Discussion - Earth calamities and Rumors of war

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Wayholka said in post #1467 of the original thread:

Sounds like they're gonna need to take plunder soon...

Regarding "to take plunder", are you thinking of "to take a spoil" in Ezekiel 38:12?

If so, note that the Gog/Magog invasion of Israel (Ezekiel chapters 38-39) will not occur until after the future Millennium (Revelation 20:7-10), when there will be no defensive walls or fear of attack in Israel whatsoever (Ezekiel 38:11). This is the exact opposite of today's situation, when Israel is filled with very high defensive walls and is in constant fear of attack. At the beginning of the Millennium, all present-day weapons of war throughout the world will be destroyed, and they will not be allowed to be remade during the Millennium (Micah 4:3-4). That is why after the Millennium, the Gog/Magog armies will travel only by horses (Ezekiel 38:15), and will employ only rudimentary, wooden weapons like bows and arrows, spears, shields, and clubs (Ezekiel 39:9), which, after the defeat of the Gog/Magog armies, will be able to be used as convenient firewood by the people living in Israel at that time, instead of them having to go out and collect or cut down firewood from the forest (Ezekiel 39:10).

The Gog in Revelation 20:8 is the same as in Ezekiel chapters 38-39: an individual human whose personal name is "Gog" (Ezekiel 38:3). He will be the chief leader of a future country which will form somewhere north of Israel (Ezekiel 39:2, Ezekiel 38:15), and which will be called "Magog" (Ezekiel 38:2). It will include at least two major cities and/or tribes which will be called "Meshech" and "Tubal" (Ezekiel 38:2). This country could come into existence during the future Millennium. Gog could be born near the end of the Millennium, and he will be killed and buried at the end of the Gog/Magog event (Ezekiel 39:11).

Both accounts of the event show that the Gog/Magog armies will ultimately be completely defeated by miraculous fire from heaven (Ezekiel 38:22, Revelation 20:9). Also, whereas the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) will occur subsequent to the Gog/Magog event (Revelation 20:7-15), nothing requires (as is sometimes claimed) that the Great White Throne Judgment has to happen immediately after that event. For there will be at least seven years (Ezekiel 39:9b) between the end of that event and the Great White Throne Judgment.

Also, the Gog/Magog attack will not have to (as is sometimes claimed) involve only the nations listed in Ezekiel chapters 38-39. Those nations could be just a sampling. For the "nations" (ethnos), or peoples, who will be involved in the Gog/Magog attack will come from all over the earth (Revelation 20:8). They will still be physically part of Jesus Christ's worldwide Kingdom, still legally under His rule, just as they had been during the preceding Millennium (Psalms 72:8-11, Psalms 66:3, Psalms 2). But after the Millennium, they will be deceived by Satan into committing the attack (Revelation 20:7-10).

Also, while the Gog/Magog attack on Israel will not occur until after the future Millennium (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39), Israel could suffer a different attack before the Millennium, at the start of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, which attack could result in Israel's total defeat and occupation (Daniel 11:15-17).

Also, the city of Jerusalem could be attacked and totally defeated in the future at least three times before the Millennium: once near the start of the future Tribulation (Daniel 11:22), then again mid-tribulation (Daniel 11:31), and then at the Tribulation's end (Daniel 11:45), right before Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming and the start of the Millennium (Zechariah 14:2-21).
 
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Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1471 of the original thread:

Mismari also argued that Russia’s intervention in Syria was successful, noting that its role in eliminating foreign players there was "prominent."

Russia has not eliminated foreign players in Syria, for Russia itself is a foreign player there. And it continues to allow Iran, Turkey, and the U.S. to hold territory in Syria.

For Russia is powerless to stop them, just as it is powerless to stop non-Russian foreign players in Libya.

Russia is not a superpower, but a two-bit thug that inserts itself into conflicts for which it has no right except its desire to extend its influence into foreign lands.

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1471 of the original thread:

In late July, members of the Ansar Allah movement from Yemen also asked Moscow to intervene to stop the war in their country.

Are they kidding?

For Russia absolutely loves the war in Yemen. For it shows how utterly feckless Saudi Arabia is there against Russia's ally Iran.

For Saudi Arabia has been purposely kept poorly-trained, militarily, by the West, so that Saudi Arabia won't pose any threat to Israel.

But this leaves Saudi Arabia an utter basket case in any conflict with Iran.

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1471 of the original thread:

Moreover, every side of both Libyan and Yemeni conflicts wants Russia to take a more active stance in the peace settlement process.

There is no peace settlement possible in either country, so long as more-powerful countries support the opposing sides.

Wayholka said in post #1471 of the original thread:

Sounds to me like Libya is interested in some form of military alliance with Russia.

The article only refers to the eastern part of Libya being interested in that. The country is divided in half by rival governments.
 
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Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1475 of the original thread:

This company embeds microchips in its employees, and they love it

The future Antichrist could require that everyone receive an injected RFID microchip between their right thumb and forefinger which could be used as an identification device, a debit/credit card, and a repository of emergency healthcare information (that is, it could alert emergency healthcare workers to any medicinal allergies or conditions which an individual may have). But any such microchip would be separate from the "mark of the beast" (Revelation 16:2, Revelation 13:16-18). For the latter will be visible to people so that they can easily tell in every situation, even one without electricity, whether or not someone should be permitted to buy or sell (Revelation 13:17).

It will also be visible because the original Greek of Revelation 13:16 shows that the mark will be placed only "on" (epi), not inside, people's right hands or foreheads. Also, it will be placed on people probably by scarification. For in Revelation 13:16, one of the definitions of the original Greek word (charagma: G5480) translated as the "mark" is "a scratch or etching" (Strong's Greek Dictionary), and scarification is the scratching or etching (that is, the cutting) of the skin to leave a permanent mark. The reason that people will be given the mark in Revelation 13:16, in the context of what was shown previously in Revelation 13:4,8,15, will be to serve as a visible indicator to other people that they are loyal worshippers of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) (Revelation 13:4, Revelation 12:9) and of the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of the beast) and his image (Revelation 13:4,8,15), just as some Satanists today put a mark on themselves by scarification.

The mark will consist of only the Antichrist's name "or" some representation of the gematrial number of his name (666) (Revelation 13:17-18), meaning that the mark will be the Antichrist's name for some people and a representation of the gematrial number of his name for other people. And the mark will be placed only on the right hand (probably on the palm) "or" on the forehead (Revelation 13:16), meaning that it will be placed on the right hands of some people and on the foreheads of other people.

Those who refuse to receive the Antichrist's mark will not be allowed to buy or sell anything (Revelation 13:17). And they will be executed by being beheaded if they refuse to worship the Antichrist and his image (Revelation 13:15, Revelation 20:4). Christians must be willing to suffer this fate rather than agree to receive the Antichrist's mark or worship him or his image. For those people who agree to do these things, even if they are Christians, will suffer God's wrath in fire and brimstone forever (Revelation 14:9-13), while those Christians who refuse to do these things, even though they will be beheaded by the Antichrist, they will be physically resurrected into immortality (along with the rest of the obedient Church of all times) at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Revelation 20:4-6; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,52-58), which will occur immediately after the future Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31). And even before their resurrection, at the moment of their death their still-conscious souls will be brought into the presence of Jesus in heaven (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:21,23, Revelation 6:9-10, Luke 23:43,46).

In the future, when the world begins to worship the Antichrist as God (Revelation 13:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36), some people could gladly be willing to have his name placed by scarification on their right palm, just as lovers in the past were sometimes known to have their loved ones' initials placed by scarification on their palms (compare also Isaiah 49:16, Jeremiah 48:37, Leviticus 19:28, and Leviticus 21:5). Other of the Antichrist's worshippers could gladly be willing to have his name placed by scarification on their foreheads, thinking (mistakenly) that they are fulfilling the Christian idea of Revelation 22:4, which refers to the future point in time when Jesus will put God's name visibly on the forehead of obedient Christians (Revelation 3:12). The Antichrist's miracle-working False Prophet, who will be the one who will cause everyone to be marked with the Antichrist's mark (Revelation 13:16-18), could even convince people that he (the False Prophet) is Jesus himself returned, via "reincarnation". But he will not say that he is Christ. For he and the Antichrist will deny that Jesus is the Christ, and will deny that Christ is in the flesh (1 John 2:22; 2 John 1:7).

