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Obama tours the Middle East
The King of the South courts Saudi Arabia & Egypt
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Thursday, June 04, 2009
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www.bibleinthenews.com Audio & Print versions
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As president Obama tours the Middle East we welcome you to another edition of the Bible in the news. It is a very interesting time in the world, we are constantly watching the world with our Bible in hand for the events to take shape according to scripture. We are given the end view but sometimes the road we are going to take to get there is hard to see. This week most of the talk seems to be around the travels of Barak Hussein Obama and in particular his speech in Cario to the Muslim world.
However there were a few notes for Israel in that speech.Mr. Obama has told those in the university in Cario the following:
“The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. (Applause) This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.”
There has been much said about how far the current administration will push at Israel in this regard. We as Bible students also watch with much interest as we know what has been written in the scriptures by the holy prophets.
The prophet Ezekiel wrote the following in chapter 37:
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel."
Much has been said about this in past programs and has been written about in the Bible Magazine. It must be said however that I am putting my lot in with the holy prophets, their record is pretty solid! As for Mr. Obama he would be best not to go up against the God of Israel, young grasshopper! And as for a response from the settlers, well a synagogue that was pulled down twice in the last week was re built and rededicated again today and a new settlement has been started and been called Givat Obama, or in English The Obama Hilltop!
Well America may take the rough road for now (God tells us that "He that touches Israel touches the apple of his eye, and it is said that God will bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel) so it may be a rough road but we know that in the end America will be part of the "King of the south," or in the words of Ezekiel 38, part of the Young lions.
Now as far as the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 goes, the purpose of Obama's visit is very significant, in his speech in Cairo he said that following:
"I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world."
...and he later continued with the following:
"...freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state in our union and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That's why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.
So let there be no doubt...
(APPLAUSE)
... let there be no doubt, Islam is a part of America. "
Obama is no doubt out to strengthen the relationship of the United States and Muslim world and especially the more "moderate" Muslims. You may ask why this would be so significant? Well, in Ezekiel 38 we are introduced to two groups of nations or alliances of nations. We have on the one hand Gog & Magog, our Northern confederacy including Iran, and we have a Southern confederacy, that of Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish.
Britain we know to be the latter day Tarshish (Please see Bible Magazine Vol. 20 Issue number 3 for more information on this). As for Sheba and Dedan they are Saudi Arabia and the gulf states. We can think of the story of the Queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon bringing gifts, but she came from the south, from Arabia. So we have a southern alliance of nations consisting of Britain and her commonwealth including the United States, but in alliance with Saudi Arabia and the gulf states.
If you turn to Daniel 11 we will add one more nation to the southern alliance. In verse 2 developments would take place within the Persian empire with the result of Greece becoming very hostile, in verse 3 a mighty king of Greece stands up and rules with great dominion and does according to his will. If we know history this has to be Alexander the Great. However in verse 4 his kingdom was broken up, and divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not according to his posterity, and his kingdom was split but his son was murdered so his kingdom was given to his 4 generals. In verse 5 the prophecy focuses on the southern general, called the king of the south, it was actually Ptolemy. Well if we go to a history book and look to the territory of Ptolemy, the king of the south, it is none other than a slightly enlarged Egypt. This then is the territory of the Biblical king of the south. The interesting thing is that in history the Ptolemys were an occupying power, so today we are looking for Britain and the young Lion powers to get further entrenched in the middle East, and at some point Egypt itself.
So today when we open our newspapers and see Obama courting the Muslim world and in particular Saudi Arabia & Egypt, we are seeing the biblical lineup of nations taking shape.
And what are they taking shape for, well in the words of Revelation 16, "he gathered them into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." What we are seeing is the preparation for the entrance of the king of Israel.
From the Bible Magazine studios thanks for listening and please join us again next week as we watch the Bible in the news.
(The June 4th edition of Bible in the News, was presented by John Billington.)
Printed: Thursday, June 04, 2009
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