Is this Paul’s Prophetic Peace and Safety?
Could it eventually lead to its Fulfillment?
May may be a revealing prophetic Month!
May 1, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Two years ago in our Blog of April 18, 2006, an excerpt of which follows our heading, I indicated that a truce might be the only way to fulfill the false peace of I Thessalonians 5:3,4
Last month in our Blog of March 12, 2008, I indicated a truce as the gateway to the prophetic fulfillment of Paul’s prophetic statement found in I Thessalonians 5:3,4.
In our AM Blog of April 30, 2008, I indicated it was quite possible that a scenario of temporary false peace could be about to come to the Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas, and Israel section of the Middle East, as a delayed result of the destruction of the Syrian Nuclear Building.
Begin April 18, 2006 Blog
Hudna (Indefinite Truce) May be the Only Way to a False Peace!
April 18, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The following two articles, one from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, and the other from the Times, UK, were both extracted from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Daily Alert.
The Scriptures indicate that a false peace will come to Israel before it is attacked from the north. It is appearing more and more likely that it may be in the form of a Hudna issued by the terror groups in Israel for the production of a “quiet for quiet” indefinite period of time, which is allowable under the traditional teachings of Islam for the purpose of building up strength and coordination of future conquests. These two articles, which follow, show little hope for what Western Powers would identify as a negotiated peace, and an indefinite truce agreement may be the best one can hope to achieve as a false peace.
Begin March 12, 2008 Blog
Hudna – A Gateway to Prophecy Fulfillment!
March 12, 2008
http;//www.tribulationperiod.com/
The actual timing of precisely “when” a time of unbroken “continuous” calm or truce will come into effect in Israel, such that all rocket attacks out of the Gaza Strip actually cease, I do not know. I expect spurious rockets to continue off and on for awhile, and for an occasional terrorist to be killed by the IDF, but Scripture does indicate that some sort of a “calm”, “truce,” or “hudna” will cause Israel to be crying out “Peace and safety,” at the very time “sudden destruction comes on her. The IDF statement by Ehud Barak in the first article, makes it clear that the current actions which seem to be leading into an eventual hudna, could all go up in smoke at the drop of a hat, and the IDF may launch a full blown operation into the Gaza Strip at any moment. I do believe that after much more off again, on again, gone again, not again rhetoric, and skirmishes between them, a hudna will come into place between Israelis and the Palestinians at some point in time between 2008 and 2010, but that it will be suddenly broken by a bloodthirsty Jihad from the north at some point in time between 2010 and 2015.
Candidly Speaking, I totally agree with Isi Leibler’s title which appears in the second Jerusalem Post Article. As he states, hudna is indeed “A prescription for disaster.” And the prophecies, concerning the coming last day war Israel must eventually enter with her enemies, do lead the interpretation of a hudna preceding the war, to stand a good chance of being valid.
So, from a prophetic standpoint, it appears that Leibler’s statement will soon see actual fruition. The enemies of Israel are said
in Ezekiel 38 to be aware of Israel dwelling safely, seemingly as if they were in some sort of agreement with Israel about it – “shalt thou not know it?” And Paul indicates the Israelis will be saying “Peace and safety” when sudden destruction comes on them.
Ezekiel 38:8 – After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gat hered
out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
Ezekiel 38:14 – Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
Begin Excerpt from April 30, 2008 AM Blog
Will Message Produce Temporary Peace and Safety
?
April 30, 2008
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I think it is qu
ite possible that the message carried by the destruction of the Syrian Nuclear Building may bring a type of false peace to the Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas, and Israel section of the Middle East. However, if this happens to be the prophetic “peace and safety” of I Thessalonians 5:3,4, then after you read the two following articles, one thing is certain – It can only be very temporary in duration!
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when THEY shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon THEM, as travail upon a woman with child; and THEY shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
End Archive Blog Excerpts
The “quite possible” of April 30 is now expected by some to be accepted by Israel as a Cairo-brokered ce
ase-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. If Israel does accept the offer it will amount to a six month cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. Time will tell whether or not they will accept it!
Begin Jerusalem Post Report
Cease-fire will be boost for Schalit release, says official
Yaakov Katz amd Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST
May 1, 2008
Israel’s expected acceptance of a Cairo-brokered cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip will “significantly” expedite the release of kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Schalit, a top official involved in the negotiations told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
According to the official, while Schalit’s release was being negotiated on a second, parallel track to the cease-fire talks, Israel’s agreement to a truce in Gaza would “open doors” with Hamas and have an impact on the talks concerning a prisoner swap in exchange for the soldier abducted in June 2006.
The Post has also learned that a clause in the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, which has already been accepted by Hamas, is the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Sinai according to the terms of the 2005 agreement reached by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Hamas, according to the deal, would not be allowed to maintain a presence at the crossing.
