IRAN HAS NOW PUSHED ITS MILITARY FORCES
UP TO THE BORDER OF NORTHERN ISRAEL
Israel clashed with Syrian and Iranian military forces on February 10th in a series of cross-border strikes that could mark a dangerous new phase of the Israeli/Iranian conflict.
Isabel Kershner, Anne Barnard and Eric Schmitt of the New York Times report that the confrontation, which has threatened to draw Israel more directly into war with Iran, began when Israel intercepted an Iranian drone that had penetrated its airspace from Syria. The Israeli military then attacked what it called the command-and-control center from which Iran had launched the drone – the Syrian air base near Palmyra.
Israel attacks Iran drone over Syria
Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, concurs with Kershner et al:
"This is indeed a dangerous escalation that raises the specter of direct conflict between Israel and Iran in Syria — a far more serious situation than the drawing of red lines and tit-for-tat exchanges that have occurred before."
Sami Nader, head of the Beirut-based Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, has said that the current violence is the first DIRECT engagement between Iran and Israel. Before it was done through proxies, for example by militias connected to the Syrian regime or the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Nader went on to say that the current confrontation between Israel and Iran could soon encompass all of Syria and all of Lebanon.
This is an extremely serious matter when one considers that it confirms how near time-wise the world is to the Gog/Magog War: for the first time since the Syrian civil war began, Iranian-backed forces appear to have secured a road link from the Iranian border all the way to Israel's border through Syria. The new land route will allow the Iranian regime to easily resupply its military forces on Israel's northern frontier. The road network, which starts on Iran's border with Iraq and runs across that country and Syria, was secured last week when pro-Iranian Shiite militias captured a final string of Iraqi villages near the border with Syria. The road link zigs and zags across the two countries and ends at Israel's northern frontier.
The above map indicates the land routes controlled by Iran in the northern Middle East which gives them control over the area depicted.
The development is potentially momentous because, for the first time, it would bind together by a single land route, a string of Iranian allies, including Hezbollah, in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, and the Iranian-dominated government in Iraq. These allies form what is often referred to as the Shiite Crescent.
Additionally, Iranian military forces have secured direct access to the Israeli – Lebanon border, and now control this frontier with the Jewish state.
A Twitter account associated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps tweeted the following statement regarding the arrival of their troops on the Israeli - Lebanon border:
"We are arriving... near the Mother of Corruption, the accursed Israel; soon we will pass over their bodies, Allah willing."
The soldiers in the pictures could be seen wearing military fatigues that included patches of the flags of Iran and Hezbollah.
Iranian and Hezbollah soldiers on the Israeli – Lebanon border.
- A report by MEMRI, a US-based Middle Eastern media watchdog, tracked the photos to a December 17 blog post affiliated with the Iranian Army, and noted that the pictures were taken in the Beqaa and Baalbek regions of southern Lebanon.
Tehran styles the alliance between itself, Lebanon and Hezbollah as an "Axis of Resistance." The name supposedly evokes Iran's "strength of will" to confront and overthrow foreign occupiers and oppressors—that is Israel and the United States.
For Christians, the unpleasant truth in all of this is that the presence of Iranian military forces on Israel's northern borders with Syria and Lebanon makes evident the fact that the Gog/Magog War is closer than many think.
Dear brothers and sisters, please pay close attention here: the Gog/Magog War is one of the two events that will mark the beginning of the Tribulation, NOT THE END, the other great event being the culmination of an official military alliance between Israel and the United States.
However, increasing numbers of American Christians – ie., those who have embraced "DOMINIONIST" thinking - believe that the coming war in the Middle East (see Ezekiel 38:2 – 38:12), is Armageddon. They conflate the Gog/Magog War with Armageddon and, as a result, see only one great war in the Middle East rather than two as the end draws near. [Please see our article on Dominionism by Frederick Clarkson, "The Rise of Dominionism: Remaking America as a Christian Nation." ]
This mistaken and very dangerous thinking pictures the United States as God's "REDEEMER NATION" rather than God's great enemy, BABYLON THE GREAT. This kind of thinking will inevitably lead Christians to embrace the leader of Babylon - ie., the antiChrist (Trump) - and will inevitably pit them against God.
