Steven Collins
July 13, 2008
Earlier blogs have commented on the growing military weakness of the NATO alliance and the western nations. A recent report by the BBC confirms just how bad the situation really is. It notes that “only 2.7% of [European] military personnel were ready for overseas deployment.” This means that 97.3% of European military forces are in such poor condition that they cannot reliably be deployed overseas for any NATO purpose. As the report notes, NATO has a goal of having 40% of European land forces available for overseas deployment, but it is nowhere near achieving that goal. In fact, it is dismally short of even that modest goal. This is consistent with earlier blogs at this site. A fairly-recent blog revealed the deplorable condition of the French military’s equipment as many of their ground vehicles, helicopters and airplanes in no condition to actively fight an enemy.
It makes one wonder: If 97.3% of Europe’s military forces are not capable enough to deploy overseas, how “fit” are they going to be when the are called upon to defend their own homelands? The truth is that the nations of Europe must be looking like ever-juicier targets for the Russian-Chinese-Iranian alliance which was prophesied in Ezekiel 38 to come into existence in “the latter days” just prior to the return of Jesus Christ (or the arrival of the Messianic Age for Jewish readers).
As readers of this blog know, the “Gog-Magog” alliance of Ezekiel 38 is led by Russia, China and Iran. The fact that this “latter day” prophesied alliance has come together in our modern times confirms that we are living in the climactic period of time which will end this current age. Ezekiel 38 prophesies that the Gog-Magog alliance will attack the peoples of “Israel” in the latter days. Most Christians assume that “Israel” and “Judah” are synonyms. They are not. “Judah” in latter-day prophecies refers to the modern Israeli/Jews and the term “Israel” in latter-day prophecies refers to the modern descendants of the ten tribes of Israel. Readers of my books know that the modern tribes of Israel can be proven to be the USA. the UK, and many Scandinavian and European nations. It is the NATO/EU nations of the western world which will be attacked in the latter days by Russia, China, Iran and their allies, according to Ezekiel 38. The Israelis will also be attacked, but a prophecy about that fact is found in Zechariah 14 (where the target is identified as “Judah”). Ezekiel 38’s prophecy is about an attack on the many modern nations of the ten tribes of Israel (note that “Judah” is nowhere mentioned in the prophecy found in Ezekiel 38 and 39). Genesis 49 prophesied all the tribes of Israel would be found among the nations on the earth in the latter days and Hosea 1:10 prophesied they would have a very large population.
It is sadly true that the ground forces of the USA are being worn out in two Asian wars in Iraq and Afghanistan even as the European nations of the western world have allowed their military forces to decay to a deplorable state of unreadiness. Ezekiel 38:11-12 prophesied that the targeted nations of the latter-day nations of “Israel” would be like cities without walls and gates. In the terminology of the ancient world in which Ezekiel’s prophecy was given, this meant that they will have neglected their defenses. Strong city walls and gates were essential to withstand an attack in ancient times. This prophetic language about undefended cities increasingly applies to the modern nations of the western world. The NATO alliance must be looking like a juicier target all the time to the war-planners in Russia, China and Iran. I will not “set dates” re: when this prophesied attack will occur, but it is worth noting that the prophecy in Ezekiel 38:11-12 about the targeted nations of this attack having weakened defenses is coming to pass before our eyes. If the economies of the West sink into a deep recession (or worse), their military forces will predictably grow even weaker. We are entering dangerous times.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7499579.stm
