(Re: The Future *War)
One way that the future, Tribulation-starting war of Revelation 6:4-8 and Daniel 11:15-17 could happen is the U.S. could undertake a massive buildup of the Iraqi Army so that it can serve as a proxy army, for the U.S. and Israel, for an all-out ground invasion of Iran, in order to end Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile program, its terrorist-group support operations, and its extremist regime, which seeks ruthless hegemony over the entire Middle East, especially in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. As part of a U.S. buildup of the Iraqi Army, the U.S. could reinstall much of the former Iraqi Baathist military hierarchy (which existed under Baathist Saddam Hussein) to run the present Iraqi Army more efficiently and powerfully.
And if the current, Shiite-dominated government of Iraq balks at any return of a Baathist-dominated military (which cruelly suppressed the Iraqi Shiites under Saddam Hussein), or balks at any invasion of fellow-Shiite Iran, this could lead Western intelligence agencies to instigate a Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq (with the assistance of thousands of Western special forces dressed in Iraqi uniforms). For the West could see a well-run, Baathist Iraqi Army and government as the only way to permanently eradicate Islamic State, and any of its successors, from ever terrorizing Iraq again, and the only way to eventually invade and defeat Iran, which invasion the Iraqi Baathists could agree to perform. For they see meddling, non-Arab Iran as a great enemy of Arab autonomy.
Indeed, the current military brains of the Islamic State are former Iraqi Baathist generals who cannot stand that the Iraqi government is so heavily controlled by Iran. They see (Sunni Arab) Islamic State as the only current, viable bulwark against the (Shiite, non-Arab) Iranians, and their Shiite Arab cronies, taking total control of all of Iraq and Syria. But if there are secret, Western overtures toward these Baathist generals (who are now holed up in far-eastern Syria), they could very well agree to defect from serving Islamic State to leading a non-sectarian "Free Iraqi Army" drawn mainly (not exclusively) from Sunni Arab and Kurdish militias in western and northern Iraq, which Army, with secret Western assistance, could then march on Baghdad and completely overthrow the current, Iranian-controlled Iraqi government, which is very weak and corrupt. (Indeed, a mere puff of wind could cause it to collapse; so that the Western-engineered Baathist overthrow of it might be called "Operation Freedom Wind".)
Once the Iraqi Baathists (and Kurds) take back control of the Iraqi government and military, they could then also defeat all of the Iranian-controlled Shiite Arab militias in Iraq. Then, to help get the Iraqi masses and the world behind the idea of a subsequent, all-out Iraqi invasion of Iran itself, "false flag" operations could be managed by Western intelligence agencies by which it will be made to seem that (non-Arab, Persian) Iran is attacking the Iraqi Sunni Arabs and Kurds (and their little children) terroristically with "dirty bombs" made from Iranian-enriched uranium, so that the Iraqi masses will become enraged and begin to call for all-out retaliation against (what they could call) "the vile Persians". And the world could see an Iraqi invasion of Iran as being completely justified by self-defense.
But then, right when Iraq is all ready to invade Iran, the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (who by that time could be led by a great miracle-working false "Messiah": cf. Matthew 24:24) could destroy the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque (the third-holiest sites in Islam) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, in order to clear the site for the building of a third Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1-2, Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31,36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). This could so enrage Muslims worldwide, including the (Muslim) Iraqi Army, that the Iraqi Baathist Generals could see it as a perfect excuse to abandon the plan to invade huge Iran, and instead (pretending that they are doing so in the name of Islam) turn and send their vast army against the small territory of Israel, completely defeating and occupying it (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17, the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath").
But this would not be the ultimate reason for the Baathist attack, which could continue on south to also defeat and occupy Egypt (Daniel 11:15). For Egypt is ruled by the U.S.-supported Egyptian Army, which the Baathists could see as being a puppet of the U.S., just as they could see Israel as being like a 51st state of the U.S. Baathism's ultimate aim is to unite all Arab lands from Oman to Morocco into one massive, powerful United Arab States free from all foreign (including U.S.) hegemony.
The all-out Iraqi attack on Israel could be joined by the entire (Baathist) Syrian Army (with all of its missiles, many still secretly tipped with nerve agents), as well as by all of Iran's long-range missiles, and all of Hezbollah's and Hamas' missiles and guerrillas. Israel could find itself suddenly attacked from three directions at the same time (from the east, north, and south), with thousands of missiles raining down on its cities and military bases, and a thousand Iraqi tanks (meant to defeat and occupy Iran) pouring across its borders. As Israel starts to see its small area of land overrun, and sees that its total defeat and occupation is imminent and assured, in retaliation it could drop nuclear bombs on Baghdad, Damascus (Isaiah 17:1), Tehran, and other major cities of Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
There could be so many nuclear explosions sending so much radioactive dust and ash so high into the atmosphere that they could be blown eastward and fall on hugely-populated South Asia, ruining so many crop fields and immune systems there with radiation that one-fourth of the world could end up dying from the war and its aftermath of famines and epidemics. This could fulfill the horrible war which will begin the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, which war will, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, end up killing one-fourth of the world (Revelation 6:4-8). The "great sword" of this war (Revelation 6:4) could be Israel's nuclear weapons. This war could be blamed not only on the religious fundamentalism of Islam and Judaism, but also on religious fundamentalism in general, and so could lead to a worldwide crusade against all forms of religious fundamentalism, including Christian fundamentalism, that is, the (correct) idea that the Bible is wholly true (2 Timothy 3:16, Matthew 4:4), and that all other religions are cursed, doubly cursed (Galatians 1:8-9, John 14:6, John 3:36, Acts 4:12).
