Most Christians are expecting Russia to invade Israel. They get this from a misunderstanding of Ezekiel 38 and 39. The invaders are not Russia, but "Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal" (Ezekiel 39:1). Also included in the list of invaders are Persia, Ethiopia, Put (Libya), Gomer and the house of Togarmah (Ezekiel 38:5, 6).

Because many theologians have assumed that the Jews are Israel, they first have assumed that Zionism was a movement of Israelites to the old land in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. That was their first grave mistake, for the Jews claim descent from the southern house of Judah, which included only three tribes: Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. While there were certainly a few individuals living among them from other Israelite tribes, such as Anna, who was of the tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36), these other individuals did not constitute other tribal units. The tribal unit resided in the prince of the tribe, and the tribe could properly be said to be where that person was living.

Secondly, many theologians have assumed that the Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah continued to carry the tribal name of Judah. But Jesus was the prince of the tribe of Judah, and thus the tribe of Judah itself resided in Him and in those who followed Him. Those who staged a revolt against Him and usurped the throne certainly did take the name of Judah, but it was done so in violation of the law, for by the law (Lev. 17:4) they were cut off from among their people. Hence, non-Christian Jews are not legally of the tribe of Judah -at least not in the sight of God. The only way a Jew can be re-instated into the tribe of Judah is if he quits the revolt and is grafted to Jesus, who is the trunk of the Judah Tree. Those who continue in the revolt are legally defined as God's enemies.

Who is Gog?

Gog literally means "great" or "lifted up." It is spelled gimel - vav - gimel. The gimel is the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The letter gimel literally means a camel, but it also carries the symbolic meaning of being lifted up. This is because the camel normally kneels for a rider to mount, and then the camel rises to lift the rider. It can also carry the symbolic meaning of pride-being "lifted up" in one's own eyes. When a camel walks, it holds its head high with its nose in the air. A camel appears to walk with pride.

Hence, the name, Gog, spelled with two gimels, literally means "doubly lifted up in pride." The middle letter is the vav, which literally means a nail or peg. It also serves as the word "and," because it is a conjunction. A conjunction joins (or nails) two things together. So literally, Gog could be literally rendered "pride and (more) pride."

All nations have national pride, but it seems to be an exaggerated characteristic of Gog in this prophecy. Yet we read in Ezekiel 38 that Gog is " of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." This is more helpful. The land itself is Magog, who is mentioned in Gen. 10:2 in the genealogy of Japheth:

² The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. ³ And the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. ⁴ And the sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim.

Madai was the father of the Medes. Javan is Greece, Tubal (Tubolsk) and Meshech ( Moscow ) are cities in Russia. These places are not often disputed.

Gomer is a bit more difficult to identify. Many theologians identify Gomer with Germany, because the Gimirra migrated from Assyria into Europe, with a large contingent of them going north to the shores of the Baltic Sea about 250 A.D. That history is also beyond dispute. However, the theologians have misidentified Gomer, saying that the Gimirra were from Gomer, son of Japheth and the brother of Magog. They are wrong here. It is a classic case of confusing two people named Gomer.

There was another Gomer in the Bible-the wife of Hosea. This Gomer was a type of Israel, a harlot bride, whom the prophet was told to marry, even as God had married Israel, who had become a harlot in following after false gods.

Gomer (or Ghomri) was the official Assyrian name for the house of Israel, the northern tribes that it conquered and deported to the area south of the Caucasus mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is there that the historians find the Gimirra. But these people are not descended from Gomer, the son of Japheth. They are Israelites who were called Gomer by the Assyrians. This is proven by all the stone monuments and historical records of the past, including the Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer and the Moabite Stone.

Germany, then, certainly represents a large portion of the Gimirra (Gomer), but this does not mean they are descended from Japheth. The Germanic people were largely refugees from Parthia, which fell around 226 A.D. Parthia included the territory of the old Assyrian Empire, and these Gimirra-Israelites had lived there for centuries. When the Persians conquered Parthia, these Gimirra were pushed into Armenia, where they held the line against the advancing Persians. However, that small country was not big enough to house such a huge number of people. Hence, they migrated north through the Caucasus Mountains into Europe, and within 25 years they had settled in northern Europe. They are, therefore, one of the nations formed by the exiles of the northern house of Israel, who migrated into Europe.

