Syria Threatens War with Israel - Isaiah 17 Update
Neil Cooper
Sep 12, 2006--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the Arabs would lay down their guns today, there would be peace by tomorrow!
If the Jews would lay down their guns today, by tomorrow there would be no Israel!
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Since the end of the war in Lebanon, Syrian President Basshar Assad has said that he has been convinced that there is a better way to deal with Israel rather than through negotiations in his bid to win back the Golan Heights. Yesterday he elaborated on that theme by announcing he was planning to create a Syrian version of the Hezbollah and use the same tactics that were used by Nasrallah to force Israel off of the mountains of the Golan. Considering the current atmosphere in the Middle East, this is more than careless talk and bravado; it must be taken very seriously.
What has emboldened Assad to make such provocative statements? Why does he feel that now is the time to publicly threaten Israel with what can only be described as his clear intention to declare war against the Jewish state?
I have speculated that the war in Lebanon was backed by Iran and Syria, and that their backing goes to Russia, and China. I have further come to believe that the whole war was a planned exercise in order to ‘size up’ Israel’s current military capability, and more importantly their resolve. It also allowed the Islamic states and their communists’ benefactors to see what the response of the world opinion would be, and how they would react to a war waged against Israel. I think what they learned is quite disturbing.
First, they learned what those of us living here (at least those of us who are not left wing radicals) suspected all along and that is that our current leaders have no true leadership qualities. They are not empowered to sacrifice all in order to win a moral and righteous victory because they have no backbone, and no integrity. Their ideology stems from personal gain and not the corporate well being of their people or their land.
Israel has proven also to be in the complete control of the western powers whose primary interest is continued control over the Middle Eastern oil fields. Our best friends are twisting our arm off in order to appease the very people who are hell bent on our destruction, and the destruction of all society outside the house of Islam.
Simply put, this means that the U.S. State Department and the European Union countries will all force Israel’s hand no matter how obvious it is that the Muslims are the aggressors, the occupiers, the deal breakers, and incurable liars to boot. This is the first lesson in victory that the Islamic world learned. Israel is under the thumb of the west, and the west is weak and has no resolve to actually win this supposed war on terrorism.
Secondly the observers of this war in Lebanon (and there were many) learned that while Israel has the fifth largest army in the world, the political rot that has invaded this country has made our army ineffective at best. While the right leaders could quickly reverse this situation, we probably don’t have time to effect such a change before the next round of fighting breaks out. Yes we leveled much of Lebanon, but we did not meet one of our objectives. Not one. That is completely due to the incompetent and self serving government that now occupies the seat of power in Israel.
Thirdly, they have found out that the world will cooperate in allowing Hezbollah to rearm even in clear violation to cease fire agreements, while at the same time European countries are refusing Israeli cargo flights to refuel in European airports due to the fact that they may be flying munitions and spare parts for their military into Israel. The devil is truly at work here.
Fourthly they found out that they could devastate Israel’s economy with even just a short and relatively small war. At the founding of the modern state of Israel, the majority of the Jewish people were farmers, construction workers, and tradesman. This stayed that way until the late sixties when Israel became more affluent and started dominating the Hi-Tech industry. At this point a shift took place that has brought us to the place today where almost all manual labor in this country is performed either by Arabs, or an imported workforce. When this war broke out, this workforce evaporated. Foreigners went home, and the Arabs were not allowed free travel. The result is that even now, farmers and contractors are unable to get their work done. A friend who lives on the northern border has fruit rotting on the trees, eggs overflowing in his luels (chicken houses) and his vacation cottages empty. He is one of thousands going through the same thing, and in the markets, the quality of the produce is just now starting to return to normal. School budgets were hit hard as teachers were fired and programs cut back in order to pay for the war. Businesses that depend on tourism have closed their doors for good, others wonder if they will be able to hold out. One wonders what a protracted conflict would do to Israel’s economic future. I’m sure that is part of the enemies strategy as well.
Fifth, the war in Lebanon spent much of our artillery drawing down our supplies, demoralized our soldiers because we were not allowed to win, and also physically wore our soldiers down as well.
I believe the enemy is drawing up their battle plans feeling that the time is ripe.
Yes, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and all of the other surrounding neighbors viewed this war with great interest, in order to plan the war that is coming, the one that they believe will finally deal the fatal blow to Israel. Russia and China are viewing it all to calculate the expulsion of America from the Middle East in order that they may wrestle control of the oil fields, for in a world being intravenously fed by oil pipelines, control over this dwindling commodity will spell world domination. At least that is the theory.
I believe all nations are being aligned into a global framework that will allow for one supreme leader to arise, I also think however that there is still a battle between various factions for position and power within this framework, and perhaps even a lack of full understanding about what is about to come upon the earth. I believe some leaders are working in full knowledge of their satanic mission, but that the vast majority are working for an ideology or for nationalism. Like Hitler’s youth, and students for communism before them, only later will they become fully aware of what cause they have actually championed.
