Interesting because the new embassy is built like Fort Knox and extremely expensive to maintain. Wikipedia “The President sent Congress an FY2005 emergency supplemental funding request. Included in the supplemental is more than $1.3 billion for the embassy in Iraq .” “Fair use” Going back to the original question, I do not believe scenario 3 will happen. Scripture clearly indicated that the earth will be going about business as usual, as in the days of Noah, when “one is taken and one is left”. Marrying and given in marriage, buying and selling, etc., would be highly unlikely with that kind of calamity going on. If the USA was wiped out it would hardly be business as usual. Regardless of the seething rage the liberals are showing about the current president or his next term in office, it is still the Holy Spirit who holds back the tide of evil and even though it is clearly obvious that they are mounting at the gate, they cannot come crashing though until we, the vessels of the Holy Spirit, have been removed. Yohanan, I definitely see your point on this, so I wonder where this situation with Iran is going to lead. Are they really going to back down in this when their economic situation is so severely desperate? Are their proxies going to war with Israel? Do we help Israel defeat her enemies in the countries bordering her land and then implement the "Deal of the century"???? I am wondering where this birth pang is headed. Is this the situation that leads to Damascus being a ruinous heap and thus the Ez. 38 Gog/Magog war... so many speculations to consider as we watch... and yes, I do not see how the world would be going on with a normal life if the US was taken down, but I always wonder if I am missing a key piece in that puzzle... Lord, I come in agreement with Yhwhtalmidah's prayer. Please protect all those who are in danger in the Middle East. May those who don't know you, get saved and be raptured with us. Thank you Thank you Yhwhtalmidah I wonder if Damascus already is a ruinous heap ? The U.S. has dropped around 100K bombs in Syria in the past 4+ years Israel vs. Russia Middle East war could become nuclear train wreck I haven't read this article myself. Howevever, if you see such headlines on mainstream media, then, how close are we? This seems to imply that Damascus is wiped out in one night and is not to be inhabited due to a serious situation; maybe nuclear? Isaiah 17 New International Version (NIV) “See, Damascus will no longer be a city 10 You have forgotten God your Savior; https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+17&version=NIV I have long wondered about this text and it's possibilities. Thoughts? :feedback Soooo... this situation between the US and Iran is getting really interesting. Eschatology Today has some thoughts about a forewarning in the Old Testament about Elam being attacked for God’s judgment of them in the last days. Israel is saying they are concerned we won’t respond with a strong enough response to the drone attack. Iran is saying they don’t want war, but they or their proxies keep doing provocative things. Thoughts on this situation in relation to end times prophecy? https://www.rt.com/usa/462329-trump-iran-strike-drone/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-worried-us-may-not-respond-decisively-to-drone-downing/ https://eschatologytoday.blogspot.com/2019/06/global-sitrep-c1-19-potential-for-war.html?m=1 Well if war breaks out between USA and Iran then the Trump peace plan could be put on hold or cancelled altogether if it's put on hold long enough and Trump doesn't get reelected. Great heads up articles, Heather! :good: Yep, from reading a few articles its looking more obvious that action will happen soon in eliminating the Iranian threat since they will have that nuke bomb by this November and I was just reading (article from CNN below) the other half of the peace deal unveiling might be put off till November. Sean Osborne, Bill Salus and a few others teach that the prophecy of Elam is a separate prophecy vs the view of tying in Elam’s destruction with Isaiah 17, Psalm 83, Gog/Magog and its the Lord who takes care of business with wiping out the threat. Between Sean Osborne’s comment here and the Stamford Advocate article ... It’s looking like Israel and the US will perhaps be removing the Iranian nuke facility. Sean Osborne’s comment on June 18th ... _ Fair Use- ————- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has privately delivered warnings intended for Iranian leaders that any attack by Tehran or its proxies resulting in the death of even one American service member will generate a military counterattack, U.S. officials said. The potential for a significant military response to even an isolated event has fueled a broader internal debate among top Trump officials about whether the administration's policy exceeds President Donald Trump's specific goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the officials said. One such message about retaliation was delivered during a hastily arranged visit to Baghdad by Pompeo in May after officials detected a spike in intelligence indicating that Iran's militia proxies might resume assaults on U.S. forces operating in proximity to them across Iraq. While such attacks were common during the Iraq War, Pompeo told Iraqi leaders in a message he knew would be relayed to Tehran that a single American casualty would prompt the United States to hit back. That specific warning has not been previously reported. "What happens if Americans are killed? That changes the whole thing," said a senior administration official involved in Iran policy who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk freely. "It changes everything." Speaking during a visit to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, Pompeo said Trump "does not want war" but stressed the United States would act if assaulted. "We are there to deter aggression," he said. Trump himself has sent mixed messages about the seriousness of Iran's actions and how he would respond to them. The sudden departure Tuesday of Patrick Shanahan, who has served as acting defense secretary since January, could further sideline the Pentagon, which has campaigned to reduce the potential for hostilities. Shanahan's withdrawal followed revelations of a complicated domestic dispute. Concerns about an escalation are particularly pointed at the Pentagon, where the absence of a confirmed secretary has fueled worries that hawks in the White House and State Department could push the military beyond its specific mission of destroying the remnants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, raising the potential for conflict with Iran. Administration officials interviewed by The Washington Post said that national security adviser John Bolton has dominated Iran policy, keeping a tight rein on information that gets to the president and sharply reducing meetings in which top officials meet in the White House's Situation Room to discuss the policy. A spokesman for the Pentagon declined to comment, and a spokesman for the National Security Council did not provide a comment. An attack last week on two oil tankers in waters off Iran, which the Trump administration has blamed on Tehran, and Iranian leaders' threat to violate the 2015 international nuclear deal have added urgency to Pentagon worries that a miscalculation on the part of Iranian proxy