Gog represents a people known for their pride, who come from various nations. First, they come out of the land of Magog (the prince of Rosh, or Russia ), but they are not the Russians themselves. They come out of Moscow and Tubolsk, cities of Russia. They also come out of Persia ( Iran ), Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer ( Germany ), and the house of Togarmah. But they are not Persians, Ethiopians, Libyans, or Germans themselves. They are, in fact, Jewish-Zionist immigrants, who have come out of all of these countries to join a particular struggle and to participate in a war of immigration.

Menachem Begin called it "The Revolt." Nearly everyone called it a "struggle." It was certainly a war, and it was certainly an invasion of "the mountains of Israel." But perhaps the real key is in seeing who Togarmah is today. The house of Togarmah from the north is mentioned in Ezekiel 38:6 as one of the invaders of the mountains of Israel.

Togarmah in Bible Prophecy

The reason so few people seem to know anything about Togarmah in the modern list of nations is not because of a lack of historical data. It is rather that most theologians are afraid to speak of it above a whisper-if they know anything at all about Togarmah. Yet there is a historical document in Spain that tells us specifically about Togarmah and his descendants.

During the Middle Ages, from about 600 to 1200 A.D., there existed a kingdom in southern Russia all the way south to the Caspian Sea known as Khazaria. It reached its peak about 960 A.D., when the Rus, a Varangian tribe that evolved into the Russian people, began to conquer the Khazars and replace their nation with their own- Russia. According to their own records, the Khazars were descended from Togarmah.

Khazaria was a nation ruled by Jews, or rather, Khazars who had converted to Judaism. Some historians say this occurred around 630 A.D., while others say they were converted around 740 A.D. The precise date of this conversion to Judaism is not important for our purposes. The fact that the Khazar leaders were converted to Judaism is not disputed by any credible historian-Jewish or otherwise. The Jewish Encyclopedia, under the heading of "Chazars," says this about them:

"A people of Turkish origin whose life and history are interwoven with the very beginnings of the history of the Jews of Russia. The kingdom of the Chazars was firmly established in most of South Russia long before the foundation of the Russian monarchy by the Varangians (855). Jews have lived on the shores of the Black and Caspian seas since the first centuries of the common era. Historical evidence points to the region of the Ural as the home of the Chazars. Among the classical writers of the Middle Ages they were known as the 'Chozars,' 'Khazirs,' 'Akatzirs,' and 'Akatirs,' and in the Russian chronicles as 'Khwalisses' and 'Ugry Byelyye'."

Later, The Jewish Encyclopedia speaks about the Khazar (Chazar) conversion to Judaism:

"It was probably about that time that the chaghan [king] of the Chazars and his grandees, together with a large number of his heathen people, embraced the Jewish religion. According to A. Harkavy ('Meassef Niddahim,' i.), the conversion took place in 620; according to others, in 740. King Joseph, in his letter to Hasdai ibn Shaprut (about 960), gives the following account of the conversion...

"Some centuries ago King Bulan reigned over the Chazars. To him God appeared in a dream and promised him might and glory. Encouraged by this dream, Bulan went by the road of Darlan to the country of Ardebil, where he gained great victories [over the Arabs]. The Byzantine emperor and the calif of the Ishmaelites sent to him envoys with presents, and sages to convert him to their respective religions. Bulan invited also wise men of Israel, and proceeded to examine them all. As each of the champions believed his religion to be the best, Bulan separately questioned the Mohammedans and the Christians as to which of the other two religions they considered the better. When both gave preference to that of the Jews, that king perceived that it must be the true religion. He therefore adopted it."