In the days leading up to the war in Iraq, there was speculation that Sadaam Hussein had moved his weapons of mass destruction into Syria. Since his capture that suspicion was confirmed in the trial of Hussein by one of his former aides. This means that Assad may very well be sitting on the other side of the mountain with WMD’s.
In a weekly prayer meeting this morning, I was discussing the dangers implicit in Basshar Assads threats, coupled with those of Ahmadinejad, and my belief that we must be prepared for a major war, NOW! We should, like Joseph before us, be warning the country to store food, and provisions. I eluded to the fact that such open threats from Syria will ultimately force Israel into a pre-emptive strike. They simply cannot sit back and wait for such a scenario to unfold. When a couple of people present suggested that we could not know when such a thing might happen and that it could be years, a friend of mine in the media said that inside military analyst have told him that they expect war to break out no later than November.
That is not enough time to dissolve the present government and install a new one.
I do not know how it will play out, but Israel will not survive the next war if Ehud Olmert, and Amir Peretz remain in power. There must be at least some sort of forced resignations. I cannot even rule out a military coup if the situation is deemed dire enough. Many people will laugh at that suggestion, but I have heard it spoken of in previous situations. I pray it never has to come to that.
When we look at this present situation, the fulfillment of Isaiah 17 becomes more and more possible, even likely.
“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer [are] forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two [or] three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four [or] five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 17:1-7
Damascus has never been destroyed in its history. It is today the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world having been established in 2500 BC. This prophecy for its destruction IS for the future.
“In that day” typically is referring to the “Day of the Lord” or the time leading up to it. This is a time known also as “Jacob’s Trouble.” When you read the rest of this prophecy, you will also note that while the city of Damascus is destroyed, it is not a time of rejoicing for Israel, but a time when the fatness of Jacob will wax lean. The crops will fail, and the harvest will be nearly non-existent. This will be a time of incredible suffering.
We can rejoice however in that it will turn the people back to their maker.
If Israel is the one to destroy Damascus, and I believe that is the most likely scenario, then the world will react in a rage. They will first sanction Israel and embargo all trade in and out of the country. No one will be able to enter or leave because no country will fly into Israel, or allow Israeli flights to land at their airport. There will be no one to harvest the crops, and like we saw in this past war in Lebanon, what there is available for harvest will rot on the vine. It is for this reason I feel a need to warn people to stock up now. Beans and rice may not be what most of us would like to eat, but it provides what you need to survive, and you can stock a lot of it in a small space. It also doesn’t cost very much to do.
There is a lot of disagreement over the order of things to come, and their timing, and I do not want to get into dogmatic arguments, they are a waste of time. What I do want to do however is try and get those who feel prophecy is the same thing as lunacy, to wake up and see the signs of the times. I am more than a little annoyed when someone will accuse those who have a prophetic gift with being negative, a doom and gloomer, giving into a spirit of fear etc...
We are to have joy in the midst of trials, and we are not to be given to a spirit of fear, that is simply believing that the devil has more power in a situation than God does. However to recognize the signs of the times is something that Jesus fully expected us to do. We are to cry out a warning so that the blood of the innocent is not on our hands. The prophets wept over what they saw coming, and to attack the prophet and insinuate that they are not “spiritual enough” because they don’t paint a rosy picture about everything is to deny the prophetic word of God and to assault the calling of God on that persons life, if indeed they have a true prophetic calling.
I wondered today what the situation would be like if the church would stop blaming Israel, and stop trying to protect the “rights” of the Palestinians to die in the condemned religion of Islam, and would take up their cross, go into the Islamic nations, and give their lives preaching the gospel to the Arabs? I’m telling you, it would change the face of the world.
Alas, the church is largely dead today. Dead to the Word of God. Dead to the inner workings of the Holy Spirit. Dead to the spiritual gifts that God so wants to give to empower the church to do greater things than He did. Dead to the knowledge that we were created to serve God and not to be served by Him.
Oh that I could sound the alarm around the world and tell the church to WAKE UP! ... WAKE UP!
Islam is the punishment to the nations for their unbelief.
The fault for this lies squarely at the feet of the church because of their unbelief. For if the church believed, they would be overcomers. They would change the world around them. They would preach without ceasing, offering their lives as a living sacrifice in order that souls would not perish in an eternal fire.
God help us. God help us to be overcomers. Lord, you have said that only those that do the will of your Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. May every one of us come to you in humble service, able to hear your voice, receive your wisdom, and may you give us the strength to be obedient to your word when you deliver it to us. May we be as the good servant, who took what you gave us and made it multiply. May we take the gospel of the kingdom of our Messiah and use it to multiply the inhabitants of your heavenly realm. May we help to multiply the praise and thanksgiving offered up before your throne. May there be no evil that dwells within us, may we be made pure and spotless for you. May we read your word, and take it seriously, not watering it down to suit our complacency. MAKE US LIKE YOU JESUS! Amen.
Neil Cooper