"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst and to prepare for it." (Patrick Henry, 1775)
"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic declines. There has either been a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or an ultimate natural disaster." (General Douglas MacArthur)
In the last issue, we completed our discussion of the impending Russian-led invasion of Israel and the judgment that will fall upon the ``other country that lives in the safety of the far-distant coastlands" (possibly the United States). This issue will update you on recent events pertinent to the Ezekiel 38 invasion. We will also discuss some disturbing developments in Russia which may adversely impact the United States. Next time, we will bring you up-to-date on the ongoing Israeli peace accords and begin our discussion of the coming world leader, a.k.a the anti-Christ, that is likely to rise to power soon after the Ezekiel 38 judgment on Russia and the ``other country"
As discussed previously, Chechnya may prove to be one of the hooks in the jaw mentioned by Ezekiel that will be used to draw Russia into its ill-fated invasion of Israel. Chechnya is located just north of the Caucasus mountains in the Russian republic of Georgia, biblically referred to as Magog, the lead nation mentioned in Ezekiel 38. We also pointed out that Russia has now established, by Kremlin decree, ``a permanent army presence in the rebel area". That means that Russia has a burgeoning military presence just 900 miles north of Israel, effectively positioning the Russian bear for its final plunge south toward Israel and the riches of the Middle East.
On November 17, 1995 according to the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, Russia was to reduce its conventional forces in areas west of the Urals. But NATO not only let Russia off the hook, but has even allowed them to increase their forces in the area. There has been speculation that this was done to appease Russian anger over NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs. Whatever the reason, Russia now has an even larger strike force in close proximity to Israel. You may recall that appeasement was the same road taken to deal with Hitler's demands prior to full-fledged world war.
Russia is also rattling the saber at NATO. At the January 4, 1996 US/Russia/Ukraine nuclear arms reduction talks, Russian leader Pavel Grachev warned that the Kremlin would resist any further expansion by NATO. He threatened that any such expansion could force Russia to reconsider its commitments to arms pacts, stating: ``We will be obliged to re-examine our views on the role and place of tactical nuclear weapons and review our treaty obligations in the military sphere." According to Reuters News Service, Grachev went on to explain that Nato expansion could prompt Russia to consider creating a new group of forces ``consistent with new real threats."
Since we can be relatively certain that nuclear weapons will be used in the Israeli invasion, Grachev's comments are provocative. Furthermore, considering Russia's continued poor showing in the Chechnya war, their threats to further increase forces in the area is a major concern. Russia appears to be solidifying her position for the anticipated invasion of Israel.
Russia's weakness and incompetence in Chechnya is nothing more than theater. Russia has one of the largest, best-equipped and best-trained militaries in the world. They have an armed forces of 4.5 million, capable of totally annihilating Chechnya overnight. The feigned weakness and incompetence portrayed by the Russian military is for Western consumption, designed to support KGB disinformation that Russia is disintegrating in every way in their struggle toward democracy and capitalism. The Russians are not incompetent, nor are they our intellectual inferiors. They produce more than 50% of the engineers in the world and produce 2 1/2 to 3 times more patents per year than America does. They also lead America in nuclear technology, space technology, submarine technology and in many areas of advanced weapons technology.
The controlled basket-case economy that we see on the news is the result of their Marxist model -- Russia still spends 50% of their GNP on military operations. The Russian defense industry is 5 to 10 times larger than America's and is producing 6 to 7 times the volume of armaments. Russia is now the largest arms supplier to the world, including their prospective future allies in the Israeli invasion. They are currently supplying 4,000 tanks, gyroscopes for missiles and nuclear reactors to Iraq and Iran. They have also completely armed Syria with approximately 20 billions dollars worth of armaments over the years. They have fully armed Kuwait, which is even now moving into the Russian sphere of influence. Russia is selling submarines to China and North Korea. And, although they want the U.S. to believe that they are now our friend, they still have 40,000 nuclear missiles either aimed at the U.S. or in a state of readiness to be reprogrammed in 15 minutes.
