How can it be possible for Western media to ignore the highest ideal in Israeli society, which is to save a life?

How can it be possible for Western media to ignore the highest ideal in Arab society, which is to TAKE a life?

Does the truth mean so little to these people?

What an amazing reflection on Western culture. We actively ignore the vilest, most awful examples of depravity in Israel’s enemies while vilifying and calling awful, EVERYTHING about Israeli society.

If we didn’t accept this stuff as fact, they wouldn’t be able to make any money.

Hmmmm….

Which might account for the reason why so many of these media outlets are losing money.

Maybe there’s hope for us, after all.

Terrifying Video Shows Young Saudi Arabian Man Auctioned Off as ‘Sacred Sacrifice’

May 17, 2012 by Mytheos Holt, The Blaze

Picture this: A festive, affluent gathering of rich men, many dressed in flowing white robes, in a country dominated by religious fervor. In their midst stands a father, whose son stands next to him, impassive in a black uniform as the father declares that the son shall be a “sacred sacrifice” just like his brothers. A chatty auctioneer then begins to open bidding for the young man’s life, all while people cheerfully shout out bids, and the father looks on in pride.

If you thought this scene took place in some sort of horrific, pre-medieval time, long before the advent of running water, video cameras or the internet, then we’re sorry to report that you were completely mistaken. Not only is this scene not from an ancient and rightly defunct civilization, but it actually took place this year, in the back yard of a country that the United States still considers an ally. Specifically, it took place early this year in Saudi Arabia, and was caught on-camera in a Youtube video that is going viral due to the horrific nature of what is depicted.

If you have a strong stomach, you can watch the video below, courtesy of Gateway Pundit:

The “auction” in question bears very little context, but a few disturbing details should suffice to explain it. We know that the young man being offered up for auction is quite literally being offered up as a suicide bomber – a “martyr” or “sacrifice” for Islam. As to why he’s being auctioned off, this event is sort of a twisted charity auction to compensate the father for his loss. That’s right – this man is literally selling his son’s life in order to get money to live off of.

For those of you who don’t want to watch through the video, we’ll spoil the ending. The final bid is the Saudi equivalent of roughly $400,000 – far less than the settlement numbers on most wrongful death lawsuits in the United States. Apparently, devaluing human life means diminishing market returns for the sort of monsters who want to sell their own children into suicide.

What I want to describe here on Israel Outlook, is a book written by the subject of the email, Richard Maybury. The name of the book is The Thousand Year War in the Mideast – How It Affects You Today.

I have lived in the Middle East for a decade and a half, analyzing everything I could find about the place, and I can truthfully say that the book is unusually accurate – while being subtly flawed.

Let me get into the flaws of the book, first. Actually, it’s pretty much one flaw that propagates itself throughout. And, it’s not really a flaw. It’s a misrepresentation of a tiny, tiny minority.

He claims that all religion is based on two fundamental laws:

Do all you have agreed to do.

Do not encroach on other persons or their property.

To put it more succinctly, the two fundamental laws can be summarized in four words:

Integrity and Property Rights

If you say that I’m ignoring ‘encroachment on persons’, I can tell you that I’m not. Under his paradigm, you own yourself, so anything encroaching on you is an issue of property right. If you touch me, you are touching my property. Don’t touch me.

He characterizes Christianity and Judaism this way, and that is an incorrect characterization for true Christians, and for that matter, true Jews. Let me take Judaism first because it feeds into Christianity.

Rabbi Hillel, one of the greatest authors of modern Judaism is famous for “The Golden Rule”. As it is recounted to us, one day, a non-Jewish man went to Rabbi Hillel and challenged the Rabbi to explain the Torah, while the man stood on one foot. Rabbi Hillel answered:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.

That, is classic Judaism.

When Jesus began to preach, Hillel had been dead for something close to twenty years. One day, a rabbi went up to Jesus, and like the non-Jew, challenged Jesus to tell him how to earn eternal life:

But, these four chapters in Ezekiel are integral to each other. They fit together and belong together. They are a group of four, and a group of four is a tetrad. I guess that I could call it a quartet, but then everyone will be expecting a song.

So, for the moment, it’s a tetrad.

If someone has a better name, contact me at john@israeloutlook.com, or leave a comment.