After an Iraqi Baathist General who could lead the defeat and occupation of Israel and Egypt mysteriously disappears from the scene (Daniel 11:19), the Antichrist, who could be an Arab, could arise peacefully out of Lebanon (from the modern city of Tyre: Ezekiel 28:2; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:4). And he could take up the mantle of Baathism and vow to (in his words) "complete the great work of Arab liberation and unification". The first thing that the Antichrist could do once he is given control (Daniel 11:21) of a Baathist federation of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and a "United Palestine" (that is, a defeated and occupied Israel), is to perform a small and localized attack against an army of ultra-Orthodox Jews holed up in the walled Old City of Jerusalem and led by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish false "Messiah" (Daniel 9:26a, Daniel 11:22).
These ultra-Orthodox Jews could have managed to hold off the first Baathist attack even as it overran the rest of Israel, because the walled Old City of Jerusalem is considered holy to the Muslims, and so it is not to be bombarded or destroyed. The Antichrist could manage in some way to take the Old City without doing it much harm, such as by incapacitating its Jewish defenders with huge clouds of tear gas, while tens of thousands of Arab soldiers wearing gas masks take control of the city by climbing over its walls on thousands of tall ladders.
But then, instead of imprisoning or executing all of the ultra-Orthodox Jews and their false Messiah, the Antichrist will do an amazing thing. He will "cut" a peace treaty with them and their false Messiah (Daniel 9:26a, Daniel 11:23), permitting them to keep a third Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1) which they will have built on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, and permitting them to keep control of the Old City for at least seven years (Daniel 9:27a), so long as they give up the outer court of the temple (Revelation 11:2a) to the Muslims, so that the Muslims can rebuild the (by that time destroyed) Al Aqsa Mosque on the southern end of the Temple Mount and resume worship there. By this peace treaty, the Antichrist could present himself to the world as (in his words): "A reasonable man, a man of peace. I am no Hitler. I do not desire a second Holocaust. I am willing to give the religious Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem seven years to show that they are able to live peacefully with others, that they are different than the Zionist Jews who have just destroyed the world with their nuclear weapons".
And if the Antichrist gets flak from his fellow Baathists for letting the ultra-Orthodox Jews keep the Old City of Jerusalem, he could explain to them privately that (in his words) "It is all a temporary ruse, meant to keep world opinion off guard while we consolidate our position". The Baathists could consolidate their position by becoming so well dug-in, and so well-equipped and advised militarily by the Russians (in the name of "Arab self-determination"), that a U.S. counter-attack to "restore" (that is, to take back) Israel and Egypt could fail, and leave the Baathists in control, and in a position to extend their power over all of the rest of the Arab nations. For if the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel, they will be hailed by the Arab masses across the Arab world as magnificent heroes, so that the Baathists could have no problem persuading the Arab masses to support them. And the Baathists could justify their defeat of the Egyptian military regime, and then their subsequent defeat of other Arab regimes, such as in Jordan, by railing against them as being (what they could call):
"These vile cronies of the Americans. These cronies pretended to be for the Arab people, while in fact they were taking American bribes in the billions, completely selling out our Palestinian brothers to the endless cruelties of the Zionist occupation, and keeping you, the great majority of the Arab people, in poverty. These cronies, like the Zionists themselves, were the American bulwarks against our glorious Arab unification and return to world power. Join now with us, the Baathists, that we might bring about the long-awaited Arab Renaissance, the long-awaited Arab Resurrection [the Arab word 'Baath' can mean 'Renaissance' and 'Resurrection'], that we Arabs might all rise up together and unite, from Oman to Morocco, into one great United Arab States, one great Arab Empire, shaking off completely all of the shackles of the West, placed upon us so long ago, and return to our former glory as we had during the Middle Ages, when we were free and far superior to the West".
The Baathists could also rail against the kings, sheikhs, and innumerable princes of the Arab Gulf States for (in their words) "Hoarding the huge oil wealth given by Allah to all of the Arabs, the Prophet's own people, and keeping the Arab masses in poverty and subjugation to Western, infidel interests". The Baathists are socialist, and so could call for the distribution of the Arab oil wealth to the Arab masses (Daniel 11:24). In this way, and by their defeat and occupation of Israel, the Baathists could easily turn the masses to their side in every Arab nation.
During the first few years of the seven-year peace treaty referred to earlier, the Antichrist could employ Baathism as the means by which he will gradually and peacefully put together a truly-federal, United Arab States, stretching from Oman to Morocco. Once he has accomplished this, he could then begin to downplay Baathism and start speaking of "World peace and the unity of mankind". He could convince an oil-thirsty European Union to let the oil-rich United Arab States join it, thereby forming a massive Mediterranean Union, which he could manage to peacefully gain control of and use it as his base of power to eventually exert his hegemony over the entire world (Revelation 13:7b).
Then, only some 3.5 years after making the seven-year peace treaty referred to earlier, the Antichrist will break it, attack the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem, stop the daily Mosaic animal sacrifices offered in front of it, and sit (at least one time) in the temple and proclaim himself God (Daniel 11:31,36, Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). He will then rule the whole world by the power of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon: Revelation 12:9) for 3.5 literal years (Revelation 13:4-18, Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, Revelation 12:14), or 1,260 literal days (Revelation 12:6).