Rudyard Kipling once wrote, in response to a deception campaign by Russia's Czar Nicholas II in 1898, an allegory entitled ``The Bear That Walks Like A Man". He wrote about a man who was maimed and blinded when a bear he hunted stood up, as if in supplication, and the hunter ``touched with pity and wonder", withheld his fire only to have his face ripped away by the ``steel shod paws". Kipling wrote:
``When he stands up as pleading in wavering man -- brute guise, When he veils the hate and cunning of his little swinish eyes, When he shows as seeking quarter, with paws like hands in prayer, That is the time of peril -- the time of the Truce of the Bear."
Using deception as a strategic weapon is not new to the Russians. Sun Tsu, in 500 B.C., wrote: ``All warfare is based on strategic deception...as we advance through retreat." This dialectic (appearing to retreat and then lunge forward toward the real objectives) is the basis for Russian strategic deception. For example, this present era of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) is the sixth since the 1920's. It should be noted that their previous five attempts at deception all ended abruptly with the Russians reverting to their old Marxist-Lenin model (which they never really abandoned). The purpose of this current perestroika should be clear from the following quotes:
Mikhail Gorbachev, in a speech to the Politburo in November, 1987 stated: ``Gentlemen, comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about glasnost and perestroika and democracy in the coming years. These are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal change within the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep. We want to accomplish three things: One, we want the Americans to withdraw conventional forces from Europe. Two, we want the Americans to withdraw nuclear forces from Europe. Three, we want the Americans to stop proceeding with Strategic Defense Initiative." This speech was reported by Sir William Stephenson, the former head of the Combined Allied Intelligence Operations during World War II.
How well do you think the Russians did on accomplishing their goals as cited by Gorbachev?
Elena Bonner, widow of Russian dissident Sakharov, stated: ``The point is that the Communist goal is fixed and changeless -- it never varies one iota from their objectives of world domination, but if we judge them only by the direction in which they seem to be going, we shall be deceived."
``Telling the truth is a bourgeois prejudice. Deception, on the other hand, is often justified by the goal." (Vladimir Lenin, 1921)
Clearly, the Russian strategy to disarm the West is based on deception and disinformation. This present perestroika started in the mid-80's but picked up steam with the August, 1991 three-day coup which allegedly overthrew Gorbachev. The coup was most likely a sham, staged for Western consumption.
Gorbachev was not executed. He was merely sequestered at his comfortable summer home, supplied with a fax, a phone and other amenities. He is now the head of the Gorbachev foundation, a one-world government think-tank dedicated to solving the world's problems.
Is it not interesting that the Gorbachev Foundation was established in California on April 10, 1991, a full four months before the August `91 coup?
This coup was carefully planned to deceive the West. It was a plan which, as incredible as it might sound, was in print in 1984. Anatoliy Golitsyn, an ex-KGB official, wrote a book entitled New Lies for Old, which outlined Russia's present strategy of disinformation, deception and conquest. This book can be obtained from your public library but, summarized and paraphrased, the Russian ``script" for deception is as follows:
1) Yield ``nominal" control of Eastern Europe.
2) ``Superficially" encourage democratic movements in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
3) Open the Iron Curtain and tear down the Berlin Wall.
4) Allow reunification of East and West Germany.
5) Declare Communism dead, the Cold War over, and the Communist parties of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to be dead or irrelevant.
In Eastern Europe, the Russians would:
6) Purge the old guard (the hardline Communists) and bring in lesser-known Communists or Communist collaborators, called reformers.
7) Change the name of the Communist party, while declaring Communism in that particular Eastern European country dead.
8) Give birth to new ``democratic opposition organizations" that are in reality controlled by the KGB.
9) Hold so-called ``free elections" which are in reality manipulated and controlled by the Communists.
10) Announce the termination and dismantling of the secret police, while actually reshuffling and reassigning the operatives and keeping organizations very much alive, but in a different form and with a different name.
11) Use the present period of euphoria, confusion and chaos in the West to infiltrate hundreds of secret Communist agents into the West.
