Burning Weapons During Jesus’ Millennial Reign

09/19/2012 5 comments

By Joel Richardson – “In several commentary articles featured on WND, I have been addressing the oracle of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and showing why we should understand it to parallel other Antichristic prophecies and passages. In other words, I have explained why Gog is the Antichrist/Beast and why Gog’s hordes are one and the same with the armies of the Antichrist. But while there are numerous very clear reasons to support this view, there remain several objections that seem to maintain traction among those who hold to the popular view that Gog and the Antichrist are two different individuals. In this article, I want to dismantle one of the most common of these arguments.

One of the key features of Ezekiel’s Gog of Magog oracle is that, after Satan’s armies are destroyed, their weapons are burned for seven years. Some argue that there is no room for the burning of weapons during the millennial reign of Jesus. As such, it is argued that the destruction of Gog and Magog must take place at least seven years before Jesus returns.

This argument was first articulated and popularized by Hebrew scholar Arnold Fruchtenbaum in his book, ‘The Footsteps of the Messiah.’ Since that time, it has been repeated by numerous students and teachers of biblical prophecy. In the statement below, Nathan Jones of Lamb and Lion Ministries, mirrors Fruchtenbaum’s argument:

Ezekiel 39:9 describes Israel burning the invading enemies weapons for seven years. Placing the Gog-Magog Battle at the end of the Tribulation would push the burning right into the Millennial Kingdom. With Jesus then present to provide everyone’s needs, the curse partially lifted (Isa. 11:8) and the Earth reformatted by earthquakes (Rev. 6:12-14; 16:17-21), there would be no need for Israel to have to burn any weapons for fuel.

So the idea expressed here is that during the millennium, Jesus will simply ‘provide for everyone’s needs’ thus ‘there would be no need for … fuel.’ According to this view, because Jesus will be present on the earth, there will be no need for things like fuel, or presumably, the normal methods of farming, gardening and cooking, etc.

This view of the nature of the millennial kingdom, however, simply cannot be reconciled with Scripture. The Bible teaches that during the time of Jesus’ millennial kingdom reign, the earth will be restored, yes, but it will largely be through the participation, active labor and blessed work of the peoples of the earth. Let’s consider just a few Scriptures that point to the blessed labor and very real life that will continue during the messianic millennial kingdom age.

Perhaps the first passage that should be highlighted is the famous passage from Isaiah (and repeated in Micah), which speaks of the peoples of the earth Read more…

Categories: Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War Tags:

Palestinians Condemn Romney For Suggesting They Aren’t Interested In Peace

09/19/2012 Leave a comment

In other words, they’re angry that Romney spoke the inconvenient truth …

By The Associated Press and Reuters – ” The Palestinian Authority has denounced remarks by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who told donors that Palestinians ‘have no interest’ in peace with Israel.

According to comments captured on newly released video of his private remarks to wealthy donors, Romney said Palestinians are ‘committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel’ and that the prospects for a two-state solution to Mideast peace were dim. He also suggested that efforts at Mideast peace under his administration would languish.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Romney was wrong to accuse them of not seeking peace.

‘No one stands to gain more from peace with Israel than Palestinians and no one stands to lose more in the absence of peace than Palestinians,’ Erekat told Reuters. ‘Only those who want to maintain the Israeli occupation will claim the Palestinians are not interested in peace.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: ‘We are ready for peace that is based on the 1967 borders, a two-state solution and stopping settlement activities. Thus, it is not true that we are not ready for peace, but rather, it is the Israeli side that is not ready for peace.'” Read more.

Flashback: Palestinian Authority and Hamas Both Agree (Again): They Will Never Recognize Israel as a Jewish State – “Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that the PA will not meet Israel’s demand that it recognize Israel as the Jewish State, Kol Yisrael radio reported. According to the report, Abbas explained this statement using the reasoning that once that the PA agrees to this requirement, there would be no value to the million and a half PA Arabs living in Israel, and no refugee would be allowed to come back to Israel, in keeping with the PA demand that Israel allow millions of Arab refugees to return to their old homes in Israeli cities as part of a future agreement.” Read more.