The return of Jesus Christ from heaven (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 19:11-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) may not occur immediately after the 1,260 days of the Antichrist's worldwide reign, but could occur 75 days later, on the 1,335th day after the Antichrist and his followers set up the abomination of desolation (possibly a standing, android image of the Antichrist) in the holy place (the inner sanctum) of the third Jewish temple (Daniel 12:11-12, Daniel 11:31, Matthew 24:15). These 75 days could be taken up by the vials of God's wrath which will be poured out on the Antichrist's worshippers (Revelation 16).
When Jesus Christ returns, He will completely defeat the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 19:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9), and He will have Satan bound in the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 20:1-3). Then the returned Jesus, and the physically resurrected Church (of all times, including those in the Church who had been beheaded by the Antichrist), will reign physically on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29, Psalms 66:3-4, Psalms 72:8-11, Zechariah 14:8-21).
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(Re: Back to the war you described, if the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel, will they gain control of Israel's nuclear weapons?)
Not necessarily. For right at the end of the war, Israel could be careful to fly its unused nuclear weapons to a U.S. airbase in Italy for safekeeping until Israel can be restored by the U.S.
Those weapons could then end up staying on that airbase. For it could turn out that a restoration of Israel by the U.S. will never occur.
(See also Objection 4 below)
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(Re: *Objections)
Some possible objections to the Baathist war scenario outlined above:
1. "Would not the Baathists be deterred from attacking Israel because of Israel's nukes?"
Even though Iraq and Syria know of Israel's nuclear weapons, and its tendency to retaliate in huge measure against attacks, Iraq and Syria could still decide to make an all-out conventional attack on Israel, for a couple of reasons. First, by that time Iran could have successfully built (or secretly purchased from North Korea) and tested its first nuclear weapon, and have claimed to have built a few more to (in its words) "Serve solely for defensive purposes against Israel's nuclear threat". Iraq and Syria could then think that Israel will not use nuclear weapons against them, even if they do attack Israel with all of their conventional forces, because then Israel would have to fear Iran retaliating against Israel with nuclear weapons.
Second, the future destruction of the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque by the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel could so enrage the rank and file of the (Muslim) Iraqi and Syrian Armies that they could demand an immediate invasion of Israel, and threaten an all-out revolt against their generals if they refuse to lead them in the attack. Fearing for their own lives at the hands of their own soldiers, the generals could initiate the attack against Israel, figuring that even if Israel goes ahead and nukes Baghdad and Damascus in retaliation for the total defeat and occupation of Israel, by that time the Iraqi and Syrian Armies will all be in Israel, out of harm's way from Israel's nukes. For Israel is not going to nuke its own land.
But what good would it do the Iraqi and Syrian Baathists to gain "Palestine" and Egypt while losing Baghdad and Damascus to Israeli nukes? The Baathists could figure that the loss of Baghdad and Damascus (which they could evacuate ahead of time) is worth it to completely defeat and occupy Israel and Egypt, thereby removing much of the foundation of U.S. hegemony over the Arab world. And by the time that the U.S. makes its counter-attack to "restore" (that is, to take back) Israel and Egypt, the Baathists could have become so well dug-in, and so well-equipped and advised militarily by the Russians (in the name of "Arab self-determination"), that the U.S. counter-attack to restore Israel and Egypt could fail, and leave the Baathists in control and in a position to extend their power over all of the rest of the Arab nations.
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2. "Would not the awesome Israeli Air Force be able to destroy any hostile Iraqi forces streaming toward Israel?"
The Israeli Air Force could be unable to hit enough of a massive Iraqi attacking force to prevent the small territory of Israel from being overrun by it. For between Baghdad and Israel is a lot of flat desert, across which massive numbers of Iraqi tanks, armored personnel carriers, and rapid-fire, rapidly-moving tracked howitzers could stream west toward Israel in very wide and staggered formations, which Israel's Air Force could have difficulty taking out quickly. And interspersed liberally among the Iraqi forces could be large numbers of highly mobile and technically advanced (U.S.-made) Iraqi anti-aircraft missile batteries, which could manage to take out most of Israel's Air Force as it is attacking the Iraqi forces. Any Iraqi force configuration which the U.S. will have provided to the Iraqi Army with the idea of making sure that Iraq could defeat all of Iran's air and ground defenses and overrun and occupy Iran's relatively huge territory could also be capable of (instead) defeating Israel's air and ground defenses enough so that Iraqi forces will be able to overrun and occupy the small territory of Israel.
Also, Russia is already supplying (Baathist) Syria with highly-advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, and could someday supply it with the even more advanced S-400s and S-500s, which could be employed against Israeli jets to devastating effect during a future, all-out war involving Syria, Iraq, and Iran against Israel.
Indeed, Russia has been helping Iran to develop a powerful line of force stretching all the way from Iran to Lebanon, which line could then attack southward all at once, invading not only Israel, but also Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait at the same time. Horribly, the previous U.S. administration sat idly by while Russia and Iran assiduously built up this line of force, including by deploying large numbers of Iranian troops and generals, and by building up large, Iranian-controlled Shiite Arab militias in Syria and Iraq. Hopefully, the current U.S. administration will be able to break up this line of force by successfully continuing to occupy far-eastern Syria with U.S. and allied (i.e. Sunni Arab and Kurdish) forces, and by bringing about an anti-Iran, Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq.
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3. "Regarding the future, all-out war, what about the U.S. forces already in Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait?"
