Prophecy Updates and Commentary

The two links below (1, 2) report on a large Egyptian military exercise that was held in the Sinai Peninsula this week. The exercise called “Badr-2010″ was barely reported in the media at all. According to the first link, the Egyptian military exercise “featured an armed crossing of the Suez Canal followed by a deep thrust into ‘enemy territory.’” Both links below naturally assume that Egypt’s war game was targeting the Israelis. I’m passing news of this military exercise on to readers of this blog because I think this Egyptian war game may have been practicing for a surprise maneuver that may shock the world if it takes place in a future Mideast war.

Obviously, the Egyptian forces heading eastward across the Sinai Peninsula were headed for Israeli territory, so past history argues that the war game was a simulated attack against Israel. However, just because the war game simulated a “deep thrust” toward “enemy territory” to the east does not mean Israel was the intended target or objective of this latest exercise. Let’s review recent developments showing the Israelis and Egyptians have been experiencing much convergence in their national security interests and have even been acting as allies. Their national intelligence chiefs have met regularly with each other and both nations are sharing intelligence information with their Jordanian and Saudi intelligence counterparts (as a previous blog documented). An Egyptian newspaper recently praised the head of the Israeli Mossad for delaying the Iranian nuclear weapons program (as a previous blog documented). Prime Minister Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mubarak have been meeting to adopt joint positions in Mideast talks involving President Obama. Finally, Egypt has openly permitted Israeli warships, including Israeli Dolphin subs presumably equipped with nuclear cruise missiles, to use Egypt’s Suez Canal to deploy them into the Indian Ocean toward Iran (as previous blogs have mentioned).

The above actions all indicate that Egypt and Israel are drawing much closer together as they both fear the growing threat from Iran. This brings up the possibility that the Egyptian war game sending tanks and armored forces eastward toward Israel to practice a “deep thrust” toward “enemy territory” had another purpose. If a large Mideast war breaks out in which Shiite Iran is seeking to overwhelm the Sunni Arab nations of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, etc., those nations will badly need quick reinforcements from the military forces of their fellow Sunni nation, Egypt. In order for Egyptian forces to reinforce Jordanian and Saudi forces in such a Mideast war with Iran, Egyptian forces would need to cross Israeli territory to reach Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It would be entirely in the Israeli national interest to allow Egyptian armored forces to cross Israel’s Negev region as they headed eastward into Jordan and Saudi Arabia to help their fellow Mideast Sunni governments repel invading Shiite Iranian forces in a Mideast war. Perhaps the Egyptian war game was to practice just such a maneuver.

The Egyptian forces in the war game headed toward the Israeli Negev region, but they could have been (A) practicing either an Egyptian invasion of Israel or (B) practicing to rapidly transit Israel’s southern region (with Israeli permission) in order for Egyptian forces to join any ground war between Shiite Iranian forces and Sunni Arab forces. I think the latter option was the real intended purpose of the Egyptian war game. The “deep thrust” to the east that they were practicing may have been intended to practice a deep thrust into Jordan and Saudi Arabia in case those nations need help in a war with Iran. It is very hard to envisage the Israelis being uninvolved in any Mideast war involving Iran. If the Israelis are also fighting in a war against the Iranians, this raises the possibility that Egyptian and Israeli armored columns may both head eastward as allies against the Iranians. Wouldn’t that shock the world? Given the fact that the list of the Gog-Magog alliance of nations in Ezekiel 38:2-6 (which includes Iran) does not include either the Ishmaelites (the Sunni Arab nations) or Egypt, such a scenario is possible.  I’m not specifically predicting that this will occur, but I am pointing out such a scenario is possible given the language in Ezekiel 38′s prophecy.

http://2012forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&p=272078

http://fm1019.blogspot.com/2010/05/egypts-military-ends-maneuvers-in-sinai.html

This headline is based not on some late-night radio program, but rather on an article published recently by the very mainstream, USA Today. The print version of the article as entitled “‘Star Wars’ becoming real.”

The article has some remarkable revelations about where US war-fighting strategy and capabilities are heading. Advances in laser technology have already made it possible to “shoot down incoming mortar rounds with ground-based lasers,” and to “shoot down SCUD missiles” in flight. It also reveals that the US military is “on the verge of being able to fire laser blasts from the air that could be aimed at tanks or mines.” I find it very interesting to read in the article that weaker US laser programs could shoot down very-fast sidewinder missiles as long ago as the 1980s. Given the advances in technology in the over two decades since that feat was accomplished, it is my view that US lasers can do a lot more than merely shoot down incoming SCUD missiles (which really isn’t much of an improvement on shooting down sidewinders in the 1980s). There is no doubt in my mind that the actual technological capability of the US to use lasers as weapons is much more advanced than is being admitted publicly. Given that lasers can be used by the US military to shoot down mortar rounds in flight, I’d bet that the Israelis have been developing and deploying the same kinds of laser technologies to defend against Hezbollah missiles and mortar rounds fired from Southern Lebanon.