forces could spark conflict. On Monday, the Pentagon said it would send an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East, another step to beef up the U.S. posture in the region. The reinforcements come as the administration's "maximum pressure" campaign, spearheaded by Bolton and Pompeo, undermines the Iranian economy. That campaign, initiated after Trump pulled out of the nuclear accord with Tehran, was recently expanded to include the designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group and steps to starve Iran of oil revenue. The intensification of that campaign has triggered internal debates over how best to execute the president's orders. At the State Department this spring, an argument among officials over how hard to squeeze Iran with sanctions ended with those favoring the toughest possible approach prevailing. In particular, hard-liners at the White House squelched waivers that would have allowed Iran to keep selling oil after a May 1 deadline. White House aides also ended waivers that allowed Iran to swap its enriched uranium for natural uranium, an integral part of the nuclear deal. While State Department officials sought to achieve a "sweet spot" that would weaken Iran through sanctions but not push so hard that Iran would withdraw from the nuclear deal, others have argued that Trump's goal is to destroy the accord at any cost and pursue a more expansive policy that seeks to cripple Iran's proxy forces throughout the region. Pentagon and State Department officials have complained, however, about the difficulty of getting an adequate hearing for these debates under Bolton. As a result, arguments about policy frequently are not aired and do not reach the president. The process is "very exclusionary, and Bolton has very sharp elbows," the senior administration official said. U.S. allies in Europe have voiced concern about Iran's activities but also urged both sides to avoid increasing tensions. A German official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Berlin wants the situation to de-escalate and believes the U.S. pressure campaign sparked the Iranian response. The Americans "created this mess, and now they have to find a way to get out." While officials at the Pentagon have acted to support the administration's pressure campaign, some have raised concerns that escalating action may inadvertently make the United States less, not more, safe in the Middle East and undermine the president's goal of bringing troops home from the region. At the Pentagon, officials have quietly voiced concerns for months that the current trajectory might make military conflict a self-fulfilling prophecy. "The administration's bellicose, go-for-broke tactics for dealing with Iran are fundamentally at odds with the president's insistence on extricating the United States from costly and protracted military conflicts," said Suzanne Maloney, an Iran scholar at the Brookings Institution. "Applying maximalist pressure, even if it is primarily economic rather than military, will tend to inspire proportional responses." In recent months, military leaders have sought to tread a careful line: securing military resources they believe are needed to properly defend American troops in the region and deter Iranian provocations without increasing the odds of war - which they have said would be long and bloody. One person familiar with the recent discussions said that Pentagon officials, including Shanahan, have been "the ones putting the brakes" on the State Department and the White House. "DOD is not beating the drums of war," the person said. While the White House has already approved requests for thousands of additional forces for U.S. Central Command, its commander, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, may well make additional requests in coming weeks. "Does the president want to send more troops? No. Will he be convinced to do it? Yes," the senior administration official said. Trump, in contrast to some of his advisers, has seemed to downplay the significance of Iran's actions. In an interview published Tuesday with Time magazine, he said the recent oil tanker attacks were "very minor." On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers pushed back on that idea. "He sure didn't suggest that to me Sunday," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., referring to a Father's Day golf game he played with the president. "He was very upset about where Iran's going. You can't have provocative acts by rogue regimes go unanswered." The biggest fear is that Iran could trigger a larger conflict if one of its proxies in Iraq or Syria fired a volley of mortars or rockets at an American base and killed U.S. personnel. Such attacks were common only a few years ago. On Tuesday, Sky News Arabia reported that rockets had been fired at an area of Mosul, in northern Iraq, where U.S. military trainers are stationed. It was unclear who fired them. In 2011, as U.S. troops were preparing to leave Iraq, Iranian-backed proxies launched rocket attacks on American forces. The top commander in the region at the time, Gen. Jim Mattis, pressed the Obama administration for a retaliatory strike against Iran. One option was a dead-of-night attack on an Iranian power plant or oil refinery, according to officials familiar with the deliberations. The Obama administration never authorized a strike. - Fair Use- ————— Trump admin plans to hold off on political part of Israeli-Palestinian peace plan until Israel forms government in November CNN (CNN) The Trump administration is planning to hold off releasing the political portion of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan until after the Israeli elections and after Israel forms a new government, according to two sources familiar with the thinking of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, who are leading the administration's effort. The administration does not want the political part of its plan to become an issue for the Israeli elections, explains one of the sources. Both sources have talked with the Kushner-Greenblatt team recently, following team Netanyahu's inability to form a coalition last month. Greenblatt, in an piece published on CNN's website Sunday, said the Israeli elections could affect timing, writing, "We know there is no perfect time, and we won't pretend that the Israeli elections might not have an impact on that timing." Axios reported that Greenblatt told a conference hosted by the Jerusalem Post that the administration is leaning toward holding off on releasing the political portion of the plan until Israel forms a new government. -Fair use- ——————————— To sum this all up ... doesn’t it look like the window timeframe for the church to say so long to this world is from now - Nov, 2019? :popcorn
A Prophecy Against Damascus
17 A prophecy against Damascus:
but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day people will look to their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[a]
and the incense altars their fingers have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Woe to the many nations that rage—
they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
“The armed forces of Israel are running all this week a live action scenario which is all but identical to that prophesied by Asaph in Psalm 83. The entire IAF fleet of aircraft is airborne right now.”
By Kylie Atwood
June 16, 2019