Instead of having the Antichrist's name engraved on their right hand or forehead, some of his worshippers will have the gematrial number of his name (666) (Revelation 13:17c-18) engraved on their right hand or forehead. But because some people could refuse to have "666" placed on their body, in order to make a mark of 666 acceptable to all people it could be disguised to look like something else in those cases where people demand something other than "666". For example, it could be disguised in some cases to look like "777", or "111", or "WWW", or "VVV", or "|| || ||", or "FFF". For the sixth letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet (Vav) represents the number 6, but it looks like a "7", or a "1", and it is transliterated into English as either a "W" or a "V". Also, two thin vertical lines "||" represent the number 6 on many UPC codes. And the letter "F" has a numerical value of 6 in English gematria.

In an awful coincidence (or maybe it is not just a coincidence), "FFF" also stands for an extremely powerful type of nuclear bomb: Fission-Fusion-Fission. Could this be the type of bomb which the ten kings of the future Antichrist's empire will employ to burn up the cities of the nations at the end of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Revelation 17:12,16-17a, Revelation 16:19, Revelation 19:2,11)?

The "WWW" which has been placed on many internet addresses, and the "|| || ||" which has been placed across many UPC codes on products (that is, they have a "||" at the beginning, middle, and end of their UPC codes), are harbingers of when Satan will give the Antichrist ownership of everything on the earth (Revelation 13:2b; cf. Luke 4:7), and of the Antichrist's placing of his "brand" on everything, like how a rancher places his "brand" on all of his cattle. For both "WWW" and "|| || ||" are disguised representations of the gematrial number of the Antichrist's name: 666 (Revelation 13:17c-18). But Revelation 13:16 is not fulfilled by many internet addresses having a "WWW", nor by many products having "|| || ||" on their UPC codes. For Revelation 13:16 refers only to when people will be given the Antichrist's mark, on either their right hand or forehead.

Those assigned to have the mark placed on their forehead (instead of on their right hand) (Revelation 13:16) could be an elite, illumined, cognoscenti class of Gnostic Luciferians who alone will have been given knowledge of the ultimate secrets of the Antichrist's Gnostic Luciferianism, also called Satanism. The Antichrist will be both a Satanist, a worshipper of Satan the dragon (Revelation 13:4, Revelation 12:9), and a Gnostic, someone who denies that Christ is in the flesh (1 John 4:3), and forbids marriage and the eating of meat (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The cream of his cognoscenti could be a faux 144,000, consisting of male virgins (as a counterfeit of Revelation 14:4) who have never eaten meat. If they receive on their forehead the mark of the Antichrist's name (instead of a representation of the number of his name) (Revelation 13:17), this will be as a counterfeit of YHWH's 144,000 in Revelation 14:1. But the Antichrist will not pretend that he is YHWH, just as he will not pretend that he is Christ. Instead, as a Gnostic, he will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36). And his Gnostic denial that Christ is in the flesh (1 John 4:3) will disqualify him (under his Gnostic doctrine) from being Christ.
 
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LittleLambofJesus said in post #1479 of the original thread:

Daniel 11:44
“But rumors/reports<8052> from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and [fn]annihilate many.

By the time of Daniel 11:40-45, which will be right near the end of the future Antichrist's reign, the U.S. could be included as part of the "king of the south" which will rebel against him (Daniel 11:40a). For the U.S., as well as other countries such as Russia, China, India. and Japan, may not ever come under the same level of control as the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe will during the Antichrist's worldwide reign. But the U.S., as well as all other countries of the earth, will still come under the hegemony of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:7-8, Matthew 24:9).

What could happen is that during the Antichrist's worldwide reign, the U.S. will be under complete martial law, controlled by the U.S. government's soldiers, but still under the economic thumb of the Antichrist. For during the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, the U.S. government could go bankrupt, and the U.S. dollar could become next to worthless in world markets. So the U.S. will become completely dependent on the Antichrist for its finances and trade.

The way that the U.S. could be considered a part of the "king of the south" in Daniel 11:40 is through the U.S.' current hegemony over Egypt, which is the king of the south in Daniel 11:5-17. At the start of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, Egypt could be defeated and occupied, along with Israel, by an Iraqi Baathist general (the Antichrist's precursor) leading a huge Iraqi Army (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17, the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath"). After this happens, the U.S. could take up the mantle of Egypt and Israel, and attempt a counter-attack to liberate them from Baathist control. But this counter-attack could fail so miserably that the U.S. could forego any further attacks.

It is at this point that the Antichrist could arise on the world stage (Daniel 11:21) and "cut" a peace treaty with a future, ultra-Orthodox Jewish false "Messiah" (Daniel 9:26a,27a) ruling Jerusalem, after the Antichrist has defeated this Messiah and his followers (Daniel 11:22-23a). About seven years later, sometime after the legal end of the Antichrist's literal 3.5-year worldwide reign (Revelation 13:5-8), not only could the U.S. as the "king of the south" try to attack the Antichrist (Daniel 11:40), but so could Russia, China, India, and Japan. For "tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many" (Daniel 11:44).

LittleLambofJesus said in post #1479 of the original thread:

Revelation 16:14
for they are spirits of demons, doing signs — which go forth unto the kings of the whole being-homed<3625>, to be together-leading them in the battle<[Greek word]>4171> of the great day of the God, the Almighty

Regarding Revelation 16:14, the world will not experience the seven last plagues of the seven vials of God's wrath (Revelation chapters 15-16), the final stage of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, until after the never-fulfilled Revelation chapters 6 to 15 have been fulfilled in our future.

At the first vial, an awful sore will appear on those people who will have received the future Antichrist's mark and worshipped his image (Revelation 16:2). At the second vial, the sea will become like the blood of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea will die (Revelation 16:3). At the third vial, all natural, surface sources of fresh water will become blood (Revelation 16:4). At the fourth vial, mankind will be scorched with fire shot out from the sun (Revelation 16:8). This would be a solar-flare coronal mass ejection of solar plasma, which could make its way down to the surface of the earth due to the earth's magnetic field being disrupted during a magnetic-pole reversal which could occur near the end of the future Tribulation.

At the fifth vial, the whole world will be plunged into literal darkness (Revelation 16:10). At the sixth vial, unclean spirits like frogs will come out of the mouths of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon: Revelation 12:9), and of the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast"), and of the False Prophet (Revelation 16:13). And these unclean spirits like frogs will go forth and perform amazing miracles to convince the world's armies to gather together to fight against YHWH God Himself (Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:19). The Euphrates will dry up so that the armies of "the kings of the east" (Revelation 16:12), such as the vast armies of China and India, can easily cross the riverbed and gather at the "place" called Armageddon (Revelation 16:16), which is Har Megiddo, Mount Megiddo in northern Israel. Once the armies of the east have gathered there, as only a staging area, along with all of the other armies of the world (Revelation 16:14,16), they will not wage battle there. That is why the Bible does not refer to a "battle" of Armageddon. Instead, the armies will travel south to pillage Jerusalem, right before Jesus Christ (who is YHWH) returns from heaven and defeats them completely (Zechariah 14:2-21, Revelation 19:19-21).

At the seventh vial, right before Jesus Christ returns (Revelation 16:17,19, Revelation 19:2-21), there will be a huge earthquake which will affect the whole world (Revelation 16:18-20). And 100-pound hailstones will pummel the earth (Revelation 16:21). The seventh vial will also be when Revelation's symbolic (and worldwide) "Babylon" (Revelation chapters 17-18) will be destroyed (Revelation 16:19).

