------Damascus-------

Hal Lindsey had this to say at his website, "Russia, Iran and Syria have entered a defense pact that is in the process of altering the balance of power in the entire Middle East. Russia’s part in the pact has been kept relatively secret for a long time. But the facts reveal a long steady Russian commitment to the Iranian nuclear program and arms supply to Syria."

I have mentioned in previous articles that Russia would lead the mid eastern nations in an all out assault on Israel only to have their armies crushed by none other than God himself. I haven't mentioned much about Syria but there is a curious prophecy in Isaiah about the city of Damascus being destroyed.

The bible commentators refer to this verse as being fulfilled when the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin 2 Kings 16:9

There is no indication whether or not the buildings of the city were destroyed, just that the people were captured. An online search revealed that Damascus has been an important city since the third millennium before Christ. That is a very long time.

Isa. 17:1 states The burden against Damascus. "Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. This prophecy says that Damascus will cease to exist. The fact that Damascus is the capital of Syria today is a very clear demonstration that it has not ceased to exist.

What could cause Damascus to no longer be a city? In light of the fact that Russia has made an alliance with Iran and Syria, countries that want to wipe Israel off the map, we should be watching the news for any type of activity that would cause Israel to attack Damascus. We know that Israel has retaliated against Hezbollah for shooting rockets into Israel and kidnapping and killing Israeli soldiers. We know that Hezbollah are sacrificing women and children to make Israel look like bloodthirsty butchers and the world falls for this obvious deception.

In order for Israel to nuke Damascus, a great atrocity must be committed against them. Perhaps an Israeli city is nuked. Maybe a plague is loosed upon Israel by terrorists. The uncertain thing about this prophecy is whether it belongs in the tribulation period or will be fulfilled before that. Just keep watching the news. If Damascus is destroyed in our time, remember the scripture I pointed out to you. Prophecy validates the word of God.

-------The Hot Sun-------

Revelation Chapter 16 verses 8 and 9 tells us And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

I personally believe this prophecy will be fulfilled in a period of time known as the tribulation. When you study the bible, you discover that God never does anything without first telling us about it or giving us a preview of what is to come. For instance, Jonah in the belly of the great fish was a preview of Christ in the tomb, Abraham willing to sacrifice his only son was a preview of God sacrificing His only son, and there are many other examples.

There is a protective layer that surrounds the earth that protects us from the harmful radiation of the sun. It is called the ozone layer. An angel is going to remove that protective layer (not man as many global warming proponents would have you believe). I recently read an article that the temperature has risen on all the planets in our solar system. This simply means that we can attribute the current heat wave to the sun actually getting hotter rather than global warming.

Our lives can be snuffed out at any moment and it wouldn't take much to do it. When God is judging sinful man for rejecting Him and accepting the son of Satan as God, one of the judgments will be that the sun will get very very hot. The world will know that God is doing this yet the scripture states that man will not repent of their sins and turn to God.

My point is that we are seeing shadows of all the judgments of Revelation. Shouldn't the church be shouting from the rooftops that our redemption (our resurrection into new glorified bodies) is getting close? The silence of the church is deafening.

Copyright 2006 by Gary Goodworth