The Significant Events of 1979

I encourage you to watch an exclusive video interview of Joel Rosenberg.

He addresses:
• The significant events of 1979
• The effectiveness of The Jesus Film in reaching the peoples of the Middle East
• Prophecies in Matthew 24 and Joel 2

I especially enjoyed the true story of an Iranian woman’s vision of Jesus while watching the film.

The Armies of the Kings of the East

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.” – Revelations 16:12

Several interpreters of Bible prophecy have taught over the years that the vast armies of China and other nations will enter the Holy Land over a dried-up Euphrates River. I could not help but think of Revelations 16: 12 as I watched this incredible video of a parade in Tiananmen Square. It looks like many more people were in the parade than were watching the parade!

Video information and link:

China’s 60th Anniversary national day – timelapse and slow motion – 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

From Spears to Palm Branches

A handful of men stood outside their huts and brandished spears at the strange metal bird that buzzed overhead. They had probably never seen a plane before and WE had never seen THEM!

Several photographs were just released of an Amazonian tribe in Brazil that has never been contacted.

We should remember to pray for the remaining 100+ tribes around the world that have not had any contact with the outside world, and therefore, with the Gospel.

Secular anthropologists believe these tribes should NOT be contacted and work to enact laws to prevent missionary work among them.

We know, however, from the Bible that God’s Kingdom will include people from every tribe and language. Some day these very men may be holding palm branches before the throne of God!

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” ~ Revelation 7: 9 – 10 (NIV)

Modern Slavery

In reading Revelation, I noticed the existence of slavery in the Last Days. (see Rev. 6:15, 13:16, 18:13, 19:18)

Slavery is a huge problem today on EVERY continent. If you want to learn more about the world’s 27 million slaves, I recommend
Free the Slaves
and
Loose Change to Loosen Chains.

Russia, Iran, and China

Just last week, I saw on the news that Russia and China were conducting war games. The news reporter commented that the U.S. military did not express any concern about this.

Within 24 hours of that newscast, I received an e-mail from my friend, Duane. The rest of this entry is an abridged version of his e-mail:

The current Russian and Iranian alliance, including several Middle Eastern countries, united together against Israel, appears to be fulfilling the 2500-year-old prophecy from Ezekiel 38 – 39. Some may wonder where the 200 million strong army of the Far East, crossing the “great river Euphrates”, fits into this picture. (See Revelation 9:13-18)

I found information about the Shanghi Cooperation Organization (SCO) which may illuminate these two prophecies. This information was in a lengthy article “The Revolution in Transatlantic Affairs” By Tony Corn (who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Paris and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College).

Mr. Corn’s article is a lengthy analysis of the current world situation commenting on the possibility of America and Europe attempting to jointly be a world power coming out of the current Mid-east wars. He also points out that China has created a coalition including Russia and Central Asia.

Here are two paragraph excerpts from the article, declaring that China and India are more closely allied with Russia and Iran than we might have thought – - -

“The year 2001 could have been an eye-opener but the West, too traumatized by the Islamist attack on America, failed to notice an equally important, if less spectacular, development: the creation by China of a coalition, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, including Russia and Central Asia as members, Iran as a silent partner, and India and Pakistan as observers. It took another five years for Western foreign policy experts to realize that this emerging SCO was, for all practical purposes, an OPEC with nukes, which had the potential to develop, over time, into a full-fledged ‘NATO of the East.’

“. . . While the pivotal states of this strategy appear to be Pakistan, Iran, and (more recently) Saudi Arabia, the geopolitical situation of Iran puts it in a class by itself, as the most precious proxy in China’s ‘indirect approach’ against American primacy. It is therefore no surprise to learn that China is using Iran as a conduit for the delivery of arms to both Iraqi and Afghan insurgents, and providing Iran itself the kind of small boats needed to conduct attacks against commercial shipping or the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.”

While China and India do not appear in Ezekiel 38 – 39, they may be sideline supporters, expecting Israel’s defeat. Then, they may join with what is left of Russia and Iran, and the other countries, later at the end of the Tribulation, hoping to overcome their failure which was prophesied in Ezekiel. [end of Duane’s e-mail]

Babylon Today

In Revelation, Babylon is described as a prosperous city, which God will destroy in one day (See Revelation 18 and other passages.)

According to an email I received, the ancient site of Babylon looks like this right now:

You can see a satellite image of this area south of Baghdad and just north of Al Hillah on the Euphrates with just a little bit of googling.

Some of what you see in this photo was restored by archaeologists, but Saddam Hussein just built on top of historical sites. Hussein likened himself to Nebuchaddnezzar and was rebuilding Bablylon.

How could this place become a major, bustling city as prophesied in Revelation 18? The recent growth of Dubai gives us insight into this question. See the tremendous growth and luxury of Dubai at this Slide show of Dubai. You can also see related slide shows about Dubai on the right-hand side of these web site.

The idea here is that it would not necessarily take very long for Babylon to become a major urban center.

Also check out the photo gallery for Ski Dubai or the Burj Al Arab hotel.)