Ezekiel 37 “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass all around them, and behold, there were very many [human bones] in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will make [a]breath enter you so that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and I will put breath in you so that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [thundering] noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on the bones, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and make you come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you [back home] to the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know [with confidence] that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and made you come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My Spirit in you and you will come to life, and I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and fulfilled it,” says the Lord.’”

Whenever I read this prophecy I think of the many footages I watched of the devasting evidence of the Holocaust where skeletons of Jewish corpses were collected from the streets, ghettos, etc and thrown into ditches. But God said these bones will live and so Israel is today celebrating being a nation, against all the odds. God in His marvellous grace promised He would preserve the Jews as a separate people during their worldwide wanderings. (See Isaiah 66:22; Jeremiah 30:11; 31:35-37.) Isaiah puts it in a colourful way. He says the Lord could no more forget Israel than a mother could forget her nursing child (Isaiah 49:15). He then adds that God cannot forget Israel because He has them tattooed on the palms of His hands! (Isaiah 49:16). God had promised to regather the exiles from the four corners of the earth and He had promised to reestablish Israel Isa 43:5 "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. Isa 43:6 "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth.... This prophecy was fulfilled in 14 May 1948.

But Israel's greatest battles are ahead and the storm clouds are gathering for "Jacob's troubles".

So, what lies behind these alliances, and what does it mean for the World and Israel?

No one has expected the rise of Russia 20 years ago. When it was USSR, it was a country immersed in cold war tactics. America was the guardian of the West and Israel. USSR aligned itself with the despot countries of the Middle East and Africa, its sole purpose has been to arm these countries and pursue its doctrine of communism. But since Putin came on the scene, its ideology became more about profit and arms helped by the discovery of large oil reserves and use the latter to manipulate the landscape of former and knew allies. Oil became it is chief resource to build up its aging military. However, oil and gas is a precarious business, it is susceptible to market changes and it is no secret that Russia needs more oil to survive. Countries like Saudi Arabia have come to expect that it needs to diversify. Their export of oil to West is diminishing as more countries are now finding their own resource from Russia and their biggest client, US, is now exporting oil to the Middle East. Countries in Europe are also trying to follow the USA like here in the UK to be independent producers. Furthermore, Putin’s erratic behaviour over oil supplies in respond to what he sees as interference in Crimea and Ukraine has forced many to think of alternative resources. We now know from geopolitical landscape that Russia is strategically carving its ambitions in the Middle East and Africa. It is trading arms to countries with the aim of getting revenues from their oil like Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen. And because Russia is a member of the UN Security Council it vetoes any decisions against his allies, same as China. The military alliance that Russia has with Iran, Turkey, Libya, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia should ring alarm bells to any Christians watching the news. This alliance is mentioned in Ezekiel 38/39. I do not think that Russia will be in the position it is today if it wasn’t for Putin. He has managed to strategically take the lead in Middle East unlike anyone before him. What is dangerous is that he has no regard for international treaties and sees the West and its representative NATO as a threat. And I can tell you as a former Muslim that Muslims admire him. Why? Because Russian standing up to West, US and NATO. To them he is the good guy. All of these three countries mentioned in Ezekiel 38, Russia, Turkey and Iran, are looking to forge their own empires.

One of the interesting thing that I’m amused about is the Trump election as President. When looking at Trump’s past and tweets, it is hard to like Trump and support him. However, his presidency is without doubt the catalyst for many of the key events that are happening in geopolitics. Trump came on the scene like meteorite crushing the global glass house. He has managed to upset every facet of the global status quo. He has started trade wars with China and EU and acknowledged that America has been taking trade hits for capitalist nations that ignored trade rules, subsidizing the Continental defence of an affluent Europe, rubber-stamping international institutions on the premise that they adhered to Western liberalism and tolerance. The ease with which the president wrecked the Iran nuclear deal was break taking. Not only did he cancelled the agreement but vowed 'strongest sanctions in history' on Iran. These sanctions will not only block American firms from doing business in the country, but also bar foreign firms that do business there from accessing the entire US banking and financial system. The sanction will also cause huge damage to the EU economy as Europe's biggest firms had rushed to do business with Iran after the nuclear deal. Another break taking moment was Trump recognising Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel and furthermore moving the embassy there. Trump presidency is shaking things up, ripping the global agenda rule book. He has also managed to attack the UN by reducing funding of their key agencies, attacked the Palestine Authority and has started international talks with North Korea.

Now unlike some “conservative Christians” who align biblical scriptures to everything he does, I do not put him on some pedestal, but I do pray for him. As some of you are aware I am a news junkie and since Trump was elected I stopped watching many of the news channels I used to watch. Everything he does, good or bad, is vilified in main stream media. If you want to promote a book, album, movie, tv shows, just mention how horrible Trump is and you are guaranteed to get free publicity. It used to be that to get this kind of free publicity required that you reveal some dark secret in your past or others to stir controversy and in turn be splashed all over the news sphere. We are also seeing, since the collapse of the Iran Nuclear Deal and the moving of the American Embassy to Jerusalem, the euphoric support for Trump even among the leading Rabbis and Israelis in general and favoured by Jewish media. For them, Trump represents the reassertion of confidence in the nation and the promotion and defence of its historic culture and identity.

