Damascus the world’s most Dangerous Destination!

By Bill Salus

According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, tourism in Israel has steadily declined in 2009 in comparison to 2008. There appears to be a developing concern among would be “holy land” travelers that a major Mideast war involving Israel, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and others is inevitable and soon to happen.

In a semi-related area, Israel’s concerns are further fueled by the genuine possibility that immigration into Israel will come to a complete halt the minute Iran possesses its own nuclear weapon. Ephraim Sneh, the former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, was quoted by the Jerusalem Post on 9/16/2009 as stating:

“If the Islamic republic (Iran) completes its military nuclear program, immigration to Israel would stop, young men and women would emigrate to pursue their future in places seen as more secure and investment in Israel would be reduced.”

Legitimizing the above holy land concerns are the additional geopolitcal facts that Mideast Peace talks remain at a standstill, the international community is further isolating the Jewish State, and Israel has been preparing its citizenry and military for a massive multi-front war for the better part of 2009!

Has the Middle East become the world’s most dangerous travel destination?

Perhaps so; many end time’s experts are predicting war is presently gyrating upon the prophetic radar. Several of them believe Damascus, Syria will soon be the site of the world’s next deadliest disaster! Ancient bible prophecies foretelling the coming destruction of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city increasingly pique the attention of today’s top eschatologists.

They fevereshly sort through the geo-prophetical blueprints to see if they appropriately align with today’s turbulant geo-political Mideast events. The interrelated prophecies of particular interest are contained in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Isaiah 17:1 declares that Damascus will someday cease to be a city. The prophecy suggests that it will be reduced to rubble in a matter of hours indicating that it becomes the target of a devastating attack. Only nuclear weapons could accomplish such destruction in a brief time period. Isaiah 17:9,14 encourages the possibility that such an attack is is conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces (I.D.F.).

Several bible translations, like the King James Version, New King James Version, and American Standard Version, seem to suggest that Jeremiah 49:23-27 depicts an I.D.F. attack emanating from warships located in the Mediterranean Sea. Presently Israel has several such warships purportedly packing that type of powerful punch patrolling therein!

Although Damascus, (pictured here), was overtaken around 732 B.C. by the Assyrians and has changed sovereign hands several times since, it has never ceased entirely from being a city. In fact today it thrives as Syria’s capital city, housing a population within its connecting metropolitan borders of about 4.5 million people. This is approximately one quarter of the entire nations population.

Futhermore, it is considered by many to be the central hub from which every known Mideast terrorist organization finds safe haven. In light of these important facts and many others, several prophecy scholars have safely deduced that Isaiah’s damnation of Damascus has yet to find its final fulfillment!

In the event Israel strategically strikes Iran’s nuclear sites and in return receives a massive reign of retaliatory rockets from a hostile multi-front venue, Damascus becomes Israel’s most opportune return target. By decisively destroying Damascus, the I.D.F. demonstrates to its Mideast foes that it intends to act boldly, swiftly, and victoriously. Furthermore by dooming Damascus, the I.D.F. limits the mobilization capabilities of several key terrorist entities expected to engage in the anti-Israel confederacy.

Presently Syria is among a multiplicity of world nations that disallow normal diplomatic international relations with Israel. In fact they, like Iran, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinians, and many more, refuse to recognize Israel’s right exist as the sovereign Jewish State.

Syria, along with Egypt, Jordan, and others, has prominately participated in the major Middle East Arab – Israeli wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973. However, unlike Egypt and Jordan, who have developed a wholesome fear of the I.D.F., Syria still rattles its sabers and stakes its claims upon the strategic Golan Heights, land which Israel currently possesses.

Although Egypt and Jordan have formulated fragile peace treaties with Israel, Syria has refused to emulate their examples. Instead Syria has opted to befriend Iran, Hezbollah, and the Hamas, all of whom exist as Israel’s greatest military threats today.

In light of the fact that Syria has refused to learn its modern day lessons regarding Israel’s right to exist in the holy land, it appears as though they are about to descend from a condition of denial into a dreaded circumstance of destruction.

