Wars and Rumors of War’

By Mark Mendiola

It was no coincidence that as the world’s attention was riveted on the opening of the Olympics in China, Russian troops and tanks brutally invaded Georgia in one of the most brazen acts of naked aggression in the 21^st century. The message was clear. The Russian bear has come out of hibernation with a vengeance!

This latest shocking outbreak of war signals a ratcheting up in geopolitical tensions and increasing military conflicts as the power and influence of the United States wanes. The sudden Russian attack shattered any hope that nations might beat their swords into plowshares and enjoy an era of tranquility. To the contrary, it sets the stage for the unthinkable prospect of World War III as prophesied many places in the Holy Bible.

When asked what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age, Jesus Christ warned, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom (Matthew 24:3, 6-7).”

The ultimate outcome of this intensifying global warfare, He said, would be an unprecedented time when all human life could be wiped off the planet by weapons of mass destruction. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened (v. 21-22).”

RUSSIAN BEAR MAULING

As global peace and harmony were emphasized in Beijing, Russia’s invasion of the neighboring democratic republic of Georgia brought back disturbing memories of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1979, raising the specter that the Cold War has returned to bitterly chill relations between the East and West. The latest mauling proves Russia is more than willing to use military force outside its own borders, creating a crisis not seen since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.

How the United States and European Union react to Russia’s act of war tests whether the West has the resolve to stand against an outright violation of Georgia’s sovereignty or cave to ruthless, violent force. If a solid united front is not erected quickly by the western allies, more former Soviet republics could topple like dominoes and be crushed under the tank treads of a Mother Russia determined to rebuild her dismantled empire.

So far, the West’s timid response to Russia’s bold move reminds some analysts of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s lame attempt to appease Adolph Hitler when the Nazi German dictator wanted to cannibalize Czechoslovakia in September 1938. After Chamberlain capitulated, Hitler invaded Poland exactly a year later in September 1939, triggering World War II.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Aug. 25 that the European Union does not envision sanctions against Russia despite its failure to quickly comply with ceasefire and withdrawal terms brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the EU. France holds the EU's rotating presidency. Sarkozy has called an urgent Sept. 1 EU meeting in Brussels to focus on how the 27-member bloc can aid Georgia and deal with Russia.

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's two disputed breakaway provinces, in a move likely to worsen tensions between Moscow and the West by essentially annexing the territories. Russian forces also remain outside the Black Sea port of Poti and the provinces, establishing many checkpoints, prompting western allies to complain Russia has reneged on pulling out of Georgia. Armored personnel carriers blocked the bridge to Poti, where Russian forces dug trenches and set up mortars aimed at the city, raising concerns Moscow plans a lengthy occupation of Georgia.

MILQUETOAST RESPONSE

In a live television interview on CNN shortly after Russia’s army rumbled into his Caucasus country, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili passionately appealed to the United States and European Union to forcefully respond to the destructive incursion that left hundreds of civilians dead, as many as 158,000 displaced and infrastructure extensively damaged. He said U.S. President George W. Bush’s initial “soft” response of promising to send humanitarian aid to Georgia gave Russia a “green light” to push its convoys deeper into his country with little chance of a strong military response.

Under Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s cunning, heavy-handed influence, Russia is exploiting the lame duck status of President Bush. The Russians also know fully well the U.S. is unable to rapidly deploy large forces to hot spots in the world. With 144,000 U.S. troops committed to Iraq and another 35,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Russians calculated they could invade Georgia with minimal risk of a U.S. military response.

“The main foreign policy aim is to restore Russia’s lost superpower status: By recovering its dominance in the ex-Soviet Union, exploiting its role as an energy supplier and boosting its say in world affairs,” the Financial Times of London reported on Aug. 22.

“The Georgian adventure has been a great success. Moscow has punished pro-West Tbilisi for trying to join NATO and humiliatingly exposed the limits of the West’s support for allies in the post-Soviet region. … The next target could be pro-West Ukraine’s Crimea ... Even Belarus, the most pro-Moscow ex-Soviet state, is worried. So are NATO’s east European members like Poland, which has quickly signed a U.S. missile defense deal.”

