No-Fly Zone Declared, Israeli Ground Forces Move North, And Other News

After the Israeli Prime Minister's earth-shattering speech yesterday in which he unveiled that the Iranian leadership misled and lied to the world about its nuclear weapons program, analysts are trying to discern what the next few weeks entail and what Netanyahu's real angle is.  While some suspect he merely wants the Trump Administration to nix the Iranian nuclear deal, I suspect there is more brewing than that.

Hugh Hewitt and others, including even unidentified U.S. officials, believe that Israel is gearing up for a real war to drive Iranian forces out of Syria and put a stop to Hezbollah's rampant military buildup.  When you consider the 2006 war in Lebanon, the current situation is far more developed than even then—Hezbollah now has some 200,000 missiles and rockets and Iran proper has at least 13 military installations in Syria.

Israel has just extended the April civilian no-fly zone over the north part of the country until the end of May indicating that the IDF expects continued military activity on both sides.  In addition, IDF tank-hauling trucks have been spotted heading north toward the Syrian/Lebanese borders on Highway 6.

After comments yesterday from President Trump, Sarah Sanders, and other U.S. officials, it seems all-but-inevitable that the U.S. will nix the Iran deal and Israel will look justified in further military operations against the Iran/Hezbollah threat in the north.

Now that Putin is threatening to deliver the S-300 anti-aircraft and missile defense system to the Syrian government, it is quite likely that the Israeli government feels like they are being drawn into a conflict with just a small window of opportunity left for unimpeded strikes.  If they are going to deal with Iran and Hezbollah, they increasingly feel like it's now or never.

As stated earlier, Hezbollah and Iran are much better armed and prepared than in the 2006 war and the situation is only growing more dire for Israel by the day.  People often forget that despite Israel's tremendous technical advantage, that war essentially ended in a stalemate and casualties were even more evenly split than in the Six-Day War.  The stalemate has allowed Hezbollah to regroup and deepen its control of southern Lebanon.  Couple that with Iran and Russia digging in in Syria and Assad on the verge of winning the civil war, and it isn't hard to see why Israel is taking action now.

In terms of Bible prophecy, one can envision numerous situations in which Israel unintentionally stokes a direct confrontation with Iran and Russia by beating up on chief Assad allies Hezbollah and the Iranian Shi'ite militias.  Or perhaps a massive volley of much-improved missiles from Lebanon or Syria causes an unexpectedly high number of casualties in northern Israel.  In turn, Israel feels forced to take out command-and-control in Damascus.  And there you have Isaiah 17.  See Jeff's excellent recent article on the topic.

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Changing course, it has just come to my attention that Pentecost/Shavuot in 1948 may have fallen on the very day Israel became a nation: May 15, 1948.  But wait, wasn't Israel reborn on May 14th?  That is certainly the day they consider to be their independence day, but in fact the land was still controlled by the British until the next day.  The British Mandate ran from September 29, 1923 until May 15, 1948.  And according to the observable calendar, May 15th of that year was Pentecost.

Just think of the possibility: the Church and the nation of Israel were both born on Pentecost (or some might argue, conceived).  That being the case, Israel's 70th anniversary on the biblical calendar would actually be on Pentecost this month (sometime in the May 20–27 range).

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Lastly, my brother in Christ over at Heavenly Perspectives wanted me to bring an important analysis about Avengers: Infinity War to your attention.  This movie had the highest-grossing open of any movie in history and could conceivably be the highest overall grosser of all time.

The message?  [SPOILERS] An extraterrestrial super-being wants to destroy the people of earth and we need to ban together to fight him.  This being is ultimately successful in causing millions to disappear/vaporize into thin air.  My oh my—the timing.  It's almost a play-by-play from the Bible's final prophecies: a war to end all wars, God judging the whole earth in His wrath, the rapture, etc.  Only the characters are switched.  The super-being who causes millions to disappear is the villain in the story.

Check out the after-credits scene, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the rapture scenes from Jerusalem: Countdown and Left Behind:

And speaking of the rapture, dear brother and pre-trib rapture proponent Chuck Missler, founder of Koinonia House, has just passed away.  We will meet him in the air on the day we (soon) see our LORD.  He was 83 years old.

Strong's 83 in Hebrew is eber.  "Wings."  It's the word used in Isaiah 40:31:

But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.

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