There could be relatively few U.S. forces in these places when the future, all-out war happens, just as there are relatively few now (only a few thousand). And even if significant numbers are deployed there before the future, all-out war happens, they would have a hard time justifying to the Iraqi masses the U.S.'s killing of Iraqi troops (starting on their way westward across the desert to defeat Israel). Also, if the Iraqi Army vacates Iraq to defeat Israel (with a promise from Israel-hating Iran not to invade Iraq in the meantime), then if all of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Kuwait went chasing westward after the Iraqi Army to attack and weaken it before it reaches Israel, the U.S. would then have to fear Iran directly invading and occupying a completely-defenseless Iraq (which occupation Iran could justify by saying that it is just there to defend the Iraqi masses from any retaliation by U.S. forces until the Iraqi Army can return from its defeat of Israel).
Also, any all-out westward movement of U.S. forces in Iraq and Kuwait would leave the U.S. Central Command's own flank in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia dangerously exposed to an all-out, direct Iranian invasion and occupation. For even the Saudi Army is not very strong in combat. Indeed, it has even had to hire thousands of Pakistani soldiers to guard its southern frontier against the minor group called the Houthis in Yemen. So without any U.S. forces left to defend Saudi Arabia's and Kuwait's northern frontiers, how would these frontiers fare against tens of thousands of hardened Iranian soldiers? (They would not fare at all.)
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4. "Regarding the future, all-out war, would not the U.S. be able to counter-attack with its forces in the West and restore Israel and Egypt?"
If the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel and Egypt, the U.S. could begin a counter-attack to "restore" (that is, to take back) Israel and Egypt by attempting a huge amphibious assault on occupied Egypt, involving all of the U.S.'s new, vaunted littoral combat ships. But the Baathists could cut this invasion forces to shreds in the sea by firing tens of thousands of rockets and missiles (well-camouflaged and dispersed on flat roofs in densely populated areas close to shore), resulting in the loss of something like 30,000 U.S. military personnel in a single day. This anti-Inchon could cause a huge uproar among the U.S. public, which could cry out: "What are we doing over there? Who cares about Egypt? And why in the world do the Israelis have to live in that awful region surrounded by so many hateful and powerful enemies? Let all of the Israelis come over here to America and live in freedom and peace with us. Why should any more of our precious young men and women be slaughtered over this madness in the Middle East?"
And so the U.S. could withdraw from attempting any more counter-attacks to restore Israel and Egypt. Also, a bankruptcy of the U.S. government at this same time because of a massive run on the U.S. dollar after its disastrous failure in the counter-attack could render the U.S. unable for a time to finance any more huge military invasions overseas. The U.S. could instead blockade the Baathists with the huge U.S. Navy and call an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to address the situation. But Russia and China could veto any votes to send in outside forces, saying: "What right does the world have to interfere in this act of Arab self-determination? How is Arab Iraq and Syria invading Arab Palestine and Egypt to establish a free union of Arabs any different than the American North invading the American South during the American Civil War to establish a free union of Americans? Should the U.N. authorize outside forces to invade the U.S. to restore the Confederacy? And how is the Arabs occupying the Jews' ancestral land any different than the U.S. occupying the American Indians' ancestral lands? Should the U.N. authorize outside forces to invade the U.S. to restore the American Indians to their ancestral lands?"
The U.S. could then turn to the U.N. General Assembly, only to have its spokesman hooted and shouted from the podium by a world which is jealous of America's power, and which could say (in its words): "Ha! Ha! Great America is defeated! And no one wants to help it restore its hegemony over the Middle East!". The U.S. could then turn to NATO, only to have the Europeans turn down its request to send the armies of Europe (as they could say) "into the jaws of death, and for what?". Russia and China, seeing America's military isolation, could then send in military "advisers" into an ever-expanding United Arab States and shore it up with massive amounts of military hardware and training. Oil-thirsty China could do so in exchange for cheap oil, and oil-rich Russia could do so in exchange for huge amounts of cash, and just to be able to thumb its nose at a defeated U.S., and to keep the U.S. from taking back hegemony over the Middle East.
Ultimately, after the Baathists have completed taking control of the entire Arab Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. could find itself completely blocked out of those regions and all of their oil. But the U.S. could say that it is those regions which are blockaded by the huge U.S. Navy. To get around the U.S. naval blockade, China could lay an oil pipeline from the Middle East to a point on the coast of the Indian Ocean beyond the blockade, where oil tankers could get the oil. Also, if most of the U.S. Navy gets deployed to blockade the huge region controlled by the Baathists, China could see that as the time for it to make an all-out, military attempt to restore Taiwan to mainland Chinese control, and also to take complete military control of every disputed island and every oil and gas-rich undersea territory in the South China Sea and the East China Sea which China does not already effectively control because of past and present U.S. inaction to stop Chinese expansion into these international waters.
Also, Russia could get around a future U.S. naval blockade of a Baathist Middle East and North Africa by sending to the Baathists any military hardware sales which Russia would have delivered by ship, by delivering them instead via rail and trucks crossing the Caucasus and western Iran (after Russia has brokered a mutually-beneficial peace agreement between the Baathists and Iran). And Europe could get around the blockade and obtain oil from the Middle East and North Africa by building a large pipeline across the Bosporus, and by digging a large-pipeline tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar.
