state itself), a highly-self-publicized massacre of prisoners (some accounts say more than 1,700), the sudden creation of up to half a million internally displaced refugees in Iraq, and emphatic threats to eradicate Shia Muslim shrines, the Kingdom of Jordan, and (as of June 22) to do the United States more harm than Osama bin Laden ever did. In mid June, ISIS posted pictures on Twitter that appeared to show the massacre of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers after the fall of the city of Tikrit.” Read more.

The Islamic Antichrist: What Does It All Mean? – “All [Satan] can do is create his own corrupted version of God’s elect, to wage war against God’s elect, in an effort to replace God’s elect with one that is created in his own image. Just as the Ekklesia of YHWH is the ‘Body of Christ’ (and also referred to as His Bride), Satan’s counterfeit of the Church — the Ummah — is the ‘Body of Antichrist’ (and is referred to as the Harlot):

* Yahweh has the Ekklesia (The congregation of God, the true Church).
* Satan has the Ummah (The congregation of Allah, an apostate Church).

* Yahweh has given the Ekklesia His Word, the Word of God, the Holy Bible.
* Satan has given the Ummah its corruption, the ‘Word of Allah’, the ‘Holy’ Qur’an.

* Yahweh’s Ekklesia is like ‘a bride adorned for her husband’ and filled with ‘the glory of God.’
* Satan’s Ummah is like a harlot ‘decked with gold and precious stones and pearls’ and filled with abominations.

* Yahweh’s Ekklesia is ‘a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.’
* Satan’s Ummah is ‘a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit…’

* Yahweh’s Ekklesia is the multitude of the Lamb — Jesus the Messiah — whom they follow.
* Satan’s Ummah is the multitude of a man — Mohammed the ‘prophet’ — whom they follow.

* Yahweh’s Ekklesia comes out of Great Tribulation.
* Satan’s Ummah is responsible for it.

* Yahweh’s Ekklesia receives the seal of God upon their foreheads and are redeemed.
* Satan’s Ummah receives the Mark of the Beast upon their foreheads and are condemned.

* Yahweh’s Ekklesia will be lead to springs of living waters.
* Satan’s Ummah will drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Read more.

This eschatologically-minded new “caliphate” is now well on the path to self-fulfilling its own Islamic “prophecies” and, at this point, will not allow anyone to get in its way …

Mark 13:35-37, “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming — in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning — lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

1 Thessalonians 5:6, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”

• Recommended: Obama DHS Adviser: The Return Of The Caliphate Is ‘Inevitable’
• Recommended: ISIS Pledges Allegiance To Their Leader And To ‘Conquer Jerusalem’
• Recommended: ISIS In Iraq To Infidels: Repent Or Die, ‘We Are Soldiers Of Islam’ And Will Bring Back The ‘Glory Of The Islamic Caliphate’

By Rana Moussaoui, Agence France Presse – “A powerful jihadist group known for its ruthless tactics and systemic abuses in the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts announced Sunday the establishment of a ‘caliphate’, or Islamist state.

In an audio recording distributed online, the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) declared its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ‘the caliph’ and ‘leader for Muslims everywhere.’

The jihadists said they would impose their caliphate on areas they have conquered in Syria and Iraq.

‘The Shura (council) of the Islamic State met and discussed this issue (of the caliphate)… The Islamic State decided to establish an Islamic caliphate and to designate a caliph for the state of the Muslims,’ said ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

‘The jihadist preacher Baghdadi was designated the caliph of the Muslims,’ said Adnani, adding that the caliphate will extend ‘from Aleppo (in northern Syria) to Diyala’ in Iraq.

Baghdadi ‘has accepted this allegiance, and has thus become the leader for Muslims everywhere.’

‘The words ‘Iraq’ and ‘Greater Syria’ have been removed from the name of the Islamic State in official papers and documents,’ Adnani said, describing the caliphate as ‘the dream in all the Muslims’ hearts’ and ‘the hope of all jihadists.’

Ever since the Prophet Mohammad’s death, a caliph was designated ‘the prince’ or emir ‘of the believers.'” Read more.

Revelation 13:3-4, “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’”

Revelation 13 Commentary: The present, And Future, Of Islam – “Israel/Jerusalem is the epicenter of Scripture and prophecy. It is not Rome, nor the United States, nor the European Union, nor anywhere else. In Revelation 13 there are two Beasts described, and the first Beast here with seven heads are all kingdoms or empires (cf. Revelation 17:9-10) that ruled Israel/the Middle East, including Jerusalem. The first six ‘heads’ are 1. The Egyptian Empire, 2. The Assyrian Empire, 3. The Babylonian Empire, 4. The Persian Empire, 5. The Greek Empire and 6. The Roman Empire. Now, the 7th is not a revival of the 6th – the Roman Empire — as some try to suggest in some prophecy circles, rather it is the empire of Antichrist that is a revival of the 7th. The 7th empire was The Islamic/Ottoman Empire which controlled Jerusalem beginning in the 7th century, and ending in 1924 with the abolition of the Caliphate… A revived Caliphate, in whatever form it ultimately takes, will be in power for at least 3.5 ‘prophetic years’ or 1260 days, or 42 months. At this time I consider these periods to be actual time frames for this eschatonic Beast, which will reiterate what Islam already proclaims today — that Jesus is not the Son of God, that Jesus is not the Savior and that Christians are committing a great and unforgivable sin by associating Jesus with God and worshiping Him.” Read more.