Flashback: Gaza premier: Hamas ‘Will Never Recognise Israel’ – “Hamas ‘will never recognise Israel,’ Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said Saturday in a speech in Iran that is likely to complicate Palestinian efforts to form a unity government in the teeth of opposition from the Jewish state. ‘They want us to recognise the Israeli occupation and cease resistance but, as the representative of the Palestinan people and in the name of all the world’s freedom seekers, I am announcing from Azadi Square in Tehran that we will never recognise Israel,’ Haniya said. ‘The resistance will continue until all Palestinian land, including Al-Quds (Jerusalem), has been liberated and all the refugees have returned,’ he said.” Read more.

Flashback: Palestinian Authority Religious Official Publicly Calls for Genocide of Jews as a Religious Islamic Goal – “The principal Palestinian Authority’s religious leader, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein, presented last week the killing of Jews by Muslims as a religious Islamic goal. Hussein made the comments at an event celebrating the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, which is headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. He cited the Hadith (Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) saying that ‘the Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’” Read more.

Flashback: Gaza and the West Bank: 31 Opportunities for Statehood Squandered in Favor of Genocide – “There is an eerie déjà vu about an unmistakable and oft-repeated process in the Arab–Israel conflict. The process started in 1937 and has repeated itself with minor variations many times over the subsequent 74 years. The process is as follows: Arabs go to war with Israel, promising Israel’s destruction and the annihilation of its Jews. Israel wins the war and offers peace. Arab leaders reject Israel’s peace offer, renew their promises of destruction and annihilation; and after a while they go to war again, and lose again, and Israel again offers peace. Repeat this process 31 times and you have the history of the Arab-Israel conflict in a nutshell.” Read more.

Flashback: Hamas MP and Cleric: The Caliphate is Coming and in a Few Years a ‘Great Massacre of Jews’ – “The (Jews) are brought in droves to Palestine so that the Palestinians – and the Islamic nation behind them – will have the honor of annihilating the evil of this gang… All the predators, all the birds of prey, all the dangerous reptiles and insects, and all the lethal bacteria are far less dangerous than the Jews… In Just a few years, all the Zionists and the settlers will realize that their arrival in Palestine was for the purpose of the great massacre, by means of which Allah wants to relieve humanity of their evil.” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam, Wars and Rumors of War Tags:

FUEL: Magazine In France Mocks Mohammed, Riot Police Deployed, French Gov’t To Shut Down Embassies In 20 Countries Friday

09/19/2012 Leave a comment

Some Muslim leaders will say “peace peace”, but there will be no peace …

By Nicholas Vinocur, Reuters – “PARIS (Reuters) – A French magazine ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday by portraying him naked in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film depiction of him as a lecherous fool.

The drawings in satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo risked exacerbating a crisis that has seen the storming of U.S. and other Western embassies, the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and a deadly suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

Riot police were deployed to protect the magazine’s Paris offices after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammad in a wheelchair.

On the inside pages, several caricatures of the Prophet showed him naked. One, entitled ‘Mohammad: a star is born’, depicted a bearded figure crouching over to display his buttocks and genitals.

The French government, which had urged the weekly not to print the cartoons, said it was temporarily shutting down premises including embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday, when protests sometimes break out after Muslim prayers.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby called the drawings provocative and outrageous but said those who were offended by them should ‘use peaceful means to express their firm rejection’.

Tunisia’s governing Islamist party, Ennahda, condemned the cartoons as an act of ‘aggression’ against Mohammad. It urged Muslims, in responding to it, to avoid falling into a trap designed by ‘suspicious parties to derail the Arab Spring and turn it into a conflict with the West’.

In Lebanon, Salafist cleric Sheikh Nabil Rahim said the incident would raise tensions that were already dangerously high.

‘We will try to keep things managed and peaceful, but these things easily get out of hand. I fear there could more targeting of foreigners, and this is why I wish they would not persist with these provocations,’ he said.” Read more.

France To Ban Anti-US Protests As Film Fallout Spreads – “France has moved to ban any further anti-US demonstrations sparked by the film that has caused deadly protests across the Muslim world and beyond. As many as 150 people have been arrested in Paris after clashes broke out close to the US embassy, three police officers were hurt. France is home to the largest Islamic community in Europe.” Read more.

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam

Thailand: Muslim Protest Leader Warns World It Faces A ‘Sea Of Fire’ If America Fails To Remove Anti-Mohammed Film

09/18/2012 2 comments

The Canadian Press – “Police say 400 people have protested peacefully outside the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok against an anti-Islam video produced in the United States that has sparked demonstrations in many Muslim countries.

