A Consistent Message
"For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." (I John 3:11)
Recently I came across an article written by Mr. Armstrong which I found truly remarkable. It wasn't so much the content of the article – which was really quite familiar – but WHEN it was written. This "Heart-to-Heart Talk with the Editor" was published in the February/March Plain Truth of 1939 ... six months BEFORE Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, kicking off the second World War!
What I found so astounding was that although the quality of the mimeographed printing was so inferior to the 4-colour magazine the Plain Truth eventually became – and many doctrinal truths had yet to be revealed – the core spiritual message of Give and Get – actually using those two words – could have been written a matter of days before Mr. Armstrong died, forty seven years later.
What I have done below is to break up the closing comments of this 1939 Plain Truth article into five sequential segments, hoping to show you that first and foremost – and well over eighty years ago – God saw fit to reveal these vital, ETERNAL principles of Give and Get to His end-time apostle, in order to teach us – so we in turn may teach others the way to the abundant life, when our time comes.
1) Not Worth Saving
We try to make it plain, with God's help, and in Jesus' name, that this present civilization is DOOMED! God Himself is going soon to destroy it --- UTTERLY!
It is not worth saving. It has brought only heartaches, unhappiness, despair. (Feb 1939 PT)
In the temptations that Satan set before Christ, surely the most compelling would have been the opportunity to put an end to at least some of the mountain of human misery and anguish – not only at that time but also in the years to come. (Matthew 4: 8,9) But Christ well knew that the only enduring answer was a total change of government! When on trial for His life, Christ explained to Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), because if it had been, then His followers would react in the normal, carnal human way to prevent His death. What Christ knew was needed – and He will be heading – is a whole new world order!
HWA more recent quote:
Jesus did not come to try to save this superstructure. What He came for was to start another building altogether. God had started a potential building that could have been His building, but Adam rejected Him and turned to Satan and Satan's way instead. Now God is going to let it CRASH! God is going to let this world COME DOWN! GOD IS NOT TRYING TO SAVE THIS WORLD, and this world is going to CRASH DOWN and go into extinction. ("Foundation of a New World" Dec 31, 1983)
- Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth ...
- ... And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:35,44)
2) Two Ways of Life
The whole trouble is its root foundation principles. Every phase of our modern life --- political, economic, social, religious --- as it is now organized under existing customs, is based on the philosophy of "GET". The SELF principle. It caters to pride and vanity, the pleasing of the desires of the five senses. It is the antithesis of God's law of LOVE, as exemplified by the Ten Commandments – the "GIVE" and the "SERVE" principle. It is the transgression of God's law, and the transgression of the law is S I N ! (Feb 1939 PT)
As recorded in Matthew 22: "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" (Matthew 22:35,36). What Mr. Armstrong understood even at that time, and what the box-ticking Pharisees totally missed – as many even today still do – was the PRINCIPLE behind the laws of God, summed up in Christ's response in verse 40:
- Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
- This is the first and great commandment.
- And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)
HWA more recent quote:
But human nature simply doesn’t see it [cooperation] that way. That’s the way the Creator designed it – but humans differ with him who said, “It is more blessed to GIVE than to receive.” Unfortunately that has been regarded as impractical idealism. Yet EVERY EVIL IN TODAY’S SICK, SICK WORLD HAS BEEN CAUSED BY THE “GET” MOTIVE – self-advantage at the cost of others, vanity, coveting, lust and greed – envy and jealousy, hostile competition, strife, violence, war, destruction. And above all, resentment of authority!
Unfortunately the basic activating motive in modern business and industry has been the “GET” philosophy. In spite of materialistic advances, humanity’s problems are spiritual – and the spiritual incentive has been “GET” – “ME FIRST!” Result? In spite of materialistic advances there has been spiritual retrogression. Trouble, evils, suffering and anguish engulf the world.
Looking more deeply, past the materialistic advances in the business world, there has been selfish motivation, dishonesty, dog-eat-dog competition, disregard for the good of others, sharp practices. This facet of modern civilization, like modern education, government, science and technology, has moved in the direction opposite from the foundational spiritual law of our Maker. It has contributed to bringing man’s world to an apparent state of hopelessness and a soon future of utter destruction.
