Edition 255. April 15^th 2015

The stormy, shifting desert sands:

The stormy, shifting desert sands:

Introduction:

Yemen is not in Bible prophecy, or is it? Well, it’s not in prophecy directly, but it most certainly is by implication and under previous ancient names. In fact the prophetic picture is frightening with implications for the whole world now!

The entire area is pure desert. Across the border in Saudi Arabia there are enormous stretches of desert. Across the western border in North Africa, again there are thousands of kilometres of desert sands.

These desert sands are soft and often blown about. Lately, the wind storms have been intensifying, blowing tons of desert dust across the entire region.

The image below, courtesy of NASA was taken on the 9^th April and shows one of the massive sand storms sweeping the area of interest to us now.

These intensive dust storms transform the desert dunes, changing the whole landscape at times.

This is just what is happening on the socio-political scene in the area. We are seeing a dramatic shift in power bases. Right now we can’t see clearly through the “dust”, but we soon will!

You may be surprised to see and know just how this lot is working out and what the implications are for the world! Read on my friends.

Identifying the players:

Isaiah 21:1-2 “The burden against the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. A distressing vision is declared to me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media.”

Elam and Media are in territory that is today Iran. So this verse above is most certainly referring to Iran in these days. Elam is the area in which the nuclear reactor, Bushehr is located.

Yemen has been run by tyrants and madmen, and has been a home for terrorist organisations, but the government has had a slant towards the West. It has been seen as a shaky ally of the US.

Yemen’s neighbour, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has also been an ally of the US, but Yemen and Saudi Arabia have been arch enemies of each other. How quickly things have changed! Suddenly the Saudi King and leader is dead and Yemen is in violent war and turmoil with its leader and entire cabinet overthrown. These two prophetic events happened on the same day!

Iran’s position:

Further up the desert is Iran. As we know Iran is no friend of the US or Israel. But Iran is an ally of the forces now dominating Yemen. Iran hates Saudi Arabia and would love to see her humiliated and defeated as well.

In fact the current war in Yemen is a proxy war for Iran. They are sponsoring the rebels trying to overthrow Yemen.

But Iran has aspirations to bring the whole desert region under her control. Many believe that Iran will try to destabilise Saudi Arabia and turn it into a Shiite, Iran-controlled nation.

Iran’s apocalyptic worldview:

Iran’s worldview is centred on the appearance of the Islamic Mahdi and the spread and dominance of the Shiite sect of Islam.

This is what Iran said recently:

“Whoever guarantees the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, will guarantee the imminent appearance of the Mahdi. The establishment of a new Islamic civilisation is on its way.”

In a long intelligence video put out by Iran (which I have seen) they claim that soon after the death of the Saudi King the Islamic Mahdi will appear.

We must have at least a basic understanding of Sunni and Shiite hatred. The two sects of Islam have been at each other’s throats since the beginning of Islam. Nothing has changed. Most westerners don’t understand that there is an enormous fight on the go within Islam and between these two sects.

The common denominator is that they both hate Israel, the Jews and the West.

Enter Sheba and Dedan:

The great war of Gog and Magog also referred to as WW111 is outlined in Exekiel 38 & 39. The nations mentioned come against Israel and attack her. On the attacking side we see the nations of Gog &Magog, Rosh, Meshach, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, and Togarmah.

Then further on in the chapter we see the defenders of Israel her allies -in this massive nuclear war.

Ezekiel 38:13 “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to Cary away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to take great plunder?’”

If you know Bible prophecy, the names Sheba and Dedan should be ringing bells! This prophecy is said to occur in the latter days. It is still to come. (Ezekiel 38:16)

►Sheba was the ancient name for Yemen and Dedan was the ancient name for Saudi Arabia. (See map above.)

“The merchants of Tarshish” can be identified in this map below:

Tarshish was a sea port in the south of Spain. The merchants traded by ship with a nation known for its tin in those days. It became known as Bri-tin or Britain today. The symbol of Britain is a lion. The “young lions” of this prophecy would then be the offshoot or commonwealth nations, The US, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the others.

