Bible in the News | Russia Rearms Herself and Her Allies

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	Russia Rearms Herself and Her Allies Russia has been destabilizing the Middle-East to push energy prices up.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007	www.bibleinthenews.com Audio & Print versions

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Bible in the News--This is Jonathan Bowen filling in for Paul Billington who is on assignment in England and Europe. Once again this week's news is packed full of headlines which demonstrate the words of Daniel 4:17, "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men".

As we speak the Fourth Annual Jerusalem Conference is being held in Israel. Amongst the guest speakers was, once again, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The theme of his speech, reported on Israel National Radio, was a call to the world not to repeat the errors of 1939 when Hitler was allowed to menace the world and destroyed 6 million Jews in the process. He described the ambitions of Ahmadinajad as "a tidal wave that threatens to engulf first Israel, and then the rest of the world." He said, "They are talking openly about a new Reich - except they call it a Caliphate; that's what they want to establish in the world. But for this to happen, they need a cataclysmic event to bring it on - they are working on that".

Well, a cataclysmic event is coming which will engulf Israel and much of the Middle East. Daniel 11: 40-43 describes such an event: "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, (ISRAEL) and many countries shall be overthrown…" Daniel goes on to say "He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps (Or marching in his strides)."

Iran is identified in Ezekiel 38:5 as one of the participants in this cataclysmic event. We read "Persia (known today as Iran), Ethiopia and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet."

This cataclysmic event is to be accompanied with what Daniel calls, "chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships", while Ezekiel describes, an "army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords."
This week Novosti, the Russian Newspaper, reported on Russia's desire to "seek to develop weapons together with foreign partners." It also said that Russia is "looking to expand its presence on arms markets in Latin America and the Middle east". The same news service reported in February, that Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Cabinet Ministers, "I have signed a decree to form the Federal Agency for the Procurement of Weaponry, Military and special Equipment and Material." The article went to say, that Russia's "spending on procurement of new military hardware is estimated at over 300 billion rubles ($11.3 billion US dollars), 20% higher than in 2006.

The building up of arms in preparation for the cataclysmic event described in Daniel 11 and Ezekiel 38 is what we expect to see continuing. Canada's National Post headlined an article, "Russia embarks on a $190B military spending spree." The writer stated that the Russian "Plan calls for replacing 45% of [its] entire arsenal - everything from submarine launched ballistic missiles to aircraft carriers." Or in the words of Ezekiel, "chariots, horsemen and many ships".

The Russian news agency Kommersant reported that "Russia has never stopped constructing submarines" and that "the submarine fleet of Russia is the second in the world, yielding only to undersea force of the United States".

Fuelled by a resurgent energy economy, Russia has been moving weapons into the Middle East. Front Page Magazine, in an article entitled "The Russian Effect" reported, "As the world focuses on Iran's nuclear program and Russia's complex diplomatic dance around it, another aspect of Middle Eastern destabilization tends to be neglected: the flow of advanced Russian weapons to Syria. Not only may these weapons boost Damascus' aggressiveness, they have fallen in the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas, and may wreak havoc in case of another - and likely - flare-up against these terrorist organizations." The article goes on to state, "The Middle East by no means constitutes a new market for Russian weapons. The Soviet Union armed the region for decades, serving as a major arms supplier to such states as Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, and Yemen, oftentimes in exchange for mere promises of payment in the future."

Itar Tass reported this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded Russia should become number one in the world's arms market.
"Last year the backlog of orders for Russia's military products increased considerably. In fact, it has already amounted to 30 billion U.S. dollars," Putin told a meeting of the committee for military and technical cooperation with foreign countries.
"The stable growth of military export output proves that Russia has a steady position among leaders of the world's arms market." He said.

Indeed Russia is fulfilling the words of Ezekiel 38:7, "Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto the, and be thou a guard unto them." Russia is building up her own military and the militaries of those nations associated with her in Ezekiel 38 and Daniel 11.

In a recent book entitled, "Six Days of War", author Michael Oren reported that Russia had supplied the weaponry for both the Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Today, we see that trend continuing. Time Magazine in February, in an article entitled "The God Father" stated, "The political implications of today's expensive oil are worth pondering. Quite simply, Russia is the only major power that has an interest in high energy prices. It is therefore the only major power with no interest in Middle Eastern stability. That is why Russia poses America's biggest problem when it comes to stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons…. The fact remains", the writer continues, "that it is the Russians who are building the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr and the Russians who have just won the contract to build an additional six such plants".

This is remarkable. Russia has been destabilizing the Middle East to push energy prices up. It is on these higher energy prices that she will be able to rebuild her military might, and rearm her allies in the Middle East region.

However, this build-up of Russian economic and military power is countered by the words of Ezekiel 38 describing Israel as "the land of unwalled villages… them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates." This was the other tenant of Netanyahu's address. The need for Israel to reduce socialism and increase capitalism to fuel her economy and bring prosperity and eventually peace.

Peace must come to the Middle East, the Bible is clear on this. However, a peaceful Middle East would mean an economic disaster for Russia. The Economist reported on December 13th last year, Russia's "economy is dangerously dependant on natural resources".

This may well form one of the hooks in Russia's jaws that "will bring her forth" with her "army, horses and horsemen" and "many ships".

As Russia arms herself, we too must arm ourselves. The apostle Paul warns us in Romans 13:12, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."

Let us arm ourselves in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to the earth when the God of heaven will setup a kingdom that will never be destroyed, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever!

Thanks for listening. Come back again next week to www.bibleinthenews.com.

Printed: Wednesday, March 21, 2007

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