But that super-strong “unseen hand from someplace” is now about to intervene. He sends a voice crying out with the world’s only and sure hope! That intervention will save humanity from itself. A new and different world of PEACE, HAPPINESS and ABUNDANCE for all is that sure hope. Mankind won’t bring it about. It will have to be done TO humanity – and our motivation shall be changed from “GET” to “GIVE!” Agree or not – IT IS SURE! (Personal, PT Feb/March 1985)
- I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (Deuteronomy 30:19)
- Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
- But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (I John 3:16,17)
3) Love Not the World
It is the WRONG way! God is about to destroy it. If we love this wordly way of life, we shall, if we cling to it, be destroyed with it!
Often when we explain these basic principles that underly the fabric of our very civilization, and God's PLAN for dealing with the situation, intelligent men and women --- business men, professional men – will say, "That's SOUND, and the most REASONABLE explanation I've heard." Yet they seldom ever will desert this false way. They make no effort to turn to God and seek HIM!) (Feb 1939 PT)
Back in 1939 the full understanding and vast scope of the Plan of God for all humanity as revealed in the Holy Days was not yet understood, and wouldn't be for a further six years, but what Mr. Armstrong did realise that the way the world was going, it was soon to be "shipwrecked" and mankind in general seem to be oblivious of the danger.
HWA more recent quote:
Jesus did not try to reform Caesar. He did not try to make this a better world. Rather, He preached the doctrine of a radically different world to come – and He called His followers out of all participation in this present evil world, and to allegiance to HIS KINGDOM that is to come.
But His world is the world tomorrow! His Kingdom, He told Pilate, is not of this world – that is, of this AGE, this present time. This is Satan’s world and Jesus Christ did not come to reform Satan or improve Satan’s handiwork, but to save His followers from Satan and his system ...
... Christians are called to be separate from the world and all its affiliations, whether social, political, economic or religious (2 Corinthians 6:17). They are not to live by the philosophies, customs and ways of this world, but by EVERY WORD OF GOD (Luke 4:4). Jesus taught us not to live by traditions of the present civilization, but by God’s laws, and He taught here that those who disobey this teaching WORSHIP HIM IN VAIN.
Yes, thousands call themselves Christians, think they are converted, believe in Christ, worship Him, but worship Him in vain, following the course of this world and its customs and ways, instead of the commandments of God (Mark 7:7-9)!
Jesus said for the Christian to seek first the KINGDOM OF GOD (Matthew 6:33), and He also said we cannot give allegiance to and serve two kingdoms (verse 24). ("How Would Jesus Vote for President?" GN Oct/Nov 1984)
- Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
- And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (I John 2:15-17)
- And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
- And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (II Corinthians 6:16-18)
4) Men Pleasers
WHY? Because we are so much a PART of this paganized society, the victims of its customs and ways. And even thinking people seem the victims of so much PRIDE that they actually FEAR men, and what other people would think and say, MORE than they fear God! Are they not, in spite of intelligence, education, ability, money, MORAL COWARDS, and WEAKLINGS? A conversion takes courage. (Feb 1939 PT)
Mr. Armstrong knew whereof he spoke, as he recorded in the sixteenth chapter of his autobiography, that to accept the truth meant a total change of his life's goals. HIS ambition as a young man had been to "hob nob" with the wealthy and cultural, and he looked down on the poorer and less educated Sabbath keepers. HE wondered what others would think of him ... "It meant being cut off completely and forever from all to which I had aspired. It meant a total crushing of vanity. It meant a total change of life!".
HWA more recent quote:
And the conditions in the Bible for receiving God’s Holy Spirit are two: Repent and believe. But repent means more than being sorry. It means a complete yielding to the will of God expressed in his Word. It is a complete willingness to accept and to do what it teaches, no matter what the cost, the persecution, the sacrifice or the effort.