The US Navy is also developing its own form of laser weapons. Given the threat to US aircraft carriers posed by Russian and Chinese supersonic cruise missiles and ballistic missiles (discussed in previous blogs at this site), I believe the US Navy is trying to develop lasers which can serve as point-defense systems to defend US carriers and other ships from these threats. Let’s hope that they are succeeding.

Other rival nations are developing lasers for military purposes as well. The article notes that China “illuminated a US imaging satellite with a laser” in one test. One expert is cited as thinking the Chinese were simply determining the exact distance of the US satellite from the earth. In a future war, China would use such knowledge to focus its attacks very precisely on US satellites.

The future level of military laser technology may play a role in fulfilling several biblical prophecies. The article notes that the laser beam is like an “invisible death ray.” An invisible weapon could be used to fulfill several biblical prophecies. II Thessalonians 2:9 prophesies that some “miracles” done by the beast power in the future will actually be “lying wonders” that are not really miracles at all. Revelation 13:13 foretells that the beast power will do “great wonders” in which it will “make fire come down from heaven on the earth.” An invisible laser beam fired from a distant airplane (or satellite if the technology is that good) could be focused on some target on the earth and it would cause that object to burn without any visible cause–making it seem like a “miracle” to all who witnessed it. Conceivably, this laser technology could be coupled to GPS technology and an invisible laser could strike any military or civilian target anywhere on earth.

Another possible prophetic fulfillment is found in Ezekiel 39:3 which prophesies that many “arrows” fired by the Gog-Magog forces at the alliance headed by the modern ten tribes of Israel (NATO and the western allies) in the latter days will not work or will be knocked out of the shooter’s hands. Arrows were the long-distance “missiles” of the ancient world, and applying this prophecy to modern weaponry would mean that many long-range missiles fired by the Gog-Magog forces will be nullified or shot down. God could certainly fulfill this prophecy by Divine fiat, but he also often works through human instruments to fulfill his will. The laser weaponry now being developed and deployed by the US military might fulfill Ezekiel 39:3 by using lasers to shoot down many of the enemy missiles fired at the USA and its allies at the end of this age.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-05-14-1Adeathray14_CV_N.htm?csp=obnetwork

Readers of this blog have for some time seen blogs at this website indicating that there was a new realignment of alliances occurring in the Mideast, with many Sunni Islamic governments steadily drawing closer to the Israelis in a new alliance to resist an increasingly-imperialist Iran. It is gratifying that others are now starting to see the same thing occurring. A reader of this blog sent me the link below in which another blogger analyzes the growing alliance between the Israelis and the Sunni Arab governments.

Some of what he reports are items which I have reported months ago at this website, such as the increased intelligence cooperation between the Israelis and Sunni Arab nations and Egypt’s open act of alliance with Israel when it allows Israeli warships (including a strategic missile-equipped Israeli submarine) to traverse the Suez Canal to deploy closer to Iran. However, the blog below reveals important new information about how the new Mideast alliances are taking shape, and I am passing them on to readers of this blog. It reports that the Fatah wing of the Palestinians and the Saudis blamed Hamas for the recent war between Hamas and the Israelis in Gaza, and that the Saudis even arrested a cleric who made anti-Israeli statements about that war. That is a remarkable event! This also opens the door for a possible agreement to be reached between the Israelis and the Fatah Palestinians while the Iranian-supported Hamas will be left out of the deal. Sunni Arab governments are also denouncing Iran in their official media outlets with vitriol “once expressed toward the Israelis.” This, I think, is an effort by the Sunni Arab governments to gradually move the “Arab street” into perceiving their new enemy to be Iran, not Israel.

Interestingly, this link reports that even Shiites in Iraq have a very low support level for Iran, the Shiite expansionist power. This bodes well for Sunni-led Iraq to join the other Arab Sunni governments in looking more favorably toward the Israelis as a necessary ally against the Iranians. Jordan and Egypt are tilting strongly toward the Israelis while Syria and Qatar are moving into Iran’s corner. Syria has long been an Iranian proxy so that is no surprise, but Qatar is an important Persian Gulf state that even hosts a large US naval base. Given Qatar’s move toward the Iranians, US naval forces stationed in Qatar better watch their backs in the event of a war with Iran.