- Those who today embrace the Puritan concept of America as God's "REDEEMER NATION" reads like a "Who's Who" of American pastors and leaders, and includes such Christian "luminaries" as the late Charles Stanley, the late James Kennedy, Tim LaHaye, the late John Wimber, Juan Carlos Ortiz, C. Peter Wagner, Beverley LaHaye, Ern Baxter, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, the late Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts, Pat Robertson, the late Jerry Falwell, Chuck Colson, Jack Hayford, David Yonggi Cho (yes, even Cho who isn't an American, but a Korean), Robert Stearns, Mike Bickle, Reuven Doron, Che Ahn, Frank Hammond, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, John Eckhardt, Bobbie Byerly, Dutch Sheets, Jim Goll, John Paul Jackson, James Ryle, Frank Damazio, Ed Silvoso, Carlos Annacondia, Claudio Freidzon, Roger Mitchell, Ted Haggart, Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble, ad infinitum.
Dominionism NECESSITATES the belief that there will only be ONE war in the Tribulation Period rather than two. [Again, please see our article on Dominionism by Frederick Clarkson, "The Rise of Dominionism: Remaking America as a Christian Nation." ]
But the Bible unmistakably pictures TWO wars during this period: one war - the Gog/Magog War - that will open the Tribulation, and a second war – Armageddon - that will close the Tribulation.
In his eschatological masterpiece, Things To Come, J. Dwight Pentecost of Dallas Theological Seminary has made it plain concerning this fact - that we are dealing with TWO great wars rather than one during the Tribulation. This fact demolishes the belief system of Dominionism. The facts are as follows:
- In the Gog/Magog War, definite allies of Gog are mentioned as opposing Israel - "Magog," "Mescheck," "Tubal," "Gomer" (ie., the Islamic forces of Iran), Ethiopia, Libya, (see Ezekiel 38) and EGYPT(see Daniel 11:42], while at Armageddon all nations are engaged against Jerusalem (Joel 3:2; Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 12:3; and 14:2).
- Gog comes from the North (Ezek. 38:6, 15), while at Armageddon, the armies come from out of the whole earth.
- Gog is the head of the armies at his invasion (Ezek. 38:15), but at Armageddon, the Beast is at the head of the invasion (Rev. 19:19).
- There is a protest against Gog's invasion (Ezek. 38:13), but at Armageddon there is no such protest because all the nations of the earth have joined themselves with the Beast in his attack against Jerusalem.
- Gog is overthrown by divine intervention through the convolutions of nature (Ezek. 38:22), but the armies at Armageddon are destroyed by the sword which goes out of Christ's mouth (Rev. 19:15).
- Gog's armies array themselves in the open fields (Ezek. 39:5), while at Armageddon they are seen in the city of Jerusalem.
- Gog's armies are destroyed outside of Jerusalem on the mountains and in the valleys (Ezek. 39:2-4), while the Beast and his armies are destroyed in the city of Jerusalem itself (Zech. 12:2; 14:2).
- The Lord calls for assistance in executing judgment on Gog (Ezek. 38:21), while at Armageddon He is viewed as treading the winepress alone (Rev. 19:15; Isaiah 63:3-6).
- The invasion by Gog will be sudden and will come with relatively little warning (Ezek. 38:11), while Armageddon will be no sudden and unexpected event. [Please see Chapter XV of the New Antipas Papers, "The Gog / Magog War." ]
Thus, as Dwight Pentecost has suggested, "Two diverse movements (wars) must be acknowledged."
Now it's not our purpose here to describe all the events of the Gog/Magog War. The events of this war are described in Ezekiel 38 and 39; Daniel 11:40-45; Matthew 24:4-21; and Revelation 12. [Again, please see Chapter XV of the New Antipas Papers, "The Gog / Magog War." ]
Dark storm clouds gathering over Israel
Dark storm clouds gathering over Israel
Rather our purpose here is to describe the ominous and menacing activity of one of the principle participants in the coming Gog/Magog War: IRAN, and in doing so to expose the threatening storm clouds that are now gathering over Israel and over Christians everywhere, and especially Christians in America as they foolishly continue to flock to President Trump's banner making them enemies to God.
