NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH 4
" There are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered". So voiced the odious Iago through the pen of the English Bard. There we would leave our brief venture into the world of literature and turn our thoughts to one of those many events recorded in Scripture, which is clearly taking shape in these days. With the `Church in the West' being overly concerned with personal blessings and reassurances, the prophetic word is in danger of being debased, which in turn could cause the Prophetic Word of Scritpure to be ignored! A theologian, writing in an earlier age for the defense of the Book of Daniel against the babblings of the `Higher Critics', put it into its correct perspective, saying, `Prophecy is the sturdy rung of Scripture' - and indeed, what is written in Scripture will most certainly be delivered from the womb of time through events. However, dwelling too long on the events will stop us from seeing where the `sturdy rungs of Scripture' are taking us. Let us, then, first take a look at the rungs before we see where the Lord would have us climb to.

Little intelligence is needed to see that just as the OFFICE of the American Presidency was demeaned by the activities of a President that led to impeachment proceedings, so too the political SYSTEM in America is being demeaned by the debacle being played out in the recent American Presidential elections. Nearer to home we have already commented on the political confusion which led to national chaos - which has not yet worked itself out! These are but events leading us to the `sturdy rungs' of Scripture. Can there be any connection between these two newsworthy events, for although the United Kingdom and the United States of America speak the same language, their political systems do not have the same unity? In simple terms, the American political system is what is commonly called `Pork Barrel Politics'. In other words, the people are not overly concerned with the personal lives of their politicians - only that they `bring home the bacon' - whereas in the UK we elect leaders whom we expect to lead exemplary lives - the `bacon', although important, being of secondary importance! Without doubt, the present US President has brought the bacon home, therefore the balancing out of the election results must lead to the conclusion that there is an underlying fear in the US electorate that the pork barrel may well be empty and the `bacon' was not of such good quality.

We have expounded earlier upon the underlying anxiety in the UK electorate, but in short there is a growing realisation that New Labour is not very different from Old Conservatism (and we are not intending to enter into party politics, for as the Bard also said, `A plague upon both their houses'). Our trusty dictionary tells us that the word `anxiety' means `being uneasy', `being concerned', - our security threatened by events outside of our control. In a national sense, both in the context of the US Pork Barrel politics and the UK Petrol Protest, we are forced to consider the economy which, as it weakens, threatens our security and our trust in our political leaders. Enough has been written about the US economy to fill a small library, therefore we need only a brief overview lest we become embroiled in events rather than climbing `rungs'.

First, then, we have the American economy - that is, King Dollar, fronting a miracle economy! Unfortunately the facts do not add up to a miracle economy, only to a miracle spending spree! King Dollar has been on a huge spending spree over the years in foreign lands, buying very exotic `bacon', to the point where the European Central Banks are sitting on a massive 222 million Dollar horde, some of which comes back into the US to purchase company investments, buildings and so forth. This will continue as long as those Foreign Banks trust in the US economy and receive a good return for their investment.

Whatwill happen when the European Central Banks find that their 222 million dollars are worthless? In other words, there is no miracle economy - no new wealth is being purchased! Eventually King Dollar will have to vacate his throne in favour of the emerging currency of a growing dynamic Europe, where new wealth is being developed. As we reported in an earlier Newswatch, all serious UK politicians are aware of this and seek only a way to lead the UK electorate into Europe, aware that the UK pound, long-term, is as weak as the US dollar - for the same reasons. From an economy based on cash there is but a short step to oil - the other dominant theme in the events considered in this Newswatch, and with that we are getting close to the `sturdy rung of prophecy' (in Scripture).

It has been said that the `First Great Event' of the 21st century has been the dramatic rise in the price of oil. Although normally conservative in its foreign dealings, the Saudi Arabian royal family dare not ignore the violence taking place in Israel if it wishes to continue in power, and we are reminded that the Yom Kippur War in 1973 sparked off an oil embargo which caused a massive slow-down in the Western economy. Even setting aside the violence in Israel, it is a known fact that not only the Western countries but also the `Developing Countries' are consuming more oil than has been discovered in the last two decades. It has been said that `we now burn four barrels of oil for each new barrel located in the ground'. We need not elaborate on that comment further, sufficient to say that the events in the US elections and the UK protests have a common ring to them - anxiety, a shaking of the collective security - pointing us to the `sturdy rung' of Scripture, centered on Israel and God's dealings with His Covenanted people!