Anyway, this quick rush through the Ezekiel Tetrad has given me a chance to look at the four chapters in the light of all that has happened in the past year. The pieces of the puzzle are coming together in ways that surprise even me and make me think a bit about what is coming – and what needs to be said.

So much so, that I have just registered the domain www.ezekieltetrad.com. Really, I’m THAT excited by what I see here.

Let me talk a little bit about what I want to say on that site:

• It is clear to me, now more than ever, that the Ezekiel Tetrad does NOT happen within the context of what we call “The Great Tribulation”. It is not connected in any way. The only connection that I can see is the fact that a massive Solar Flare would be the kind of catastrophe that would prompt the rise of world government.
• We can see the players in much, much greater detail.
• We are so very close.
• You need to prepare. The Super Solar Flare that comes at this time will devastate the planet. No one will be unaffected. We will need to think hard about what our roles will be in the aftermath.
• These are not the only verses in the bible connected to this event, and they need to be looked at.
• And, let’s not forget my bacon cheeseburger bet with my Jewish friends. When these events take place, proving that Jesus is the M’shiach, I want my bacon cheeseburger. And yes, you can get one in Jerusalem. (And, if I’m wrong, kosher hamburgers will be on me. Seriously.)

There’s a lot to see and do. Join me at ezekieltetrad.com and see how things shape up.

What an interesting time to live.

In Ezekiel 39 we get even MORE detail of what happens in chapter 38, as well as what leads up to Ezekiel 36:31. Remember, this is God’s objective:

Ezekiel 36:31 Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

Of course we also need to remember that this is God’s objective for us – for everyone. WE need to see how we have been evil and committed actions that were not good. WE need to loathe ourselves for our terrible behavior. THIS is for EVERYONE who wishes to be a child of God. If you want God to rescue you from your current situation, you need to be at Ezekiel 36:31.

Only THEN, can you get to what comes after.

Oh, and before I forget… Those of you who smugly congratulate yourselves in being able to ignore the need to face Ezekiel 36:31?

This is ESPECIALLY for you.

God HATES smugness.

Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to Jehovah: Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Okay, moving on.

Ezekiel 39

1 And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

2 and I will turn thee about, and will lead thee on, and will cause thee to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel;

3 and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.

I know that I said that chapter 39 is a closer look at what goes on in chapter 38, but let me go over some of this again. Are the invading armies in chapters 38 and 39 two separate invasions on separate occasions? Or, is this another description of the same invasion? How can I know?

Well, we can’t know 100%, but… when God gives us a prophecy… He’s not just trying to impress us. He’s giving us something of use. He’s giving us a tool to either help us understand what’s going on (and not freak out) or help us analyze and discover our role in context with the prophecy.

When it comes to prophecy, God doesn’t waste words, and He doesn’t leave words out. If God wanted us to know that the invasion of chapter 39 was a different invasion than the one in chapter 38, He would have indicated it as such. And, He did not.

On the other hand, God may want us to assume that it’s all one until after the first invasion, when we look around and realize, “oops! This isn’t over.”

We’ll worry about that when the time comes.

Now, where were we… ah, yes.

To recap what I said about Gog and Magog… This will be the CSTO (or Russia) if it happens BEFORE 2015. After 2015, it might turn out to be this Eurasian Union, or EuU (pronounced ‘eww’?) that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin wants to put together.

We’ll see.

By the way, do you see a kind of reluctance to do this invasion in verse 2?

Yeah, me too. I don’t think that these guys really want to do this, but they will feel like they have no other choice. Interesting thought, no?

Next verse.

4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy hordes, and the peoples that are with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Vulture bait!

6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the isles; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

This verse?

This verse scares me to death. Seriously, pay attention here.

When God sends a fire on you, what is He doing? Is He sending down real fire? Is it something like Napalm?

Could be.

WARNING NOTE: And, from a perspective of biblical interpretation, you are almost always safer to take a more literal approach than to assume that something is merely figurative or allegorical. Seriously, be careful with ‘spiritualizing’ something unless you REALLY know what you’re doing. There is a price to pay for getting it wrong.

Okay, so what is this fire? Is it really FIRE?

