Bible in the News has been watching closely the a dramatic climax as Russia annexes Crimea and sets the precedent for future activities which will see Russia fulfil its role mapped out in Bible prophecy.
ST Andrew Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow. The inauguration of President Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin takes the oath to the people of Russia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bible students who have considered the prophecies of the Old Testament have long looked for a dominant, powerful and arrogant Russia. This understanding of Bible prophecy seemed almost laughable even only 30 years ago but since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s power has been on the rise. So much so that in recent events we see unfolding before our eyes the aggressive, ambitious and powerful Russia has now reached a stage where the other nations of the world can do little or nothing to keep her inline with their world view. This rise from the ashes of communism and dominance in the East is precisely what we would expect from examining Bible prophecy.
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The best the EU has been able to do is put asset freezes and travel bans on about 30 Russian individuals it holds responsible. In an article entitled “Putin laughs off sanctions as he signs bills to transfer Crimea to Russia” The Guardian newspaper reported Putin was jovial about the sanctions and even made jokes on the issue. He knows he is dominant and the West can do nothing of impact. {Russia’s President Putin and the Gogian Style Rule}
> Please do continue reading about Russia’s President Putin and the Gogian Style Rule + Tensions Rise after Russia makes a Move into Ukraine
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Russia’s President Putin and a dramatic move Russia annexes Crimea
Bible Truth & Prophecy is a remarkable on-line tool for establishing just how far removed from the teachings of the Bible mainstream Christian teaching has become. - Putin Threatened With More Sanctions as Russia Out of G-8 (marketsanity.com)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov played down the G8 snub.”If our Western partners believe the format has exhausted itself, we don’t cling to this format. We don’t believe it will be a big problem if it doesn’t convene,” he told reporters. - Putin formalizes Russia’s takeover of Crimea despite US and EU sanctions (en.mercopress.com)
Russia has put in place travel bans and asset freezes for nine prominent US officials and lawmakers in response to Thursday’s announcement of sanctions targeting Mr Putin’s allies by President Barack Obama.Senator John McCain, one of those targeted, joked in a tweet that he would have to cancel his spring break in Siberia. Putin said Moscow would not retaliate for the latest EU sanctions – although the Russian foreign ministry said there would be a response. - Prokhorov plans to move Nets company to Russia (grumpyelder.com)
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said on Monday he planned to relocate his company that runs the NBA team to Russia in keeping with the Kremlin’s call on Russian businessmen to repatriate their assets to help combat new US sanctions. The United States and European Union have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials and businessmen believed to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in protest at Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. The Russian […]
Click Here To Read The Rest of: Prokhorov plans to move Nets company to Russia
- Brooklyn Nets Ownership Moves to Russia, Amid Crimea Sanction Fears (time.com)
Last year, the Brooklyn Nets increased a whooping 47 percent in value, making it the fifth most valuable NBA club at $780 million. - So what happens next? Putins project of war (opentheword.org)
The pattern of aggression from Russia resembles Nazi Germany’s expansion at the beginning of World War II and there is real potential for the crisis to become a serious war. The situation is scary, and some Christians have wondered if this is the beginning of the end and if Vladimir Putin is the Antichrist.So should we be afraid?There are at least two things we should know:
- War is a project and successful projects always have deep roots in planning. The plans for this Russian conquest project are probably larger than the seizure of Crimea. Much more is planned and this is not a good time to be living near Russia.
- The Bible predicts where this project will go. Bible prophecy often predicts the future by showing how humans always behave. The past is the future in the Bible. For example, we were told 2000 years ago that there were already many antichrists among us (1 John 2:18) and “many deceivers are entered into the world … this is … an antichrist” (2 John 1:7). The final great Antichrist will be nothing new. He (or she) will be corrupt like all the others, but with the power to dominate the whole world.
