Islam's most reliable ally
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Posted: December 16, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Hal Lindsey
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© 2005 WorldNetDaily.comIn a speech in Chechnya this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin reminded the Islamic world; "Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world," Putin said. "Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally."
"Always" might be a stretch. Russia's series of wars with the Muslim Ottoman Empire - spanning 241 years from the 17th to 19th centuries - inspired countless inspirational songs and poems. Historians credit the Russo-Turkish wars as a main cause of the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
It was the fall of the Ottoman Empire that created the modern Middle East - including Israel - so Islam's "most reliable ally" is also indirectly responsible for Islam's current state of affairs.
Be that as it may, Putin's statement about being "Islam's most reliable defender" is true if one goes back no further than the Cold War. As America's attention was focused on Western Europe, particularly during the late '40s and early '50s, the Soviet Union was quietly creating Soviet satellite states across the Middle East.
In each of its five wars against the Arab world, Israel faced the best Soviet weaponry Islam could buy. When Putin spoke of Russia as Islam's most "faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world," it implied Russian support for the primary Islamic goal - annihilating Israel.
Even after the Cold War ended the spy vs. spy game of alliance-building, Russia, as Putin noted, remained "consistent" in its defense of the interests of the Islamic world - with Islam's chief interest remaining the annihilation of Israel.
Russia's alliance with Islam was an accidental consequence of the Cold War - as noted, prior to the Soviet Union, Russia was the Ottoman Empire's Islamic caliphate's bitterest enemy. The Russians were drawn into the Middle East out of necessity by the demands of the Cold War, but they remained after the Cold War out of a need to maintain existing alliances.
In a sense, Russia had no other choice but to sleep in the bed the Soviets made for her. Russia committed all of her chips to Islam's side with the decision to make Iran a nuclear power.
Israel's intelligence services told Israeli lawmakers that by late March, Iran would have reached the "point of no return" in its quest for nuclear weapons. The IAEA's Mohammed el Baradei gave the United Nations a similarly dismal assessment.
Taken together with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent public comments advocating "wiping Israel off the map," the London Sunday Times recent assessment that Israel is readying a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites is probably more accurate than the Israelis would like it to be.
Iran's entire nuclear program has been engineered and overseen by Russia. It is worth billions of dollars to Russia's cash-strapped economy.
Iran's nuclear facilities are crawling with Russian technicians, scientists, advisers, security and military personnel - and, in many cases, their families. A strike against these facilities would undoubtedly kill many of them, including some of the cream of Russia's nuclear scientists.
In such a case, the Russians would not just shrug their shoulders, bury their dead, and head back to Moscow to explain to their investors that Israel blew up all their investments.
The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, writing from captivity in Babylon over 2,500 years ago, foretold the rise of a great military alliance "in the latter times" that would mount an invasion force against Israel. The alliance will be led by Gog [modern Russia] together with Persia [modern Iran] which includes most Muslim nations of the Middle East and North Africa.
In light of that, it is fascinating to watch as Russia is being inexorably drawn into the Middle Eastern conflict, almost against its better judgment. As "Islam's greatest defender," Russia is being driven by strategic and economic interests that virtually give it no other choice.
This perfectly fulfills the role Ezekiel predicted for Russia. Ezekiel predicted concerning a people from the extreme north of Israel known as Gog:
I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out ... In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
- Ezekiel 38:4a, 8b
There is only one nation to the extreme north of Israel, Russia. (See Ezekiel 3:6, 15; 39:2) And Meshech and Tubal (39:1), predicted as the ancient pro-genitors of this northern people, are the source of the ancient Scythians, who are the source of the modern ethnic Russians.
Ezekiel penned his prophecy in the 6th century B.C., 1,000 years before Muhammad, 2,000 years before Columbus, and 2,500 years before Israel's restoration.
His prophecy and the forecasts of modern-day secular futurists examining current geopolitical trends differ with Ezekiel's vision only in one point: Israel survives and wins the war.
For the first time in history, the conditions necessary for the Ezekiel Scenario to move forward are all in place at the same time.
What does this tell us? First, it means that the Bible proves its Divine inspiration by the test God gave to the first writing Prophet, Moses, in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. God threw His gauntlet into the arena and said that the proof of His Word would be 100 percent accuracy in prophecies given to His prophets.
This also means that time is short before the return of the King. If you haven't accepted the gift of Pardon that Jeshua Ha'Messhiac purchased for you by His death at Golgotha's cross, time is running out. Wouldn't it be great to accept the ultimate gift of eternal life at this Christmas time? Your choice will determine your eternal destiny.