Though I admire what Trump has done in relation to Israel, Iran and the UN, I have to admit that I am suspicious of him not least because of the many anti-Semitism slurs during his campaign. One of the more shocking credible news, i.e. not fake news, that I discovered was an article in 1990 that he kept a book of Hitler's speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed – speeches of Hitler’s “earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, that reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist”. The other aspect of my suspicious about Trump is his German ancestry, especially considering in the light of the above comments. Trump's ancestors originated from the German village of Kallstadt in the Palatinate on his father's side, and from the Outer Hebrides in Scotland on his mother's side. All of his grandparents and his mother were born in Europe. Could it be that Trump is deceiving Israel the same way his father, as a property owner, deceived his Jewish tenants about his nationality? I have no idea, its just pure speculation on my part. Or could he be a catalyst for what is come?

But there is a downside to this catalyst. The hatred for America, even when its leaders were following the global agenda has always been there, except when Obama came in to power, but these feelings of American dominance over the nations is creating new alliances. America is in the fortunate position now of not being dictated to by the Arab nations, UN or EU because of the boom US shale gas. The US is rising to become the oil superpower but having too much power in one hand usually causes a disaster. Russia will remain huge barrier to US energy independence. I believe that EU, UN, Russia and China will find ways to dismantle the American dominance. The catalyst for the this has been the Iran Nuclear Deal and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The fact is Trump is alienating America from the status quo of international communities. These communities are now aligning and forging new possibilities of global dominance to replace America. The Trade Wars and Iran Nuclear Deal has caused eruption and Russia, Turkey, Iran, China and the EU. The latter will take the divisive steps to fulfil its masterplan of the EU project. But before that Russia and its alliance will take the centre stage as result of the US demise, which will explain why when Israel is attacked by the Gog and Magog invasion Israel is alone except the awesome intervention by God. The key to Israel “living peacefully in unwalled villages” could be a Middle East Peace Treaty initiated by the Antichrist who promise to protect Israel from the threats of the surrounding countries as well as Russia. Russia has so far played the EU strategically and economically. It has divided the EU by supporting anti-EU parties like Austria, Hungary, Italy and so on and at the same is strategically align with the EU by being the only country that supplies a significant volume of fossil fuels and is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union. Recently it appears that Putin is forming a diplomatic relations with the EU and it seems to be working.

But where Israel is concerned the EU cannot be trusted, while it continues to support the Iran Nuclear Deal and the EU’s determination to forge with the deal, an agreement signed by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China—plus Germany) and the European Union. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), "Iran's ballistic missiles challenge U.S. military capabilities and U.S. influence in the Middle East." U.S. intelligence indicates that "Iran already has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, and is expanding the scale, reach, and sophistication of its ballistic missile forces, many of which are inherently capable of carrying a nuclear payload."

When God says, “Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” I believe it concerns Israel’s oil which is a threat to Russia, Iran and Turkey. Remember in my earlier article on oil, that Israel could become a possible supplier to the EU. A pipeline through Greece, Israel and Cyprus opens the possibility of building a natural gas pipeline to Europe, tapping huge gas reserves discovered in the eastern Mediterranean in recent years. Israel has reported some of the largest gas finds in the past decade and EU member Cyprus confirmed a discovery in 2011. This is a threat to Russia, Iran and Turkey!

I believe that just prior to Gog and Magog invasion, Iran nuclear capabilities will be destroyed by God. Why do to I say that? Well, one because of Israel’s past attacks and threats to attack Iranian bases and the other is a little known prophecy in Jeremiah 49:34,35

“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. (36) And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. (37,38) For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD. (39) But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD."

It is very telling that in Ezekiel 38, God lists in order Russia and then the surrounding northern countries and then Persia (Iran/Elam). To my knowledge Elam, Syria, and so on have continuously been listed as enemies of Israel in the Bible. You would’ve thought that it be these countries, instead God names Russia. Could it be that Iran is listed as providing the army but has no power to being dominant? Maybe I am making too much of this.

So we’ve come to the end of the series on Gog and Magog and I am left feeling as though we are heading back to the times of Genesis to the condition this world (as in the Days of Noah) and at the same time Israel is living back in the days of the Old Testaments book when God was fighting on their behalf and protecting them from the surrounding countries in order for Israel to inherit the promised land and having God to dwell amount them. We are then transported to the Book of Revelation for the things to come as the Babel system of rebellion started in Genesis ends in Revelation and the final destruction of Satan. Exciting times ahead.

“This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let him foretell what will come . . . Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?” (Isaiah 44:6-8, NIV).

History itself is a witness that God foretold many events hundreds and thousands of years before they happened, then brought them to pass exactly as He said. God is so sure of what He foretells that He has put it in writing well ahead of time where it can be easily disproven if it doesn’t come to pass. Prophecy is a powerful tool that can also be used to witness to non-Christians. So, keep watching and praying and remember “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10