Interestingly enough, the Khazar Kingdom seems to have been the forerunner of the concept of religious toleration-very much unlike the modern Jewish state, whose laws forbid any attempt to convert Jews to Christianity. In the era of Muslims and Christians persecuting each other in their respective domains, the Khazar Kingdom seems to have had a remarkable religious freedom under Khazar-Jewish rulers. At any rate, according to An Introduction to the History of Khazaria, by Kevin Alan Brook,

"Under the leadership of kings Bulan and Obadiah, the standard rabbinical form of the Jewish religion spread among the Khazars. Saint Cyril came to Khazaria in 860 in a Byzantine attempt to convert the Khazars to Christianity, but he was unsuccessful, because by that time the Khazars had already adopted a basic level of Judaism. He did, however, convince many of the Slavs to adopt Christianity... The Khazar nobility and many of the common people also became Jews. King Obadiah later established synagogues and Jewish schools in Khazaria. Mishnah, Talmud, and Torah thus became important to Khazars. By the 10 th century, the Khazars wrote using Hebrew-Aramaic letters. The major Khazar Jewish documents from that period are in Hebrew. The Ukrainian professor Omeljan Pritsak estimated that there were as many as 30,000 Jews in Khazaria by the 10 th century."

Mr. Brook's introduction may be viewed online at http://www.khazaria.com along with other items of interest. It is a web site that he calls: "A Resource for Turkic and Jewish History in Russia and Ukraine."

The Khazar Kingdom, ruled by Jews, was conquered, and many of its people scattered. Mr. Brook writes in the same introduction,

"The Rus inherited most of the former Khazar lands in the late 10 th century and early 11th century. One of the most devastating defeats came in 965, when Rus Prince Svyatoslav conquered the Khazar fortress of Sarkel. It is believed that he conquered Itil two years later, after which he campaigned in the Balkans. Despite the loss of their nation, the Khazar people did not disappear. Some of them immigrated westward into Hungary, Romania, and Poland, mixing with other Jewish communities."

In 1976 the well-known Jewish author, Arthur Koestler, brought the Khazar connection to the forefront of modern controversy with the publication of his book, The Thirteenth Tribe. The title of the book was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the addition of the tribe of Khazars to the twelve tribes of Israel. Before that time, American theologians knew little or nothing about the Khazars. Even after this book was published, many went into a state of denial, because of its obvious implications that were detrimental to the Zionist cause that they supported.

Koestler proves the genealogical connection between Togarmah and the Khazarian Jews by quoting from correspondence between King Joseph of the Khazars and Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, the Jewish doctor in the court of Cordova, Spain. Koestler writes on pages 64 and 65 of The Thirteenth Tribe,

"We now turn from the principal Arab source on the conversion-Masudi and his compilers-to the principal Jewish source. This is the so-called 'Khazar Correspondence': an exchange of letters in Hebrew, between Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, the Jewish chief minister of the Caliph of Cordova, and Joseph, King of the Khazars-or, rather, between their respective scribes...

"The exchange of letters apparently took place after 954 and before 961, that is roughly at the time when Masudi wrote. To appreciate its significance a word must be said about the personality of Hasdai Ibn Shaprut-perhaps the most brilliant figure in the 'Golden Age' (900-1200) of the Jews in Spain...

"Hasdai, born 910 in Cordoba into a distinguished Jewish family, first attracted the Caliph's attention as a medical practitioner with some remarkable cures to his credit. Abd-al-Rahman appointed him his court physician and trusted his judgment so completely that Hasdai was called upon, first, to put the state's finances in order, then to act as Foreign Minister and diplomatic trouble-shooter in the new Caliphate's complex dealings with Byzantium, the Christian kingdoms in the north of Spain."

Incidentally, Hasdai lived in Spain during the time that Spain was ruled by Islamic Arabs that had conquered the country in the early 8 th century. The Golden Age of Jewry flourished primarily under Islamic rule in Spain. The Caliphate at Cordova (or Cordoba) had been established in 755 A.D. On page 66 of his book, Koestler writes,

"According to his own account, Hasdai first heard of the existence of an independent Jewish kingdom from some merchant traders from Khurasan in Persia ; but he doubted the truth of their story. Later he questioned the members of a Byzantine diplomatic mission to Cordoba, and they confirmed the merchants' account, contributing a considerable amount of factual detail about the Khazar kingdom, including the name-Joseph-of its present King. Thereupon Hasdai decided to send couriers with a letter to King Joseph.

"The letter... contains a list of questions about the Khazar state, its people, method of government, armed forces, and so on-including an inquiry to which of the twelve tribes Joseph belonged. This seems to indicate that Hasdai thought the Jewish Khazars to hail from Palestine-as the Spanish Jews did-and perhaps even to represent one of the Lost Tribes. Joseph, not being of Jewish descent, belonged, of course, to none of the tribes; in his Reply to Hasdai, he provides, as we shall see, a genealogy of a different kind, but his main concern is to give Hasdai a detailed-if legendary-account of the conversion-which took place two centuries earlier-and the circumstances that led to it."

