2014 was a very interesting year in
many areas. In Israel three teenage yeshiva students were kidnapped
and murdered by Hamas terrorists. The government of Israel responded
to this harshly and with a great deal of anger. This lead (although
indirectly) to a war with Gaza as jihadists began firing missiles
into Israel. Israel responded with a bombing campaign against the
areas used by the militants.
By normal measures, Israel dominated
the defenses of Gaza and easily won the war and achieved their goals.
But with most of the world's propaganda machine against Israel, it
appears to be a war that they wish not to have fought. Much of Europe
is now formally turning against Israel. Sweden has become the first
member of the European Union to recognize Palestine. The
parliamentary assemblies of Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and France
have all voted to encourage their governments to officially recognize
a Palestinian state. The European Parliament has also passed a
resolution endorsing a Palestinian state. The relationship between
Israel and the United States has also reach a low point.
Jerusalem, as prophesied, is in the eye
of the storm. The government of Israel has continued to to allow
building of housing units in Jerusalem contrary to the desire of most
of the rest of the world. There is a rising call for Jewish religious
activity to be allowed on the Temple Mount and there are frequent
violent clashes between the Jews, the Islamists and the police.
The very popular Pope Francis visited
Israel in 2014. He made very clear his position in support of the
Palestinians as well as his ecumenical views regarding Islam, Judaism
and other Christian denominations. The pope later showed that there
are limits to his pacifism by calling on the western nations to form
a military alliance against the Islamic State. This move, which
hearkens back to the Crusades, came about a year after the pope used
his influence to stop the United States from launching missiles
against the Assad regime forces for the use of chemical weapons.
There seems to be a global religion
taking shape. The former president of Israel, Shimon Peres, stopped
by the Vatican one day to chat with the pope about forming a United
Religions along the same lines as the United Nations. Mr. Peres
thought that the Pope would be the perfect guy to put in charge of
the global religious body. The function of this group would be to
make decisions about what is within moral norms and what is not.
Those who fall outside of acceptable behavior would be judged in some
manner.
In 2014 the Vatican held a synod of
bishops on the family. This synod exposed a widening rift between
conservatives and Pope Francis. It showed that the pope is very
liberal in his view of homosexuality. He deviates from Roman Catholic
doctrine on this and other family issues such as divorce. There will
be another synod in 2015.
One of the biggest stories in 2014 was
the rather sudden invasion of Iraq from Syria by units of ISIS. The
brutality of ISIS has shocked and disgusted even other jihadists.
ISIS has since claimed to have formed a caliphate which they call
Islamic State. The major fallout of this invasion is the rise of
Kurdistan. The Kurdish Peshmerga has proven to be the most capable
fighting force in the area when the Iraqi Army fell apart and ran
away. Many of them joined ISIS. This has given autonomous Kurdistan
even more autonomy as they have begun to sell oil from the oil fields
that they control. They also deal with other states much like a
sovereign independent state.
Iraq, at this time is essentially split
into three parts. ISIS is holding territory in the west and north.
The Kurds hold territory in the north. The Iraqi government holds
territory in the south and east. These three areas look suspiciously
similar to the ancient empires of Assyria, Media and Babylon.
In 2014, Russian separatists seized control
of the Crimean Peninsula and territory in eastern Ukraine. They had the support of Russia which has claimed the Crimea as Russian
territory and supports the Russian separatists in the east with
troops and weapons. This has edged Europe and the United States
closer to world war against Russia. The weakness of the Obama administration has
energized Russian President Putin. He has made gains in stature in
the Asia and the middle east.
All of this as we remember that we are
in the middle of the blood moon tetrad. Passover and Sukkot both
coincided with lunar eclipses in 2014 and they will again in 2015. As
the Bible says in Joel 2:31;
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
So what is going to happen in 2015? In
order to answer this, I have attached an article from Ynetnews.com in
which they discuss the predictions for 2015 as viewed by the Israeli
military intelligence agency Shin Bet.
Shin Bet's forecast is mostly very
gloomy. The middle east, they say, is a dangerous place and will
become even more dangerous throughout the next year. The good news
for Israel is that the surrounding governments continue to drift into
chaos. The bad news is that as they continue to fight each other,
Israel's enemies continue to improve their fighting skills.
It is interesting in this article that
the Shin Bet sees that there is no 'international landlord'. That is
that there is no world power to control the middle east and stop its
slide into chaos. In the past this role was taken by Great Britain,
France and the United States. This lack of a controlling and uniting
influence leaves this function open for a leader to arise and unite
the nations. They will stop fighting among themselves and focus on
the destruction of Israel. The man who leads this effort will be the
Beast of Revelation also known as the antichrist.
Military Intelligence foresees threats to Israel in 2015
Analysis: Top Shin Bet assessment
predicts Middle East will remain dangerous and unstable: There is no
international landlord, states are disintegrating, and enemies are
honing tactics.
The Middle East is expected to be very
bad place in which to live over the coming year – perhaps one of
the worst and most dangerous places in the world. When Military
Intelligence puts its feelers out across the borders – in the
direction of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi
Arabia and North Africa – it sees and describes a world gripped by
social decay, crumbling politically, and becoming increasingly poor.
The chronic economic crisis that is
affecting the Arab Spring countries, and continues to worsen in light
of the falling oil prices, is accelerating the internal
disintegration of major countries such as Syria, Libya and Iraq, and
could undermine stabilizing regimes like Iran and Egypt.
In Saudi Arabia alone, which is seen
as a stable country, unemployment among the young will reach 30
percent in the coming year. No wonder there are so many Saudis in the
global Jihad organizations.
Many more young individuals will fail
to find their place in the Muslim societies, resulting in the rise of
many more radical movements around Israel and the spilling by Muslims
of a lot more Muslim blood in relation to previous years. And this
tidal wave of violence could spill over into Israel. If there is a
nightmarish scenario that's going to keep MI officials awake at night
in 2015 it's the possibility that they won't be able to locate this
tidal wave as it begins to form.
This gloomy outlook, in the drier and
more professional terminology of the MI researchers, is the bottom
line of the comprehensive document MI's Research Department submitted
recently to senior General Staff officials in the traditional
ceremony known as MI's Annual Assessment – a regular ritual
designed to present the army chiefs and political leadership with a
forecast outlining the expected political and military developments
in the coming year.
This intelligence assessment,
consisting essentially of a series of potential threats to which
answers must be found, is supposed to serve as the foundation for the
State of Israel's security-economic-political work plan for the year
to come.
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