- The United States In Bible Prophecy (wchildblog.com)
Most Bible scholars will say the United States is not to be found in Bible Prophecy. That is as far from the truth as possible. The United States in center stage in Bible prophecy. Bible Prophecy is a warning message from God. - Prophetic Bible Implications: Catholic Theologian Believes That ( End Of The World) Pope Francis Could Be The False Prophet And Has 12 Prophecies To Prove It, Russia Is Surrounding Israel With Its Military (Video), And Netanyahu Orders Israel Army To Pre (joecruzmn.wordpress.com)
Over in Russia Vladimir Putin is amassing his army as he surrounds the area that may lead to the long awaited Gog Magog War. The signs are all there for every Bible students to know the truth. World events are leading Russia to position itself to meet its prophetic destiny. On that day the Lord will show the world the greatest miracle of all time. - G-8 Down To G-7 As Leaders Exclude Russia From Meeting On Sanctions (teapartyeconomist.com)
Meeting for the first time since last week’s annexation of Crimea by Russia, Group of Seven leaders said last night they won’t attend a planned G-8 meeting which was to have been held in Sochi, site of the Winter Olympics, and will instead hold their own summit in June in Brussels.Both sides in Ukraine’s crisis spent the day calculating what to do next, with Russia consolidating its control over Crimea and maintaining forces along the border with Ukraine in the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the U.S. and its allies since the demise of the Soviet Union.“While a Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine can by no means be excluded, Putin must surely calculate that it would be a poor and risky option,” Roderic Lyne, deputy chairman of Chatham House and a former U.K. ambassador to Moscow, said in a website comment. “He also knows that it would trigger much deeper Western sanctions, which would hit his Achilles heel –- Russia’s declining, unreformed economy.”
Continue Reading on www.bloomberg.com - G-7 Threatens Russia With More Sanctions, Scraps Sochi Summit (conservativeread.com)
“We’re united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far,” President Barack Obama told reporters in Amsterdam earlier today at the start of a six-day trip that includes a nuclear-security summit in The Hague and a meeting with the heads of European Union institutions in Brussels.
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The G-7 — the U.S., Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, Canada and Japan — went back to its Cold War-era format, suspending what became the G-8 in 1998 when Russia was welcomed in. The group was all smiles around a Putin-less conference table in a photo posted on Twitter by European Commission President Jose Barroso, who attended along with EU President Herman Van Rompuy.“It’s Russia that needs to change course,” U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters.
Stepping Toes 
Hi
Again, I quite enjoy reading your posts & giving perspectives on events that are occurring.
I would like to understand specifically how you think that current events were predicted/prophesied in the Bible. i.e. what chapter/verse do you refer to? I would like to read myself. In the past I’ve been told of prophesies regarding Tyre being fulfilled. I followed up & read the Bible passage, and the passage talks of Tyre no longer existing. This prophesy is clearly never fulfilled, as people live in Tyre now – a bustling city, yet is claimed as an example still of the reliability of Biblical prophesy!
My understanding is that the prophesies in the Bible only talk of a power from the North – never naming Russia. Could it be a case of retro fitting events into prophesies? These prophesies tend to be written so vaguely as to allow fitting a huge array of outcomes into the prophesy to the satisfaction of believers. For example, say Canada or Finland arose and became a superpower – believers would likely still claim this as a ‘hit’ regarding the prophesy, as they’re still geographically North of Israel.
Also, given my current understanding of these prophesies, it seems like if the Bible prophesies meet your burden of proof for a legitimate prediction, but on what objective basis can you exclude other prophesies from mystics like Nostradamus? Note I’m in no way postulating that Nostradamus is credible – just that to me both seem to be questionable.
Sorry to bombard you with so many questions, none of which are intended to cause offense, but intended to prompt thought & discussion
Kind regards
Scott
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About prophecies in the Holy Scriptures it is not that they are filled in after they happened or that we do want to fit the previous happenings on what is told would go to happen.
In the many books from the bible we have several which brings some revelations of what shall going to happen at the end of times. It is for us to search or look at what is happening to come to see either it is what is been foretold or it is something else. Daniel is the prophet who can shed a light and which I would advice to read. His writings shall be easier to follow or to understand than the book written by John the evangelist with his “Revelation” that uses lots of symbols. (Revelation 1:3) In that last book of the Scriptures we clearly can see the following on from Daniel’s prophecies in Dan. 2, 7 and 8.
In Dan. 2, 7 and 8 prophecies are given that use symbols
— Dan. 2: a statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay (which is crushed by a rock);
Dan. 7: all sorts of made up animals;
Dan. 8; a ram and a goat
— to refer to nations (Dan. 2:37ff ; 7:17; 8:20-21).
Revelation is also a prophecy, and it uses similar language to Daniel’s (and Daniel’s language is explicitly defined as symbolic, non-literal). If these were the only connections between these two prophetic books, we could safely say that, due to the similarities with Daniel, the language in Revelation is also symbolic, non-literal. However, there are closer ties between the two books that demonstrate this even further.