--

Revelation's symbolic "Babylon" (Revelation chapters 17-18) represents all of fallen mankind's corrupt political (Revelation 17:18), economic (Revelation 18:11), and religious (Revelation 18:24) systems throughout the earth (Revelation 18:3) and throughout history (Revelation 17:9-10). The ten kings of the future Antichrist's empire will destroy with fire what Revelation's "Babylon" represents (Revelation 17:16-17) when they destroy the cities of the nations (Revelation 16:19), probably with nukes (and probably with Fission-Fusion-Fission, "FFF", or "666", nukes, "F" representing the number 6 in English gematria), at the time of the future, seventh vial (Revelation 16:17,19), which will be the final event (Revelation 16:17) of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, right before Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Revelation 19:2 to 20:6, Matthew 24:29-31). The ten kings of the future Antichrist's empire could destroy the cities of the nations under the direction of Lucifer/Satan (Isaiah 14:17,12), who could want to leave only a literal "scorched earth" for Jesus to return to.

Near the very end of the future Tribulation, Lucifer (employing the ancient lies of Gnosticism) could say to the Antichrist and his ten kings something like: "Our great battle against the evil, tyrant god YHWH is about to begin [Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:19], a battle which we will win, and so we will be able to escape YHWH's prison house, this material universe, and return to the wholly-spiritual Pleroma [i.e. Heaven]. So let us now destroy this prison cell, this foul planet, and let us, as it were, burn up all of the gewgaws which we have hung upon our cell walls. Let us burn up all of our great cities, all of our magnificent systems. Let us break all of our chains of attachment to this vile, physical realm, that we might more freely ascend back to our rightful place in the Pleroma [cf. Isaiah 14:13-14]".

Of course this will be a lie. For at His Second Coming, Jesus Christ (who is YHWH: John 10:30, Zechariah 14:3-4) will completely defeat all of the armies of the world, arrayed against YHWH (Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:19-21). And Jesus will have Lucifer bound in the Bottomless Pit for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-6, Isaiah 14:15), a time period commonly called the Millennium. During that time, Jesus will restore ruined parts of the earth and make them like the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 36:35, Isaiah 51:3). And after the Millennium and subsequent events (Revelation 20:7-15), God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth (Revelation 21:1), as in a new atmosphere (first heaven) and surface for the earth. And then God will descend from the third heaven in the literal city of New Jerusalem to live with Christians on the New Earth (Revelation 21:2-4).
 
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Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1483 of the original thread:

The US policy of putting pressure on Russia has crossed the "red line," and Moscow should think about an asymmetric response, such as the deployment of its tactical nuclear weapons abroad, a senior Russian lawmaker told TASS on Friday.

Yikes.

That brings to mind the: "We will bury you!", shoe-slapping snarl of Khrushchev during the Cold War.

It also brings to mind Psalms 120:5-7, where, in its context, Meshech could refer to an ancient people which came to be called the Muscovs, and eventually became the Russians with their capital in Moscow (See Easton's).

Kedar was a son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13), whom the Arabs claim as their forefather.

So Psalms 120:5-7 could include reference to how the Russians and the Arabs (in a general sense) hate peace, but love war. (This does not mean that they all do, for many Russians and Arabs are peace-loving Christians.)

For example, it was some Russians and (Syrian) Arabs who intentionally bombed the civilians of eastern Aleppo in Syria for an extended period, and then intentionally bombed the civilians in Eastern Ghouta in Syria; just as it is (Saudi) Arabs who continue to intentionally bomb Houthi civilians in Yemen.

With regard to Syria, it may be a top, non-Christian, Arab leader in the Syrian military who ordered the past, extended bombings of civilians in eastern Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, with any hesitancy on the part of (Arab) Assad being squelched by his fear of being secretly murdered by this military leader for "being soft" on "terrorists". Also, this military leader could be taking cues from the Russian generals who are now running the war in Syria. For the Russians intentionally bombed civilians in Chechnya until it became compliant. And Russia and Syria could at some point in the future intentionally bomb civilians in Idlib, Syria.

Also, while it was the great military prowess (that is, the love of war) of many Russians which enabled Russia to completely defeat even Hitler's unprecedented war machine during World War II, this generalized, Russian love of war, if it is not checked by the U.S. in our future (as it was checked in our past during the Cold War), could bring calamity not only to the Arabs, but also to the Europeans (in the Baltics and other parts of Eastern Europe).

It was the U.S.'s supine posture during the past administration which reawakened the Russians' (generalized) love of conquest. Russia is the world's largest nation by land area, and it hopes to make itself even larger and larger still. Note Russia's relatively-recent annexation of Crimea. And this could be just a beginning. For Russia has its huge nuclear arsenal (the largest in the world) as the ultimate hedge against the U.S. pushing back against Russia too strongly in any arena. Also, ethnic Russians form a significant part of the population of the Baltic States, which could be ripe for a Russian invasion and annexation to "permanently protect" these ethnic Russians from "oppression" by the ethnic Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, who, for example, want to forbid even the speaking of the Russian language within their territories. Russia could also eventually invade and annex northeastern parts of Poland, northeastern parts of North Korea, and annex far-eastern Ukraine, such as during future cataclysmic events, which could disrupt any ability by NATO or the U.S. to effectively counter Russia's ground invasions into these areas.

Also, Russia has a huge strategic advantage with regard to attacking the Baltic States. For it can easily "close the gap" between Belarus (its ally) and Kaliningrad (its highly-armed exclave), blocking NATO ground troops from moving northeast from Poland to help the Baltic States. And the nominal number of NATO troops now stationed in the Baltic States can be untargeted and treated well by the Russians during an invasion so as to avoid any excessive riling up of Western antipathy toward Russia. The Western masses care little for the Baltics, and would care even less for them if Russia says that if Western troops mass in northeastern Poland to try to take back the Baltics, they will be nuked by Russian tactical nukes launched from Kaliningrad (in "self-defense"). For the Western masses could say that the tiny Baltics are just not worth a nuclear war with Russia, which would be able to obliterate the U.S. and Europe with its vast nuclear arsenal.

All that the West could do then (i.e. after Russia has annexed the Baltics) is impose harsh sanctions on Russia. But Western Europe is still dependent on Russian energy supplies, just as the U.S. is still dependent on Russian rocket engines for its important military/intelligence space launches. So the West will still have to deal economically with Russia, which could also greatly increase its trade with huge China to make up for any loss of trade with the West.

So what the West has to do is skip the insufficient idea of putting only a nominal number of troops in the Baltics and Poland as a "tripwire", and instead put huge numbers of troops in the Polish "gap" between Belarus and Kaliningrad, and in the Baltics themselves, so that these troops can actually defeat any possible Russian invasion.

The problem is that the Russian military is just too big. NATO does not have the resources to permanently station enough troops in northeastern Poland and in the Baltics to be able to hold off any Russian ground invasion.

This is where NATO's long failure to enforce its two-percent-of-GDP, defense-expenditure rule will come home to roost. NATO failed to prepare, while Russia has for years been assiduously spending billions to prepare for future wars. And Russia relatively-recently showed off its might in "Zapad" ("West"), a military exercise which could have been a rehearsal for a future invasion and annexation of Baltic territory, just as a previous Russian military "exercise" ended up permanently occupying parts of the country of Georgia in the Caucasus.
 
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jgr

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This is where NATO's long failure to enforce its two-percent-of-GDP, defense-expenditure rule will come home to roost. NATO failed to prepare, while Russia has for years been assiduously spending billions to prepare for future wars.

2017 Defense spending

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

US (not counting NATO) - $610 billion
Russia - $66.3 billion

"Assiduously"?

Also, while it was the great military prowess (that is, the love of war) of many Russians which enabled Russia to completely defeat even Hitler's unprecedented war machine during World War II, this generalized, Russian love of war, if it is not checked by the U.S. in our future (as it was checked in our past during the Cold War), could bring calamity not only to the Arabs, but also to the Europeans (in the Baltics and other parts of Eastern Europe).

It was the Russian winter, and the German military's unpreparedness for it, which was a substantial contributing factor to the German defeat. As it was, the Germans still reached to within less than 20 miles of Moscow.

https://www.historylearningsite.co....two-and-eastern-europe/the-battle-for-moscow/

"Love of war" is a risible assertion. Defense of one's homeland does not constitute "love of war". "Love of war" is reserved for those who profit from it, i.e. bankers ("all wars are bankers' wars"), and their lackeys in the military industry.
 