12) Obtain Western concessions, including:
a) America and the West would assume Russia's 40-50 billion a year financial burden (which we have done!).
b) A reunified Germany would become neutral, with a decided tilt toward Russia; and Germany, the European mainstay of NATO, would help neutralize NATO.
c) American troops would be pulled out of Western Europe.
d) Nato would be neutralized.
e) America and the West would bail out the basket-case Soviet economy.
f) Western and Eastern Europe would be merged into one economic bloc.
g) America and the West would massively disarm in the ``post-Communism/post-Cold War" era, while the Soviets quietly and covertly continue to build their military strength under the guise of peace, poverty and friendship.
h) America would discontinue support for the anti-Communist resistance movements around the world (as we did with the Contras).
i) American troops would be pulled out of the Philippines and South Korea.
Just about every goal outlined above has been completely or partially achieved. Their glastnos/perestroika sham is about to end (as can be seen by the recent parliamentary elections in Russia) -- but not before getting the West to disarm and lower its defenses -- while at the same time getting us to send them hundreds of billions of dollars in aid.
Pavel Grachev, Minister of Russian Defense, must have been laughing inwardly at the naive Americans when he pushed the button and blew up an American missile site in October, 1995. It was a media show designed to prove to the world that we are at peace with each other and there is nothing to fear.
In the ``spirit of cooperation", Russian troops geared up for their first-ever training exercise on U.S. soil at Wichita's Fort Riley in preparation for one-world-order peace-keeping missions. Meanwhile, across the Russian nation, similar missiles are still targeted at the U.S.
As mentioned, the recent parliamentary elections in Russia indicate that the current glasnost and perestroika (``the step back") is about over. The ``step forward" is about to begin. During this phase, it is likely that Russia will play hard-ball with the West, offering a more moderate stance in exchange for more concessions and monetary aid.
Although the Duma (parliament) is not the source of real power in Russia, the election results are a strong indication of the direction the June, 1996 Presidential elections will take. To summarize, of the 43 parties running, the Russian Communist party and Zhirinovsky's ultra-national party combined, took 33% of the vote. Other socialistic factions garnered 17%, giving the hard-line Communists 50% control of the parliament, splintering their reformist opposition across dozens of smaller factions and giving them clear control of the Duma.
Anriav Karatnycky, president of Freedom House, wrote in the December 19, 1995 Wall Street Journal: ``Sunday's election results set the stage for a post-Communist Russia that is internally repressive and externally aggressive. Welcome to the emerging Russia -- home of socialism with a fascist face."
The top contenders for the presidential election in June are all hard-line Communists, and decidedly anti-West. They are:
Gennady Zyuganov, Communist party leader. He and his party campaign under posters of Stalin and are virulently anti-West. His party line? ``Russia has fallen victim to the West's quest for global domination; the reformers have looted the nation's vast wealth under the guise of privatization." He is a top contender.
Vladimer Zhirinovsky and his Liberal Democratic Party are ultra-nationalistic. In his book, The Last Dash South, he advocates a Russian invasion of the Middle East and a takeover of the Persian Gulf oil fields. Shades of Gog of the land of Magog, who will invade Israel to take a spOIL (Eze 38). He believes Russia still owns Alaska, believes the West is the enemy of Russia and has threatened to unleash a nuclear holocaust against the West.
General Alexander Lebed and his Congress of Russian Communities is also in contention. He is known as the ``Russian Colin Powell". He advocates a new Soviet bloc to oppose the West, restoration of the old Soviet Union, throwing out the capitalists who have ``wrecked the Russian economy", cracking down on the wealthy, and restoration of the ``historical fatherland". He states that ``Russians do not want the stagnation of advanced socialism or the degradation of capitalism: We want our own, Russian way of development." He was one of 123 military officers who ran for office in December, an unprecedented number, illustrating the power the Russian Army still wields in the Russian political arena.
Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet Dictator, may be the wild-card in the upcoming elections. This former Soviet leader and KGB insider is now a resident at the Presidio in San Francisco, from where (can you believe?) he advises Clinton on which U.S. military bases to close. He is a leader in the New World Order and still a powerful and influential man. He recently hinted that he might run for president next June as the ``savior of the reform movement" and an alternative to ``reformist" Prime Minister Chermomydin.