About 700 police were on hand Tuesday to maintain order for the demonstration, organized by a group called the International Al Quds Federation of Thailand. The group had called for a peaceful protest on its Facebook page.

Protesters carried signs and banners saying ‘We love Prophet Muhammad’ and ‘Stop insulting our religion,’ and chanted ‘Down with America’ and ‘Down with Israel.’

A protest leader, Sa-id Sulaiman Husseini, said the world could become a ‘sea of fire’ if the American government does not stop the distribution of the film.” Source – Castanet.

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam

India: Thousands Of Muslims Protesting Anti-Mohammed Film Torch Vehicles, Scuffle With Police

09/18/2012 1 comment

NDTV – “Chennai: Some vehicles were set on fire and police resorted to lathicharge on Tuesday to disperse a large number of people belonging to more than 20 Muslim organisations who had gathered to protest against an American movie which allegedly denigrated Islam.

Tension mounted as around 2000 protesters engaged in a scuffle with police on the arterial Anna Salai road and tried to march towards the US Consulate. Some vehicles were also set on fire, police said.

The protest threw traffic out of gear at Anna Salai where many diversions are already in place in view of the ongoing work for the Chennai Metrol Rail.

Meanwhile, the US Consulate, which had closed the visa section on Monday and Tuesday, extended it to Wednesday also, citing a ‘local holiday,’ apparently referring to Vinayaka Chathurthi.

‘The US Consulate in Chennai will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, September 17 and 18, 2012, due to the ongoing demonstrations in the city. The Consulate will also be closed on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, for a local holiday,’ the Consulate posted in on its official website.

The US Consulate also ‘encourages’ its citizens travelling in and around Chennai to exercise caution and monitor local media for security updates, it said.” Read more.

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam

Obama’s Department Of Justice Will Not Confirm If Free Speech Towards Religion Will Remain Legal In America

09/18/2012 2 comments

Recent calls by various leaders throughout the Islamic world to criminalize any and all speech that speaks out against Islam and its prophet make the video below all the more disconcerting. In July of this year, US Congressman Trent Franks posed a very simple and straightforward question to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, asking him to confirm that the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice would never “entertain or advance” any proposal criminalizing speech against any religion. Here was his “reply” …

Categories: Anything Else, Man-Made Disasters

Muslim Leader Calls Upon UN To Impose International Restrictions On Free Speech, Criminalize Insulting Islam For Sake Of ‘World Peace’

09/18/2012 Leave a comment

Isaiah 48:22, “‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked.'”

By DREW ZAHN – “One of the world’s most influential Muslims is now calling on the United Nations – in light of the YouTube movie blamed for violent protests across the Mideast – to impose international restrictions on free speech, criminalizing any statement that impugns Islam.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, a professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia, is a member of several international organizations, including the Centre for Studying the Aims of Sharia in the U.K., as well as serving as the vice chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, a professor at King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia, is a member of several international organizations, including the Centre for Studying the Aims of Sharia in the U.K., as well as serving as the vice chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre ranked bin Bayyah No. 31 on its list of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world for 2011.

In a public declaration issued to several Islamic bodies, including the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, one of the largest Muslim mosques in the D.C. metro area and the U.S., bin Bayyah called upon ‘people of reason and understanding’ to put a legal stop to statements that would offend Muslims and thereby threaten world peace.

‘We ask everyone to ponder the ramifications of provoking the feelings of over one billion people by a small party of people who desires not to seek peace nor fraternity between members of humanity,’ bin Bayyah wrote. ‘This poses a threat to world peace with no tangible benefit realized. Is it not necessary in today’s world for the United Nations to issue a resolution criminalizing the impingement of religious symbols? We request all Read more…

Categories: Anything Else, Man-Made Disasters, Radical Islam, Wars and Rumors of War

Chinese General To Troops: Prepare For War With Japan

09/18/2012 Leave a comment

By Bill Gertz, The Washington Free Beacon – “China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.

Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read ‘Kill all Japanese,’ and ‘Fight to the Death’ over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.

Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be ‘prepared for any possible military combat,’ state run Xinhua news agency reported.