Most Bible commentators and analysts agree with this exposition.

So, we see identified in this prophecy the modern main western nations on the one hand and the nations of Russia, Turkey, and surroundings on the other. Many of these attacking nations are Muslim.

WW111

The nations on the left in blue are the defending nations, allied with Israel, and the nations on the right in red are the attacking nations of this prophecy.

World War Three has already started. Well if this is it – it’s not much to worry about is it?

No, we are not yet at the full blown war, but we are seeing the players line up and start the shooting. So far, it’s just Sheba, and Dedan warming up and Persia (Iran) chirping in the background.

Here’s the big takeaway:

This is huge!

If the United States is correctly identified as one of the “young lions” in this prophecy, she will be an ally of Israel at the time this prophecy comes to pass.

This means Obama will fail in throwing Israel under the bus and joining hands with Iran! This means that if this prophecy occurs just before the tribulation starts, which I believe it will for various reasons, the US will be on the WW111 stage attacking the attackers of Israel in red (on the diagram above)and defending Israel with the nations in blue.

A possible outcome of the current war in the region is that Saudi Arabia remains intact and Yemen does not fall to Iran. Both must be allies of Israel when this prophecy comes about.

How about that for a spanner in the works!

Be careful not to write off the US. Be careful proclaiming her total defeat! God may still have a plan of success for the US and the west.

It’s easy to see the nations in red as enemies attacking Israel. It’s easy to see the nations in blue defending Israel except for the two Arab nations of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Bible has given us the end picture and the final outcome. Yemen and Saudi Arabia will unite with other western nations when the heat is on.

The obstacle to this prophecy coming to pass is Obama, trying to distance the US from Israel. A possible scenario is that he is removed or changes his tune!

The entrance of Russia as the big bad bear into this war may well be the thing that changes the whole picture and realigns the US with Israel.

What in fact we have now is the stage being set and prepared for WW111. Russia is in the wings. Iran is already on the battleground in a minor way; Israel is waiting.

Enter Russia:

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels now controlling the capital of Yemen are trying to build ties with Russia and China. They feel threatened by Western support for Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have just sent a delegation to Russia to build this relationship.

Is this an early-entrance of Russia into what looks like it could develop into WW111? Let’s remember that Russia is already at war in Ukraine and is already angering the west as a result.

Let’s also remember that Russia has just announced that she will stand by and help the Palestinians set up their desired state within the borders of Israel.

Syria:

ISIS is expanding fast in Syria and is now just a short way from Assad’s residence in Damascus. Could this be a precursor of the Isaiah 17 war to come? Not yet, but it’s heading that way fast. The big key in the Isaiah 17 war and the Gog & Magog war is the involvement of Israel, which is not on the go yet.

We are all familiar with the prophecy of Isaiah 17, but here is a parallel prophecy from the pen of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 49:23-27 “Against Damascus, Hamath and Arpad are shamed, for they have heard bad news, they are fainthearted; there is trouble on the sea - it cannot be quiet. Damascus has grown feeble and turns to flee, and fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrow have her like a woman in labour. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the Lord of hosts. I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.’”

Final thoughts:

Do you see how close we are to all these going bang?

Right now we are seeing Islamic sects fighting each other for dominance and Israel is not involved. The Bible reveals that these prophetic wars involve Israel, so that’s what we must watch for. We can’t jump the gun and say that these are them just yet, but remember that this can all change in a flash.

Latest breaking news:

Yemen has named its former prime minister, Khaled Bahah as the new vice president in a move aimed at bringing a peaceful settlement to the war. He is a popular pro-west leader.

This is one of my mixed media art works in which I’ve used bits of canvas as a printing mechanism combined with textured paint effects.

I took this picture in the beautiful Namib Desert.

If you want to see more pictures of the beautiful desert click HERE.

Shalom and grow in grace!