Well, let’s look at what fire is. Fire is literally excited molecules bouncing around and splitting apart with excitement – and causing others to do the same. Oh, and generating light and heat at the same time.

That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell.

So, do we know of any NATURAL way that a bunch of excited molecules or atoms could hit the earth and cause trouble for Gog, Magog, and elsewhere on Earth?

Well, we could speculate all day about petrochemical asteroids full of jellied gasoline hitting the Earth and causing fire… and, I’m sure that there might be a frozen methane comet out there with the urge to start a few brush fires… But, until we see one on collision course with Earth, I think that we should turn our attention to the biggest source of excited molecules and atoms in our Solar System.

The Sun.

It’s the biggest ball of excited ANYTHING in the neighborhood, and it sometimes shares that excitement with us with more enthusiasm than we would like. We had an example of that in 1859:

The Carrington Effect – or Super Solar Flare

I’ve written about this before, so I don’t want to spend too much time looking at this, except to say that merely a repeat of the 1859 incident would destroy the electric infrastructure of any country facing the Sun. And, if the flare was larger than the one in 1859?

Of longer duration?

Maybe it WOULD be like napalm falling from the sky. Remember that the problem with a Solar Flare isn’t the extra light. The problem is with the stuff that’s ejected by the Sun at the same time. Astronomers call it a Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME. THAT is what does the damage.

This CME gets sent out at the same time you see the flash of light from the Solar Flare, but travels much more slowly – hours more slowly. But, what is this Coronal Mass Ejection?

CMEs are a mass of really, really excited particles. Remember when I said that a fire is all about excited molecules? Well, if a fire was hot enough, it would be about excited ATOMS splitting apart into excited particles like protons and electrons. It’s fire on steroids (and yes, I’m still on mine).

When that hits the earth? At the level of the 1859 Carrington Effect? Your TV is toast. Your electric infrastructure is toast. All the electronics in your car is toast.

But, if this Solar Flare is BIGGER than the one in 1859,  it’s all BURNT toast. The only electronics that will survive would be stuff that was sitting in a Faraday Cage.

You have one lying around, maybe? Think about it.

So, THAT is why this verse scares me. When this ‘fire’ rains down on Earth, so many people will die… well, we’ll be talking about the possibility of a billion or more dying over the course of a year – or, basically 90% of everyone requiring electricity to survive in some way. I wrote about this here, here, and here.

Now, the 1859 Solar Flare was only a few minutes in duration. So, it really only affected just the part of the Earth facing the Sun. Does this mean that those on the other side of the Earth are safe?

I certainly hope so, except that the Lord talked about those who dwell carelessly in the Isles. America is sorta like an Island… and, it’s pretty careless… Maybe the duration of this Flare would be longer? Maybe there would be multiple flares?

Could there be a massive, almost supernatural flare activity that just happens to hit Earth over a 24 hour period? Scientists would tell you that the odds are low for just the ONE Solar Flare to hit the Earth, let alone several in succession over a 24 hour period. But, when you’re already discussing miracles, one more really isn’t much of a stretch.

Maybe we all need to be good boys and girls and get ourselves a Faraday Cage for some of our electronics, just in case.

Now you know why that verse scares me. Let’s move on.

7 And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel.

Yup. After a miraculously on target Solar Flare like THAT, people will know that God is who He says He is, and that He doesn’t take kindly to harassment of Israel.

And, THAT is where we REALLY see Ezekiel 36:31 begin.

8 Behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

And, God isn’t going to take no for an answer. This really is going to happen.

9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years;

10 so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord Jehovah.

It is going to take SEVEN YEARS for Israel to recover from this. Think about that for a second.

Israel’s population numbers more than 7.6 million people. With all the modern construction equipment and industrial capacity in Israel, how long would it take for Israel to clean up from this invasion?

Certainly not seven years.

Unless, there was something that had damaged that capacity. Like, oh, a massive Carrington Effect level solar flare.

That’s right. What takes out the Gog and Magog, appears to also take out the infrastructure of Israel. Like everyone else, Israel will need to rebuild right along with the rest of the world – or, at least that part of the world that was affected.

My prayer is that Israel will be spared enough destruction so that Israelis won’t die because of this. And, who knows? Maybe Israel’s power grid IS protected?

