“You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” (Matthew 24:6-8) (NASB)
The passage above was quoted from Christ’s teaching to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, just before his arrest and execution. Jesus is telling us of what we can expect before His return in the Last Days. So what is it about “birth pangs?” Jesus is comparing the events of the run-up to His return to the onset of labor pains. The signs of His coming that will punctuate those days will be marked by an increase in both frequency and intensity as the day of Christ’s return draws near. This last week we watched a little bit of that increase in both frequency and intensity as some very disturbing events began to unfold.
To say we live in dangerous times would be a gross understatement. The situation in Syria is among the most convoluted one can imagine. Under President Obama, America committed itself to taking down Syrian President Assad. The Russians support Assad and have forces in place in Syria. The US supports supposed ‘moderate’ Syrian rebel groups there. But these moderates have had a history of allying themselves with radical elements, like ISIS, which the US is now fighting there. However, under President Obama, the Pentagon was behind the creation of ISIS which is also fighting against Assad. In fact, the whole ISIS thing is even more convoluted than is generally known. A 2015 article in Zero Hedge sums it all up. The “purpose behind the Saudi Arabia-funded Islamic State was a simple one: use the Jihadists as the vehicle of choice to achieve a political goal: depose of Syria’s president Assad, who for years has stood in the way of a critical Qatari natural gas pipeline, one which could dethrone Russia as Europe’s dominant – and belligerent – source of energy, reaching an interim climax with the unsuccessful Mediterranean Sea military build up of 2013, which nearly resulted in quasi-world war.”[i] That’s when the Russians and the Chinese threatened all-out war should the US and its’ allies go into Syria as they were preparing to do at that time. A Pentagon document from that period specifically predicted that “an Islamic State through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria,” would be declared.[ii] It was at that time, that it was decided, despite their prescient foreknowledge, that the US would support the creation of ISIS and its’ radical allies in order to achieve its’ New World Order ends regarding Qatar’s natural gas pipeline. So with that as background, here’s a rundown of some current and very disturbing events.
As FOX News reported on June 18th, “A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian government warplane after it attacked Washington-backed fighters near ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa, the U.S.-led coalition said Sunday.” [OK, anyone who knows anything about this Syrian thing knows that that would spell trouble with the Russians who are staunch supporters of the Syrian President.] “The coalition said the shootdown took place ‘in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces.’”[iii]
Moscow immediately responded through a statement by Foreign Minister Sergy Rybakov, who characterized the action as an “act of aggression…directly in breach of international law.”[iv] But from there, Russia’s reaction ratcheted up beyond mere words. The Russian Defence Ministry announced: “All kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by the Russian SAM systems as air targets.” In addition the Russians said that they would stop communicating with the Americans regarding air operations in Syria. This communication had been put in place to avoid accidental incidents between the two nuclear powers and their allies.
[i] Secret Pentagon Report Reveals US “Created” ISIS As A “Tool” To Overthrow Syria’s President Assad, Zero Hedge, May 24, 2015If that isn’t enough, add in the actions of Iran vis-a-vis ISIS. Last week, the Sunni terror group took credit for a terror attack on the Iranian Parliament in Tehran in which 4 gunmen sprayed gunfire and one man blew himself up. So the Iranians launched four missiles against the ISIS-held town of Deir ez-Zour.[v] The launch of the missiles was shown on Iranian TV. The Iranians are of course full supporters of President Assad’s regime. Ah, the tangled web…..
[ii] Nafeez Ahmed, Pentagon report predicted West’s support for Islamist rebels would create ISIS, Medium.com, May 22, 2015
[iii] Navy jet shoots down Syrian warplane that attacked US-backed rebels, FOX News, June 18, 2017
[iv] US-led coalition’s downing of Syrian plane ‘act of aggression’, Russia Today, June 19, 2017
[v] Iran targets ‘terrorists’ in missile strike on Isis-held Syrian town, The Guardian, June 18, 2017
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