We know some prophecies in the Bible (e.g., the prophecy in Daniel 8 about the Greeks defeating and replacing the Medo-Persian empire) are true because they have been fulfilled (the Greeks did defeat and replace the Medo-Persian empire) {‘Alexander the Great (356-323 BC)‘ from BBC History; ‘Ancient Greeks: Greeks at War‘ from BBC Primary History (both accessed 03/03/11).} — i.e., what they said would happen has happened. Because these prophecies have been fulfilled, it gives us confidence that the other, as yet unfulfilled, prophecies will one day be fulfilled. Through the fulfilled prophecies, God has shown that he is true to his word and that, therefore, we can trust (have faith in) what he says about things that are yet to happen.
It is true that we can only speculate and place things on matters told, which we can recognise or think to recognise, about things that the Bible does not explain.
We do have “The beast of the sea” with ten horns and seven heads, of Revelation 13:1-2 and 17:3-10, which we may understand to represent the kingdoms of men.
Revelation 13:1-2:
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.
This beast is a composite of the four beasts of Daniel 7. The four beasts in Daniel 7 had a total of 10 horns and 7 heads, and they included a lion, bear, leopard and something like a dragon. These four beasts represented four different empires (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome). It seems that the beast of the sea in Revelation 13 is a sum of the four beasts in Daniel 7, and so represents the combined “kingdoms of men”, or all human governments.
The beast from the sea reappears in Revelation 17 where it is ridden by a prostitute who represents the false church. In that chapter, the beast is described as a confederation of nations that will oppose Jesus Christ when he returns to the earth (Rev 17:12-14)
The beast of the earth
There is a second beast in Revelation 13 which comes out of the earth:
Revelation 13:11-14 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] .
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
This beast is also known as the “false prophet” (Rev 16:13] ; 19:20). It appears to represent a religious power acting on behalf of the first beast. Many interpreters have suggested that it is the Holy Roman Empire; others have suggested an Islamic power.
When we look at the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 which speaks of an invasion of the land of Israel from the “uttermost parts of the north” we come to know that the invader is Gog who is the prince of Rosh.
Ezekiel 38:2 (ASV) “Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him”
The name in the Hebrew text “Rosh” has been identified by different Bible dictionaries and lexicons as Russia. Langenscheidt’s Hebrew-English dictionary says under Rosh: “Proper name of a Scythian people, Russians.” The lexicographer Gesenius says under Rosh: “Proper name of a northern nation, mentioned with Tubal and Meshech; undoubtedly the Russians, who are mentioned by Byzantine writers of the tenth century by the name Rus.” This is Kievan Rus.
I am very well aware we do not have to accept everything from the ancient Christadelphian writers about possible ‘Soviet Union’ conquests. Their writings are from an 19th century imperialistic upbringing. As such it it powdered with lots of Great-Britain Empire chauvinism.
Today, while in the west the idea of “empire building” is very much out of fashion we can find several countries were it is still very much going strong. In the old Soviet countries there still can be found many who consider the many different states as part of one unit.
I do know that many are against the president of the Untied states of America and laugh at his ideas about Putin’s ambitions “to restore the Russian empire”. though it is not only Obama who likes to see that in the manner Putin is trying to get control again. It has been said that without Ukraine, Russia is no longer an empire. It is quite clear that Russia has no plans on giving up control of parts of Ukraine and letting them drift over to the west. Will there be war as Ukraine is saying? To this we don’t know. But from Bible Prophecy we do know that ultimately Russia will be dominant in Europe and build its empire.
As a result of his study of Bible prophecy, on January 1, 1850, John Thomas wrote some very interesting words, which we see coming to pass today. In the introduction to the book “Elpis Israel”, he wrote:
“The future movements of Russia are notable signs of the times, because they are predicted in the Scriptures of truth. The Russian Autocracy, in its plenitude, and on the verge of its dissolution, is the Image of Nebuchadnezzar standing upon the Mountains of Israel, ready to be smitten by the Stone. When Russia makes its grand move for the building-up of its Image-empire, then let the reader know that the end of all things, as at present constituted, is at hand. The long-expected, but stealthy advent of the King of Israel, will be on the eve of becoming a fact; and salvation will be to those who not only looked for it, but have trimmed their lamps by believing the gospel of the kingdom unto the obedience of faith, and the perfection thereof in “fruits meet for repentance”.”