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Next entry / Prior / Table of Contents
Jan 3, 2019
One way that the future, Tribulation-starting war of Revelation 6:4-8 and Daniel 11:15-17 could happen is the U.S. could undertake a massive buildup of the Iraqi Army so that it can serve as a proxy army, for the U.S. and Israel, for an all-out ground invasion of Iran, in order to end Iran's nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile program, its terrorist-group support operations, and its extremist regime, which seeks ruthless hegemony over the entire Middle East, especially in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. As part of a U.S. buildup of the Iraqi Army, the U.S. could reinstall much of the former Iraqi Baathist military hierarchy (which existed under Baathist Saddam Hussein) to run the present Iraqi Army more efficiently and powerfully.
And if the current, Shiite-dominated government of Iraq balks at any return of a Baathist-dominated military (which cruelly suppressed the Iraqi Shiites under Saddam Hussein), or balks at any invasion of fellow-Shiite Iran, this could lead Western intelligence agencies to instigate a Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq (with the assistance of thousands of Western special forces dressed in Iraqi uniforms). For the West could see a well-run, Baathist Iraqi Army and government as the only way to permanently eradicate Islamic State, and any of its successors, from ever terrorizing Iraq again, and the only way to eventually invade and defeat Iran, which invasion the Iraqi Baathists could agree to perform. For they see meddling, non-Arab Iran as a great enemy of Arab autonomy.
Indeed, the current military brains of the Islamic State are former Iraqi Baathist generals who cannot stand that the Iraqi government is so heavily controlled by Iran. They see (Sunni Arab) Islamic State as the only current, viable bulwark against the (Shiite, non-Arab) Iranians, and their Shiite Arab cronies, taking total control of all of Iraq and Syria. But if there are secret, Western overtures toward these Baathist generals (who are now holed up in far-eastern Syria), they could very well agree to defect from serving Islamic State to leading a non-sectarian "Free Iraqi Army" drawn mainly (not exclusively) from Sunni Arab and Kurdish militias in western and northern Iraq, which Army, with secret Western assistance, could then march on Baghdad and completely overthrow the current, Iranian-controlled Iraqi government, which is very weak and corrupt. (Indeed, a mere puff of wind could cause it to collapse; so that the Western-engineered Baathist overthrow of it might be called "Operation Freedom Wind".)
Once the Iraqi Baathists (and Kurds) take back control of the Iraqi government and military, they could then also defeat all of the Iranian-controlled Shiite Arab militias in Iraq. Then, to help get the Iraqi masses and the world behind the idea of a subsequent, all-out Iraqi invasion of Iran itself, "false flag" operations could be managed by Western intelligence agencies by which it will be made to seem that (non-Arab, Persian) Iran is attacking the Iraqi Sunni Arabs and Kurds (and their little children) terroristically with "dirty bombs" made from Iranian-enriched uranium, so that the Iraqi masses will become enraged and begin to call for all-out retaliation against (what they could call) "the vile Persians". And the world could see an Iraqi invasion of Iran as being completely justified by self-defense.
But then, right when Iraq is all ready to invade Iran, the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (who by that time could be led by a great miracle-working false "Messiah": cf. Matthew 24:24) could destroy the Muslim Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque (the third-holiest sites in Islam) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, in order to clear the site for the building of a third Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1-2, Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31,36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). This could so enrage Muslims worldwide, including the (Muslim) Iraqi Army, that the Iraqi Baathist Generals could see it as a perfect excuse to abandon the plan to invade huge Iran, and instead (pretending that they are doing so in the name of Islam) turn and send their vast army against the small territory of Israel, completely defeating and occupying it (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17, the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath").
But this would not be the ultimate reason for the Baathist attack, which could continue on south to also defeat and occupy Egypt (Daniel 11:15). For Egypt is ruled by the U.S.-supported Egyptian Army, which the Baathists could see as being a puppet of the U.S., just as they could see Israel as being like a 51st state of the U.S. Baathism's ultimate aim is to unite all Arab lands from Oman to Morocco into one massive, powerful United Arab States free from all foreign (including U.S.) hegemony.
The all-out Iraqi attack on Israel could be joined by the entire (Baathist) Syrian Army (with all of its missiles, many still secretly tipped with nerve agents), as well as by all of Iran's long-range missiles, and all of Hezbollah's and Hamas' missiles and guerrillas. Israel could find itself suddenly attacked from three directions at the same time (from the east, north, and south), with thousands of missiles raining down on its cities and military bases, and a thousand Iraqi tanks (meant to defeat and occupy Iran) pouring across its borders. As Israel starts to see its small area of land overrun, and sees that its total defeat and occupation is imminent and assured, in retaliation it could drop nuclear bombs on Baghdad, Damascus (Isaiah 17:1), Tehran, and other major cities of Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
There could be so many nuclear explosions sending so much radioactive dust and ash so high into the atmosphere that they could be blown eastward and fall on hugely-populated South Asia, ruining so many crop fields and immune systems there with radiation that one-fourth of the world could end up dying from the war and its aftermath of famines and epidemics. This could fulfill the horrible war which will begin the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, which war will, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, end up killing one-fourth of the world (Revelation 6:4-8). The "great sword" of this war (Revelation 6:4) could be Israel's nuclear weapons. This war could be blamed not only on the religious fundamentalism of Islam and Judaism, but also on religious fundamentalism in general, and so could lead to a worldwide crusade against all forms of religious fundamentalism, including Christian fundamentalism, that is, the (correct) idea that the Bible is wholly true (2 Timothy 3:16, Matthew 4:4), and that all other religions are cursed, doubly cursed (Galatians 1:8-9, John 14:6, John 3:36, Acts 4:12).
