Land of Magog Election in 2012 will be Prophetically Interesting,
As Described in the Excerpt in This Blog from the BBC News,
But the Winner of the Election will not be the Antichrist!
November 27, 2010
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Ezekiel 38:1,2 – “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.” Gog (high extension) appears for the first time in Ezekiel. He is the Antichrist of whom so much has been written. Please note that he is identified as the “chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” Many commentators, especially in the last 100 years, have not identified him as the Antichrist, but have identified him as the ruler or chief prince of the land of Magog, which I do not believe Scripture justifies.
Before the 20th Century, most identified him as the Antichrist. In verse 2 Ezekiel is told to set his face against two separate things, a person and a place. The person is Gog (Antichrist), and the place is the land of the descendants of Magog where it existed in Ezekiel’s day. If we do not locate the territories of Magog, Meshech, and Tubal as they existed in Ezekiel’s day, then we can have no idea as to where the Antichrist will soon rear his head, or the area from which his attack will be launched.
Why? – Because more than 2500 years have slipped by since Ezekiel wrote his prophecies, and the bloodlines of all three men been distributed across the entire planet. In order to correctly identify the area, from whence the Antichrist will attack Israel, we must identify where the descendants of Meshech and Tubal were residing in 500 and 600 B.C. Why? Because the Antichrist is not the chief prince of Magog, he is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. He will come from the area where their descendants were settled in 500 and 600 B.C.
I will attempt to use two different sources to locate where the descendants of Meshech and Tubal were clustered at the time of Ezekiel’s writings. The first is found in the 27th chapter of Ezekiel, and the second is from the Assyrian monument stones of that period. Ezekiel 27:3 – “And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.” Tyrus (Tyre) was a seapor
t on the southern coast of what we know today as Lebanon, which is directly north of Israel. Tyrus built its first great sea wall to protect its harbored ships more than 3000 years ago, and was a thriving seaport in Ezekiel’s day. Its ships carried merchandise from the countries of the east across all the Mediterranean, and even as far north as the shores of the English Channel. Zidon (Sidon) was also a sea port, and less than 20 miles separated the two cities. The wise men of Tyrus were the navigators of the ships, and the men of Zidon were the deck hands, as portrayed in Ezekiel 27:8 – “The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.” Now, bearing all this in mind, let us look at Ezekiel 27:13 – “Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.” Meshech and Tubal were warlike tribes, who often took their captives (persons of men) and the vessels of brass they had captured, or hammered out themselves, and carried them to the NEAREST seaport for trading. The captives were, of course, loaded on the ships and sold as slaves in foreign ports of trade. Why the NEAREST seaport? Because, in Ezekiel’s day, travel was by foot, donkey, camel, and horse.
People always carried their trading goods to the nearest port, particularly slaves. Therefore, I conclude that Meshech and Tubal must have roamed in the area we know today as Syria, Lebanon, northwestern Iraq, and southern Turkey.
Meshech and Tubal are the Mushki and Tabali of the Assyrian stone monuments.
In the time of Sargon and Sennacherib (700 B.C.) the territory of Tubal adjoined southern Cilicia, while that of Meshech filled the highlands to the east of Tubal. Considering the locations derived from the Bible and stone tablets, it appears that the Antichrist, as the chief prince of the area once occupied by Meshech and Tubal, is likely to arise, and eventually to attack Israel, from Syria or Lebanon. And, since Lebanon is virtually controlled by Syria, it appears Syria is the best guess for his homeland.
But what about the land of Magog – Where were the Magogites settled in Ezekiel’s day?
Ezekiel 38:1-3 – “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, [3] And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:”
Up to this point I have made a case to establish, both from the Scriptures and the Assyrian stone monuments, that the descendants of Meshech and Tubal, at the time Ezekiel wrote his prophecies, were primarily located in what we know as Syria and Lebanon. I also established that the prophecy is again a person, Gog (Antichrist), and against a land, the land of Magog. I am convinced that the Antichrist will attack Israel from Syria. So – What about this “land of Magog” – Where were the Magogites located at the time of Ezekiel’s writings? Flavius Josephus, the noted Jewish historian makes the following statements concerning the Magogites in Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter VI, under the title, HOW EVERY NATION WAS DENOMINATED FROM THEIR FIRST INHABITANTS: “Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons.” “They called the nations by their own names.” “Magog founded those that from him were called Magogites, but who by the Greeks were called Scythians.” The Greek writers of the Classic Age said the Scythians occupied the area which today we identify as stretching from Moldova eastward across the Ukraine, southern Russia, and into Kazakhstan, then southward into Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan – Roughly the area north of the Black Sea, between the Black and Caspian Seas, and the area northwest, north, and northeast of the Caspian Sea. I do not believe the nations in this area will join in the initial attack against Israel, but I am certain they will come down for the final battle of Gog’s war, which is the Battle of Armageddon. The Battle of Armageddon, found in Revelation 16:16, is the final battle in Gog’s war, which began 3 and ½ years earlier.