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jgr said in post #26:

"Love of war" is reserved for those who profit from it . . .

Including by gaining control of more land, like how Russia controlled Eastern Europe after World War II.

Putin sees the collapse of the Soviet Union (and its loss of hegemony over Eastern Europe) as the greatest calamity ever to befall Russia.

For he is a patriot.

He wishes that he could bring it all back. He started (pathetically) by retaking small parts of the nation of Georgia, and then small parts of Ukraine.

And next, the small Baltic states?

Why doesn't he ever go big, like his hero Stalin would?

I mean, he's got the nukes, right?

(This is irony. Please do not encourage him to continue his military expansion into other countries, which includes his destruction and control of Syria.)
 
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jgr said in post #26:

[Re: NATO failed to prepare, while Russia has for years been assiduously spending billions to prepare for future wars.]

2017 Defense spending

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

US (not counting NATO) - $610 billion
Russia - $66.3 billion

"Assiduously"?

Yes, for Putin knows how to spend his military dollars, while the U.S. is clueless, run by Congressmen in the pockets of U.S. defense contractors.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are completely wasted every year by the U.S. military, in ways which do not augment its actual force-extension in the least.

For just one example, Navy pilots, even during times of military operations, only fly bombing missions every four or five days. This is because there are so many expensive Navy pilots to go around, they don't need to fly more often.

But what a waste of money, when Putin no doubt has his bombing pilots fly every day in Syria, for example. Indeed, he probably makes them do multiple bombing runs per day. And this is the whole reason that Assad has taken back most of Syria, while the U.S. just sits on its hands in far-eastern Syria, doing nothing. (Indeed, Trump even wants them to leave altogether.)

The U.S. military is pathetically featherbedded across the world with hundreds of thousands of recruits, and insanely-expensive weapons systems, which do absolutely nothing every day to extend U.S. military force to protect the world from tyrants.

Look at the South China Sea, for example. The huge U.S. Navy does nothing there to stop China's continued expansion into international waters, while the U.S. Navy demands hundreds of billions of dollars per year to continue to do this absolute nothing.

So Putin can do with $66 billion what the U.S. can't (rather, is for some reason unwilling to) do even with $600 billion.

What a waste. And all to fill the pockets of U.S. defense contractors and their men (and women) in Congress.

The military-industrial complex (and its no-action military leaders like Trump) will be the death of the U.S. as a superpower.

But Putin has this problem licked. For he and his oligarch cronies are the Russian military-industrial complex. The people in the Duma count for nothing. They can't mess up his plans in the least: His actually-active plans to continue to extend Russian military force into foreign lands, to support the tyrannical rule of himself and his allies across the world, and to increase the profits of his oligarch cronies who own Russia's weapons-production companies.
 
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his allies across the world

Russia has military bases in nine countries, most countries of which are of global insignificance.

The US has military bases in thirty-five countries, most countries of which are of global significance.

Who are Russia's "allies across the world"?
 
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jgr said in post #29:

Russia has military bases in nine countries, most countries of which are of global insignificance.

The US has military bases in thirty-five countries, most countries of which are of global significance.

That is because Russia only brings, or supports, tyranny, whereas the U.S. offers the benefits of freedom.

For even Russia itself is under Putin's tyranny, while the U.S. remains a free country.

The lovely people of Russia need to wake from their slumber and throw off Putin's evil dictatorship, just as the people of America threw off England's dictatorship during the Revolutionary War in the 18th century.

Russia needs to become a free country, like those in the West.

The Russian people deserve nothing less.

jgr said in post #29:

Who are Russia's "allies across the world"?

All miserable countries, which oppress their people ruthlessly.

For example: Iran, Syria, China, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Belarus, etc.

Also, Russia's evil creation of communist Cuba has destroyed Venezuela and Nicaragua by sending its Russian-trained henchmen to lead their "security" services.

Russia brings nothing but misery and oppression, as in its own country.

That's why so few countries want anything to do with Russia.

Even RT is evil propaganda by an evil state.

It is bewildering that U.S. social media companies, and cable companies, would not ban RT outright, just as they have banned Russian and Iranian "influence operations" which are on a much smaller scale.

But then Russia will ban all U.S. media (if it hasn't already), leaving the poor Russian people without any access to the truth.
 
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Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1487 of the original thread:

The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey will meet next week for their third tripartite summit seeking an end to the Syrian conflict . . .

A summit which will seek to cut off the amazing Kurdish people from any freedom.

For the Kurds, with U.S. backing, control most of eastern Syria. And Turkey hates the Kurds for their desire for independence in southeastern Turkey, just as northwestern Iran has Kurds who would love to have freedom from Iran's despotism.

So the U.S. needs to step up in eastern Syria. It needs to stop sitting on its hands and help the Kurds there to declare a new, independent nation-state of "Kurdistan".

Then the U.S. needs to help that state annex the northern, Kurdish province of Iraq.

Then the U.S. needs to help that state conquer and annex southeastern Turkey (the nation of Turkey having already fallen into Putin's black hole).

Then the U.S. needs to help the state of Kurdistan conquer and annex northwestern Iran.

Then the Kurdish people can finally be all joined together into the one, independent country that they deserve.

And they will be an amazing ally of the U.S. in the Middle East, just as Israel is.

The U.S. needs to cease its idleness in Syria and start getting this done.

It will be a blessing to so many people.

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1487 of the original thread:

A major item on the summit agenda is expected to be the rebel-held northwestern Syrian province of Idlib which Assad wants to recapture, to crown a string of military successes.

Nay, not a string of "military successes", but a string of military butcheries, with the incessant help of Russian air power.

Just as civilians were ruthlessly targeted and bombed by Syria and Russia in eastern Aleppo, and Eastern Ghouta, so civilians are scheduled to be ruthlessly targeted and bombed by Syria and Russia in Idlib.

This will be a Holocaust, murdering 100,000 innocent civilian men, women, and children, while the West does nothing.

So in addition to beginning the establishment of an independent "Kurdistan", the U.S. needs to also immediately impose a no-fly zone over Idlib, just as the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over the northern, Kurdish province of Iraq to protect it from Saddam Hussein's butcheries, which he launched even with chemical weapons (which weapons Syria continues to possess, and could use to devastating effect in Idlib).

Please, please, step up, America.

You were not given superpower status to sit on your hands, but to squelch evil tyranny across the world.

Your power of the sword was not given to you in vain (Romans 13:4).

And yet you dither, dither, accomplishing nothing, while still spending over $600 billion a year to maintain your power of the sword.

But you render it useless by keeping your sword locked away in your scabbard. Why? Why?

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1487 of the original thread:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah has warned that if Iran cannot export oil as a result of US sanctions, no country in the Middle East would be allowed to export oil.

False. For Iran can simply export its oil to China.

And if Iran ever truly blocks the Strait of Hormuz, this will only give the U.S. license to begin bombing Iran to smithereens, and blowing its entire navy out of the water with the U.S.'s huge naval forces.

Who is Iran kidding?

It can only be kidding its own people, the precious Iranian people, who deserve liberty from the tyranny which they are now under.

Let the Iranian people be free, for God's sake, like the people in the West are free.
 
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Anthony7 quoted a news article in post #1488 of the original thread:

. . . the [Israeli] Defense Ministry’s decision on Monday to finally purchase new precision ground-to-ground rockets for the Ground Forces is nothing short of a revolution.

Indeed.

For it frees Israel from the fear of Russia's highly-advanced anti-aircraft missiles, which are now in Syria, and which can shoot down even Israel's most-advanced bombers.

Build thousands, many tens of thousands, of precision ground-to-ground rockets and longer-range missiles, which can fly close to the ground so that they can't be shot down.

Ah, but then Israel's enemies will do the same, leaving Israel defenseless (cf. Matthew 26:52b), unless God intervenes (Proverbs 21:31).

Anthony7 quoted a news article in post #1488 of the original thread:

Russia will stage its largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union next month, the country's Defense Ministry said Monday.

Thousands of troops from China and Mongolia are expected to join in the exercises in Siberia, dubbed Vostok 2018, according to statements from the Russian and Chinese defense ministries.