After an Iraqi Baathist General who could lead the defeat and occupation of Israel and Egypt mysteriously disappears from the scene (Daniel 11:19), the Antichrist, who could be an Arab, could arise peacefully out of Lebanon (from the modern city of Tyre: Ezekiel 28:2; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:4). And he could take up the mantle of Baathism and vow to (in his words) "complete the great work of Arab liberation and unification". The first thing that the Antichrist could do once he is given control (Daniel 11:21) of a Baathist federation of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and a "United Palestine" (that is, a defeated and occupied Israel), is to perform a small and localized attack against an army of ultra-Orthodox Jews holed up in the walled Old City of Jerusalem and led by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish false "Messiah" (Daniel 9:26a, Daniel 11:22).
These ultra-Orthodox Jews could have managed to hold off the first Baathist attack even as it overran the rest of Israel, because the walled Old City of Jerusalem is considered holy to the Muslims, and so it is not to be bombarded or destroyed. The Antichrist could manage in some way to take the Old City without doing it much harm, such as by incapacitating its Jewish defenders with huge clouds of tear gas, while tens of thousands of Arab soldiers wearing gas masks take control of the city by climbing over its walls on thousands of tall ladders.
But then, instead of imprisoning or executing all of the ultra-Orthodox Jews and their false Messiah, the Antichrist will do an amazing thing. He will "cut" a peace treaty with them and their false Messiah (Daniel 9:26a, Daniel 11:23), permitting them to keep a third Jewish temple (Revelation 11:1) which they will have built on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, and permitting them to keep control of the Old City for at least seven years (Daniel 9:27a), so long as they give up the outer court of the temple (Revelation 11:2a) to the Muslims, so that the Muslims can rebuild the (by that time destroyed) Al Aqsa Mosque on the southern end of the Temple Mount and resume worship there. By this peace treaty, the Antichrist could present himself to the world as (in his words): "A reasonable man, a man of peace. I am no Hitler. I do not desire a second Holocaust. I am willing to give the religious Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem seven years to show that they are able to live peacefully with others, that they are different than the Zionist Jews who have just destroyed the world with their nuclear weapons".
And if the Antichrist gets flak from his fellow Baathists for letting the ultra-Orthodox Jews keep the Old City of Jerusalem, he could explain to them privately that (in his words) "It is all a temporary ruse, meant to keep world opinion off guard while we consolidate our position". The Baathists could consolidate their position by becoming so well dug-in, and so well-equipped and advised militarily by the Russians (in the name of "Arab self-determination"), that a U.S. counter-attack to "restore" (that is, to take back) Israel and Egypt could fail, and leave the Baathists in control, and in a position to extend their power over all of the rest of the Arab nations. For if the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel, they will be hailed by the Arab masses across the Arab world as magnificent heroes, so that the Baathists could have no problem persuading the Arab masses to support them. And the Baathists could justify their defeat of the Egyptian military regime, and then their subsequent defeat of other Arab regimes, such as in Jordan, by railing against them as being (what they could call):
"These vile cronies of the Americans. These cronies pretended to be for the Arab people, while in fact they were taking American bribes in the billions, completely selling out our Palestinian brothers to the endless cruelties of the Zionist occupation, and keeping you, the great majority of the Arab people, in poverty. These cronies, like the Zionists themselves, were the American bulwarks against our glorious Arab unification and return to world power. Join now with us, the Baathists, that we might bring about the long-awaited Arab Renaissance, the long-awaited Arab Resurrection [the Arab word 'Baath' can mean 'Renaissance' and 'Resurrection'], that we Arabs might all rise up together and unite, from Oman to Morocco, into one great United Arab States, one great Arab Empire, shaking off completely all of the shackles of the West, placed upon us so long ago, and return to our former glory as we had during the Middle Ages, when we were free and far superior to the West".
The Baathists could also rail against the kings, sheikhs, and innumerable princes of the Arab Gulf States for (in their words) "Hoarding the huge oil wealth given by Allah to all of the Arabs, the Prophet's own people, and keeping the Arab masses in poverty and subjugation to Western, infidel interests". The Baathists are socialist, and so could call for the distribution of the Arab oil wealth to the Arab masses (Daniel 11:24). In this way, and by their defeat and occupation of Israel, the Baathists could easily turn the masses to their side in every Arab nation.
During the first few years of the seven-year peace treaty referred to earlier, the Antichrist could employ Baathism as the means by which he will gradually and peacefully put together a truly-federal, United Arab States, stretching from Oman to Morocco. Once he has accomplished this, he could then begin to downplay Baathism and start speaking of "World peace and the unity of mankind". He could convince an oil-thirsty European Union to let the oil-rich United Arab States join it, thereby forming a massive Mediterranean Union, which he could manage to peacefully gain control of and use it as his base of power to eventually exert his hegemony over the entire world (Revelation 13:7b).
Then, only some 3.5 years after making the seven-year peace treaty referred to earlier, the Antichrist will break it, attack the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem, stop the daily Mosaic animal sacrifices offered in front of it, and sit (at least one time) in the temple and proclaim himself God (Daniel 11:31,36, Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). He will then rule the whole world by the power of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon: Revelation 12:9) for 3.5 literal years (Revelation 13:4-18, Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, Revelation 12:14), or 1,260 literal days (Revelation 12:6).
