Is flotilla battle signaling start of 'Gog and Magog'?

Council of Judea announces result will be 'third and final redemption'

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Posted: June 04, 2010

12:35 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh



A council of rabbis in Israel says their nation's conflict with Turkey over a flotilla of "aid" ships headed for the blockaded Gaza Strip controlled by the terrorist Hamas organization just may be the beginning of the "Gog and Magog process where the world is against us, but which ends with the third and final redemption."

The announcement comes today from the Rabbinical Council of Judea and Samaria, whose statement was reported by Israel National News.

WND columnist Greg Laurie just months ago explained the biblical reference to Gog and Magog, in the book of Ezekiel, as a prophecy that a "large force," will attack Israel from the north.

"We don't know why or exactly when this will take place. But this much I know: There is a lot going on in our current headlines that leads me to believe it could happen at any time," he wrote then, at the end of 2009.

"What does this mean to us? A lot. When Magog and her allies attack Israel, God will intervene and decimate the armies of Magog and its allies. Because of this, the Bible tells us, the Jewish people will give glory to God. Today, many Israelis are atheists. Certainly you will find very few Jewish people who believe in Jesus as their Messiah, although there are some. But they do have a determination to return to their homeland. They realize that they can look to no other nation for their protection or security and have returned to Israel, thus fulfilling prophecy from Scripture. But when the Holy Spirit is poured out on Israel after God drives back the invading armies of Magog, the Bible predicts there will be a revival in which numerous Jewish people will come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah," Laurie explained.

According to the INN, the council stated, "the legitimacy of our people is not derived from the nations of the world and their poisonous traditions, rather from the Torah of Israel which teaches us that [Israel] 'is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.'"

The council, which was assembled by Rabbi Zalman Melamed of Beit El and is supported by religious Zionist rabbis in the regions of Samaria and Judea, included a blessing for soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

It also suggested an emergency government be developed to lead during a time of conflict.

INN explained it interprets the "Gog and Magog" reference as a "vision of a war where the world is united against Israel that will precede the final redemption of Israel and the world."

The explanation continues, "The prophecy's symbolism involves a prince called Gog of Magog, leader of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, who leads a coalition that includes Persia (Iran), Cush, Phut, Gomer, and Beit Togarmah against Israel."

According to Ezekiel 39, Israel is successful against the attackers:

And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn thee about and 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; and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, 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.

The INN report continued with quotes that God will have compassion on Israel, "and they shall dwell safely in their land, and none shall make them afraid."

Laurie explains that the existence of the nation of Israel, created on May 14, 1948, is a miracle in itself.

"Never has a nation been able to maintain its national identity 300 to 500 years after being from its homeland – until Israel," he wrote. "Today, one will look in vain for the descendants of the Hittite nation or the Babylonian nation, although they were major powers in the ancient world. In fact, were it not for the Bible, the Hittites never would have been remembered by history, having sunk deep into the sands of time. There was a time that scoffers ridiculed the Bible for even mentioning the Hittites, as it was thought they were a fictional people. But in the 19th century, archaeologists confirmed the accuracy of Scripture when they uncovered irrefutable evidence of the extensive Hittite empire," he said.

"You won't find any Hittites today – or Babylonians, for that matter. But not so with Israel. How did the nation survive when the mighty Hittites, Babylonians and others vanished? Because God promised they would. In his book, 'What in the World Is Going On?' David Jeremiah writes, 'The return of the Jews to Israel in 1948 was an astounding event unprecedented in world history. Never had a decimated ancient people managed to retain their individual identity through almost 20 centuries and re-establish their nation in their original homeland. This event was specifically prophesied, and it happened exactly as foretold.'"

Laurie called it a "super-sign" in history.

"Events predicted in the Bible that have already transpired include Israel's scattering; Israel's regathering; Israel's regaining of Jerusalem; Israel's isolation; and Israel's being attacked. The Bible tells us that the final conflict of humanity will be centered on Jerusalem and the Middle East," he said.

"It is really amazing when you think about the fascination with Jerusalem and Israel, yet it was predicted long ago. God has promised a blessing for those who bless Israel, and a curse on those who don't," Laurie said.

