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Israeli Rabbis Say
Current Events Could Lead to "War of Gog
and Magog"
By
Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., June 3, 2010) -- A
pastor friend of mine who is helping us
set up the 2010 Epicenter Conference in
Philadelphia later this month just sent
me an urgent text message with this
headline from Israel National News:
"RABBIS: FLOTILLA CLASH SIMILAR TO GOG
AND MAGOG PROPHESY." As you might
expect, it caught my attention right
away. Excerpts:
* "The Rabbinical Council of Judea and
Samaria issued a statement Thursday in
which it said that the results of the
incident in which Israel intercepted a
flotilla trying to break the naval
blockade of Gaza seem like the Biblical
description of "the beginning of the Gog
and Magog process where the world is
against us, but which ends with the
third and final redemption….
* "The Council was formed by Rabbi
Zalman Melamed of Beit El and includes
leading religious Zionist rabbis who are
the spiritual leaders of communities in
Judea and Samaria….
* "'Gog and Magog' is a reference is to
chapters 38 and 39 in the book of
Ezekiel, a part of which is read on the
intermediate Sabbath of Sukkot
(Tabernacles). These chapters describe a
vision of a war where the world is
united against Israel that will precede
the final redemption of Israel and the
world. The prophecy's symbolism involves
a prince called Gog of Magog, leader of
Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, who leads a
coalition that includes Persia (Iran),
Cush, Phut, Gomer, and Beit Togarmah
against Israel. There are various
opinions regarding the modern identity
of these nations."
There is growing interest in the Ezekiel
prophecies and whether they could play
out in our lifetime. I believe it is
still too early to say anything
definitively. But I agree that current
events are strikingly consistent with
the prophecies and I believe it is
possible that we could see these events
unfold soon. The mention of "Gomer" in
Ezekiel, for example, refers to the
modern-day State of Turkey which will be
an enemy of Israel and part of a
Russian-Iranian alliance against the
Jewish state. I'm not saying the
prophecy will necessarily come to pass
soon, but I can't rule out that
possibility. We've never seen a
convergence of geopolitical and
spiritual events so consistent with
Ezekiel 38-39 in history like we are
seeing today. We need to be prayerful,
sober, alert and prepared. At the
conference on June 25-26 in Philly, I
will address the latest developments.
But I knew you'd want to see this
article. It's posted on my weblog --
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/.
------------------------------------------------
2010 EPICENTER CONFERENCE UPDATE:
* Over 1,300 people registered
* Over 700 radio stations and several TV
networks will be broadcasting portions
of the conference
* Just 24 days left to register to
attend or to show the webcast to your
congregation
LEARN: To track the latest news and
trends from Israel and the epicenter on
Joel's weblog (http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com),
please click here
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