A Russian general warned Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member, was risking a nuclear attack by agreeing to the missile defense system after the Czech Republic signed an agreement to base tracking radar within its borders as part of the same system. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko also warned Moscow was thinking about freezing all military cooperation with NATO.

On Aug. 24, a U.S. Navy destroyer loaded with humanitarian aid reached Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi, Georgia’s main oil port. The guided missile cruiser was the first of three American ships scheduled to arrive in addition to NATO warships, increasing tensions with Russia, which shares the Black Sea with NATO members Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Georgia and Ukraine.

STRATEGIC OIL CHOKEPOINT

Georgia sits astride a key westward route for oil from Caspian Sea nations – as the United States and the European Union strive to decrease Russia's dominance of oil and gas exports from the former Soviet Union.

“Russia’s invasion of Georgia has had a chilling effect. If it can use force against Georgia, might it use similar tactics against Ukraine and perhaps other countries in Eastern Europe as well as Central Asia? Or might it use its power to limit Europe’s access to oil from Central Asia?” the Shipping Digest asked on Aug. 25.

In an article titled “Georgia: A Blow to U.S. Energy,” BusinessWeek reported in its Aug. 13 edition: “The sudden war in the Caucasus brought Georgia to heel, reasserted Russia’s claim as the dominant force in the region, and dealt a blow to U.S. prestige. But in this part of the world, diplomacy and war are about oil and gas … Victory in Georgia now gives Russia the edge in the struggle over access to the Caspian’s 35 billion barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas.”

The United States and western petroleum companies stand to be the biggest losers if Russian troops secure control of a vast network of existing and planned non-Russian pipelines for shipping Caspian Sea oil to the world market from countries once part of the Soviet empire.

The invasion of Georgia rattled already jittery commodity markets, reversing the downward trend in oil prices. Oil and natural gas pipelines have been built across Georgia to Turkey. Another plan to construct a natural gas pipeline through Georgia to Austria now appears doomed. “The risk of building a pipeline through countries vulnerable to the wrath of Russia is just too high,” energy analyst Chris Ruppel told BusinessWeek.

In other words, a Russia that keeps a strong grip on Georgia also could strangle oil and natural gas supplies to Western Europe, which now depends on Russia for a third of its energy.

THE FIERY RED HORSE OF WAR

Christ warned that wars and rumors of war would precede His return to earth. Nations and kingdoms would rise against each other in greater frequency and intensity, leading to the grand smash crescendo of the Great Tribulation. The Apostle John also saw this extremely violent period of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare engulfing the world when he saw the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” in vision when Jesus Christ opened the seven seals.

“When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword (Revelation 6:3-4).”

The Book of Revelation then goes on to describe 3½ horrific years of the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord that will precede Christ’s Second Coming with unimaginable suffering and destruction. The Sixth Trumpet describes a 200 million man army involved in the slaughter of a third of mankind (Revelation 9:15-19) or billions of people!

All the peace treaties negotiated by diplomats and political alliances forged between nations will not bring about permanent world peace. Isaiah 33:7 states: “The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly” when they see their endeavors crumble in futility. Isaiah 59:7-8 states: “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.”

THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM

The change from George W. Bush’s presidency to a new administration assuming the White House in January 2009 isn’t the only major shift in the world’s leadership. Pakistan President Pervez Musharrif’s recent resignation leaves the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons in turmoil. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s announced resignation in mid-September also will leave a vacuum in Jewish Israel, which has nuclear weapons.

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, predicts Israel could attack Iran, a radical Islamic state feverishly striving to manufacture its own nuclear warheads and missiles, after the November U.S. presidential election, but before President Bush’s successor takes office, according to the British Daily Telegraph. Bolton lamented what he sees as the Bush administration’s lack of will to itself contemplate military strikes against Iran. Israel, however, still is determined to prevent a nuclear Iran, he said, noting the "optimal window" for strikes would be between the Nov. 4 election and the Jan. 20 inauguration.

In early June, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz told Yedioth Ahronoth an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks inevitable due to the apparent failure of U.N. sanctions to deter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it,” Mofaz said. “Attacking Iran in order to stop its nuclear plans will be unavoidable.”

