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by Bill Perkins
God will openly humble Russia in the future. Pride comes before the fall. Is the prophesied defeat dead ahead?
Why God Gave Us Bible Prophecy
With over 25% of the Bible written in prophetic prose, there's apparently a good reason God gave us so much Bible Prophecy to study. Yet for some strange reason many churches today have simply quit teaching anything to do with prophecy.
The main reason God gave us Bible prophecy is to prove that the rest of the Bible is 100% accurate. This separates the Bible from the Koran, the Book of Mormon, and every other book in the universe because only God can predict the future.
And since 100% of all past prophecies were fulfilled literally, we know the future prophecies will also be fulfilled literally. If God says the millennium is 1000 years long, it doesn't mean "a long time." It means just what it says, in context.
Prophecy is comforting
Another reason God gave us Bible prophecy is to be a "comfort" to Believers. After penning several sentences discussing the Rapture, Paul gives us this command:
"Therefore comfort one another with these words." 1Thes. 4:18
We're comforted by knowing God is in control and that nothing is happening He didn't already know about and allow. God can't learn and therefore He is never surprised. There is not one thing happening in this country, or in your personal life, of which He wasn't fully aware and expecting.
But God is not mocked and in the future His wrath is coming again on this earth.
"and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;" Rev. 6:16
"Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God." Rev. 16:1
"The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. Men were scorched with fierce heat; Rev. 16:8,9a
But we're comforted because Bible prophecy tells us we're not going to have to endure God's wrath in the future seven-year tribulation because, thankfully Believers are taken away first.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1Thes. 5:9
But it's interesting that just after Paul discusses Rapture in his letter to the Thessalonians, God inspired him to write:
"For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;" 1 Thes. 5:2-4
This statement runs parallel with Jesus' words that just before the Rapture it will be JUST LIKE the "Days of Noah" (Mat. 24:37-39). In the Days of Noah the pagan world had no idea the worldwide flood was about to happen, despite Noah's lifelong preaching (2Pet 2:5).
Noah Knew
It's easy to see that Noah could quite easily tell when the flood was getting close. When he and his sons had finished loading all the food and water, and the animals began showing up in twos and sevens, Noah obviously could see that time was short. That day didn't overtake him like a thief in the night. Noah saw the signs.
So it's not wrong to look at the Biblical signs regarding the latter days. It IS wrong to set dates.
Israel Is God's Prophetic Timepiece
Therefore as we properly assess the prophetic signs regarding Jesus' return, the very first thing we should do is look at Israel. Israel is God's prophetic timepiece.
When God closes the Church Age dispensation (time period), He will again make Israel His primary focus as He shakes the earth to its core. So what are the main latter-day Biblical signs tied into Israel? Here's a big one...
The Northern Invasion Led By Russia
In Ezekiel 37, written over 2500 years ago, God promised to miraculously bring the dispersed Jews back to their land from the four corners of the earth after having been dispersed for almost two millennia.
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord 
will again recover the second time with His hand
the remnant of His people, who will remain...
And He will lift up a standard for the nations
and assemble the banished ones of Israel,
and will gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth. Is. 11:11-12
The first Jewish return was from their Babylonian exile, 586-538 BC. Their "second" return is from being scattered around the world in 70 AD, after rejecting their Messiah in 33 AD.
The Jews started returning from this worldwide banishment in 1917 and became a nation again in 1948. It's been 67 years since Israel became a nation again.
"God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew." Rom. 11:2a
In Ezekiel 38 and 39 Ezekiel prophesied that after Israel was back in her land, she would be invaded from the north by a group of nations led by Gog/Magog, and most Bible scholars identify this to be Russia. Listed in the group of the accompanying countries is "Persia," which in 1935 changed its name to "Iran."
Russia Today In Syria
I believe the timing of this invasion is most likely to be post-Rapture. So when I read this month that Russia has just instituted a new military draft for 150,000 conscripts, and is already operating militarily in Syria (north of Israel- see map) while working hand-in-hand with Iran, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is Bible prophecy being fulfilled literally.
The Missing Ingredient
But there still is one more prophecy to be fulfilled. The Bible says the purpose of the Ezekiel 38/39 invasion is to capture Israel's riches. Riches? The Bible says Israel will have GREAT riches in the last days. This is mentioned four times in two verses.
Ezek. 38:12 ...to capture spoil and to seize plunder,
Ezek. 38:13 "...'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?'"'
