Why Not Nuclear?
Reading Salem Kirban’s novel 666 many decades ago, I was somewhat incredulous that he portrayed the Ezekiel 38-39 Gog-Magog attack on Israel as he did. The author had it that the Russian-led coalition came down into the area foretold by Ezekiel on horseback and with more or less primitive weapons, exactly as the prophet described. There were no modern-day weapons.
The reason only primitive weapons were used, he gave as a new heat ray development of some sort –can’t remember the exact technology. The heat ray technology, a laser of some sort, I suppose, heated up the metal and fuel, making the advanced weapons –the tanks, aircraft, even the handheld weapons, too hot to handle, I guess. So, the force had to invade using mostly wooden or non-heat-affected weaponry. Neither human flesh nor horse flesh could be affected by the new laser-type weapon, as I remember.
This article is intended to look a bit into why the Ezekiel Gog-Magog prophecy does, in fact, seem to say, on the surface at least, that there will be one modern weapon absent from the invading force’s repertoire.
The force doesn’t use nuclear weapons, according to the prophecy. The force seems to be strictly conventional.
Many have conjectured that this is because the Gog leader has in his mind the evil thought to come and take “great spoil” from Israel. Petroleum and natural gas, it is thought –by myself included—might be the chief spoil on which the invaders place their cross-hairs. Thermonuclear weapons would 1) destroy any and all things in their path and/or would contaminate things for centuries with radiological contamination. 2) Nuclear weaponry would ignite all petroleum/gas assets except, perhaps, for those underwater in the Mediterranean.
Israel now has vast such fields as of now, and this is, some believe –again, including me—the reason a Russian leader would want to plunder those assets. Israel is almost certainly to more and more be supplying all of Europe, while Russian oil and gas seem to be a diminishing commodity –especially since the obviously American-inspired and perhaps carried out destruction of the Russian underwater pipeline some years ago.
Another important matter in looking at the question of why no nuclear weapons usage during the Gog-Magog assault is the current situation with regard to Iran’s uranium enrichment program. This is of utmost concern to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has vowed that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal –or even one bomb.
It’s a matter, literally, of life and death to the Jewish state, according to Netanyahu and most all of the IDF general staff.
We who believe God’s Prophetic Word is absolutely infallible know that Israel will never be destroyed –by any weaponry brought against it –nuclear or otherwise. But, apparently, for all the Israeli Defense Force people we know about, they don’t hold the same view. I’m sure there are some who believe Israel is invincible due to God’s Promises, but for the most part, those in charge of Israel’s defense look through a non-Spiritual prism in their planning and concerns.
To that point, the following item gives some understanding of their concern and planning.
Iran recently tripled its enrichment of uranium to 60%, reversing a slowdown earlier this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Tuesday.
Tehran has “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023,” said the U.N. watchdog, summarizing a confidential report sent to member states and obtained by Reuters.
Iran is enriching uranium up to 60% at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in Natanz and at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), which is located deep in a mountain, according to the report…
Iran already has enough high-enriched uranium, if enriched further to 90%, to make three nuclear bombs, Reuters reported, citing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s theoretical definition…
Uranium enriched to 60% purity is just a short technical step away from 90%, considered weapons-grade…
Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi warned in September that Jerusalem will have no choice but to act if Iran enriches uranium above 60% purity.
“If Iran moves to enrich uranium above 60% and we identify it—and there is no possibility that we won’t, that the world would not recognize it—the result is that Israel would act out of necessity,” said Hanegbi. “There would be no choice.” Source: IAEA: Iran accelerates production of near-weapons-grade uranium (December 26, 2023 / JNS)
Iran’s nuclear centrifuges are, it is said, deep in the Bushehr Mountains to protect against attacks. Israel has in the past inflicted cyber attacks that disrupted Iran’s progress in doing their nuclear production work.
The Bushehr facilities are also used to hide progress from the AIEA Investigations, as the above report in its full scope indicates.
We have written previously that Bible prophecy foretells this area of Persia (Iran) will be so devastated that people will have to scatter to places far away. Is this nuclear contamination from an attack Israel is almost certainly about to launch?
That would explain why Iran, as part of the Gog-Magog coalition, would be without nuclear weaponry. But Russia would continue to at that time have its arsenal of nukes, it seems. So it remains a mystery why there are apparently no advanced nuclear-type weapons in the coming Ezekiel 38-39 assault on God’s chosen nation.
Maybe Kirban Salem will be proven factual with his fiction. However, my own thought is that as God will intervene to save Israel from the Gog-Magog forces. He will cause any and all such thermonuclear weaponry that might be launched toward Jerusalem to stray from Israel’s direction and instead land on the Magog environs and on the Isles, as those areas are indicated in the prophecy to suffer “fires” of some mysterious sort.
“And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:6-7).