Except for the U.S., the utter tyrannies of Russia and China would divide the world between themselves, sinking humanity into universal oppression.

The U.S. needs to step up against China in the South China Sea, and against Russia in Syria and Ukraine.

For a stitch in time saves nine.

Or else, the U.S. will fall into uselessness, losing its superpower status to the Twin Tyrannies, and opening the way for the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") to take over the entire world (Revelation 13:7-18).

God help us.

God help America to step up.
 
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his allies across the world

That's why so few countries want anything to do with Russia.

Is that the definition of "contradiction"?

Even RT is evil propaganda by an evil state.

RT is a dwarf in comparison to the surfeit of combined outpourings of the ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, PBS, et al, presstitutes.

Iran, Syria, China, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Belarus, etc.

Syria and Belarus are the only Russian bases in the list.
Not quite "his allies across the world".

Or else, the U.S. will fall into uselessness, losing its superpower status to the Twin Tyrannies, and opening the way for the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") to take over the entire world (Revelation 13:7-18).

God help us.

God help America to step up.

According to futurism, all of this must occur before the Second Coming can occur.

So why pray to impede the prereq's to the Second Coming? A futurist should be praying just the opposite. Let futurism prove itself.

Bring it all on.

The sooner the better.
 
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jgr said in post #33:

Is that the definition of "contradiction"?

No, for while Putin's allies are spread across the world, they are still few in number compared with the U.S.'s allies.

And for good reason.

jgr said in post #33:

RT is a dwarf in comparison to the surfeit of combined outpourings of the ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, PBS, et al, presstitutes.

And yet RT gets millions of views on Youtube, while some Iranian social media accounts were recently banned which got only a few thousand views.

RT should not be banned, just as no speech should ever be banned.

For any false speech should always be able to be countered with true speech.

That is the whole beauty of free speech, enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

And yet companies like Youtube still ban content with miniscule views, while allowing RT's vast "influence operation" to thrive.

Why is that?

-

Also, regarding your reference to "presstitutes", note that RT is the presstitute of Putin.

It's Putin's presstitute, no differernt than Stalin's pravda.

And who with any knowledge can even listen to it? It's like trying to listen to North Korea's news agency.

jgr said in post #33:

Syria and Belarus are the only Russian bases in the list.
Not quite "his allies across the world".

An ally doesn't have to provide a base.

jgr said in post #33:

So why pray to impede the prereq's to the Second Coming? A futurist should be praying just the opposite.

No, for we must pray to be delivered from evil (Matthew 6:13), not that it be brought upon us.

jgr said in post #33:

Let futurism prove itself.

Note that Revelation chapters 6 to 22 are still future to us, because they are about "things which must be hereafter" (Revelation 4:1b). And just as Jesus' Christ's Second Coming in Revelation 19:7 to 20:3 has never been fulfilled, for nowhere in history books do we find its fulfillment, so the highly-detailed events of the preceding Tribulation in Revelation chapters 6 to 18 have never been fulfilled, for nowhere in history books do we find their fulfillment. Similarly, even this Tribulation as it is described in Matthew 24 cannot have happened yet, because Jesus' Second Coming must occur immediately after this Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31).

The future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 will begin with a horrible war, which, with its aftermath of famines and epidemics, will 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. After this war, there will be a terrible series of natural disasters historically unprecedented in their magnitude, such as a gigantic volcanic eruption (Revelation 6:12-14), possibly of the Yellowstone Caldera, and then the collapse into the ocean of another erupting volcano (Revelation 8:8-9), possibly one of the Canary Islands, the collapse of which could create a huge tsunami which could destroy the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

If such a tsunami occurs, it could also cause a string of awful, Fukushima-type, nuclear-meltdown radiation disasters in the nuclear power plants and their nuclear-waste storage facilities all along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. (These facilities, all together, are holding tens of thousands of tons of highly-radioactive nuclear waste. Nuclear power was one of the worst ideas ever, as Germany has now wisely realized.) Also, if the tsunami breaks open the germ-containment structures on Plum Island, just off the coast of Connecticut, especially-deadly viruses and bacteria could be washed inland and spread across the U.S. and Canada as they infect animals and people.

After the volcanic activity and possible tsunami, a comet will strike the earth (Revelation 8:10-11), possibly in the U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes region. As the comet falls from the sky, it will look like a great star, or like a burning lamp in the sky (Revelation 8:10). It will strike a region of the earth which contains one-third of the world's fresh surface water (Revelation 8:10b); and it will contain some poisonous element which will poison that water so that many who drink from it will die (Revelation 8:11b).

Sometime after that, weird locust-like beings will swarm up from the Bottomless Pit of the earth to torment mankind with excruciating stings for five months (Revelation 9:2-10). The world could see them as "aliens" who had been hibernating for thousands of years in a cavern deep underground. The locust-like beings will not kill anyone, but they will make those they sting want to die, the pain will be so bad (Revelation 9:5-6).

After that, an army of 200 million weird horse-like beings and their (possibly unclean spirit) riders will come upon the earth (Revelation 9:16-19). If they descend from the sky in spaceships, the world could see them as "aliens". But they and the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") could (falsely) say that they are YHWH God's main army. In fact, they could be loyal to Lucifer (Satan, the dragon, Revelation 12:9). The four fallen angels now bound at the Euphrates who will lead this army (Revelation 9:14-16) could employ it to make mankind completely desperate before its takeover by Lucifer and the Antichrist mid-tribulation (Revelation 12:9 to 13:18). For when this army starts killing one-third of mankind (Revelation 9:16-19), then could also begin one of the biggest deceptions ever wrought upon humanity. For the Antichrist -- who by that time could have managed to have been elected as the President of a Mediterranean Union formed by the joining of the European Union with an Arab Union stretching from Oman to Morocco -- could announce to the world that he has sent a mental distress call to (what he could call) "My Father, our Lord Lucifer, to come with his legions of angels and rescue mankind from this murderous army of YHWH".

(And all of this will be part of only the first half of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24.)

It is at this point that Lucifer and his fallen angels could be cast down out of heaven to the earth permanently, after losing a mid-tribulation war in heaven (Revelation 12:7-9). But instead of coming down as a defeated force, they could descend for all the world to see in gigantic, magnificent golden spaceships onto the "Champ de Mars", Mars being the same as Marduk the dragon, the chief god of ancient Babylon. (The "Champ de Mars" is the large open area in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.) After landing there, Lucifer, a literal, seven-headed, red dragon (Revelation 12:3,9), could emerge in great splendor and command his angels to capture the army of 200 million weird horse-like beings and their (possibly unclean spirit) riders, who could then pretend to defect from serving YHWH to serving Lucifer. Lucifer could then confirm that he came to rescue mankind because the Antichrist, whom he could say is his only-begotten Son, called upon him (like in an Antichrist counterfeit of Matthew 26:53). Lucifer and the Antichrist could then be received wholeheartedly by the non-Christian world as the saviors of mankind. And the non-Christian world could be left thinking (mistakenly) that Lucifer and his angels were more powerful than even YHWH's main army.

Lucifer and the Antichrist, along with the Antichrist's miracle-working False Prophet, will then deceive the world into actually worshipping Lucifer and the Antichrist, and a speaking (possibly an android) image of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:4-16, Revelation 19:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36). And everyone will be made to receive a (possibly scarification) mark of the Antichrist on either their right hand or forehead, consisting of either the Antichrist's name or some representation of the gematrial number of his name (666) (Revelation 13:16-18). After Lucifer and the Antichrist have ruled the world for 3.5 literal years (Revelation 13:4-18), YHWH will send seven vials of wrath against the non-Christian world (Revelation 16).

Near the end of these seven vials, unclean spirits like frogs will come out of the mouths of Lucifer, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet (Revelation 16:13). And these unclean spirits like frogs will go forth and perform amazing miracles to convince the world's armies to gather together at Armageddon (Har Megiddo: Mount Megiddo in northern Israel) (Revelation 16:16) to battle against YHWH Himself (Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:19). After gathering together at Armageddon as a staging area, the world's armies will travel south and pillage Jerusalem, right before Jesus Christ (who is YHWH: John 10:30) returns from heaven and defeats them completely (Revelation 19:11 to 20:6, Zechariah 14:2-21).

