In Daily WATCH Volume 4 Issue 1, WITH THE HELP OF A FOREIGN GOD, I presented to you that the antichrist's main military might will not come from his own armies, but from Gog, chief prince of Russia. I pointed out that Gog is not Satan or the antichrist, but rather a demonic spirit that is the chief prince behind the power of Russia. I hope that within the article it did not escape your attention that I made it clear that the antichrist is not himself from Russia, but that Satan will have his underling, Gog, throw his support behind the efforts of the antichrist. The antichrist will come from Assyria/Babylon as is presented in Isaiah chapters 10-14.
Russian president Vladimir Putin set the course and agenda for his nation on Monday, July 19th ( http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=1052143&PageNum=0 ). The focus of Russia's efforts will now be to strengthen the CIS. The CIS is the Confederation of Independent States. This confederation came into being upon the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It consists mainly of satellite states that were once dominated by Russia and her Stalinist government. These states now have considerable autonomy and some have even joined the European Union and/or are being courted by NATO. This alarms Russia who seeks to regain her prestigious position as a world superpower.
Russia has become a key player in the oil markets by becoming the world's number one oil exporting nation. Russia seeks to be a counter influence to the power of the United States in the world and has gone about the task of not only strengthening the CIS, but is quietly seducing other states to join the CIS. These states (Iran & Iraq) are very rich in oil reserves. If brought within the CIS then Gog will become very powerful indeed. President Putin understands this and is determined to not only protect CIS/Russian interests from the encroachments of the EU and the U.S., but to eventually control the EU and dominate the United States! This can only be done by controlling the world's oil.
In Ezekiel 38 we see Gog coming against Israel with hordes. These hordes are the CIS supported by the EU and Middle East Islamic States. Verse 7 tells us that it is Gog who will take command of the hordes. It is Russia that will provide the military might of the antichrist, not Europe, not Rome.
Daniel 11 gives more
details. In this chapter we see that there will be a rivalry between
the northern oil producers and the southern oil producers. No,
it doesn't say anything about oil producers, but that doesn't
change the geo-political reality of how these end-time wars will
come about. Daniel refers to the antichrist as the king of the
North. The southern kingdom will be centered around Egypt and
be predominantly a North African alliance. What we are watching
is a cold war rematch between Russia and the United States for
world domination. Even now the United States has made a new cozy
relationship with Libya, a major oil producer who also holds much
sway over oil rich Chad. Egypt, the powerhouse of North African
nations and an oil producer herself, is second only to Israel
in the receipt of large volumes of advanced military hardware
from the United States. Algeria has taken Libya's cue by becoming
increasingly moderate towards the United States. All of these
nations have moderated their stance against Israel and some have
even discussed opening diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
It is no mistake that the United States has suddenly turned up
the heat on Sudan. For too long the U.S. has ignored the pleas
for help from the oppressed Christian south. Now suddenly Sudan
is in the spot light. Why? Because she is the only nation in the
North African block who represents instability. Although not an
oil powerhouse yet, Sudan has shown that she may hold large reserves
of untapped oil. The Chinese are currently among the few who are
exploiting this gold mine. The U.S. cannot allow this disruption
in the formation of the oil block that would ensure her of a future
of uninterrupted oil supply. She must now exert control over the
radical Islamic government in the capital city of Khartoum so
that they will fall in line with American/Egyptian leadership.
Interestingly, Ezekiel shows number two oil exporter, Saudi Arabia
(Sheba/Dedan), will be friendly to the king of the North and wanting
a share of the spoils, but is not depicted as part of the invasion
forces.
The invasion of Iraq
by the United States is an example of the more extreme actions
that nations will take in the future and what is depicted in Bible
prophecy as the norm in the last days. The U.S. efforts to bring
stability and "democracy" to Iraq was no doubt noble
in intention and in light of the war on terror maybe, in the minds
of many, arguably necessary. The present administration under
George Bush did not lie about its reasons for invasion. It really
did want to overthrow a totalitarian regime, it did want to deprive
a cowardly enemy of the vital support of a nation state. It did
want to bring freedom under a democratic government to the people
of Iraq and it did want to remove any potential threat to Israel
and other nations in the volatile Middle East. But all of these
reasons are a means rather than an ends. The United States saw
a block being formed by Iraq, Iran and Syria that was hostile
to Israel and threatened the status quo in regards to business
as usual in the oil markets. By stabilizing Iraq the U.S. hopes
to have, by means of war, established the continued flow of oil
and exert her influence among the nations to maintain her position
at the head of the line when it comes to filling up with Iraqi
oil. A free people will freely give to her liberators, so the
theory goes, hence the means justifies the ends. In her actions
the U.S. has shown the reasoning and agenda of the future and
exposed the desires of the nations. The nations, like France,
weren't whining in an effort to protect the Iraqi people, they
were trying to protect their own interests from U.S. domination.
Had the nations who stood against the U.S. had the power with
no one big enough to stop them then they would have done the same
thing the U.S. did.
You may remember that Russia also protested, but quickly turned
around and became supportive once they had seen that the U.S.
invasion was successful. Why did Russia become supportive? To
gain U.S. goodwill so that her oil development companies could
tap into Iraqi oil and thereby re-extending her already strong
influence in the region.
Islam is a major factor in the rise of the antichrist. He will present himself as the Mahdi to the more hyper elements of Islam in the northern Middle East nations, while presenting himself to the Christians and Jews as the Messiah. Islam will not have a problem with this due to the fact that they believe Jesus to be a prophet who will return to conquer alongside the Mahdi. Although the North African block does have pockets of radical Islam it is predominantly represented by moderate and secular parties who will not be as easily duped to give up their oil and sovereignty by the false claims of the antichrist to be the Mahdi. They will be confident that the power of the United States will prevail. They will believe this until, as Daniel says in verse 11:22, Then an overwhelming army will be swept away before him [antichrist]; both it and a prince of the covenant will be destroyed.
As you can see the kings of the north and the south are already established and are forming their final end-times configuration. The African alliance has already publicly disassociated itself from identity with the Arabs and from what they call the Arab war with Israel.
What will be the outcome of all of this? Daniel 11 shows the king of the North sweeping through Israel and lays out the defeat of Egypt. Her allies will betray her and capitulate to the antichrist. As the antichrist is raping Egypt he will hear of Israel's rebellion against him and set out in a great rage towards Israel where he will pitch his tents on the plains of Megiddo. There he will meet his end when Jesus Christ comes in wrath to violently overthrow the kingdoms of the earth and establish His everlasting kingdom on Mount Zion.
According to scripture, what we will refer to as the last World War will be lost by the king of the South and all her world allies. This will include the United States. The antichrist, by the might of Satan and Gog, will so ever briefly reign supreme across the globe.
Man can, of his free will, appear to delay such events, but they will still come at their appointed times. What God has said will be will come to pass!