Koestler devotes many pages to the correspondence, but the most important part of King Joseph's letter for our purposes is recorded on page 72 of his book:

"Joseph then proceeds to provide a genealogy of his people. Though a fierce Jewish nationalist, proud of wielding the 'Sceptre of Judah', he cannot, and does not, claim for them Semitic descent; he traces their ancestry not to Shem, but to Noah's third son, Japheth; or more precisely to Japheth's grandson, Togarma, the ancestor of all Turkish tribes. 'We have found in the family registers of our fathers,' Joseph asserts boldly, 'that Togarma had ten sons, and the names of their offspring are as follows: Uigur, Dursu, Avars, Huns, Basilii, Tarniakh, Khazars, Zagora, Bulgars, Sabir. We are the sons of Khazar, the seventh'..."

In other words, Togarmah's seventh son was Khazar, the original patriarch of the Khazar tribe and nation that converted to Judaism in the seventh or eighth century A.D. This is, to my knowledge, the only clear reference in history showing the whereabouts of any of the descendants of Togarmah. The family history that King Joseph cites shows that all the descendants of Togarmah moved north into the area of southern Russia and southeastern Europe.

Not all of the Khazars, however, converted to Judaism-nor would we expect this in a nation of religious toleration. No doubt many were Christian, for we see that Saint Cyril had some success in converting people to Christianity. Many were also Muslim. Because of their policy of religious toleration, there were also many Jews who moved to Khazaria to escape persecution in Christian and Muslim territories. So not all Eastern European Jews are necessarily Khazars, but yet there has certainly been an influx of the house of Togarmah into world Jewry, primarily through the Ashkenazi branch.

There seems to be no other identifiable nation in ancient times that carried the banner of Togarmah, other than the Khazars. When their nation was conquered by the Rus, the people were scattered throughout Eastern Europe, with many migrating to Poland, Germany, and Hungary. This branch of Jewry became known as the Ashkenazi Jews. They were-and still are today-distinct from the Sephardim, who claim direct descent from the Jewish survivors of the Roman War in the first century. The Sephardim settled largely in Spain, North Africa, and throughout the Middle East.

Is it not significant, then, that among the relatives of Magog, Togarmah, Meshech, and Tubal are also the people called Ashkenaz? This is the name the Eastern European Jews call themselves. The genealogical table in Genesis 10 looks like this:

As we can see, Genesis 10 lists Ashkenaz and Togarmah as brothers, two of the sons of Gomer, son of Japheth. Is it then a coincidence that King Joseph traced his own family tree to Khazar, the seventh son of Togarmah-and that this branch of world Jewry is named after Ashkenaz?

The Conquest

Once we begin to see the actual historical proof of the identity of these people, we cannot help but question the teachings of many Bible teachers in regard to the so-called Russian invasion of Israel. While it is no doubt true that Rosh is a reference to the land of Russia, this is not speaking of the Russian people, but to Russian Jews, such as Menachem Begin, who immigrated to Palestine as Zionists and conquered that land. They have come from Gomer (Germany) and from Poland, including Yitzhak Shamir. Sephardic Jews came from Persia (Iran) and from North African countries like Libya. Even the Falashis, who are black Jews from Ethiopia, were accepted by the Israeli authorities as authentic Jews.

They came as immigrants to overwhelm the British forces in Palestine and to undermine their authority. They came, not to live under British rule alongside the Arab population, but with the thought of CONQUEST-to establish an independent Jewish state, where non-Jews could not have equal rights.

On the other hand, the true descendants of the "lost" house of Israel had long ago migrated out of Assyria and into Europe as Gimirri, or Khumri, Cymri, Cimbri, etc. These people became known as the Celts. Other groups of Israel were called Sakka. The Behistun Rock equates the Gimirri with the Sakka. (See Chapter Fifteen of my book Secrets of Time.) The Sakka were called Sacae by the Greeks and Saxons by the Romans. These are by no means the only names given to the nations of Israel in the ancient monuments, but they are the main ones. These people became known as the Europeans, called Caucasians, because so many of them crossed the Caucasus Mountains as they left Assyria to migrate into Europe.