Verse 3 fails to include the “land of Magog,” and is a message directly pointed, and personally addressed, against the Antichrist Gog, who once again is identified as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
Popular writers in the last century brought a teaching into play that is simply not true.
They said the word “chief” was “rosh” in the Hebrew language, which is true. But they said it meant “Russian,” which is not true. The Russian and Hebrew language have never overlapped in history to support such a claim. He is not a Russian prince. He is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, most likely having a Syrian father. The word “rosh,” in the KJV, is translated as “chief” 90 times, as “head” 349 times, as “top” 75 times, as “beginning” 14 times, as “company” 12 times, as “captain” 10 times, as “sum” 9 times, as “first” 6 times, as “principle” 5 times, as “chief man” 4 times, and as “ruler” on two occasions. At no time, in all of history, could it legitimately be identified as someone who is a Russian.
I am convinced the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal will come from northwestern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, or southern Turkey. He will be the leader of a multilateral Islamic force that will carry out a surprise attack against Israel from the north.
I believe this is spoken of in Revelation 17:12,13 – “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”
Antichrist will have the support of ten Islamic nations.
The ones directly involved in the initial attack against Israel will be Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran from without, along with the Palestinians from within.
I believe the other nations, which will then immediately become involved in the Jihad, are most likely to be Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Sudan.
Begin Excerpt from BBC News
November 24, 2010
Medvedev warns of political ‘stagnation’ in Russia
Russia risks slipping into a period of political “stagnation”, President Dmitry Medvedev has warned.
In his videoblog, Mr Medvedev spoke about the lack of real competition in the political arena, heavily dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party.
“This stagnation is equally damaging to both the ruling party and the opposition forces,” he said.
Russia’s marginalized opposition has accused the authorities of harassment – a claim denied by the Kremlin.
The opposition has also frequently complained of being denied access to airtime during recent election campaigns, saying the authorities give unfair advantages to United Russia.
‘Brezhnev times’
Analysis
Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Moscow
Most Russians view their prime minister – not their president – as the person who is really running Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev has traditionally been seen as “Putin’s man”; many here expect him to hand back the keys to the Kremlin to Mr Putin at the presidential election in 2012.
But there have been signs that Mr Medvedev is becoming a more independent figure; there are rumours of differences between the prime minister’s and the president’s teams. They are difficult to confirm; information about the inner workings of the political “tandem” running Russia rarely leaks out.
President Medvedev certainly appears to be crafting an image which is separate from Mr Putin’s, positioning himself as a reformer, a moderniser and a democrat.
Some political commentators see his latest comments about “stagnation” as a dig at the system of power constructed by Mr Putin.
Others believe that reports of a split are exaggerated and that the double act is alive and well.
They argue that the two men are simply trying to maximise support for the authorities by appealing to different parts of society.
“If a political opposition doesn’t stand the slightest chance of winning a fair election, then it degrades and becomes marginalised,” Mr Medvedev said on Tuesday.
“But if the ruling party never has to worry about losing an election anywhere, then it too degrades and ‘bronzes over.'”
He said that for “these reasons it has become necessary to raise the degree of political competition”.
The president also admitted that Russian democracy was “imperfect”, but said the country was nevertheless “moving forward”.
Mr Medvedev also argued that he had already taken a number of measures to make the political system fairer.
When they hear the word “stagnation” many Russians immediately think of the 1970s and the days of Leonid Brezhnev – when the Soviet Union lost direction and “stagnation” laid the foundation for the USSR’s future demise, the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow reports.
Our correspondent says that it is a word one hears more and more in Russia’s political circles – a sign of the growing frustration with a political system that has become so tightly controlled by the authorities.
Mr Medvedev’s comments come ahead of his major policy address in parliament.
Some analysts say the president is trying to position himself as a modernising force in the run-up to the presidential elections in 2012, where he can potentially stand against former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Neither Mr Medvedev nor Mr Putin has publicly declared their intention to run for Russia’s top job.
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