Israeli jets destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981 and obliterated what many presumed to be an infant Syrian nuclear reactor in September 2007. In an interview with Der Spiegel, Prime Minister Olmert said: “Israel always has to be in a position to defend itself against any adversary and against any threat of any kind.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Mofaz said the Iranian leader “would disappear before Israel does.” Mofaz’s remarks were blamed for a record $11 a barrel spike in the price of oil. Experts have predicted international oil markets would break into pandemonium if Iran is attacked by Israel.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said military action against Iran would turn the Middle East into a "fireball" and accelerate Iran's nuclear program.

In early June, Israel executed a major long-range military exercise over the eastern Mediterranean involving more than 100 F15 and F16 fighters in what many foreign intelligence experts viewed as a rehearsal for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, the British Independent reported. Aircraft flew 900 miles from their bases in Israel or the same distance as between Israel and an Iranian nuclear enrichment plant. On Aug. 6, the Associated Press reported Israel has bought 90 F-16I fighter planes that can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, and will get 11 more by the end of next year. It also has purchased two new Dolphin submarines from Germany reportedly capable of firing nuclear-armed warheads — in addition to the three it already has.

Israel sees an atomic bomb in Iranian control as a direct threat to its existence. Israeli leaders believe Tehran will have enriched enough uranium for a nuclear weapon by next year or 2010 at the latest. "If Israeli, U.S., or European intelligence gets proof that Iran has succeeded in developing nuclear weapons technology, then Israel will respond in a manner reflecting the existential threat posed by such a weapon," Mofaz said. "Israel takes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements regarding its destruction seriously. Israel cannot risk another Holocaust."

Bush administration officials in early August assured visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the U.S. has not ruled out the possibility of a military strike on Iran. “Yet the cost of an attack — by the U.S., Israel or both — is likely to be enormous. Iran could halt oil production and shut down tanker traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which could send the price of crude skyrocketing and wreck western economies,” the AP reported.

THE RISE OF A EUROPEAN BEAST POWER

Russia’s belligerent war rampage, escalating tensions in the Middle East and a threat to essential petroleum that keeps the European Union’s economy running could very well accelerate the prophesied final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire on the European continent. If more former Soviet republics are devoured by the voracious Russian bear and oil supplies are disrupted, the European Union could be forced to take drastic measures to protect itself.

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong repeatedly warned of this resurrection and the dangerous threat it would pose to the United States and British Commonwealth. Even at the end of World War II when Nazi Germany was devastated and bombed into oblivion, he foresaw Germany’s resurgence like a mythical Phoenix arising from ashes, leading a European military superpower.

In a November 1982 sermon, Mr. Armstrong even predicted seven years before Eastern Europe dramatically broke through the Iron Curtain in 1989 that the Poles, Czechs and Hungarians would be among the East European countries to unite with Western Europe, creating a monstrous empire rivaling the United States and Soviet Union in power.

“Let me say right here, I know of no prophecy in the Bible that speaks specifically of any war between Russia and the United States, and I have been saying for years and years that is not the way World War III will come,” he said.

“However, let me say that the resurrection of this so-called Holy Roman Empire that existed from 554 to 1814 in Europe will trigger World War III, the nuclear World War III that is going to destroy our major cities. I mean destroy them! One third of our people are going to be killed! Another third are going to die from famine and pestilence, according to Ezekiel’s prophecies, and the third remaining are going to be taken as slaves into other nations and moved out of this country.”

The Bible shows the sudden, unexpected rise of a military juggernaut in Europe like a ferocious, carnivorous beast will astound the world. It “shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces … and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’ … And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him (Daniel 7:23, Revelation 13:4, 7-8).”

This European war machine will sweep through the Middle East like a tornado and conquer Jerusalem, “but news from the east and north (Asia and Russia) shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many (Daniel 11:44).”

The good news beyond this Great Tribulation is that Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords will smash this evil empire to smithereens like a Great Rock (Daniel 2:34, 44) and those days will be shortened at the Seventh Trumpet when He establishes the Kingdom of God on earth. Then, the kingdoms of this world will “become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15, Daniel 7:27)!”

The pictures above are intended for educational purposes only.
Brought to you by the Church of God Faithful Flock