Heightened tensions over the Senkakus come as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in China Monday.

Panetta, in comments made in Japan shortly before traveling to China, said, ‘We are concerned by the demonstrations, and we are concerned by the conflict that is taking place over the Senkaku islands.’

‘The message I have tried to convey is we have to urge calm and restraint on all sides,’ he said, noting any ‘provocation’ could produce a ‘blow up.’

Panetta repeated the U.S. position that it is neutral in the dispute over Japan’s Senkaku islands, a small chain of islets located south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan. But he also reaffirmed the U.S. defense commitment to Japan, a treaty ally.

‘We stand by our treaty obligations,’ Panetta said, echoing a similar commitment made during a 2010 standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the Senkakus. ‘They’re longstanding, and that has not changed.’

China claims the islands as its territory and calls them the Diaoyu islands.” Read more.

Categories: Wars and Rumors of War

Tunisian Christians Continue In The Faith Of Jesus Amid Death Threats, ‘Do You Know That It Is Not Forbidden [In Islam] To Kill You?’

09/18/2012 1 comment

BosNewsLife Africa Service – “TUNIS, TUNISIA (BosNewsLife)– Some 1,500 devoted Tunisian Christian, most of them former Muslims, worship in church buildings or in house churches despite death threats and growing influence of Islamic extremists, a well-informed advocacy and aid group told BosNewsLife Monday, September 17.

Open Doors, which supports ‘persecuted Christians’ worldwide, mentioned a man identified only as Steve who was allegedly threatened by Islamists. ‘They said to me: ‘Do you know that it is not forbidden to kill you?’ But I didn’t really feel afraid,’ Steve was quoted as saying.

‘I could answer them: ‘Yes I know you can do that [you can kill me]’. They responded that I was crazy saying that. I said to them: ‘Yes, I am crazy for Jesus’.’

The Islamists reportedly left and didn’t come back, but pressure was expected to increase on Christians like Steve amid mounting protests across the region against an anti-Islam film, posted in part on the YouTube website…

Threatened Christian Steve apparently became a believer some five years ago through the Internet, which is increasingly used in North Africa and the Middle East by both Christians and political activists to communicate and avoid detection.

‘I found a site about the Bible and got interested,’ Steve explained in remarks given to BosNewsLife. ‘I got in contact with other Christians and I am going to a house church,’ he added.

He isn’t alone. Tahira, a Tunisian student, is openly expressing her Christian faith, even on the social networking website Facebook, Open Doors said. ‘Her sister and mother also became Christians. She still lives with her family,’ Open Doors told BosNewsLife.

Tahira’s family name was not revealed, apparently amid security concerns.” Read more.

Flashback: Tunisia: Radical Sheikh Calls For Holy War To Establish Islamic State And Wipe Out Non-Muslims – “A recent video from a self-avowed al-Qaeda member called for holy war against the Tunisian government, raising fears among citizens that extremist violence could escalate. The June 11th message from 30-year-old Salim Abou Ahmed Ayoub, purportedly the second in command of al-Qaeda in Tunisia, called on citizens to wage a holy war against the government in order to establish an Islamic state and wipe out unbelievers.” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam Tags:

Egyptian Cleric Issues Fatwa To Muslim Youth In America: Kill The Cast, Crew And Everyone Who Supported Anti-Mohammed Film

09/18/2012 1 comment

What’s next? A fatwa to kill everyone who supports the First Amendment of the US Constitution? A fatwa to kill everyone who isn’t Muslim? …

AFP – “WASHINGTON: A Salafist cleric in Egypt is calling for the deaths of all those involved in the making of an anti-Muslim film that has outraged the Islamic world, SITE Intelligence Group said on Monday.

In a statement, the terrorism monitoring service said Ahmad Fouad Ashoush issued his fatwa, or religious edict, against the cast and crew of ‘Innocence of Muslims’ via jihadist internet forums over the weekend.

‘Those bastards who did this film are belligerent disbelievers,’ Ashoush said, according to SITE’s translation of the lengthy Arabic statement.

‘I issue a fatwa and call on the Muslim youth in America and Europe to do this duty, which is to kill the director, the producer and the actors and everyone who helped and promoted the film,’ he said.