Jesus said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine …” (John 7:16-17). If you will surrender to the will of God, Jesus says you shall come to understand the Bible.
People do not understand the Bible because they are filled with the fear of men instead of the fear of God. They tremble at the thought of what people say, but we had all better begin to tremble at the Word of the Living God! (Personal, PT Nov/Dec 1983)
- Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
- For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:42,43)
- He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
- And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37,38)
5) Conversion
The way to God's protection is a thorough CONVERSION. To convert means to CHANGE.
There's no use deceiving ourselves. We can never really FIND God, and come under His protection, until we are thoroughly converted – BORN AGAIN!
It means full, complete, unconditional SURRENDER to God, and HIS WAYS, as revealed in HIS COMMANDMENTS! Self-will, self-desire of pride and flesh must be CRUSHED, broken, conquered! The self must DIE the death. It is neither pleasant nor easy. It takes courage. To do it voluntarily is hard. But GOD WILL HELP the soul who is willing!
The old natural spirit, and attitude from which thoughts, actions, and words spring, must die. GOD'S SPIRIT must come. Christ is the WAY. Will you accept, NOW? (Feb 1939 PT)
It is clear from his 1939 "Heart to Heart" article that the bedrock of this new way of life revolved around the conversion of the mind from INcoming to OUTgoing. He personally had to let the "old man die" in baptism. He knew all those years ago that true Christianity involved a total change of outlook, goals, desires... to "turn around and go the other way" – from Get to Give.
HWA more recent quote:
“I was not converted until I was brought to the place where I realized my own NOTHINGNESS and God’s GREATNESS – until Satan’s injected VANITY was driven out and the ego was completely whipped, defeated, conquered! When I came to consider myself as a worthless ‘hunk of human junk’ not even worth throwing on the junk pile – the self-exalting ego conquered – completely REPENTANT for the way I had traveled – now ready to TURN FROM that former life – I told God I was now ready to GIVE myself and my life to HIM! I didn’t then see how He could use it, but if He could He could have it. Jesus Christ had bought and paid for it with His life’s blood! (History of the Beginning and Growth of the Worldwide Church of God, GN Sept 1980)
- And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
- And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2,3)
It would be another decade before Mr. Armstrong totally grasped the scope of being 'born again' – that it was not only a conversion of our thinking, our mental processes, but included the conversion from a fleshly human being to a literal spirit-born child of God. This astounding truth, and other such doctrines as the spirit in man had yet to be revealed. As he mentioned in chapter 17 of his autobiography, he had to "come out of the fog of religious babylon a single doctrine at a time" and it was years later before he came to see the whole purpose "being worked out here below", prompting him to write "The Missing Dimension in Sex", final update in 1981.
Now see how HUMAN begettal, period of gestation and birth is the astounding identical TYPE of spiritual salvation – being BORN of God – being given ETERNAL LIFE in the Kingdom of God – the God FAMILY into which we may be BORN!
Each adult human is spiritually an “egg” or “ovum.”This spiritual “ovum” has a very limited life span of itself - compared to ETERNAL LIFE – an average of some 70 years. But spiritual, divine immortal life may be imparted to it by the entrance into it of the HOLY SPIRIT, which comes from the very Person of GOD the Father. This divine Spirit of GOD imparts to us also the divine nature (II Pet. 1:4.) Heretofore we have had only human, fleshly or carnal nature ...
... Now as the physical male sperm finds its way to, and unites with the nucleus in the ovum, so God’s Spirit enters and combines with the human MIND!There is as explained above, a spirit IN man. This human spirit has combined with the brain to form human MIND. God’s Spirit unites with, and witnesses with our spirit that we are now the children of GOD (Rom. 8:16). And God’s Holy Spirit, now combined with our human spirit in our MIND, imparts to our mind power to comprehend SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE (I Cor. 2:11) – which the carnal mind cannot grasp.