When Jesus Christ returns, immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Revelation 19:7-21, Matthew 24:29-31), He will descend physically from heaven on a white horse (Revelation 19:7-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Zechariah 14:3-4, Acts 1:11-12), with all of the holy angels (Matthew 25:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:7), for all of the world to see (Matthew 24:27,30, Revelation 1:7). Then the Church (of all times) will be physically resurrected (if dead) or changed (if alive) into immortal physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation 20:4-6), and caught up together/gathered together (raptured) (Matthew 24:31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1) as high as the clouds of the sky to hold a meeting in the air with Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

At that meeting, Jesus Christ will judge the Church (Psalms 50:3-5, cf. Mark 13:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10, Luke 12:45-48), and marry its obedient part (Revelation 19:7-8, Matthew 25:1-12), in the clouds, before it mounts white horses and comes back down from sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (Revelation 19:14), as He defeats the world's armies (Revelation 19:19,21), and the Antichrist and False Prophet (Revelation 19:20), and has Lucifer (Satan) bound in the Bottomless Pit for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3), a time period commonly called the Millennium.

At Jesus Christ's return, He will also make the marriage supper of Revelation 19:9 for the obedient part of the Church in the earthly Jerusalem (Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:54), while the birds will feast on the corpses of the world's defeated armies (Revelation 19:17-18). Then Jesus and the obedient part of the Church (of all times) will rule the surviving nations with a rod of iron during the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29, Psalms 2). After the Millennium, Lucifer will be released from the Bottomless Pit and bring about the Gog/Magog rebellion, only to be defeated for the last time (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39).

At least seven years after that defeat (Ezekiel 39:9b), the Great White Throne Judgment will occur, in which all people (of all times) who had not been resurrected and judged at Jesus Christ's return will be resurrected and judged (Revelation 20:11-15). Then God will create a New Heaven (a new first heaven: a new sky/atmosphere for the earth), and a New Earth (a new surface for the earth) (Revelation 21:1; 2 Peter 3:10b,13). Then God the Father will descend from the third heaven in the literal city of New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2), the Father's house (John 14:2, Revelation 21:3), and He will dwell on the earth with Jesus and the Church (Revelation 21:3).

In one area outside the walls of New Jerusalem, on the New Earth, will be the lake of fire (Revelation 22:15, Revelation 21:8), in which all non-Christians (of all times) will suffer forever in fire and brimstone with Lucifer (Satan) and his fallen angels (Revelation 20:10,15, Matthew 25:41,46).
 
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Anthony7 quoted a news article in post #1489 of the original thread:

After Iran and Syria announced a new military cooperation agreement on Monday, through which Iran will play a leading role in shaping the Syrian military, a senior Israeli official declared Tuesday that the Jewish state is determined to force Iran to retreat.

Good for Israel.

But while Iran may never "retreat" fully, it will definitely be blown to smithereens in Syria, by Israeli bombing runs, if it continues to try to bring into Syria, or build in Syria, any weapons systems which threaten Israel.

Also, it all depends on Russia whether or not Iran is able to maintain any real foothold in Syria.

For only Russia has the advanced anti-aircraft missiles capable to bringing down Israel's bombers, and it has not provided these to Iran in Syria.

But it has provided them to Iran to be used in Iran to protect its nuclear-program facilities.

So Iran could move these missiles from Iran into Syria.

But then Israel will simply bomb them before they can become operational.

For Israel has highly-advanced satellite surveillance capabilities.

It knows absolutely everything that anyone does in Syria with regard to transporting or setting up any weapon system there.

The problem would be if Russia keeps its anti-aircraft missiles on its bases in Syria, but begins to shoot them off in defense of Iranian bases there.

For Israel would be reluctant to start a war with Russia by bombing its bases in Syria.

Russia has assured Bolton that it doesn't want Iran threatening Israel from Syria.

But Putin throws up his hands and says, in effect: "What can I do? I can't start attacking, or even pressuring, my ally Iran, which has done me no harm. I can't become the lapdog of Israel, doing its bidding for it".

And so it will be left to Israel to keep Iran in check in Syria.

-

Someone might ask: "But why is Russia so deferential to Israel, claiming that it doesn't want Iran threatening Israel? And why is Russia patrolling the area east of the Golan to protect Israel from Syrian forces?"

It could be for one of two reasons. Or both at the same time.

First, Israel could have some devastating compromat on Putin, like he has on Trump.

And so Putin could not want to unnecessarily rile up Israel against him.

Second, Putin knows that Israel is a formidable fighter, with plenty of nukes to boot, and with the U.S. as a staunch ally.

So he knows that he could never win a war with Israel. So why antagonize it?
 
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No, for while Putin's allies are spread across the world, they are still few in number compared with the U.S.'s allies.

The nine countries containing Russian military bases are concentrated in a comparatively small area relatively close to Russia. “Allies spread across the world” must be referring to different allies and a different world, such as those of the US and its world.

And yet RT gets millions of views on Youtube, while some Iranian social media accounts were recently banned which got only a few thousand views.

RT views pale into insignificance compared to the cumulative total of western MSM's.

Also, regarding your reference to "presstitutes", note that RT is the presstitute of Putin.

Sure. A dwarf presstitute compared to the collection of western MSM presstitutes.

An ally doesn't have to provide a base.

No base, no ally.

No, for we must pray to be delivered from evil (Matthew 6:13), not that it be brought upon us.

The Lord's Prayer is a believer's prayer. The trials and tribulations which beset believers now, and in the future, are and will be under God's control. Those trials and tribulations, and the God who controls them, are evil?

Note that Revelation chapters 6 to 22 are still future to us...

The future's events are by definition unprovable.

Therefore, so are futurism's fantasies.
 
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jgr said in post #36:

The nine countries containing Russian military bases are concentrated in a comparatively small area relatively close to Russia. “Allies spread across the world” must be referring to different allies and a different world, such as those of the US and its world.

No, for allies do not have to provide bases.

For example, Syria and Russia are allies. But does Syria have bases in Russia?

jgr said in post #36:

RT views pale into insignificance compared to the cumulative total of western MSM's.

Of course, but RT is still huge compared with other "influence operations" on social media which have been banned.

For example, just recently, social media companies banned multiple Iranian sites which were said to be part of an "influence operation", even though these sites, even all together, had only a few thousand views.

And yet RT, which even Kerry called "a propaganda bullhorn", has millions and millions of views.

And yet RT remains untouched, not only on social media, but even on cable TV.

Why is that?

(This is not to say that RT, or any other speech, should ever be banned. It's just curious why some propaganda sources are banned but not others.)

jgr said in post #36:

No base, no ally.

Not necessarily. For an ally is simply a country that agrees to fight along with you. It doesn't have to provide a base to you in its own country in order to do that.

For example, Russia, China, and Mongolia doing military exercises together: It means that they are practicing to fight together as allies against a foreign enemy (i.e. the U.S.).

But such an alliance wouldn't require that Russia have bases in China, only that Russia come to China's aid if it is attacked.

And such an alliance wouldn't require that China have bases in Russia, only that China come to Russia's aid if it is attacked.

jgr said in post #36:

The trials and tribulations which beset believers now, and in the future, are and will be under God's control.

Of course, in the sense of Him allowing them. But not in the sense of Him directly causing them.

And this brings to mind the pre-tribulation-rapture-view's claim that the entire future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 will be directly caused by God, and will be His wrath, so that Christians can't be here during that time, based on 1 Thessalonians 5:9.

But 1 Thessalonians 5:9 refers only to wrath which is opposed to salvation, which is God's wrath (John 3:36). For even obedient Christians can suffer the wrath of Satan, which does not affect their salvation from hell (Revelation 12:17, Revelation 2:10). For even if they are killed by Satan, this is no loss for them, but gain, for it brings their still-conscious souls into heaven to be with Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:21,23; 2 Corinthians 5:8). Also, 1 Thessalonians 5:9a applies to anyone who obtains salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:9b), and no matter whether they live or die (1 Thessalonians 5:10).