Throughout the prophetic word there is the clear and continuous message that the land of Israel has been given to the nation of Israel through an unconditional covenanted act of God. Because of disobedience they may not always occupy that land, but a time would come when they would be brought back to the land in order to fulfill that unconditional covenanted relationship with God, recorded so tenderly in the Book of Hosea. He wrote: (Hosea 2:16)

" `In that Day,' declares the LORD, `you will call Me `Ishi' (my Husband)
you will no longer call Me `Baali' (my Master)'. "

It is common knowledge that international Jewry is shrinking, not particularly from persecution, but through assimilation - which tells us that the events seen in the world today are but the shaking necessary to bring the Jews back to the Land where God will call them to Himself. We see this `study rung' recorded in Ezekiel 20:33:

" As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will rule over you with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. "

Today's events in Israel are but the precursor of the sifting of Israel in order for it to pass into the `bond of the Covenant', which we can see in greater detail in Ezekiel 36:8:

" But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for My people Israel,
for they will soon come home . . . . "

Such `sturdy rungs' lead us to the amazing prophecy recorded in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, which are commonly called `the Ezekiel Wars' - and it is to this that the events we are now experiencing are leading us, for this prophecy has not yet been historically fulfilled. The prophecy is set out in great and exact detail and has been expounded on by many mature people, but what makes it imminent is the many events that are occurring in these days to enable them to take place. Ezekiel records that: (Ezekiel 38:8b)

" In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people
were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been
desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. "

Distressing though these events are as we watch the news unfolding, they have to take place, and they will probably lead to the internationalising of Jerusalem so that Israel can `live in safety . . . a land of unwalled villages'. But our thoughts and prayers should be guided by the Lord beyond these immediate events to what is recorded in the `sturdy rungs' of prophecy in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, as we `watch' the events taking shape!

The early verses of chapter 38 list the `hordes' who will eventually gather against Israel, and the `received wisdom' of Bible teachers talks of a grand coalition of hostile nations. Scripture merely records them as `the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal . . . and your whole army . . . Persia, Cush and Put will be with them . . . also Gomer . . . and Beth Togarmah . . . the many nations with you'. A grand coalition could be indicated here or it could be that many nations with vested interests will gather around Israel intent upon war. The historical pattern of the trampling down of Israel has been one of armies marching through Israel on their way to other wars, and the narrow strip of land that is Israel has felt the tramp of the feet of many armies on their way to war with others. We therefore need to look for whatever form those `feet' will take in the lead-up to the Ezekiel wars and not continually look at the distressing disturbances in Jerusalem.

We heard the first warning of war through the words of President Putin of Russia (chief prince of Meshech and Tubal) when he visited the UK earlier in the year 2000, for he told the Prime Minister to wake up to the real threat of Islam and not to criticize the Russian war against Chechnya. We heard the same `sound of war' through the words of the `moderate' voice of the Royal Saudi Family, that they will not tolerate violence against the Palestinians. And finally we heard the `sound of war' in the constant voicing of the Western European powers that they will not accept Jerusalem as the sovereign capital of Israel. There is a powerful grouping of nations taking shape, all of whom have vested interests converging upon the land of Israel, and who are drawn on by equally powerful religious interests. The national forces are primarily concerned with political and economic survival, centered on oil - the oil that turns the wheels of the industry of national life - and beyond that, to ultimate political supremecy to become the Super-Power of the world. The religious forces, meanwhile, riding on the backs of their political masters (the politicians who need the legitimizing hand of religion in order to pacify the people), are primarily concerned with survival as the dominant religious power in their respective nations, and their ultimate supremecy, centered upon Jerusalem, to become the religious Super-Power of the world. The meeting point of these powerful national forces is the land of Israel, urged on by the religious forces of Roman Catholicism (which is re-emerging as the dominant religious force in Western Europe); Russian Orthodoxy (which has reformed as the quasi State religion in the restructured Russia); and militant Islam in the `Arab' nations.

We see the Scriptural confirmation of this interplay between State and Religion in Revelation 13 concerning the Beast from the sea (the national power) and the Beast from the earth (the religious power) who will finally emerge during the Great Tribulation. Here in the prophecy spoken through Ezekiel we have a foreshadowing of those terrible days, and as we see these events unfolding we need to trust the sturdy rungs of prophecy within the Word of God and know that although these events will affect us as we live through them, we may take joy in the end result, which is seen in the concluding words of Ezekiel 39: (v 21-22)

"I will display My Glory amongst the nations, and all the nations will see the
punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day forward the House
of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God. "

November 2000
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