Now we have the presence of ETERNAL LIFE – God life – through God’s Spirit, but we are not yet immortal spirit beings – not yet BORN of God – not yet inheritors, and possessors, but physical HEIRS (Rom. 8:17). But IF God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us, God will at the resurrection, “quicken” to immortality our mortal bodies BY His Spirit that “dwelleth in us” (Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:49-53). Now see how the astonishing analogy continues! As yet we are not born divine beings. We are not yet composed of spirit, but of physical matter. The divine life has merely been begotten. (The Missing Dimension in Sex, chapter 4)
Conclusion
- Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
- And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5,6)
Back in the spring of 1939 – witnessing the warmongering and threatenings from the continent, most of us would have come to the same conclusion as Mr. Armstrong ... i.e. THIS, then is the start of Jacob's trouble. The timing was wrong, and many other new truths had yet to be revealed but the consistent message throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation – and given to the end-time apostle and the Elijah-to-come – has stayed the same: The two ways of life – of give versus get – destined to be lived and taught throughout eternity, by the spirit-born sons of God:
- [God's love] never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
- But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
- When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
- For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- And now abideth faith, hope, [God's love] these three; but the greatest of these is [the love of God] (I Corinthians 13:8-13)
The whole geopolitical situation in the Middle East and beyond has been totally changed…
In One Day!
SUDDENLY - A HUGE Black Swan Event
A civil war that had been waging for 12 years suddenly exploded. The huge changes occurring are hard to assimilate - it has all happened so fast! Russia and Iran had promised to send their support to Assad but by then it was too late. There was no great battle for Damascus, no final stand by Assad, as the political dynasty that ruled Syria for more than 50 years unravelled in one night.
- There were no Russian airstrikes to strengthen their morale…
- No Russian muscle…
- No Russian intelligence operation…
- No help from Iran…
- No help from Hezbollah units…
- No great battle for Damascus…
- The political dynasty that ruled Syria for more than 50 years… gone!
- The Shia crescent - broken…
- Iran’s land corridor via Iraq closed…
- Russia evacuating its Mediterranean naval base at Tartus…
- Russia loses air traffic centres that control Syrian skies…
- Russia loses its air base in Syria…
- Political turmoil in Iran…
- Loss of support for Hamas…
- Loss of support for Hezbollah…
- Loss of support for Houthi rebels in Yemen…
- The effects spread around the world…
The whole geopolitical situation in the Middle East and beyond has been totally changed…
Suddenly!
In a just a few hours!
“The coming weeks will be a crucial era that historians of the future will study with interest.
We are living through it.” (telegraph.co.uk)
“It [Syria] is in for a period of chaos in a region that is already on fire.” (dnyuz.com)
Rebels Overthrew Assad In Just 24 Hours
“In the end there was no final stand or fearsome battle to salvage the regime — instead, the dictator’s soldiers left their weapons and fled.
There seemed little to worry about for a man who has made a brutal habit of survival. His military had pledged it would defend the capital with a ‘ring of steel’ while Assad’s backers in Russia and Iran vowed not abandon an ally who, for all intents and purposes, appeared ready to go down fighting. By dawn on Sunday, however, the dictator, his British wife, Asma, and their children had disappeared. Damascus had fallen and, after ruling Syria for 24 years, Assad had been removed in just 24 hours.” (thetimes.com)
Why Has The Syrian War Lasted 12 Years?
“A peaceful uprising against the president of Syria 12 years ago turned into a full-scale civil war. The conflict has left half a million people dead, devastated cities and drawn in other countries.
Even before the conflict began, many Syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and a lack of political freedom under President Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father, Hafez, after he died in 2000.
In March 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the southern city of Deraa, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring countries against repressive rulers. When the Syrian government used deadly force to crush the dissent, protests demanding the president’s resignation erupted nationwide.
The unrest spread and the crackdown intensified. Opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to rid their areas of security forces. Mr Assad vowed to crush what he called ‘foreign-backed terrorism’.
The violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. Hundreds of rebel groups sprung up and it did not take long for the conflict to become more than a battle between Syrians for or against Mr Assad. Foreign powers began to take sides, sending money, weaponry and fighters, and as the chaos worsened extremist jihadist organisations with their own aims, such as the Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaeda, became involved. That deepened concern among the international community who saw them as a major threat.