These are the true Israelites, according to plain history. These people were never known as Jews, and in fact God caused them to lose their name " Israel " also, for only in this way could they be the "lost sheep" of the house of Israel (Ezekiel 34).

History and archeology have now fully identified where the lost Israelites went. For this reason we are now able to interpret the Scriptures properly, identifying many nations in their prophetic roles in the latter days. The British army under General Allenby had taken Palestine in 1917. The Zionist Jews in their "pride" (Gog) decided to lift themselves up out of the iron yoke that God had imposed upon them for their rebellion and revolt in the first century. And so they came from many nations. They came from the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh. They came from Meshech (Moscow) and from Tubal (Tubolsk). Ashkenazim Jews, descended from Togarmah, came from Eastern Europe, Poland, and Germany. Sephards came from Persia and Libya, and Falashis from Ethiopia.

Zionists came to Palestine at a time when the Israelite nations were living securely (Ezekiel 38:14), having established themselves in Europe for two millennia. They came in waves of immigrants "like a cloud to cover the land" (Ezekiel 38:16). In fact, Ezekiel 38:9 makes it clear that they have an initial success in occupying the land. It reads,

⁹ And you will go up; you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.

Most prophecy teachers have assumed that this was speaking of soldiers in uniform, perhaps being airlifted as paratroopers. It does not say this. Because of the many wrong assumptions, they have been blinded as to what has actually occurred in the past century. The invasion has already taken place ! But, like so many prophecies, the invasion took place in a way that few were expecting. Men's assumptions blinded them to the actual fulfillment that was taking place in plain view. And so they missed it.

They assumed the Jews are Israel. They are not. The Zionists are the invaders.

They assumed that Britain was not mentioned in the Bible. They were wrong. Britain is one of the Israel nations. They were in possession of Palestine at the time of the Zionist invasion. While they were, to some extent, victims of their own political policies, they were also the victims of the terrorist activities of the Zionist war against them.

They assumed that Gog was Russia. It is not. It is a people who have a double dose of pride, people who think they are better than others, people who think all others have satanic souls and are therefore not allowed to hinder their aspirations of world dominion.

They assumed that the nations themselves that are listed in Ezekiel 38, 39 would send their national troops to invade Palestine. They did not. But Zionists came from all of these nations and more to fight in "the struggle."

They assumed that uniformed troops would invade Palestine. This did not happen. They conquered by immigration and by terrorists operating underground.

Ezekiel 38:10-13 speaks of Gog invading "a land of unwalled villages" and coming "against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls, and having no bars or gates." Prior to the Zionist invasion, Palestine had relative peace. The Palestinians lived in relative security. One can hardly apply this passage to the Zionists today who are supposedly awaiting an invasion from Russia. The Zionists are armed to the teeth. Their settlements are fortresses, complete with walls, bars, and gates. If we must look for an invasion from Russia in the future, then we ought to see today a Jewish state in relative tranquility and peace. Virtually no one would use these terms to describe the Jewish state today.

During much of the twentieth century, when the Soviet Union posed a super-power threat, it was easier to believe that they were planning an invasion of the Jewish state. But this did not occur, and in the end, the Soviet Union fell. At present, the logistics of a Russian invasion of Palestine is out of the question. The southern republics of the former Soviet Union are now independent of Russia. They have their hands full with their economic problems and do not have the resources to fight a war so far away.

And most of all, the Israelis now have between 150 and 300 nuclear weapons of their own. Being a nuclear power themselves, it is not even conceivable that Russia would attempt to invade the Jewish state. The Jewish state itself is the super power of the Middle East.

All in all, we must conclude that either Ezekiel's prophecy has failed, or it has been fulfilled in an unexpected way. I believe that the latter is true.

The Fall of Zionism and Jerusalem

God makes it clear through the prophet that though they cover the land like a cloud, they will fall there. The invasion will not succeed in the end. Ezekiel 38:22 says,

²² And with pestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him; and I shall rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

This terminology was used in Gen. 19:24 about the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah,

²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

Moses told Israel that if they violated the covenant and became lawless, that God would judge them like He did with Sodom and Gomorrah. Deut. 29:23-27 says,

²³ All its land is brimstone and salt; a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath. ²⁴ And all the nations shall say, Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger? ²⁵ Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book.