Countries under threat of annihilation tend to pay attention to things like EMP, and they are going to be much better prepared than others.

Just start building those Faraday Cages, okay?

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of them that pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop them that pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog.

Oh man… the stink… that is going to be bad.

12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land.

13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah.

14 And they shall set apart men of continual employment, that shall pass through the land, and, with them that pass through, those that bury them that remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.

15 And they that pass through the land shall pass through; and when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.

16 And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city. Thus shall they cleanse the land.

And, this will be a very serious health situation. EVERYONE will need to pitch in to get these bodies buried before diseases break out and become epidemic.

And, it will take everyone, because all of those labor-saving devices that we have grown used to won’t work – except for those of you who’ve been busy turning your sheds and garages into Faraday Cages.

17 And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood.

18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

20 And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord Jehovah.

And, the cleanup effort will get some help.

21 And I will set my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

And WE, all of us will see it. God will be glorified and it will be AWESOME – at least for those of us who were smart enough to build FARADAY CAGES!

22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward.

Even better, I win my bacon-cheeseburger-bet with my Jewish friends over the identity of the Messiah. All of us and everyone will know EXACTLY what the truth is, at that moment. Of course, history shows that our view of this event will change over time, and some of us will wonder if it wasn’t really Little Green Men (LGMs) trying to put us in our place.

Some people STILL believe that the Earth is flat. Amazing.

23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword.

24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I unto them; and I hid my face from them.

25 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name.

26 And they shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid;

27 when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations.

28 And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them unto their own land; and I will leave none of them any more there;

29 neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Sounds like a humiliation, right?

“Yeah, those Jews! Yeah! Put in their place! Awright!”

WRONG.

Each and every Christian comes to the Lord in the way verses 23-29 describe – every single one of us, and we spend the rest of our lives remembering that and being grateful that we are no longer caught in it. You cannot BE a Christian and not live that way.

That leads me to speak to those of you who do NOT see yourselves in this light. You are in so much trouble, I would love to have you declared a walking disaster zone, because you have bad times ahead for you – and for those close to you – until you figure it out.

The alternative would be, of course, that you’re only a fake, which would be worse. There’s a special place in Hell for fake Christians.

And yes Virginia, most people who call themselves Christians really are fakes.

Up to now, except of the Dry Bones thing, it’s all been peace and roses. Well, there’s difficulty in the details. Just remember that Ezekiel 38 and 39 are bringing Israel to the point where THIS happens:

Ezekiel 36:31 Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

When all hope seems lost, God will reach down and save Israel, showing that He exists and loves His people, prompting introspection and soul searching.

And, revival.

I know that those of you who are Jewish will consider this to be farfetched and outlandish. But, walk with me a bit here. Let’s see how outlandish it really is.

Let’s begin.

Ezekiel 38

1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:

4 and I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;

5 Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

6 Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee.

Whoa. THAT is a long sentence. But, it does do the job well of getting the list of bad guys out in one go.

I’ve talked in various places about Gog and Magog, so regular readers will understand that Gog and Magog is something like Russia and her client states.

Could Gog be… Moscow? Vladimir Putin? Something larger than that?

Or… Could Gog and Magog be the CSTO, the Russian version of NATO? That’s right, these people:

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on 15 May 1992. On 7 October 2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a charter in Tashkent founding the CSTO.

Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On 23 June 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO; and its membership was formally ratified by the Uzbek parliament on 28 March 2008. The CSTO is currently an observer organisation at the United Nations General Assembly.

The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states,[citation needed] while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organisation cooperation. The largest-scale CSTO military exercise held to date were the “Rubezh 2008″ exercises hosted in Armenia where a combined total of 4,000 troops from all 7 constituent CSTO member countries conducted operative, strategic, and tactical training with an emphasis towards furthering efficiency of the collective security element of the CSTO partnership. A 2011 series of training exercises has recently been held in central Asia consisting of “more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft”.

Read the rest of the Wikipedia entry here.

Could Gog and Magog be the CSTO?

Notice that all the members of the CSTO are former Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs), but not all the SSRs are members of the CSTO. Here’s a list of the SSRs:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Who has escaped the clutches of the CSTO?

Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Ukraine

Which of these are Meshech and Tubal?