Based on the 2005 agreement, European monitors would deploy at the crossing and assist Palestinian Authority officers from the Force 17 Presidential Guard – loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas – in running the border terminal.
“The acceptance of the terms of the deal will enable the PA to deploy in Rafah and essentially return to Gaza for the first time since Hamas took over last June,” the official said.
According to top Israeli defense officials, Defense Minister Ehud Barak is leaning toward accepting the cease-fire offer. Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman is expected to visit Israel in the coming days to present the offer to Israel and to hear its response. He will likely meet with Barak as well as with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
On Wednesday, a dozen small Palestinian factions, including Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, gave their consent to the cease-fire proposal during a meeting with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
Last week, Hamas said it would accept a six-month Gaza-first cease-fire, and dropped an earlier demand that the truce also include the West Bank.
On Wednesday, diplomatic officials in Jerusalem made it clear that if Egypt and Hamas were waiting for a formal and public Israeli acceptance of the cease-fire agreement, they would be waiting in vain. However, a careful reading of the statement the government put out on the matter shows an Israeli readiness to accept the deal.
“We are not in any way referring specifically to what went on in Cairo,” Olmert’s spokesm an M
ark Regev said in a carefully worded statement. “We don’t need words, but rather tangible steps.”
Regev said the government’s goal was “calm in the South, and for calm to be sustainable it has to embody three vital elements: the total absence of hostile fire from Gaza, the end of terrorist attacks and the complete end of arms transfers into Gaza.”
This was a marked change in tone for the Prime Minister’s Office, which previously had largely dismissed the Egyptian-Hamas talks as little more than an attempt by Hamas to buy time so it could reorganize and re-arm.
Regev said that if the three conditions were met in Gaza tomorrow, there would be calm there tomorrow.
When asked whether the IDF would stop operations in the West Bank if there were quiet in Gaza, Regev said that if there were quiet in Gaza, Israel would stop operations in Gaza, not in the West Bank.
One diplomatic source said that the third condition, ending the arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip, made Egypt a party to the deal and placed a greater responsibility on it to do more to end the smuggling.
Even though Suleiman is expected here next week to inform Israel of the arrangements, and even though the Defense Ministry’s Amos Gilad has been a frequent visitor in Cairo over the last few months, the Prime Minister’s Office continues to say that Israel is not negotiating with Hamas, either directly or indirectly.
This is widely viewed as an attempt by Israel to keep other countries from feeling that if Israel were concluding a deal with Hamas through Egyptian mediation, then they too can begin engaging with Hamas.
Diplomatic officials said it was no coincidence that this agreement was being finalized on the eve of Rice’s visit to the region – she is scheduled to arrive on Saturday night – and a little more than a week before US President George W. Bush visit here.
Bush is expected to arrive on May 13, and after taking part in Independence Day ceremonies here and then go on to Saudi Arabia to mark 75 years of US-Saudi ties. From there he is scheduled to go to Egypt. Cairo, according to diplomatic officials in Jerusalem, was certainly eager to broker the cease-fire deal with Hamas before Bush visited, to win US favor.
But while Bush will likely praise Egypt for its role, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter on Wednesday criticized Egypt for its handling of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
“A problematic terror state has risen that is built on the Hizbullah model,” Dichter said during a security cabinet meeting. “There is ongoing weapons smuggling of worrying quantity and quality from Egypt, and this terror state is getting legitimacy from Egypt and maybe even more than that.”
Since the start of the year, 900 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, the minister told the ministers.
Israel was transferring fuel to the Gaza Strip, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna’i reported, but the Palestinians were not picking it up at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal.
Olmert, meanwhile, raised the issue of Egypt’s attempt to broker a truce with Hamas but said it wasn’t appropriate to expand on the issue since Barak was not present.
Olmert criticized Barak’s absence, saying, “It would have been fitting for him to take part in a ministerial discussion about security issues.”
Barak missed the meeting because he was at a Golani Brigade training exercise on the Golan. At the end of the drill, Barak told the soldiers: “My gut feeling is to respond immediately and with all our strength to every attack from the Gaza Strip.”
“However,” he continued, “We must act with the proper judgment and at the correct time.”
Begin DEBKAfile Article
Olmert fends off ministerial revolt against truce with Hamas
April 30, 2008, 3:26 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile reports that prime minister Ehud Olmert was faced with pressing demands at the defense and foreign affairs cabinet session Wednesday, April 30, to explain why Israel is accepting the truce in negotiation with Hamas instead of getting down to the promised military campaign to eradicate its missile capabilities.
Already, in the first four months of 2008, Hamas and allied Palestinian organizations in Gaza have fired 900 missiles against Israeli civilian locations, compared with 1,100 in the whole of 2007.