In the New Testament, John identifies the city of Jerusalem with Sodom, saying in Rev. 11:8,

⁸ And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically [Greek: pneumatikos, "spiritually"] is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

When God makes the old Jerusalem like Sodom and Gomorrah, then Jer. 19:10, 11 will be fulfilled, where the prophet says of Jerusalem,

¹⁰ Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you ¹¹ and say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Just so shall I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot again be repaired...

Jerusalem has been destroyed a number of times, particularly in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians and again in 70 A.D. by the Romans. But each time the city was repaired. The day is coming when Jeremiah's prophecy will be fulfilled-the city and its people will be broken like the jar that Jeremiah smashed. It will be broken so badly that it "cannot again be repaired."

The Scriptures are soon to be fulfilled. The destruction of the Jewish state will cause great anxiety and horror, not only among Jews, but also among Christians. Christians have been ill prepared for what is coming, because they have been told that God will destroy the Russian armies with their allies. But because Bible prophecy is going to be fulfilled in a different way from what they expect, they will be at a loss to explain this event.

Worse yet, many Christians have sided with the Jews in their Zionist endeavor, not knowing that the Zionists are violating the law of tribulation. They also do not realize that the Christians supporting Zionism are playing the role of Judas in the second coming of Christ.

Still worse, by not knowing the law or how the prophecy is to be fulfilled, Christians have accepted the enemies of Jesus Christ as brothers in the Lord, treating non-Christian Jews as if they are "almost Christians." In doing this, they have confirmed the Jews in their state of unbelief, and they have helped the Jews immigrate into another holocaust. If they had known the things written in this book, they might have warned them and turned them away from inevitable disaster.

It is our hope, of course, that Jews would come to accept Jesus as the Messiah, for in this way only can they escape the judgment that is coming. The judgment upon Gog is upon the corporate body of people-the nation called "Israel." It is not directed at every individual Jew. Any Jew may escape the judgment by refusing to immigrate to the Israeli state. Better yet, he ought to repent of his rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. In so doing, they will not be among those who fulfill the prophecy of Jesus in Luke 19:27 and in Ezekiel 38, 39.

The day is coming when the city of Jerusalem will be cleansed by a nuclear strike that is clearly described in Isaiah 29:5, 6, quoted earlier. In a nuclear strike, people are vaporized-that is, they "become like fine dust." It happens "instantly" and "suddenly," as the prophet says. It is accompanied by a "loud noise," and the earth shakes as if struck by an "earthquake." The blast creates a huge " tempest and the flame of a consuming fire." Anyone who has seen pictures of a nuclear test know that Isaiah 29:5 and 6 is a perfect description of a nuclear blast.

In this way Jesus' words will be fulfilled in Luke 19, where He says of the Zionists, " Bring them here and slay them in my presence." It is my opinion that Ariel Sharon is the one called to lead the Jewish State to this destruction. It is also possible that the present escalation in the conflict is the beginning of a series of events that will end with this nuclear strike. The Arab nations are very disturbed over Sharon 's invasion and occupation of the West Bank, the destruction and carnage that he ordered and for which he is personally liable. The U.N. monitors, the Red Cross representatives, and the media were shocked at what they found, and most of the European nations are revolted by Sharon's policies.

Lasting peace is impossible in the Middle East as long as both the Arab people and the Jewish State exist. It is even doubtful if the establishment of a Palestinian State would resolve this problem, because both sides would insist upon having Jerusalem as its capital. Neither side will budge on the issue of Jerusalem. Thus, the war will continue until one side exterminates the other, or until all of them are dead.

As the situation exists today, it is impossible that the Jews would concede defeat and leave the area peacefully. It is just as inconceivable that the Palestinians would accept continued tyrannical rule at the hands of the Israeli government.

Israeli long-term policy has been to make life as miserable for the Arab population as possible in order to encourage them to sell their property to Jews and to emigrate to another country. If they should refuse to leave, the government would simply confiscate the land for "security reasons," that catch-all phrase that justifies all land theft. Some have left, of course, but most of them recognized the policy and dug in their heels, refusing to leave. The pressure on them increased, and the result is continued oppression and tyranny.