Here, I believe the Holy Spirit –God who Indwells all who Believe in Jesus Christ for Salvation, urges that I appeal to you if you are a non-believer. Jesus is the answer to all of your anxieties, to all of your worries. He is willing and ready to forgive all sin that separates you from God the Father and Heaven. Simply do the following. I have put it in today’s English this time rather than the King James Version.
“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart [your mind and spirit] that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart [man or woman] believes and is made righteous by God, and with your mouth confession is made that saves you from sin and its consequences, which separates the soul of the unbeliever from God for Eternity” (My paraphrase of Romans 10:9-10).
–Terry
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Danger Ahead
On January 3, 2024, the national debt of the United States reached thirty-four trillion dollars. Despite Biden’s claim that he has reduced our indebtedness as a nation, during the past couple of years, that number has passed both the thirty-two and thirty-three trillion-dollar mark and is rising faster than at any other time in history.
An economic catastrophe lies in the not-too-distant future for both America and the world. I’m convinced that it’s solely because of the Lord’s restraining hand that this has not yet happened, but once He takes His Church out of this world, financial devastation will quickly follow.
Revelation 6:5-6 tells us that hyperinflation will occur early in the Tribulation and will be far worse than anything the world has experienced in modern history. Although we will be safe with Jesus in paradise by this time, the inflation of the past couple of years is already putting a great strain on most families in the U.S., resulting in record credit card debt and the failure of many to keep up with rent and mortgage payments.
A second sign of impending danger arises from the war in the Middle East. In recent days, prophecy expert and former Captain in the Israeli army Amir Tsarfati has issued several warnings concerning an all-out war with Hezbollah from Lebanon that will be far worse than its current battles in Gaza. Could this push other nations over the edge, sparking another world war?
Other up-to-date news makes the onset of WWIII seem likely:
- Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea, continues to warn of an imminent nuclear attack.
- American bases in Syria and Iraq have come under attack over one hundred times since October 7, 2023, with no meaningful response yet from the Biden administration.
- The Houthis, a terrorist group located in Yemen, continue to attack ships in Middle East shipping lanes.
- Ukraine recently attacked civilians in a Russian city, leading to a fierce response from Putin. If this continues, it will make a Russian attack on NATO forces likely.
We know that the deadliest wars in the history of the world will occur in the early months (or years) after the Rapture (see Revelation 6:7-8). The escalating saber-rattling of war throughout the world tells us that the Day of the Lord’s wrath is near, and since that is the case, we also know that we will soon meet Jesus in the air.
We may witness devastating wars before our departure, but the worst will not happen until after we are safely in paradise with our Savior.
Since the start of 2024, we have already witnessed a powerful earthquake near the shores of Japan, with many strong aftershocks across the nation. In addition, a myriad of earthquakes have occurred in various places in the past few days, even in various places across the continental United States.
There’s also what I consider to be an ominous sign of great danger ahead for the U.S. On April 8, 2024, a solar eclipse will pass through America. According to the Washington Post, over thirty million people will be able to view it outside their homes, and for those who cannot do so, it’s likely to become the biggest travel event of the year.
What makes this more significant than eclipses in the past is its past in relationship to one on August 21, 2017. Together, they will form an X on America, intersecting at a small town in southern Illinois.
Did you know that this happened once before in American history? In a January 2, 2024, blog post, Michael Snyder reported that “the path of a solar eclipse that occurred on June 16th, 1806, combined with the path of a solar eclipse that occurred on September 17th, 1811, to form a giant “X” over the New Madrid fault zone.” This includes an area from Cairo in southern Illinois to nearby New Madrid, MO, and a bit further southwest.
Three months after the solar eclipse intersected with the previous one on the fault line in 1811, a devastating series of earthquakes began. Quoting from the New Madrid website, Snyder continues:
The New Madrid earthquakes were the biggest earthquakes in American history. They occurred in the central Mississippi Valley but were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, Montreal, and Washington D.C. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt them in the White House. Church bells rang in Boston. From December 16, 1811, through March of 1812, there were over 2,000 earthquakes in the central Midwest and between 6,000 and 10,000 earthquakes in the Bootheel of Missouri, where New Madrid is located near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude.
Is the upcoming completion of an X across America by the April 8 eclipse another warning of a similar catastrophe in the months afterward? The past history of the intersection of two eclipses in the same area is far too much of a coincidence to ignore. It’s a sign that great danger lies in the offing for America.
The bumpy start to 2024 looks to grow worse in the coming months. Only God knows the timing of our departure from the earth and how much more adversity we will experience before then.
Although the increasing danger around us causes much distress at times, it’s important to remember that it points to the nearness of the midnight hour when the Rapture happens, and the Day of the Lord’s wrath brings sudden destruction to the world.
With all my heart, I believe Jesus is coming soon to take us up to glory. While our wait for His appearing may be longer than we would like, it will surely happen when He deems the time is right.
-Jonathan