Jeremiah 49:25 asks – “Why is the city of praise (Jerusalem) not deserted, the city of My joy?” By asking this question of Damascus humanity is caused to consider that there comes a time when Jerusalem and Damascus become two central competing cities. Jeremiah suggests that Syria will someday seek the forced exodus of Jews out from Jerusalem. Presently the Syrians and many of their Arab cohorts seek this very thing. They desire that Jerusalem become the capital of an additional Arab State called Palestine.

According to Jeremiah’s subsequent concluding prophetic words to Damascus, we discover the Syrian army will mobilize in a final attempt to separate Jews from their holy city of Jerusalem. However, this futile Syrian attempt will prove to be fatal, and in the aftermath, Damascus becomes the world’s most dangerous destination!

“Therefore her (Damascus) young men shall fall in her streets, And all the men of war (Syrian army) shall be cut off in that day,” says the LORD of hosts.” (Jeremiah 49:26; nkjv)

Currently there is credible chatter that an unprecedented increase in Christian conversions is taking place in Syria. However, this window of opportunity to preach the gospel in a predominately Arab Islamic country may be about to abruptly shut! If Damascus is soon to become the target of mass destruction, then perhaps these converts ought to be incorporating a sound exit strategy out of Syria within their temporarily flourishing Christian message.

Israel close to confirming Antichrist's death covenant!

There’s no fooling humanity anymore! Mankind nervously watches current international and Mideast events spin apocalyptically out of control. The world accelerates toward a one-world banking system, one-world order, and a one-world leader. The sign’s of the times suggest the biblical Antichrist has already arrived on the scene!

Atop the list of end time’s Antichrist signs are current Middle East war gyrations. The Bible predicts that hostilities between the Jews and their Arab and Persian enemies will rise to an unprecedented fever pitch. It further states that the whole world will someday turn against Israel, leaving the Jewish State to fend for itself. From the looks of things in the cradle of civilization, that time appears to have come!

Eschatologists email each other daily with new evidences that current events continue to reinforce their conclusions that humanity is hastening toward the dreaded “Tribulation Period”. Many of them teach that this 7-year period commences with a covenant confirmed for a similar duration between Israel and the Antichrist according to Daniel 9:27. Isaiah 28:15 and 18 identifies this Middle East peace - pact as a “covenant of death”. Isaiah’s rendition likens it to an agreement with Hell!

Undeniably the spotlight has again turned toward Israel, only this time the stakes have risen to an insurmountable high. All the Middle East prophetic chess pieces, political leaders, military arsenals, and terrorist organizations, like the Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, and Hamas are in place for the final showdown.

There appears no way around it, this must be it! The time has come for a charismatic world leader to emerge and put a peace-proposal together that puts the Middle East temporarily out of its misery and finally works!

I say temporarily, because the prophecy contained in Daniel chapter nine clearly foretells that the Antichrist will violate this peace treaty at the mid-point of the Tribulation Period. He then turns his hatred toward the Jews, and in Zechariah 13:8 we are informed that he will successfully kill two-thirds of the Israeli Jewish population living at that time. In light of other important preceding prophetic events, which I’m about to introduce, we can anticipate that the final Jewish body-count affected by his end time’s genocidal effort will total well into the millions!

This brings me to the prophetic point of this article whereby I must thrust a monkey wrench into most end time’s models. All the above is true, however the Bible declares that before the peace-pact is confirmed; powerful Mideast wars are foretold to occur!

According to yet unfulfilled prophecies contained in Isaiah 17, Psalm 83, and Ezekiel 38 & 39, Israel will first do battle against the Syria, Iran, the Hezbollah, and many other of their surrounding Arab enemies. Some scholars predict that these three Bible prophecies will occur soon, sequentially, and in rapid succession.

Isaiah 17:1 suggests that Israel is about to nuke Damascus turning it into a ruinous heap. Most military analysts suspect that Israel presently has the nuclear wherewithal to accomplish this damnation of Damascus. Isaiah’s entire prophecy seems to infer that the Israeli Defense Forces are the instrument through which the destruction of the world’s oldest continuously populated city occurs.