"Could these events from our headlines of today explode and culminate in the scenario we read about in the Bible? Yes, they could. Will they? I don't know. We have to be very careful in interpreting current events," Laurie said.

"But this I do know: Jesus Christ is coming back. It could happen at any time. It could happen this year or this month or this week. It could happen today," said Laurie, the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., which is one of the largest churches in America.

Israel's conflict with a Turkish fleet sailing for the blockaded Gaza has turned largely around the world on reports of the "massacre" by Israelis against the "peace" activists aboard the flotilla, even though video of the event reveals otherwise.

© 2011 WorldNetDaily

'Al-Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb'

'Al-Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb'

By Heidi Blake and Christopher Hope, The Daily Telegraph



Al-Qaida members participate in military training in Afghanistan in this file photo.

Photograph by: Agence France-Presse Files, National Post, With Files From News Services

Al-Qaida is on the verge of producing radioactive weapons after sourcing nuclear material and recruiting rogue scientists to build "dirty" bombs, according to leaked diplomatic documents.


A leading atomic regulator has privately warned that the world stands on the brink of a "nuclear 9/11".


Security briefings suggest that jihadi groups are also close to producing "workable and efficient" biological and chemical weapons that could kill thousands if unleashed in attacks on the West.


Thousands of classified American cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph detail the international struggle to stop the spread of weapons-grade nuclear, chemical and biological material around the globe.


At a Nato meeting in January 2009, security chiefs briefed member states that al-Qaida was plotting a program of "dirty radioactive IEDs", makeshift nuclear roadside bombs that could be used against British troops in Afghanistan.


As well as causing a large explosion, a "dirty bomb" attack would contaminate the area for many years.

The briefings also state that al-Qaida documents found in Afghanistan in 2007 revealed that "greater advances" had been made in bioterrorism than was previously realized. An Indian national security adviser told American security personnel in June 2008 that terrorists had made a "manifest attempt to get fissile material" and "have the technical competence to manufacture an explosive device beyond a mere dirty bomb".


Alerts about the smuggling of nuclear material, sent to Washington from foreign U.S. embassies, document how criminal and terrorist gangs were trafficking large amounts of highly radioactive material across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.


The alerts explain how customs guards at remote border crossings used radiation alarms to identify and seize cargoes of uranium and plutonium.


Freight trains were found to be carrying weapons-grade nuclear material across the Kazakhstan-Russia border, highly enriched uranium was transported across Uganda by bus, and a "small time hustler" in Lisbon offered to sell radioactive plates stolen from Chernobyl.


In one incident in September 2009, two employees at the Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia smuggled almost half a ton of uranium concentrate powder - yellowcake - out of the compound in plastic bags.


"Acute safety and security concerns" were even raised in 2008 about the uranium and plutonium laboratory of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear safety watchdog.


Tomihiro Taniguchi, the deputy director general of the IAEA, has privately warned America that the world faces the threat of a "nuclear 9/11" if stores of uranium and plutonium were not secured against terrorists.


But diplomats visiting the IAEA's Austrian headquarters in April 2008 said that there was "no way to provide perimeter security" to its own laboratory because it has windows that leave it vulnerable to break-ins.


Senior British defence officials have raised "deep concerns" that a rogue scientist in the Pakistani nuclear program "could gradually smuggle enough material out to make a weapon", according to a document detailing official talks in London in February 2009.


Agricultural stores of deadly biological pathogens in Pakistan are also vulnerable to "extremists" who could use supplies of anthrax, foot and mouth disease and avian flu to develop lethal biological weapons.


Anthrax and other biological agents including smallpox, and avian flu could be sprayed from a shop-bought aerosol can in a crowded area, leaked security briefings warn.


The security of the world's only two declared smallpox stores in Atlanta, America, and Novosibirsk, Russia, has repeatedly been called into doubt by "a growing chorus of voices" at meetings of the World Health Assembly documented in the leaked cables.


The alarming disclosures come after Barack Obama, the U.S. president, last year declared nuclear terrorism "the single biggest threat" to international security with the potential to cause "extraordinary loss of life".

© Copyright (c) The Daily Telegraph