The return of Jesus Christ from heaven (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 19:11-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) may not occur immediately after the 1,260 days of the Antichrist's worldwide reign, but could occur 75 days later, on the 1,335th day after the Antichrist and his followers set up the abomination of desolation (possibly a standing, android image of the Antichrist) in the holy place (the inner sanctum) of the third Jewish temple (Daniel 12:11-12, Daniel 11:31, Matthew 24:15). These 75 days could be taken up by the vials of God's wrath which will be poured out on the Antichrist's worshippers (Revelation 16).
When Jesus Christ returns, He will completely defeat the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 19:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9), and He will have Satan bound in the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 20:1-3). Then the returned Jesus, and the physically resurrected Church (of all times, including those in the Church who had been beheaded by the Antichrist), will reign physically on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29, Psalms 66:3-4, Psalms 72:8-11, Zechariah 14:8-21).
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(Re: Back to the war you described, if the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel, will they gain control of Israel's nuclear weapons?)
Not necessarily. For right at the end of the war, Israel could be careful to fly its unused nuclear weapons to a U.S. airbase in Italy for safekeeping until Israel can be restored by the U.S.
Those weapons could then end up staying on that airbase. For it could turn out that a restoration of Israel by the U.S. will never occur.
(See also Objection 4 below)
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(Re: *Objections)
Some possible objections to the Baathist war scenario outlined above:
1. "Would not the Baathists be deterred from attacking Israel because of Israel's nukes?"
Even though Iraq and Syria know of Israel's nuclear weapons, and its tendency to retaliate in huge measure against attacks, Iraq and Syria could still decide to make an all-out conventional attack on Israel, for a couple of reasons. First, by that time Iran could have successfully built (or secretly purchased from North Korea) and tested its first nuclear weapon, and have claimed to have built a few more to (in its words) "Serve solely for defensive purposes against Israel's nuclear threat". Iraq and Syria could then think that Israel will not use nuclear weapons against them, even if they do attack Israel with all of their conventional forces, because then Israel would have to fear Iran retaliating against Israel with nuclear weapons.
Second, the future destruction of the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque by the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel could so enrage the rank and file of the (Muslim) Iraqi and Syrian Armies that they could demand an immediate invasion of Israel, and threaten an all-out revolt against their generals if they refuse to lead them in the attack. Fearing for their own lives at the hands of their own soldiers, the generals could initiate the attack against Israel, figuring that even if Israel goes ahead and nukes Baghdad and Damascus in retaliation for the total defeat and occupation of Israel, by that time the Iraqi and Syrian Armies will all be in Israel, out of harm's way from Israel's nukes. For Israel is not going to nuke its own land.
But what good would it do the Iraqi and Syrian Baathists to gain "Palestine" and Egypt while losing Baghdad and Damascus to Israeli nukes? The Baathists could figure that the loss of Baghdad and Damascus (which they could evacuate ahead of time) is worth it to completely defeat and occupy Israel and Egypt, thereby removing much of the foundation of U.S. hegemony over the Arab world. And by the time that the U.S. makes its counter-attack to "restore" (that is, to take back) Israel and Egypt, the Baathists could have become so well dug-in, and so well-equipped and advised militarily by the Russians (in the name of "Arab self-determination"), that the U.S. counter-attack to restore Israel and Egypt could fail, and leave the Baathists in control and in a position to extend their power over all of the rest of the Arab nations.
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2. "Would not the awesome Israeli Air Force be able to destroy any hostile Iraqi forces streaming toward Israel?"
The Israeli Air Force could be unable to hit enough of a massive Iraqi attacking force to prevent the small territory of Israel from being overrun by it. For between Baghdad and Israel is a lot of flat desert, across which massive numbers of Iraqi tanks, armored personnel carriers, and rapid-fire, rapidly-moving tracked howitzers could stream west toward Israel in very wide and staggered formations, which Israel's Air Force could have difficulty taking out quickly. And interspersed liberally among the Iraqi forces could be large numbers of highly mobile and technically advanced (U.S.-made) Iraqi anti-aircraft missile batteries, which could manage to take out most of Israel's Air Force as it is attacking the Iraqi forces. Any Iraqi force configuration which the U.S. will have provided to the Iraqi Army with the idea of making sure that Iraq could defeat all of Iran's air and ground defenses and overrun and occupy Iran's relatively huge territory could also be capable of (instead) defeating Israel's air and ground defenses enough so that Iraqi forces will be able to overrun and occupy the small territory of Israel.
Also, Russia is already supplying (Baathist) Syria with highly-advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, and could someday supply it with the even more advanced S-400s and S-500s, which could be employed against Israeli jets to devastating effect during a future, all-out war involving Syria, Iraq, and Iran against Israel.
Indeed, Russia has been helping Iran to develop a powerful line of force stretching all the way from Iran to Lebanon, which line could then attack southward all at once, invading not only Israel, but also Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait at the same time. Horribly, the previous U.S. administration sat idly by while Russia and Iran assiduously built up this line of force, including by deploying large numbers of Iranian troops and generals, and by building up large, Iranian-controlled Shiite Arab militias in Syria and Iraq. Hopefully, the current U.S. administration will be able to break up this line of force by successfully continuing to occupy far-eastern Syria with U.S. and allied (i.e. Sunni Arab and Kurdish) forces, and by bringing about an anti-Iran, Baathist coup d'etat in Iraq.