Psalm 83 encourages the possibility that Israel will then battle against the Palestinians, Hezbollah, Hamas, and many other surrounding Arab enemies, like the Saudis, Lebanese, Jordanians, and Egyptians. This prophetic psalm declares these enemies of Israel will unite to wipe the Jewish State off of the map, so that the “name Israel be remembered no more”. (Psalm 83:4)

As I point out in my book, Isralestine, The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East, this Arab confederacy likewise meets its demise at the hands of the I.D.F. according to assorted Bible prophecies.

Then flip a few prophetic pages forward to the war between Israel and Iran. After Damascus goes down and the inner ring of Arab populations that share common borders with Israel meet their pending doom as per Psalm 83, Iran is scheduled to team up with Russia, Turkey, Libya and a hostile host of others in fulfillment of the Ezekiel 38 & 39 invasion of Israel.

In light of Iran’s present full court press for a nuclear weapon purposed to wipe Israel off of the pages of time, this is the prophecy most frequently discussed by eschatologists today. Ezekiel 38:18-39:6 predicts yet another massive Israeli victory over Iran and its powerful allies.

At this point I could itemize the litany of current Mideast events that undeniably indicate the world has arrived at this final fateful hour; however that’s reserved for a subsequent article. What I deposit with you in closing is that the events leading up to the Antichrist’s 7 year temporary peace-pact with Israel are about to happen. As eerie the thought may be, one could possibly presume that the Antichrist may be alive and residing somewhere on the earth today!

Furthermore; the Israeli victories in the wars listed above dictate that the content of the false covenant will probably not contain the present Israeli-Palestinian 2-state peace proposals. According to Bible prophecy Israel soon defeats the Palestinians and their Arab cohorts; thus achieving this illusive peace militarily before the advent of the Antichrist. No; Isaiah’s covenant with death, will likely paint and entirely different geopolitical picture upon its pages.

To imagine its content, one must envision the existence of a significantly different, more prosperous and powerful Israel. A Jewish State that is probably much larger and more densely populated with Jews than the lesser Israel of today.
A Greater Israel, that dwells securely in receipt of vast Arab and Iranian arsenals and spoils of war. A prosperous nation that is freed from further Arab terror, torment, and threats to be wiped off of the map.

Only then can one search the scriptures to grasp the enormity of the Antichrist’s last days covenant with Israel. Christians today ought to understand current Middle East and world events in order to utilize Bible prophecy as a witnessing tool for reaching out to a harvest field of souls. The world is filled with humanity hunkering down and hungering for truth and prophetic information, and the God of the Bible has not let them down.

More to follow…

When Israel dwells securely Iran intends to invade

Bible Predicts Israel and Iran will go to war!

By Bill Salus

Current Middle East events suggest that several key prophetic biblical pages of the past have flipped open for their final fulfillment. The Arabs, Jews, and Persians are presently arming themselves for what could easily become the “Mother of Mideast Conflicts”. The ever illusive Arab – Israeli peace talks have become apocalyptically complicated by their collective concerns about Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

President Obama is actively trying to diffuse the volatile situation through the similar failed diplomatic efforts of the former Clinton and Bush administrations. Will he prevail? Is there a peaceful end in sight, or has humanity come to the crossroads of a powerful last day’s crisis?

The world cries “heaven forbid”, but heaven foreknows that war is inevitable.

According to an ancient Bible prophecy contained in Ezekiel 38-39, Iran, formerly known as Persia, will someday invade Israel. The Hebrew prophet declares that Iran, Russia, Turkey, Libya, along with a consortium of several other nations, invades a very wealthy Israel that is supposedly “dwelling securely” “without walls” in “the latter years”. Ezekiel declares that this end time’s confederacy plans to destroy the Jewish State and confiscate their national wealth.

For several sound reasons many respected eschatologists believe that the fulfillment of this prophetic event is near. However, in a previous article entitled, “Psalm 83 or Ezekiel 38, which is the next Middle East news headline”, I point out that it could be near but probably not next.

Presently Israel is not dwelling securely without walls in the prosperous condition Ezekiel describes. In fact, they have been preparing for a multi-front war with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and the Hamas in tandem with a possible strategic strike against Iran’s nuclear sites. Furthermore Israel has constructed a massive wall spanning approximately 400 feet intended to keep Palestinian terrorists out of Israel proper.

When will Israel dwell securely?

Ezekiel points out ten chapters earlier that a time is coming when the modern day Jewish State will dwell securely. This condition of national security results from forthcoming judgments determined against the Arab nations that share common borders with Israel. The prophet declares the following:

“And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God.”’” (Ezekiel 28:24-26; NKJV)

For approximately two-thousand years the Jews were scattered throughout the Gentile nations of the world and over the past sixty-one years they have been returning into the land of Israel. This is in direct fulfillment of the first part of this Ezekiel 28 prophecy.

Continued Middle East conflicts have evidenced that the Arab States and their sponsored terrorist organizations are indeed “all those around them [Israel] who despise them”. Thus they have become “a pricking brier or a painful thorn” to the reforming Jewish State.

Furthermore, Ezekiel declares that Israel will someday “dwell safely” and “build houses”. For the past sixty-one years Israel has been building houses in order to accommodate the influx of returning Jews into their ancient homeland. However, presently the Obama administration is pressuring Israel to freeze all home building in Palestinian occupied territories.

This political attempt to create peace between the Arabs and Jews is not the remedy prescribed in the Ezekiel 28 prophecy. The prophet does not encourage the forfeiture of Jewish land nor a moratorium on housing; rather he declares that devastating judgments are coming against the Arab States sharing common borders with Israel!

How will these devastating judgments be formatted?

irst and foremost it is of utmost importance to note that the God of the Bible does not delight in the destruction of anyone according to John 3:16, which states; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

However, these Arab populations are predominately Muslims and believe in Allah rather than the God of the Bible’s “only begotten Son” whom Christians declare to be Jesus Christ. Furthermore for the most part, they don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist and are the primary reason the Jewish nation does not “dwell securely” today. Their thorny behavior necessitates their forthcoming judgments.

These judgments will be executed through the might of the Israeli Defense Forces, who exist today in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Extensive details about these judgments are provided in my book Isralestine, The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East.

Israel “dwelling securely” “without walls” in “the latter years” whereby they can continue to “build houses” and “plant vineyards” without restriction occurs after the I.D.F. defeats the Arabs that surround and despise them.

According to another ancient Bible prophecy located in Psalm 83, these Arab States confederate in one final Arab attempt to wipe Israel off the map. This Psalm, which is a central theme of Isralestine, predicts that present political Mideast peace negotiations will fail forcing Israel and the “pricking brier” Arabs to go to war.

The modern day equivalents of this coming coalition consist of the Palestinians, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syrians, Saudis, Lebanese, Jordanians and Egyptians. This formidable confederacy represents those Arabs who have been the primary thorn in Israel’s side since it became a nation on May 14, 1948.

Isralestine references the important related Bible prophecies that find likely fulfillment as a result of this coming Psalm 83 war. Damascus, Syria will cease to exist. Jordan will surrender sovereignty to Israel. Israel will annex more territory and likely triple its present size. At least five cities in Egypt will belong to Israel. The Hamas will surrender in Gaza and many Palestinians will either be killed or become prisoners of war. Israel will take over oil and other Arab spoils of war.

Above is a sampling of prophetic results that enables Israel to remove the thorny hedge presently surrounding them and ultimately “dwell securely” in the Middle East. In the aftermath Israel will momentarily enjoy a brief calm before the next prophetic storm, which is the Ezekiel 38 and 39 Russian – Iranian led invasion.

Presently the international community frets over very serious rumors of war between Israel and Iran. The holy scriptures validate their concerns! However, Israel today is not residing in the specific conditions that Ezekiel 38 predicts. Therefore, there may even be a lesser conflict between the two nations before the massive end time’s Ezekiel 38 invasion occurs. In any case, the I.D.F. has a future—and probably soon--divine appointment to execute a series of military “judgments on all those [Arabs] around them who despise them.”

Also read Sean Osborne's related article now.