The United Nations Human Rights Office estimated last year, that 306,887 civilians - 1.5% of the total pre-war population - were killed between March 2011 and March 2021 due to the conflict.” (bbc.co.uk)
Who’s Involved?
“The government’s key supporters have been Russia and Iran, while Turkey, Western powers and several Gulf Arab states have backed the opposition to varying degrees during the conflict.
Russia - which had military bases in Syria before the war - launched an air campaign in support of Mr Assad in 2015 that has been crucial in turning the tide of the war in the government’s favour. The Russian military says its strikes only target ‘terrorists’ but activists say they regularly kill mainstream rebels and civilians. Iran is believed to have deployed hundreds of troops and spent billions of dollars to help Mr Assad. Thousands of Shia Muslim militiamen armed, trained and financed by Iran - mostly from Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, but also Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen - have also fought alongside the Syrian army.
The US, UK and France initially armed what they considered ‘moderate’ rebel groups. But they have prioritised non-lethal assistance since jihadists became the dominant force in the armed opposition. A US-led global coalition has also carried out air strikes and deployed special forces in Syria since 2014 to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture territory once held by IS militants in the north-east and stop the jihadist group rebuilding.
Turkey is a major supporter of the opposition, but its focus has been on using rebel factions to contain the Kurdish YPG militia that dominates the SDF, accusing it of being an extension of a banned Kurdish rebel group in Turkey.
Turkish troops and allied rebels have seized stretches of territory along Syria’s northern border and intervened to stop an all-out assault by government forces on the last opposition stronghold of Idlib.
Saudi Arabia, which is keen to counter Iranian influence, armed and financed the rebels at the start of the war. Having refused to engage with President Assad for more than a decade, it is now discussing how to facilitate Syria’s ‘return to the Arab fold’.
Israel, meanwhile, has been so concerned by what it calls Iran’s ‘military entrenchment’ in Syria and shipments of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and other Shia militias that it has conducted air strikes with increasing frequency in an attempt to thwart them.” (bbc.co.uk)
October 7 Led To The Fall Of Syria
“How October 7 led to the fall of Syria - and the retreat of Iran. Western diplomats, analysts and even members of the Iranian armed forces and political establishment acknowledge that Tehran’s options are dwindling. An enfeebled Tehran will either have to open talks with the West or go nuclear. They must be cursing the memory of Yahya Sinwar in Tehran’s corridors of power.
Occasionally in history, one individual tilts the course of events through a single incident: think of Gavrilo Princip’s assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 or George Washington firing the first shots of the Seven Years’ War with his ambush on French forces in the Ohio Valley in 1754.
The atrocity ordered and masterminded by Sinwar, the late leader of Hamas, on October 7 last year has proved similarly momentous, its consequences reverberating well beyond the slaughter grounds of the kibbutzim on Gaza’s borders. Each wave has weakened Iran, hurting its regional ambitions of dominance, diminishing its stature and prising loose its network of proxies and clients across the Middle East.
If the regime is to shore up its weakening position, they say, Iran will probably either have to adopt pragmatism and enter into genuine, meaningful negotiations with the West – or it will have to race to build a nuclear warhead. As it scrambles to adjust to the unpredictability of Donald Trump’s incoming administration, it may well seek to do both.
Sensing Iran’s weakness, Mr Trump is unlikely to countenance anything that appears to be less than the complete dismantling of its nuclear programme. Tehran’s divided regime therefore faces the choice of whether it wants to be a neutralised Iran on good terms with the West or a nuclear-armed country that could drag the Middle East into all-out war. As for the incoming Trump administration, it faces a moment of great opportunity – and great danger, too.” (telegraph.co.uk)
Shifting Alliances Will Decide Syria’s Fate
“The war never involved only Syria. The opposition movement, or at least some of the many factions within it, had diplomatic, financial, logistic and military support from Turkey, the United States, Qatar and European countries. Foreigners flocked to the various hardline Islamist movements, particularly Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda branch in Syria.
