You Are Being Used, Mr. Ahmadinejad

Is Satan influencing your heart and mind Mr. Ahmadinejad (Iranian President)? Undoubtedly he is. Don't you know that you cannot defeat God's chosen people? To Abram, God said: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse" [Genesis 12:3]. God has not/will not rescind his covenant with Israel, the "apple of his eye". I've been on vacation, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's always fantastic getting away from daily responsibilities. On this vacation I spent a lot of time playing with my “ankle-biters” (aka kids) and doing a bit of reading.

What I’ve been reading in the news lately is simply amazing. Just this last week I read about the situation in Iran: how Iran is using new centrifuge technology to process uranium four times faster than standard technology, and how Ahmadinejad is thumbing his nose at the IAEA and the UN Security Council – (something tells me this man doesn't care about economic sanctions). The Iranian people are solidly behind him, and any sanctions are months down the road IF the U.S., Britain and France can even successfully negotiate sanctions with Russia and China, the other members of the UN Council with veto capability. Unfortunately for the western world, China has just inked a $200 billion oil deal with Iran and Russia is economically tied to Iran's nuclear industry. Both China and Russia are adamantly opposed to any sanctions.

Other News This Week:
Mossad chief Meir Dagan met at the White House. Mossad is the Israel equivalent to the US CIA. There's no doubt that Israel is getting nervous about the fanatical rantings of Ahmadinejad, who's stated that he wants to push Israel into the Mediterranean Sea and wipe it off the map. Huge question: will the international community be able to do enough against the Iranian threats to keep Israel from pulling the trigger? This weekend, Israel successfully launched a sophisticated spy satellite to keep an eye on Iran (launched from Russia, interestingly enough). Iran already has conventional missiles aimed at Israel in Lebanon, manned by the Hezbollah. Lastly, Iran has been testing high speed torpedoes in the Straight of Hormuz, where 25-35% of the world's oil flows through aboard supertankers.

”Lay off the conspiracy novels, dude”, you say? Let's just say, I will be incredibly surprised if this kettle, containing a perfect storm, doesn't boil over in short order. I think the world may be in for a painful jolt. Not just an economic recession due to sky-rocketing oil, but I wonder if this could be Ezekiel 38:16 in the making: "You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes." If I were not a fervent believer in the infallibility of God’s Word, I would find it hard to believe that we could witness the end of this age - it would simply be too surreal and unbelievable. But God's word is true - it is only a matter of when these things happen. Praise God!

One more brief thing and then I'll close. I've read Ellis Skolfield's "The False Prophet" as I stated on my last post. Very interesting book! A point that Skolfield makes in his book is that the abomination of desolation of Matthew 24:15 (etc) is the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock that have been desecrating the former sites of the Solomonic and second temple since 688AD, on the temple mount in Jerusalem. Actually the location of the Muslim mosque and dome is in the court of Gentiles, which gives perfect meaning to Revelation 11:2 "But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." Skolfield makes an interesting, if not an almost irrefutable argument that the third most holy site in Islam is the abomination of desolation upon the temple mount, and upon the site of Lord God Jehovah’s holy of holies.

I plan to write more about Skolfield's book because his theories have support within scripture. They do not adhere to a literal 7-year tribulation with the anti-Christ in the middle, but I think we need to be open to challenge end-time theories made in the 19th century, when confronted with scripture that may be saying something else. The devil deceives the whole world, as I wrote earlier, so challenging what is commonly accepted is not a bad thing, but it all needs to be done under the light of God’s word. Thank God that we have a solid foundation to test and approve what is good and what isn’t.