Clearly, the June elections will be a watershed event which will, in all likelihood, affect the course of human history and may be the next step toward the Russian-led invasion of Israel (although this invasion could still take place at any time).
It will also spell disaster for the Jews remaining in Russia. For example, it was Zhirinovski who made statements such as ``Jews are infecting the nation!" ``The Jews were to blame for the first two world wars, and it is they themselves who have provoked anti-Semitism." ``In Russia today, Jewish children are going to school while our children are hungry. If you elect me I will put a stop to it." ``It would be best if they (the Jews) would all go back to Israel." God tells us in Jeremiah 16:12-16 that, following a period of Jewish evangelism in the land of the north (Russia), the hunters will come in. The persecution will begin again. We may very well find that the opportunity to evangelize Russia and the former Russian satellites will come to an abrupt end after the June elections.
On January 5, 1996 Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev resigned. He was considered a bridge-builder with the West, but Communists and Nationalists -- the big winners in the December 17 parliamentary election -- have accused him of letting Russia be sidelined on the world stage, particularly over the crises in the former Yugoslavia. (Editor's note: this may mean an increasing hard-line Russian influence in Bosnia in the months ahead.) Yeltzin spokesman Sergei Medvedev, stated: ``Western countries should not regard the resignation of Andrei Kozyrev from the post of foreign minister as any kind of threat or as an indication of change in Russia's foreign policy."
Medvedev's comments notwithstanding, it appears that this is not the case. On January 9, 1996 Yeltzin named spy chief Yevgeny Primakov as Russia's foreign minister. Primakov has been head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) since its inception by the division of the KGB secret police in 1991.
``Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)
``And He (Jesus) Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:11-13)
Pat Robertson recently stated on CBN's 700 Club: ``We (the church) have been playing with prayer. We need to get desperate in prayer for the nations of the world and for the United States. The people of America are in jeopardy because of abortion, murder, false gods....we will pay a price."
Dumitru Duduman, a Rumanian Bible runner behind the Iron Curtain was, on more than one occasion, captured and tortured for the sake of Christ. But God miraculously delivered him each time so His work could go on. He was later sent to the United States to warn her people that God is getting ready to judge America. He spent 10 years here and was then released by God last November to return to his native Rumania. According to Duduman, one of the reasons that God is going to judge America is because of sin in the church: ``We go after foreign gods...the American church has adultery, fornication, sodomy, divorces, and abortions...if we repent with all our hearts, and call Jesus to help us, we will stop sinning."
Warnings from God's prophets that America is under God's hand of chastisement. ``The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it." (Proverbs27:12).
The news from Russia is more than disturbing. And considering America's fall from grace (as evidenced by God's continuing signature judgments upon this country in the form of increasing natural disasters), one must conclude that America is in harm's way.
God tells us in IIChronicles 7:13-14: ``When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people; if my people [emphasis added], who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Clearly, it is the Church -- people called by God's name -- which must repent if judgment is to be withheld (at least for a season). Our response to God's signature judgments should be national repentance and fervent prayer, starting with the Church. This country must once again become a God-believing and God-fearing people, ``one nation under God", before it is too late.
We can never say this too many times: God only lets sin go so far. When sin reaches its fullness, final judgment will come. Judgments are often progressive, sent as warnings for the sake of national repentance and to turn the hearts of the people back toward God. But, if unrepentant, God will eventually bring severe chastisement. One of the final stages of judgment is when God allows a country to be taken captive, either physically or philosophically (held hostage to the demands of another country).
How does this apply to America? Please reread the three-part series entitled: ``What in Heaven is Happening to America?" The information contained therein is more relevant today then ever before. It will give you a spiritual understanding of the events that are transpiring in America. Recognize that America is at a critical crossroads which will dictate her future destiny. If you don't have this series, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope (two stamps) and we will gladly forward it to you.