‘So, hurry, hurry, O Muslim youth in America and Europe, and teach those filthy lowly ones a lesson that all the monkeys and pigs in America and Europe will understand. May Allah guide you and grant you success.’

In an allusion to police crackdowns on protests against the film, the cleric also denounced an unspecified ‘hypocritical group … busy breaking demonstrations’ and apologizing to Washington for the unrest.” Read more.

Hezbollah Warns Of ‘Very Dangerous’ Global Repercussions, Anti-Mohammed Filmmaker and Family Go Into Hiding – “Hizbollah warned of ‘very dangerous’ global repercussions if an anti-Islam film is released in its entirety, as a fatwa was issued against the film’s producer who has gone into hiding with his family… An eruption of Muslim anger over a trailer of the American-made film that appeared on the internet has spread across the world, taking hold Monday in Afghanistan, Indonesia, the West Bank, the Philippines and Yemen.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Rising Islamic Leader Declares ‘We Will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquest Throughout the World’, ‘Exterminate’ Christians Who Get In the Way of Sharia – “A rising leader in the radical Islamic movement in Egypt that has become a major political player since the demise of Hosni Mubarak’s regime says Christian churches may need to be blown up and Christians exterminated to allow the advance of Islamic law, or Shariah. The comments come from Sheik ‘Adel Shehato, a senior leader with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group… The sheik, a senior jihadist leader, responded to a question about using violence against Christians, who make up a substantial minority in Egypt.” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam, Wars and Rumors of War

Egyptian Court Sends Christian To Prison For ‘Insulting’ Islam’s Prophet, Arrests Seven More Over Anti-Mohammed Film

09/18/2012 Leave a comment

Egypt Independent – “An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced a Christian teacher to six years in prison after convicting him of blasphemy and defamation of President Mohamed Morsy and a plaintiff lawyer, according to Egyptian news reports.

The Sohag Misdemeanor Court found Bishoy Kamil Kamel guilty of insulting Prophet Mohamed, sentencing him to three years. He was also sentenced to two years for insulting the country’s president, and another year for insulting a plaintiff lawyer.

Independent daily Al-Watan newspaper said on its website that security has been heightened outside churches in Sohag to preempt any violence in response to the verdict.

Sohag’s prosecutor referred Kamel to trial in August after receiving a complaint from Mohamed Safwat Tammam, 32, accusing Kamel of posting insulting caricatures of Prophet Mohamed on his Facebook page, as well as abusing the country’s president in his comments.

Kamel denied the charges during interrogations, claiming that his account had been hacked. Investigators say they had managed to detect his address through the account and arrested him.

A number of lawsuits have been filed against public figures recently over charges of blasphemy and defaming the president, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.” Read more.

Seven US-Resident Egyptian Christians Charged Over Mohammed Film – “Egyptian prosecutors have opened proceedings against Coptic Egyptian citizens involved in the making of the Innocence of Muslims. Charges of ‘insulting the Islamic religion and its Prophet’ and of ‘inciting sectarian conflict’ are being pressed against seven US-resident Egyptians, namely Morris Sadek, Adel Riad, Nabil Bissada, Esmat Zaklama, Elia Bassily, Ihab Yaacoub and Jack Atallah. Prosecution is yet to set a trial date.” Source – AGI.

Categories: Radical Islam Tags:

Iranian OIC Ambassador To Meet With Foreign Ministers Of Muslim Countries To Discuss Ways To Deal With Insults To The Prophet

09/18/2012 2 comments

Revelation 13:18 – Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the multitude of the beast: for it is the multitude of a man; and his multitude is χξς …

Matthew 7:5, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

New Straits Times – “TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi wrote a letter to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to protest against the anti-Islam film produced in California, which has sparked protests across the Muslim world, Iran’s Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.

Meanwhile, the Iranian ambassador to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hamid Reza Dehqani on Monday said that foreign ministers of Muslim countries will soon discuss the issue of the insult to Prophet Muhammad.

Dehqani said that given the fact that the sentiments of Muslims were hurt by the insult to Prophet Muhammad, foreign ministers of member states will discuss ways to deal with the issue during their 39th meeting and also during the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The 39th meeting of the OIC foreign ministers is scheduled to be held in Djibouti in November and the 67th session of the UN General Assembly opens at the UN Headquarters in New York Tuesday.” Source – New Straits Times.

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam