One of the world’s oldest Christian communities faces destruction

As this is the last issue this year of Prophecy Today and in a somewhat festive spirit, we thought that we would publish a humorous piece in contrast to our usual comment articles. We hope you find it thought-provoking!

In case you don't know what's happening in the Middle East...

President Assad (who is bad) is a nasty guy who got so nasty his people rebelled and the Rebels (who are good) started winning (Hurrah!). But then some of the rebels turned a bit nasty and are now called Islamic State (who are definitely bad!) but some continued to support democracy (who are still good).

So the Americans (who are good) started bombing Islamic State (who are bad) and giving arms to the Syrian Rebels (who are good) so they could fight Assad (who is still bad) which was good.

By the way, there is a breakaway state in the north run by the Kurds who want to fight IS (which is a good thing) but the Turkish authorities think they are bad, so we have to say they are bad whilst secretly thinking they're good and giving them guns to fight IS (which is good) - but that is another matter.

Getting back to Syria...

So President Putin (who is bad, 'cos he invaded Crimea and the Ukraine and killed lots of folks including that nice Russian man in London with polonium poisoned sushi) has decided to back Assad (who is still bad) by attacking IS (who are also bad) which is sort of a good thing?

But Putin (still bad) thinks the Syrian Rebels (who are good) are also bad, and so he bombs them too, much to the annoyance of the Americans (who are good) who are busy backing and arming the rebels (who are also good).

Now Iran (who used to be bad, but now they have agreed not to build any nuclear weapons and bomb Israel are now good) are going to provide ground troops to support Assad (still bad) as are the Russians (bad) who now have ground troops and aircraft in Syria.

So a Coalition of Assad (still bad), Putin (extra bad!) and the Iranians (good, but in a bad sort of way), are going to attack IS (who are bad) which is a good thing, but also the Syrian Rebels (who are good) which is bad.

Enter Britain...

Now the British (obviously good, except that nice Mr Corbyn in the corduroy jacket, who is probably bad) and the Americans (also good) cannot attack Assad (still bad) for fear of upsetting Putin (bad) and Iran (good / bad) and now they have to accept that Assad might not be that bad after all compared to IS (who are super bad).

So Assad (bad) is now probably good, being better than ISIS. And since Putin and Iran are also fighting IS, that may now make them good. America (still good) will find it hard to arm a group of rebels being attacked by the Russians for fear of upsetting Mr Putin (now good) and that nice mad Ayatollah in Iran (also good) and so they may be forced to say that the Rebels are now bad, or at the very least abandon them to their fate. This will lead most of them to flee to Turkey and on to Europe or join IS (still the only constantly bad group).

Sunnis vs Shias

To Sunni Muslims, an attack by Shia Muslims (Assad and Iran) backed by Russians will be seen as something of a Holy War, and the ranks of IS will now be seen by the Sunnis as the only Jihadis fighting in the Holy War. Hence many Muslims will now see IS as good (doh!). Sunni Muslims will also see the lack of action by Britain and America in support of their Sunni rebel brothers as something of a betrayal (mmm-might have a point) and hence we will be seen as bad.

A Helpful Summary

So now we have America (now bad) and Britain (also bad) providing limited support to Sunni Rebels (bad), many of whom are looking to ISIS (good / bad) for support against Assad (now good) who, along with Iran (also good) and Putin (also, now, unbelievably, good) are attempting to retake the country Assad used to run before all this started.

So now you fully understand everything, all your questions are answered!!

As Russian planes bomb Syria and clouds continue to gather over the Middle East, Clifford Hill asks: are we one step closer to the fulfilment of Ezekiel 38?

Once again Putin has outmanoeuvred Obama. At their meeting in Washington earlier this week, Putin offered the involvement of Russian forces in the fight against the Islamic State. Obama welcomed it! He didn't spot Putin's ploy!

Just Who is Russia Attacking?

Within 48 hours of their meeting, Russian forces piled into Syria with air-to-air missiles and SA-22 anti-aircraft batteries. But the Islamic State has no air force! So whose planes would Russia be shooting down? The only planes flying over Syria are American and French. No wonder the Russians delivered a one-hour warning to the American embassy in Baghdad telling them not to fly any missions.

Russia then launched air attacks upon the area occupied by Syrian rebels trained by the USA and supplied with American weapons in their fight against Assad. So what Obama agreed to do was the slaughter of those whom America has been supporting. Russia is now free to roam the skies over Syria in support of Assad without any commitment to destroying the Islamic State.

Obama accepted Putin's offer of military action against IS – and has unwittingly given Russia control over Syrian airspace.

International Alliances

This conflict is about far more than a disagreement about Assad's ability to rule: it is about strategic control of the entire Middle East. At the same time as launching the recent airstrikes, Russia has joined an intelligence-gathering centre in Baghdad set up by Iraq, Iran and Syria which effectively establishes a Shi'ite Muslim alliance over the whole Middle East from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea. When they have settled their battle for supremacy over the Sunni Muslims they will turn to their final objective – the destruction of Israel.

Russia knows that they only have another 16 months of Obama's weak presidency so now is the time to strike and establish their power base in the region. Meanwhile, anti-Assad rebel groups have their own international backers – including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as the US, the UK and France. Syria's civil war is fast threatening to become a proxy war – and could potentially escalate even beyond this.

The Shi-ite Muslim alliance being established over the Middle East has a final goal: and it's not victory over the Sunnis. It's the destruction of Israel.

Threat to Israel

The threat to Israel grows daily and becomes increasingly like the biblical scenario which was revealed to the prophet Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39 which speaks of an alliance between Iraq and Iran plus the North African states of Sudan and Libya, and the involvement of the Azerbaijan area of Russia (Eze 38:5-6), all gathering to attack Israel.

The big question facing us is this: is Ezekiel's prophecy inevitable? Or has it been sent by God as a warning of what could happen if we do nothing when violent men who care nothing for human life, armed with weapons of mass destruction, come together threatening the peace of the world?

We welcome your comments!