Also, nothing requires that the entire future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 will be God's wrath, or that any part of the Tribulation which will be His wrath will be directed against any of the Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:9) who will still be alive on the earth at that time (Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6). Most of the Tribulation could be Satan's wrath working through evil people and natural forces to bring disaster upon the earth, like when Satan was allowed to work through evil people and natural forces to bring disaster on righteous Job (Job 1:12-20), against whom God had no wrath.

The future Tribulation's first five seals (Revelation 6:1-11) will not be God's wrath or judgment. For after the first four seals, the Christian martyrs of the fifth seal ask God when He is going to bring His judgment against non-Christians (Revelation 6:10). And the killing of even more Christian martyrs, which the fifth seal foretells will happen sometime after the fifth seal (Revelation 6:11), will not be God's wrath against those Christian martyrs. So Jesus Christ's unsealing of the seals (Revelation 6), the future Tribulation's first stage, does not mean that the events unsealed will be God's wrath, but simply means that they will be permitted by God to happen at that time.

The Tribulation's sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-14) will happen sometime before the future Day of the Lord (Joel 2:31, Revelation 6:12), as in only a few years before. The future Day of the Lord itself will not begin until Jesus Christ's Second Coming (1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10), which will not occur until Revelation 19:7 to 20:6, immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8). Similarly, the future Day of the Lord's wrath (Psalms 110:5) will not begin until Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:19-21).

So the people quoted at the sixth seal (Revelation 6:17), during only the first stage of the future Tribulation, could be just as mistaken as Job was when he said that what was happening to him was God's wrath against him (Job 19:11). Just as what was happening to Job was actually Satan's wrath against him, not God's wrath, so the sixth seal could actually be Satan's wrath, not God's wrath. And just as the writer of the book of Job did not go out of his way to correct Job's mistaken statement in Job 19:11; and just as the apostles John and Matthew did not go out of their way to correct the mistaken statements of the people they quoted in John 7:12b and Matthew 27:63a; so the apostle John could have not gone out of his way to correct the statement of the people he quoted in Revelation 6:17.

After the Tribulation's sixth seal will occur its seventh seal (Revelation 8:1), out of which will come its seven trumpets (Revelation 8:1-2). And nothing requires that any of the first six trumpets' events in Revelation chapters 8 and 9 will be God's wrath. The fifth trumpet's events will be the work of strange locust-like beings from the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 9:2-10), led by a fallen angel from the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 9:11). And the sixth trumpet's events to the end of Revelation 9 will be the work of strange horse-like beings led by four fallen angels who are currently bound in the Euphrates (Revelation 9:14-19). So even though good angels of God will sound the first six trumpets, this could be announcing God's allowing the wrath of Satan to destroy one-third of different things (Revelation 8:7-12, Revelation 9:15,18), just as Satan will subsequently, mid-tribulation, be allowed by God to cause one-third of the angels (that is, his fallen angels) to be cast down to the earth permanently (Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:9).

Revelation chapters 8 and 9 will happen before the future Antichrist's (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's beast's) literal 3.5-year worldwide Luciferian/Satanic reign (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9). And the events in Revelation chapters 8 and 9 could be used by Satan to help prepare non-Christians to welcome that reign. For what Satan could do is first take great pleasure in causing the destruction in each event, but then claim that the destruction is not from him, but from YHWH, and that YHWH is a cruel tyrant god who hates mankind and only wants to make it suffer, while he (Satan, as "Lucifer") only wants the best for mankind (cf. Mark 8:33b). In this way, Satan could deceive non-Christians into actively hating YHWH and worshipping Satan (the dragon) and the Antichrist (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9). The Antichrist will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36).

After the Antichrist's literal 3.5-year reign (Revelation 13:5-7) is declared legally over at the sounding of the Tribulation's seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15), the seven plagues of the seven vials of God's wrath will come out of the heavenly-temple opening of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:19, Revelation 15:5 to 16:1). The vials will then be poured out on the Antichrist's followers as God's judgment for their receiving the Antichrist's mark and worshipping his image (Revelation 16:2), and for their killing of Christians (Revelation 16:6-7, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-13).

During the future Antichrist's worldwide reign, Christians will be hated and killed in every nation for refusing to renounce the name of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:9-13). They will be beheaded for refusing to renounce the witness of Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:4), for refusing to accept the antichrist lies that Jesus Himself is not the Christ (1 John 2:22), and that Christ Himself is not in the flesh (2 John 1:7). They will be beheaded for refusing to renounce the sound doctrine of the Bible, the Word of God (Revelation 20:4; 2 Timothy 3:15 to 4:4), for refusing to depart from the Biblical faith and give heed instead to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-2). They will be beheaded for refusing to worship the Antichrist's image (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 13:15). And all of this will be Satan's wrath against Christians (Revelation 12:17), not God's wrath. For Christians are not appointed to God's wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Even when God's wrath comes in the seven vials (Revelation 16), the future Tribulation's final stage, because Christians are not appointed to God's wrath, none of the vials will be directed at any Christians who will still be alive on the earth at that time, still waiting for Jesus Christ's Second Coming as a thief (Revelation 16:15). Instead, they will go into protective chambers which they will have prepared for themselves on the earth (Isaiah 26:20), just as Noah and his family went into the protective ark which they had prepared for themselves on the earth (Genesis 7:11,13).

Jesus Christ will return right after the seventh-and-last vial is completed (Revelation 16:17,19, Revelation 19:2-21, Matthew 24:29-30). And He Himself will bring the Second-Coming wrath of God upon non-Christians (Revelation 19:15-21). But before that Second-Coming wrath begins, Christians will be caught up together/gathered together (raptured) (1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Matthew 24:31) into the sky to hold a meeting in the air with the returned Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

At that meeting, Jesus Christ will judge everyone in the Church (Psalms 50:3-5, cf. Mark 13:27) by their works (2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 2:6-8, Luke 12:45-48, Matthew 25:19-30). And then Jesus will marry in the clouds the obedient part of the Church (Revelation 19:7-8, Matthew 25:1-12), those in the Church (of all times) who "overcame" to the end (Revelation 3:5, Revelation 2:26). They will then mount white horses and come back down from the sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (Revelation 19:14), as He defeats the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") and the world's armies (Revelation 19:15-21). Jesus will then make the marriage supper of Revelation 19:9 for the physically-resurrected and married obedient part of the Church in the earthly Jerusalem (Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:54). Jesus and the obedient part of the Church will then physically reign on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29).
 
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Anthony7 quoted a news article in post #1490 of the original thread:

Russia masses warships off Syria ahead of regime's final assault on Idlib

God help the poor people in Idlib. (They need to flee now, toward Turkey, or into eastern Syria, before it's too late.)

For Russia is massing it warships so that it can fire missiles from them against the millions of innocent civilian men, women, and children in Idlib, just as Russia (and Syria) intentionally targeted innocent civilian men, women, and children in eastern Aleppo, and in Eastern Ghouta, murdering thousands of them.

Why were there no war crimes charges for this, such as there are now U.N. war crimes charges against Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, for intentionally targeting civilians?

The West did nothing to help the civilians in eastern Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta.

And the West is doing nothing to help the civilians in Yemen.

And the West will do nothing to help the civilians in Idlib.

For the West is utterly bankrupt morally, in its failure to act (James 4:17).
 
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Anthony7 quoted a news article in post #1491 of the original thread:

NATO says the Russian navy is building up its presence in the Mediterranean Sea amid growing tensions over the war in Syria. Russia has provided crucial military support for Syrian government forces, which are expected to mount an offensive in the northern Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.

The Russian naval buildup close to Idlib could be to allow Russia to be able to still send missiles into Idlib even if the U.S. imposes a "no-fly" zone over Idlib, just as the U.S. imposed a "no-fly" zone over the northern, Kurdish province of Iraq while Saddam Hussein was still murderously in power.

That is, Russia could want to still be able to murder thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Idlib, just as it did in eastern Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, even if it can't send its bombers against them.