The link reports that in March, an Israeli Knesset Member stated that  “a ‘wall-to-wall coalition’ of Muslim countries, including ones that don’t even have diplomatic relations with Israel, had sent them secret messages expressing their support for military action against Iran.” This link opines that in any Israeli-Iranian war, the cooperation of Sunni Arab governments with the Israelis will be secretive. I personally think it will be more openly shown. If Iran openly attacks the Sunni Arab nations and their oil facilities in a move to create a new “Persian Empire,” I think the attacked Sunni Arab states will openly fight Iranian forces while the Israelis are doing so. Maybe President Obama will even finally “get it” that the Israelis are his allies, not his enemies. If Sunni Arab nations are expressing their solidarity with the Israelis behind closed doors to President Obama, expect Obama’s negativity toward the Israelis to diminish.

While Syria, Lebanon and Hamas are proxies of Iran, Iran is itself a proxy of Russia and China, the powerhouses of the Gog-Magog alliance prophesied in Ezekiel 38. Well before there was any public evidence of this trend happening, I wrote that an anti-Iranian alliance between the Israelis and Sunni Arab nations was likely to emerge. This was based on the fact that Ezekiel 38:2-6 did not list “Ishmael” as one of the members of the Gog-Magog alliance although Iran (“Persia” was clearly mentioned. The Ishmaelites are the modern Sunni Arab nations. God’s hand will shape modern geopolitics and events to ensure that his biblical prophesies are fulfilled, just as he promised in Isaiah 41:21-26. Relying on God’s prophecies to be fulfilled in our latter-day period of time is always a good strategy!

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-israeli-arab-alliance-against-iran/

Even as the Mideast is sliding relentlessly toward a major regional war with global consequences (as documented in my previous blog), the Korean Peninsula is now sliding toward a possible war as well. As reported in this blog some time ago, North Korea was immediately suspected as the culprit when a South Korean warship was torpedoed recently. It sank with heavy loss of life. The South Koreans raised the two halves of the sunken ship and conducted an investigation which conclusively documents that a North Korean torpedo sunk the South Korean ship. The first link below offers several photos presented by the South Korean investigators which even show that remnants of the North Korean torpedo were found in the wreckage (explanatory notes are to the right of each slide)!

South Korean President has “vowed stern action” and “resolute countermeasures” against North Korea for this act of war against South Korea. The slide show in the first link also includes slides of South Koreans demanding harsh retaliation against North Korea. While the rest of the world will likely try to limit South Korea’s retaliation to a ”wimpy” form of retaliation such as financial countermeasures, it is hard to see how mild actions could fulfill the vow by South Korea’s President to retaliate with “stern action.” It also seems that only an act of war which spills North Korean blood will satisfy the South Korean public and prevent a severe “loss of face” by South Korea’s leader if he does not back up his “vow” with deeds. Japan has also expressed support for South Korea.

The stakes are very large. The third link reports that North Korea promises an “all out war” against South Korea if South Korea retaliates against North Korea for North Korea’s act of war. North Korea says they didn’t “do it,” but they lied continuously about developing nuclear weapons right up to the time they detonated a small nuclear device so North Korea’s words are not credible. I believe South Korea’s conclusions about the matter.

If a major war does break out in the Mideast and another war breaks out in the Korean Peninsula, the global consequences will be hard to overstate. The USA has so reduced its military forces since the “end” of the Cold War that it has no significant reserves left to support its deployed forces in the Mideast, Afghanistan and South Korea (all of which would likely be targeted if these wars occur). President Obama could potentially have to order the use of nuclear weapons to save deployed American military forces whether he wishes to do so or not. If the USA is overwhelmed with two new wars in addition to the Afghan War, that would be the perfect time for China to attack Taiwan as the USA would have virtually nothing available to help Taiwan if that happened.  Since North Korea is China’s eccentric pawn, could North Korea be carrying out instructions from China?

These possible wars may occur or they may be deferred until later, but some of these latter-day “rumors of wars” (prophesied by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24:6) will eventually turn into hot wars. We will have to wait and see which ones become actual shooting wars. However, it is clear the level of global danger is rising fast.

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/world/2010/05/20/south-korea-accuses-north-torpedo-attack/#slide=1

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/7013298.html

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/19/skorean-president-vows-stern-action-nkorea-sinking-warship/