The regime was backed by Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and other militant Shia groups orchestrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Wagner, the Russian mercenary group, played a key role in the survival of the regime. The war changed relationships between those countries. Turkey, a Nato member, fell out with the US and used negotiations with Russia and Iran to ‘freeze’ the conflict.
Russia and Iran have signalled they will come to Assad’s aid again, because Syria is too important a base for their global ambitions. Iran has said it will send military equipment and aid while Hezbollah is reported to have sent officers to bolster the defences.
They have little choice but to back him. Syria has provided the Kremlin with a launching pad along the Mediterranean for its expansions into Africa. And Syria allowed Iran to set up military bases on the doorstep of its arch-rival Israel, and a direct supply line to its most valuable proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Turkey, Iran and Russia will meet this weekend in Qatar to try to thrash out a deal in the same format as that which led to the previous frozen frontlines. The question is whether assuming that Syrians are under anyone’s control is not the big gamble. It may be too late.” (thetimes.com)
How Syria’s Delicate Peace Could Unravel
“The country is a patchwork of armed factions and opposition groups – trying to reconcile feminists with jihadists will be tough. As they celebrate the downfall of the Assad regime, many Syrians have been too busy revelling in their present joy to worry about the future. Few would begrudge them their moment.
Syria remains a patchwork of armed factions and opposition groups with wildly different, frequently competing aims. They will all be jostling for a privileged position under the new dispensation, ideally at the expense of their rivals.” (telegraph.co.uk)
The Problem With Ishmael - And His Descendants…
The Bible makes it very clear. The background to today’s Middle-East problems goes back several thousand years.
“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” (Genesis 16:11-12)
A more modern translation makes the point clearer:
“And the angel also said, ‘You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the LORD has heard your cry of distress.
This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.’” (Genesis 16:11-12 NLT)
Under man’s government, real lasting peace is impossible:
“The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.” (Isaiah 59:8)
A Battle For Domination Of The Entire Middle East
“As armed rebels have advanced at lightning speed in recent days from the north of Syria toward the capital, Damascus, footage online showed statues of the Assad dynasty — which has kept the country in its authoritarian grip for over 50 years — crashing to the ground.
The main regional players — Israel, Iran and Turkey — all have a stake in the outcome, which means that the ripples will affect not just the Middle East, but also global powers like the United States and Russia.
If the war in Gaza is the worst manifestation yet of the seemingly intractable Israel-Palestinian dispute, which drew in the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah, analysts call the fight for Syria a far more important struggle to dominate a regional crossroads that influences the entire Middle East.
Israel’s strategists refer to Syria as the ‘hub of hubs,’ which has served as a supply conduit for men and arms to places like southern Lebanon. There, Hezbollah, Iran’s main regional ally, held sway before Israel decimated the group’s ranks by assassinating its longtime leader and much of his top echelon. Israel also launched direct attacks on strategic air defenses in Iran. Israel is determined to prevent Iran, which has propped up the Assad regime, from re-establishing those supply lines.
‘Syria is the barometer for how power dynamics in the region are changing,’ said Mona Yacoubian, head of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.
‘It is in for a period of chaos in a region that is already on fire.’” (dnyuz.com)
In Just 24 Hours…
The political dynasty that ruled Syria for more than 50 years… All unravelled in a night.
There were no Russian airstrikes to strengthen their morale…
No Russian muscle…
No Russian intelligence operation…
No help from Hezbollah units…
No great battle for Damascus…
The Shia crescent - broken…
Iran’s land corridor via Iraq closed…
Russia evacuated its Mediterranean naval base at Tartus…
Russia lost its air traffic centres that control Syrian skies…
Russia lost its air base in Syria…
Political turmoil in Iran…
Loss of support for Hamas…
Loss of support for Hezbollah…
Loss of support for Houthi rebels in Yemen…
The effects spread around the world…
Watch out for even more changes!
The whole geopolitical situation in the Middle East has been totally upturned…
Suddenly!
In one day!
Latest Audio - 2024-12-14
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
Read online or contact email to request a copy