Olmert tried explaining that the issue should not be debated in the absence of defense minister Ehud Barak. But some of the ministers, led by Avi Dichter, internal security, angrily accused him of carrying on clandestine ceasefire negotiations with Hamas through Egypt. He was not only granting the terrorist fundamentalists legitimacy but evading the real issue, they said.
The prime minister’s critics noted that Hamas has admitted it needs a truce for “tactical purposes” – for its members to recuperate, restock and regroup for the next round of warfare against Israel.
Four months ago, the cabinet charged the military high command with presenting a plan of action for putting a stop to the missile attacks plaguing southwestern Israel’s population; the military had failed to meet its obligation. Meanwhile, the rate of missile attacks had trebled to 225 per month.
As they spoke, four missiles were fired from Gaza, exploding in Sderot
and Shear Hanegev.
Fires broke out in Sderot. This week, between 10 and 18 Qassam and mortar shells exploded at Israeli locations every day.
Begin Haaretz Excerpt
Egypt: All 12 Palestinian factions agree to Gaza Strip cease-fire
By Yoan Stern
May 1, 2008
Egypt is expecting Israel to accept and implement the cease-fire proposal agreed on by the Palestinian factions, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s bureau chief said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is expected to arrive in Israel shortly to receive Israel’s official response to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, Palestinian sources in Cairo said.
Speaking by phone to Haaretz from Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Ministry bureau chief Hossam Zaki, who is also the Egyptian ministry’s spokesman, said: “The Israelis are giving themselves plenty of time to think and evaluate … Israel can contribute by accepting the Egyptian effort and the tahadiya [calm].”
Zaki was in Israel at the beginning of the week and met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, ahead of her expected meeting tomorrow with Aboul Gheit in London during the conference of donor countries to the Palestinian Authority.
Zaki said he brought up the subject of the tahadiya with Livni. “What is important is to know that tahadiya is a good thing for civilians. Civilians should be spared this type of military confrontation. Their interests should be taken into consideration, especially after the awful and painful event of the family in Gaza, civilians should be spared this type of military confrontation,” the Egyptian envoy said.
The Egyptian effort to reach an agreement with the Palestinian factions bore fruit on Tuesday.
After separate talks between the Egyptians and the representatives of each faction, the factions announced they were ready to accept the Egyptian formulation for a cease-fire.
Israel, however, objects to the formulation for a number of reasons. Israel is concerned that Hamas will use the calm to increase its military strength.
In addressing this concern, Zaki said “Egypt does not control the Gaza Strip but is only a neighbor. Egypt is in contact with those responsible for the Strip.”
Zaki also said it was Egypt’s responsibility to act sincerely in order to prevent any violation of an agreement or understanding to which Egypt is a party.
Another Israeli concern is that a cease-fire will strengthen Hamas and weaken the PA.
Zaki rejected this argument, saying “Egypt is very concerned about Abu Mazen [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] and it will not take any steps that will lead to the weakening of Abu Mazen. Egypt understands the Palestinian structure very well. Israel does not guard the PA more than Egypt.”
In the framework of the agreement as it appears to have been formulated, the Rafah crossing will be opened on a regular basis for the passage of people and merchandise.
Zaki said Egypt was working to implement the crossings agreement from 2005, which ensured they would operate in the presence of PA representatives and under European supervision.
The Egyptian proposal also calls for the calm to be implemented first in Gaza for a test period, as Zaki put it, and after a few months the possibility would be weighed of expanding it to the West Bank as well.
Zaki said the meeting between Livni and Aboul Gheit would put an end to the period of tension between the two ministers, which began after Livni sharply criticized Egyptian efforts to combat weapons smuggling through tunnels into Gaza, which she called “a threat.”
“There was a period of tension and exchange of accusations, but it is important that the channel between the two ministers and ministries will remain open with constant connections. We don’t want to close this channel, this is important,” he said.
Zaki added that he believed the Israelis were just as interested in keeping the channels of communication open as were the Egyptians, and that the picture was now clear to everyone and the difficulties had been overcome.
Suleiman to arrive in Israel to discuss truce deal
During his upcoming visit, Palestinian sources in Cairo said, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is to report to Israel on the agreement reached with the Palestinian factions Wednesday, who are offering Israel calm in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the opening of the crossing points into the Strip, including the Rafa border crossing with Egypt.
The official Egyptian news agency MENA reported that all 12 Palestinian factions whose representatives were in Cairo had accepted the Egyptian proposal. Egypt was not able to get the factions to themselves declare a united position on the agreement, as it had hoped.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also spoke Wednesday about the agreement with Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Israeli sources said they were awaiting official confirmation of the agreement. “Meanwhile, they are playing chess with themselves,” a security source said.
Israel has reiterated that it will meet “quiet with quiet” in the Gaza Strip.
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