But Russia has nothing to fear. For the U.S. and the rest of the West care nothing for the civilians in Idlib, just as they cared nothing for the civilians in eastern Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, while they were ruthlessly bombed to death by Russia (and Syria).

So Russia can continue its incessant slaughter without worry.

For the U.S. and the West are dead, morally.

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But what about the Russian people? Do they support what Putin is about to do to Idlib?

And if not, can they protest in the tens of thousands against his planned butchery, just as they recently protested in the thousands against even his planned changing of the retirement age in Russia, so much so that he changed his plans regarding that, because his approval numbers had decreased so rapidly among the people?

Can the Russian people even bring an end to Putin altogether, and so bring an end to the utter misery in Syria?

May God help them.
 
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Anthony7 quoted a news article in post #1492 of the original thread:

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced this week that the Vostok-2018 exercise from Sept. 11-15 would involve as many as 300,000 troops, 1,000 aircraft and 900 tanks with units from China and Mongolia also participating.

This could be a sign that Russia will be willing to invade North Korea to defend it from being taken over by the U.S., whether through a coup d'etat (helped by U.S. special forces), or through a large U.S. invasion. China would also want to prevent any U.S. takeover of North Korea. For both China and Russia share a border with North Korea, and they do not want U.S. forces, or even U.S.-allied forces on their border. North Korea is the perfect "buffer state" for them.

Also, North Korea has claimed in the past that it must retain it nukes for self-defense against the U.S.

But the truth is that North Korea has never needed nukes, or ICBMs for that matter, for its self-defense, just as it did not need them during the Korean War. For North Korea had, and still has, the huge armies of China (and now Russia) to back it up against any ground invasion from the U.S. and South Korea.

North Korea only wants nukes and ICBMs to use as bargaining chips to get the U.S. military completely out of South Korea, leaving South Korea helpless against a massive North Korean/Chinese (and now Russian) ground invasion.

A U.S. precision-bombing destruction of North Korea's nuclear and ICBM programs must happen soon, before North Korea figures out (that is, is secretly shown by Russian technicians) how to put nukes on top of its ICBMs, making North Korea able to retaliate with nuclear counterstrikes.

But after a U.S. precision-bombing of North Korea's nuclear and ICBM programs, South Korea could suffer the deaths of millions of its people during a North Korean conventional counter-attack. So the South Korean capital of Seoul, which lies close to the border with North Korea, will have to be evacuated before the U.S. precision-bombing of North Korea's nuclear and ICBM programs. This evacuation could be done gradually (i.e. over two or three weeks), and could be explained as necessary due to "mysterious high-radiation levels detected throughout the city, which require temporary evacuation until the source of the radiation has been determined and remedied".

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Regarding North Korea recently promising Trump that it will get rid of its nukes, North Korea's promises are worthless, as past administrations have repeatedly found out. And now North Korea is calling the U.S. a "gangster" for making it get rid of its nukes. This means that North Korea wants cash to get rid of its nukes. But even if the cash is paid, North Korea will still keep its nukes, as past administrations have repeatedly found out. For Russia and China will continue to support a nuclear North Korea, such as by illegally feeding it petroleum and other vital supplies which thwart U.S. and U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

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But why would Russia want North Korea to continue to have nukes and ICBMs?

So that North Korea can continue to threaten the U.S. and it allies, and hopefully even strike them one day. Also, if North Korea does do that, such chaos would be unleashed that Russia could then invade and annex the northeastern neck of North Korea stretching from the North Korean border south of the Russian city of Vladivostok down to the rail line running between the North Korean cities of Hyesan and Kimchaek.

Annexing this portion of North Korea would give Russia complete control over North Korea's only nuclear-weapons testing site, which is called Punggye-ri, and which consists of huge tunnels and caverns carved-out deep beneath the granite mountain of Mantap. That is, Russia could say that it needs to annex this part of North Korea "for the good of the region, and the world", to prevent any further development of the North Korean nuclear-weapons program.

Of course, the irony will be that it is Russia-alone which has been secretly helping North Korea at that very site to develop its nuclear weapons. But there is no proof of this Russian assistance which can be obtained at this time by Western intelligence agencies. And Russia's taking-over of Punggye-ri will allow Russia to completely scrub all evidence of Russian assistance at that site. Also, the Russian annexation of the northeastern neck of North Korea will increase its strategic presence on the Sea of Japan, which could be helpful should Russia ever go to war with Japan (such as over the Kuril Islands). Also, the Russian annexation of the northeastern neck of North Korea will increase its strategic encirclement of the northeastern neck of China, which could be helpful should Russia ever go to war with China (such as over a part of far-eastern Siberia).

Also, it is curious that North Korea became amenable to negotiations regarding its nuclear program only after there was a catastrophic collapse of a vast underground cavern at Punggye-ri. For this vast collapse could have rendered the site unusable for future nuclear tests. And Russia could have decided that it could not help North Korea to restore the site without exposing its assistance. Also, world economic sanctions against both North Korea (due to its nuclear program) and against Russia (due to other reasons) have recently become so severe that both North Korea and Russia could have decided to abandon the further development of the North Korean nuclear program (for now) until sanctions are lifted.

Once they are lifted, or even if they aren't, North Korea could resume the development of its nuclear program in secret by digging brand new tunnels under Mantap, or at some other site in North Korea's northeastern neck, such as beneath the mountain of Kwanmo-bong. Indeed, digging various tunnels under Kwanmo-bong to be used as nuclear/ICBM labs and testing facilities could have already secretly begun (with covert Russian assistance), under the guise of some other, civilian plan, such as a massive mining project.

There is no way to pressure North Korea enough to give up its nuclear and ICBM programs, so long as Russia and China continue to support a nuclear North Korea. And there is no way to force Russia and China to stop this support, because of their veto power in the Security Council, and because of their vast armies and nuclear arsenals, which could be unleashed if they are ever attacked militarily by the U.S.

So there is no solution to the problem of North Korea.

And so its nukes could eventually cause devastation, not only in far-eastern Asia, but also in the Middle East, including Israel.

--

For the future use of nuclear weapons could be referred to in Bible prophecy.

For in Joel 2:30 the "pillars of smoke" bring to mind the stalks of mushroom clouds generated by nuclear detonations, which could occur during the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24.

Also, in Ezekiel 21:8-16 the "sword" could represent a nuclear bomb which could be detonated in Israel by Arab Islamic terrorists (Ezekiel 21:12). The sword being "bright" (Ezekiel 21:15) could refer to the stupendous flash of light given off when a nuclear bomb is detonated, as bright as lightning. Indeed, the original Hebrew word (H1300) translated as "glitter" in Ezekiel 21:10 can be translated as "lightning" (Ezekiel 1:13c).

But where are Arab Islamic terrorists supposed to get a nuke?

Possibly from North Korea. For North Korea is now being squeezed financially so dramatically that it could soon (in its words) feel "forced" to secretly sell its nukes for millions of dollars in hard cash, not only to Arab Islamic terrorists, but also to Iran.

But how is North Korea supposed to actually deliver a purchased nuke to Arab Islamic terrorists, or to Iran?

By a plane crossing China, or Russia, or by a train crossing Russia. Indeed, Russia could even knowingly facilitate such a secret delivery, just as it has been Russia which has been secretly facilitating North Korea's nuclear weapons and ICBM programs.

But why would Russia want a nuke in the hands of Arab Islamic terrorists, or Iran?

So that Israel can be nuked by terrorists, thereby weakening the most important ally of the U.S. in the Middle East. Also, Russia is not the enemy of the Arabs or Iran, but is friendly with both of them. So it would not have to fear being nuked by Arabs or Iran.

But is not Russia friendly with Israel as well? And would not Russia have to fear being nuked by Israel in retaliation?

Russia is friendly with Israel only so far as is in its interests. And Russia could gain strategically in the Middle East by secretly facilitating a terrorist nuking of Israel, which Russia would be extremely-careful (through a whole series of cutouts) to make sure could in no way be traced back to Russia. Also, Russia has thousands of nukes of its own, only a few tens of which would be able to turn all of Israel into molten lava. So Israel would probably not nuke Russia.
 
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