On December 8, 1995 Reuters News Service broke a story regarding Russian nuclear submarines shadowing U.S. missile subs and aircraft carriers off the east and west coasts of America. Navy officials told Reuters that Russian Akula attack subs and Oscar-2 cruise missile subs were detected off Georgia in the Atlantic and in the Pacific off the Washington coast in recent months. They have shadowed the U.S. aircraft carriers ``Abraham Lincoln" and ``Independence" in the Pacific, and the ``America" in the Atlantic. It was the first flurry of activity since 1987 and reinforced Russia's commitment to a high-tech submarine fleet.
Russia is indeed continuing to arm, building 12 high-tech submarines a year, while selling their old technology to China, Iran and other countries eager to buy their weaponry. Russia is, in fact, the number-one arms supplier in the world. The cat-and-mouse game played between the U.S. and Russia are war tactics, designed to neutralize the opponent and prevent a counter-strike in the event of a preemptive first-strike by the Russians.
Although many people are in denial over America's vulnerability to Russian aggression, it is a real possibility. But only if God allows it. Daniel, chapter 2, tells us that God is in complete control of the rise and fall of nations. It is a fact that Russia is more dangerous today then at any time in their history. Their ultimate fate, however, is already sealed. When they do make their final plunge south, as Zhirinovski's book title suggests, the word ``final" will prove to be prophetic. Russia will be judged by God.
Staging for the Ezekiel 38 battle is continuing at a rapid pace. This battle could happen at any time. When it does occur, America could also be judged by God. Regardless of America's linkage to the Russian invasion of Israel, America is ripe for judgment. Pray for America!
Therefore, repent before it is too late! Grow close to God, learn to hear His voice, be obedient to what He tells you to do, and pray that you will be found worthy to escape the judgment coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man. God will protect his bond-servants, but only those who are obedient and truly sold out to Him.
Maranatha!
Several years ago I went to hear some intercessors from Sid Roth's ministry who had just returned from the mission field. Following their presentation they gave people the opportunity to come up and be prayed for ``that God would take us to a higher level of anointing to be used in His service". When he asked me what He could pray for on my behalf, I did not tell him, but simply stated that I wanted whatever God had for me. I had never met this man, he did not know me. He knew nothing of my interest in biblical prophecy and current events. He started to pray and then he began to prophesy: ``You are a watchman, you have the ability to see the distant future clearly as We both wait for My return...you are being given the gift of discernment" Exciting indeed, however, with gifting comes responsibility:
``Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: When I bring a the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but the blood I will require at the watchman's hand.....Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die...." (Eze 33:1-6,11)
Some of what you read in these issues may be upsetting to you, but the Bible clearly warns that ``if the trumpet makes an unclear sound, then who shall prepare himself for battle." (1 Cor 14:8) The warning must be given and it must be clear. For Ezekiel tells us, ``if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but the blood I will require at the watchman's hand".
So let me be clear on a couple of points. God's judgment is clearly upon America, Russia might be the instrument that God is preparing to bring chastisement on this country, and unless the church repents that judgment may be immutable. The danger I see must be reported.
But do not fear. Remember God will keep in perfect peace those whose eyes are fixed on Him. Recognize that God also knows how to deliver His people while reserving the unrepentant for judgment. The newsletter on the Return of th Bear coupled with the three-part series entitled: What in Heaven is Happening to America", is a renewed call to repentance on the part of the Church, before it really is too late.
At the same time, all the Biblical predictions of Christ's second coming are coming together ALL AT THE SAME TIME in our generation. We must be "watching and praying therefore, that we would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36). God is returning very very soon. Do not be deceived by the scoffers who say He will not return, but rather pray and ask God to cleanse you from every besetting sin that still remains within you, learn to hear His voice and above all be obedient to His commands.
It is with the Apostle Peter that we say to you:
"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, `Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.' For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation - as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."
"Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
Maranatha!
References:
The McAlvany Intelligence Digest, Jan. '94,P.O. Box 84904, Phoenix, AZ 85701
The McAlvany Intelligence Digest, Mar. '95,P.O. Box 84904, Phoenix, AZ 85701
The McAlvany Intelligence Digest, Jan. '96,P.O. Box 84904, Phoenix, AZ 85701
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