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3. "Regarding the future, all-out war, what about the U.S. forces already in Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait?"
There could be relatively few U.S. forces in these places when the future, all-out war happens, just as there are relatively few now (only a few thousand). And even if significant numbers are deployed there before the future, all-out war happens, they would have a hard time justifying to the Iraqi masses the U.S.'s killing of Iraqi troops (starting on their way westward across the desert to defeat Israel). Also, if the Iraqi Army vacates Iraq to defeat Israel (with a promise from Israel-hating Iran not to invade Iraq in the meantime), then if all of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Kuwait went chasing westward after the Iraqi Army to attack and weaken it before it reaches Israel, the U.S. would then have to fear Iran directly invading and occupying a completely-defenseless Iraq (which occupation Iran could justify by saying that it is just there to defend the Iraqi masses from any retaliation by U.S. forces until the Iraqi Army can return from its defeat of Israel).
Also, any all-out westward movement of U.S. forces in Iraq and Kuwait would leave the U.S. Central Command's own flank in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia dangerously exposed to an all-out, direct Iranian invasion and occupation. For even the Saudi Army is not very strong in combat. Indeed, it has even had to hire thousands of Pakistani soldiers to guard its southern frontier against the minor group called the Houthis in Yemen. So without any U.S. forces left to defend Saudi Arabia's and Kuwait's northern frontiers, how would these frontiers fare against tens of thousands of hardened Iranian soldiers? (They would not fare at all.)
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4. "Regarding the future, all-out war, would not the U.S. be able to counter-attack with its forces in the West and restore Israel and Egypt?"
If the Baathists defeat and occupy Israel and Egypt, the U.S. could begin a counter-attack to "restore" (that is, to take back) Israel and Egypt by attempting a huge amphibious assault on occupied Egypt, involving all of the U.S.'s new, vaunted littoral combat ships. But the Baathists could cut this invasion forces to shreds in the sea by firing tens of thousands of rockets and missiles (well-camouflaged and dispersed on flat roofs in densely populated areas close to shore), resulting in the loss of something like 30,000 U.S. military personnel in a single day. This anti-Inchon could cause a huge uproar among the U.S. public, which could cry out: "What are we doing over there? Who cares about Egypt? And why in the world do the Israelis have to live in that awful region surrounded by so many hateful and powerful enemies? Let all of the Israelis come over here to America and live in freedom and peace with us. Why should any more of our precious young men and women be slaughtered over this madness in the Middle East?"
And so the U.S. could withdraw from attempting any more counter-attacks to restore Israel and Egypt. Also, a bankruptcy of the U.S. government at this same time because of a massive run on the U.S. dollar after its disastrous failure in the counter-attack could render the U.S. unable for a time to finance any more huge military invasions overseas. The U.S. could instead blockade the Baathists with the huge U.S. Navy and call an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council to address the situation. But Russia and China could veto any votes to send in outside forces, saying: "What right does the world have to interfere in this act of Arab self-determination? How is Arab Iraq and Syria invading Arab Palestine and Egypt to establish a free union of Arabs any different than the American North invading the American South during the American Civil War to establish a free union of Americans? Should the U.N. authorize outside forces to invade the U.S. to restore the Confederacy? And how is the Arabs occupying the Jews' ancestral land any different than the U.S. occupying the American Indians' ancestral lands? Should the U.N. authorize outside forces to invade the U.S. to restore the American Indians to their ancestral lands?"
The U.S. could then turn to the U.N. General Assembly, only to have its spokesman hooted and shouted from the podium by a world which is jealous of America's power, and which could say (in its words): "Ha! Ha! Great America is defeated! And no one wants to help it restore its hegemony over the Middle East!". The U.S. could then turn to NATO, only to have the Europeans turn down its request to send the armies of Europe (as they could say) "into the jaws of death, and for what?". Russia and China, seeing America's military isolation, could then send in military "advisers" into an ever-expanding United Arab States and shore it up with massive amounts of military hardware and training. Oil-thirsty China could do so in exchange for cheap oil, and oil-rich Russia could do so in exchange for huge amounts of cash, and just to be able to thumb its nose at a defeated U.S., and to keep the U.S. from taking back hegemony over the Middle East.
Ultimately, after the Baathists have completed taking control of the entire Arab Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. could find itself completely blocked out of those regions and all of their oil. But the U.S. could say that it is those regions which are blockaded by the huge U.S. Navy. To get around the U.S. naval blockade, China could lay an oil pipeline from the Middle East to a point on the coast of the Indian Ocean beyond the blockade, where oil tankers could get the oil. Also, if most of the U.S. Navy gets deployed to blockade the huge region controlled by the Baathists, China could see that as the time for it to make an all-out, military attempt to restore Taiwan to mainland Chinese control, and also to take complete military control of every disputed island and every oil and gas-rich undersea territory in the South China Sea and the East China Sea which China does not already effectively control because of past and present U.S. inaction to stop Chinese expansion into these international waters.
Also, Russia could get around a future U.S. naval blockade of a Baathist Middle East and North Africa by sending to the Baathists any military hardware sales which Russia would have delivered by ship, by delivering them instead via rail and trucks crossing the Caucasus and western Iran (after Russia has brokered a mutually-beneficial peace agreement between the Baathists and Iran). And Europe could get around the blockade and obtain oil from the Middle East and North Africa by building a large pipeline across the Bosporus, and by digging a large-pipeline tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar.
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Jan 3, 2019