Until recently, Israel had no natural resources like gold, silver, oil or gas. This prompted Golda Meir, Israel’s Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974, to famously say, "Moses dragged us through the desert for 40 years to bring us to the one place in the Middle East where there was no oil.”
But that is changing and changing fast! And it's another reason we believe we’re getting close to the Rapture. Israel has recently struck oil! After discovering an abundance of gas around the coasts of Israel, an oil exploration company has finally struck oil. After drilling over 500 dry wells, Afek Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of Genie Energy, confirmed it struck a significant oil reservoir in Israel in 2015.
The discovery is a monstrous layer of oil over 1000 feet thick. They expect it to be large enough to produce billions of gallons of oil for Israel. They believe there's enough oil to both supply Israel’s energy needs as a country and also begin exporting oil to Europe. Think that will sit well with OPEC? (Ref. here)
Israel is playing down the oil discovery in the media so as to not to give other Arab nations more incentive to come against her. But there'll come a time when Russia invades with Iran to get Israel’s oil and whatever else she discovers in the land.
Russia Loses Badly
The Bible says this northern invasion fails miserably as it is God Himself who defeats the attacking nations:
"With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone." Ezek. 38:22
"I will strike your bow from your left hand and dash down your arrows from your right hand. You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field." Ezek. 39:3-4
Notice that it's God Himself who defeats Russia. Not Israel. Four times in the above He says, "I will." Just like God wiped out entire armies of Israel's enemies in the Old Testament, God will PERSONALLY defeat and humiliate Russia. And this prideful atheistic nation will know it was almighty God who defeated them!
"I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."' Ezek. 38:23
This is a good reason that this battle will take place in the next dispensation, post Rapture, because God's not personally wiping out nations with vengeance from the sky today. But the Rapture will change everything.
The Great Sword
This invasion will include nuclear weapons.
And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. Rev. 6:4
"...their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth." Zech. 14:12
Between the "great sword" and their "flesh rotting" before they fall to the ground, it sounds nuclear to me. So Iran WILL have nuclear weapons, and Russia of course already has them, and they'll try to use them against Israel.
God's Purpose For Crushing Russia
Post Rapture, the earth will be in a new dispensation. This new time period will be much different than the Church Age. The Restraining Power of the Holy Spirit will be gone.
People will be saved by faith in the Tribulation, just like before the Church Age, but those living in this new time will see destructive things worldwide that we never dreamed of seeing today.
And most interesting is that the purpose of this crushing defeat of Israel's invading enemies is to show both the people of Israel and the people of the world that God is not dead, but rather He is in complete control and is now actively defending Israel!
"I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."' Ezek. 38:23
"My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. Ezek. 39:7
With the United States having been decimated by the Rapture, this incredible victory by Israel over Russia and her cohorts will give Israel the confidence to fulfill this prophecy about militarily taking out ALL of her closest-in-proximity enemies.
Israel is 2nd only to the U.S. in the number of F-16s in her air force.
"In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem." Zech. 12:6
All of this wholesale destruction of the Arabs by Israel will bring the Middle East to its knees. Those nations next on Israel's hit list will beg for the world to stop Israel's carnage.
The 7-Year Peace Plan
The remaining Arab nations, and the rest of the world, promise the sky if Israel will just stop the destruction. Israel will reluctantly agree to a 7-year peace agreement between Israel, five Western European nations and five Eastern European Nations. (Dan. 2, 9:27)
The author of this peace agreement will be an unheralded man who comes out of nowhere. But the world is so impressed with his deft negotiation skills that tamed a previously untameable situation, they blindly support anything and all he does. More and more power is handed over to him.
Thus begins the Great Tribulation, which is also called the Time of Jacob's Trouble and/or The 70th Week of Daniel, which ushers in God's undiluted wrath on earth.
This is an exciting time to be alive and watch the 2500-year-old prophecies unfold before our very eyes. The information you gain from the Steeling Conference is excellent armor and incredibly helpful for understanding God's plan.
It's also vital information you can share with your friends, family and coworkers... because as the latter days Bible prophecies play out, it will be more and more obvious that a dispensational change might be just ahead! 🙂
Pray for eternal witnessing opportunities!
Shalom!
Bill
Those that follow Compass know that for 10 years I've been writing about Israel becoming a rich nation one day. My most recent article was in November 2014, entitled, "Why the World Will Envy Israel."
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Bill