Today Russia is making moves to maintain and expand it’s empire. There is currently a power struggle over who will dominate Europe. Will it be the Greek Orthodox East or Russia? Or will it be the Latin West centred around Germany and the Vatican. This power struggle between these great powers is today centred in Ukraine.
However, the West is financially weak and has a smaller military. Putin knows this very well and that there is no appetite for war in the west. There is little of a deterrent for Putin, so he is making moves to build up his image empire. These are events which students of Bible Prophecy have been waiting for over a 160 years. Today there are incredible events beginning to unfold in the world.
Is Ezekiel not talking of a massive confederacy of nations?
Ezekiel 38:
An aggressive leader termed Gog will arise (v2)
He will be the chief prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal – ancient names for the territory and peoples of Russia. (v2)
He will raise a military force which will come against God’s people of Israel (v4)
He will be personally involved with its military activities (v7)
The Jews will have been regathered to their land after a period of dispersion (v8)
Working with Russia will be the nations located East of Israel termed “Persia” in v5 – the ancient territory of Persia covered the region of modern Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. (v5)
Along with these the north African nations of Libya and Ethiopia will also be involved (v5)
Also Working with Russia will be a group of European nations – mentioned using their name of Gomer (v6)
As well as the peoples of Armenia under their ancient name of Togarmah. (v6)
Gog will act as a guard to these nations (v7) and justify his aggression as self defence of them.
In verse 18 we see that it is at this time when God will visibly act in human affairs and when we link the prophecy with companion chapters like Zechariah 12-14 we see that it is at this great crisis that Jesus Christ and the immortalised saints will appear to protect Israel.
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Hi Marcus
Appreciate the significant effort you went to in sending your well considered reply.
However, I’d suggest that we can only rely on biblical prophecies if there are real examples of prior prophecies coming true.
I know you referred to Daniel 8 predicting the Greeks defeating & replacing the Medo-Persian empire in 356-323BCE, but from my research it seems that the works of Daniel were written AFTER these events in around the year 165BCE. Therefore, the book of Daniel is predicting events after they have taken place!
I realise a number of Christian sites claim that this dating of Daniel is flawed, but reading them, and then other seemingly independant academic sites, it seems the Christian sites have everything to gain from their claims but claims are only based on wanting Daniel to be written earlier. Even a read of Wikipedia would be interesting to you:
“Dating[edit]Daniel’s exclusion from the Hebrew bible’s canon of the prophets, which was closed around 200 BCE, suggests it was not known at that time, and the Wisdom of Sirach, from around 180 BCE, draws on almost every book of the Old Testament except Daniel, leading scholars to suppose that its author was unaware of it. Daniel is, however, quoted by the author of a section of the Sibylline Oracles commonly dated to the middle of the 2nd century BCE, and was popular at Qumran beginning at much the same time, suggesting that it was known and revered from the middle of that century.[22]
The actual historical setting of the book is clear from chapter 11, where the prophecy is accurate down to the career of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and oppressor of the Jews, but not in its prediction of his death: the author knows about Antiochus’ two campaigns in Egypt (169 and 167 BCE), the desecration of the Temple (the “abomination of desolation”), and the fortification of the Akra (a fortress built inside Jerusalem), but he knows nothing about the reconstruction of the Temple or the actual circumstances of the death of Antiochus in late 164. Chapters 10–12 must therefore have been written between 167 and 164 BCE. There is no evidence of a significant time lapse between those chapters and chapters 8 and 9, and chapter 7 may have been written just a few months earlier again.”
So, we are left in a situation without any reliable proof of teh efficacy of biblical predictions.
What do you think?
Scott
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You have reason.
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Hi Marcus
I’m very much humbled by your reply & hope I haven’t upset you.
I honestly would believe in prophesies if the evidence supported it – I’m just struggling to find any that bear up to rigorous examination.
I’ve looked at Christadelphian views for a while & appreciate that you take the time to read others’ opinions. Truth be told, I was receiving Weekly World Watch from a Christadelphian in the UK called Andy Walton. When I pointed out that his views of gays were offensive (calling them an abomination) he grew increasingly irate, and when I questioned the accuracy of prophesy – Nebuchadnezzar etc he flipped out and started redefining terms and made up his own ‘facts’!
Anyway, the point I’m making is that you are extremely rare in your Christadelphian group in considering other views – it’s appreciated and admirable
Kind regards
Scott
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Thank you.
God bless.
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