Dear brothers and sisters, as you take note of these facts, arrange your lives in accordance with them.
We ask you to bear in mind what the Apostle Paul told those who followed him; that if we have blessed you with SPIRITUAL gifts, is it too much to ask that you would reciprocate with FINANCIAL gifts? We especially need your support as a result of my wife's perilous condition in connection with her failing heart; also my failing health as a result of an unexplained and bizarre illness which placed me into a coma for nine days last year. I truly believe that this was an attack on me by Satan; I was rescued only by the direct intervention of God so that I could continue to warn Christians concerning the "end of days" and the appearance of Trump as the antiChrist.
In His love,
SR Shearer
Antipas Ministries
BECOMING A WTNESS FOR CHRIST
WE URGE YOU TO TAKE A STAND AND PUBLICALLY WITNESS AGAINST THE CHURCH'S ALMOST UNREASONING SUPPORT OF DONALD TRUMP. [PLEASE SEE OUR ARTICLE, "TRUMP AS THE ANTI-CHRIST."]
SPEAK OUT (ie., WITNESS) AGAINST THE DECEPTION OF THE FALSE PROPHETS OF TODAY'S CHURCH LIKE JOHN HAGEE.
TAKE AS YOUR EXAMPLE THE WHITE ROSE SOCIETY
The WHITE ROSE SOCIETY was a group formed by students Hans and Sophie Scholl and a band of Christian friends and professors. Their common goal was to stand against the Nazi regime that was terrorizing their country in the early 1940's, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY TO DECLARE THAT CHRIST WAS THE SUPREME POWER AND NOT ADOLPH HITLER. They secretly wrote and printed leaflets behind a church organ. They would then take as many as 2000 of them at a time and randomly distribute this bold writing in cities such as Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Vienna, Frieburg, Saarbreuken and Mannheim. As a result of taking part in these activities, seven of its members were executed between February 1943 and October 1944.
THE QUESTION HERE, AS IT WAS FOR SOPHIE AND HANS SCHOLL IS THIS: DO YOU FEAR MORE THE WRATH OF MAN OR THE WRATH OF GOD??
Finally, we urge you to download our flyers and pass them out; nail them to trees, lamp-posts; place them on cars, in windows; hand them to your neighbors and friends, etc. Download flyers to be passed out to friends and neighbors and pinned on trees, in windows, on church bulletin boards, etc.
In the light of all that's been happening recently - and we speak here of the Trump presidency, Islamic terrorism, the new anti-Semitism directed against both Jews and the Jewish state (Israel), the growing storm clouds over the Middle east which are harbingers of the coming Gog / Magog War, and that my wife and I can recover fully from our illnesses so that the work of the ministry can continue with vigor. In connection with the work of the ministry, we DESPERATELY need your financial help if we are to continue on with the work God has given us. The help you send will not accrue to any single individual, but will be directed to the effort of the ministry to bring TRUTH to you that you cannot receive anywhere else.
We ask you to bear in mind what the Apostle Paul told those who followed him; that if we have blessed you with SPIRITUAL gifts, is it too much to ask that you would reciprocate with FINANCIAL gifts.
Shearer is a graduate of the University of California where he earned a Bachelor's degree (1964) and a Master's degree (1967) in history (Davis and Berkeley). He also attended the United States Defense Language Institute in Monterey where he studied German. He served as an intelligence officer in Europe; in Asia he served with the 525th Intelligence Group, Special Operations Branch, and at the Phoenix School at Vung Tau (SEA). In addition, he served as executive officer for the Sacramento field office of the 515th Counter Intelligence (CI) Group in Sacramento and later as executive officer for 515th CI Group's Regional Office in San Francisco. Shearer held Top Secret, Special Intelligence, Codeword security, Eyes Only clearances; also Cosmic, NATO and Atomic clearances.