Rosh, believe it or not, is the Ukraine – what was once known as “The Land of Rus” or Kievan Rus.

Georgia is busily rushing into the arms of NATO, while Vladimir Putin is attempt to pull all the SSRs back into something called the Eurasia Union (EuU).

By the way. In Israel, you tend to pronounce acronyms. EuU is not a pleasant sounding acronym.

Just sayin’.

So, if this prophecy delays long enough, maybe it’s the EWWW… er… EuU that is Gog and Magog.

All of the above basically means that elements of the USSR plus extras come down.

Who are these extras?

Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal – Rosh is the Ukraine. Meshech and Tubal sound like they could be other SSRs.

Persia, Cush, and Put – Cush is Africa, and Put looks like North Africa. Persia is Iran. Did you know that there are moves being made to bring Iran into the CSTO?

Gomer and Togarmah – Turkey and… someone else?

It’s getting pretty crowded in there, so I’m not sure that it quite matters who is who. There are a limited number of candidates for Gog and Magog. There are a limited number of candidates for the rest.

All that we REALLY need to know is that they make up a vast army and try to descend on Israel – and that we see evidence that this army is beginning to form (via the CSTO).

Let’s continue.

7 Be thou prepared, yea, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy companies that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

Hmmm… Gog is a ‘guard’.

Maybe they’re able to block the UN Security Council? Or, maybe they just wave their nuclear weapons at them.

Russia certainly can, which would certainly act in defense of the CSTO and/or the EuU.

8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.

Notice the language here. It connects with chapter 36:

gathered out of many peoples

Ezekiel 36:34 For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste

Ezekiel 36:4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about;

they shall dwell securely

Ezekiel 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

I don’t want to be too dogmatic here. I think that it’s enough to see the pattern.

9 And thou shalt ascend, thou shalt come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy hordes, and many peoples with thee.

The description of Gog and Magog includes the description of what they will do. And, that description stops here. We go on to the Hows and Whys

10 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device:

11 and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates;

12 to take the spoil and to take the prey; to turn thy hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and against the people that are gathered out of the nations, that have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the middle of the earth.

What is the motivation for coming down?

Greed for plunder.

13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take the spoil? hast thou assembled thy company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?

The other nations of the world hang back in shock and dismay, but do nothing – except a bit of whining.

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In that day when my people Israel dwelleth securely, shalt thou not know it?

Ah. Here’s a tricky bit.

How do we define securely here?

Seriously. How many threats do you need to lose that characteristic attributed here?

You can make an excellent case for the idea that Israel is secure right now. The only thing that really threatens Israel is Iran, and right now, they aren’t a threat. (They WILL be when they get nuclear weapons, but at this moment… I think that ‘securely’ is a good way of describing Israel right now.

15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost parts of the north, thou, and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army;

16 and thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

God is going to bring this vast army down so that God can demonstrate who He is.

17 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Art thou he of whom I spake in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, that prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring thee against them?

Is this verse referring to itself?

Interesting.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils.

Gog will come down, and then…

19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

20 so that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

There will be a titanic earthquake and EVERYTHING will fall down. EVERYTHING.

When you see a huge army come down that looks sorta like what we’re talking about… when you see them start to get close…

GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

STAY out of the house.

Go camping.

EVERYTHING standing is going to fall down. EVERYTHING.

(at least everything in the vicinity of this army)

21 And I will call for a sword against him unto all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

And, this army actually makes it to mountains that are a part of Israel. They get stuck and start killing each other.

22 And with pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Those last three words tell me that Gog doesn’t make it past the Golan Heights. In fact, I would venture to say that they are STUCK on the Golan Heights. (It’s certainly a great place for an army to regroup on. You’ll see why, tomorrow.)

The Golan is chock full of dormant volcanoes. Not so the Jerusalem mountain range. If you walk around the Golan and places nearby, you’ll see lots of dark, volcanic rock, and many of the older buildings would have been made with it.

The Golan is going to blow up, and take this massive army with it.

23 And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

In the process of all this… because it will happen in the exact way that the Lord describes here… God will be glorified.

And, I’ll win my bet with my Jewish friends over the identity of the Messiah.

Please remember that I want bacon on that cheeseburger, thankyouverymuch.