(Daniel 2:44)
See the series here
At the time of this writing (05/22), the war in Ukraine has passed the 2-month mark, to the astonishment of the world that the Ukrainian armed forces have mounted such a strong and effective resistance against massive invading forces. Whichever way this war goes, and eventually ends, we can rest assured that The Lord’s declared overarching strategic objective given to Jeremiah has not been erased from The Bible. Word-for-word, precept-for-precept, by far, this continues to be one of the best summaries of what He’s up to strategically across all of human history:
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am The Lord, exercising lovingkindness [giving Grace], judgment [ensuring Justice], and righteousness [extracting a righteous remnant] in the Earth. For in these I delight,” says The Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
So what have we learned since the war began, and how can that inform our perceptions of how this war might fit into Heaven’s unfolding strategic plan for our world?
- As noted in Part 1, both Ukraine and Russia are renowned for their perceived public sector corruption. In February 2018, Transparency International (TI), based on its 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), reported, ‘Ukraine most corrupt country in Europe after Russia’. On January 25, 2022, one month before the war began, TI released its 2021 CPI, showing both Russia and Ukraine with similar scores and rankings that have not appreciably changed since 2017: 1
Year Score Ranking
(of 100) (of 180)
Russia 2021 29 136
2017 29 135
Ukraine 2021 32 122
2017 30 130
- Russia failed significantly in its anticipated quick overthrow of Ukraine’s capital and government. It has suffered untold losses across the board, but continues to devastate cities and towns across Ukraine, while inflicting massive civilian casualties. Reports are that its feared military machine has grossly under-performed in all key areas of warfare, relative to its international reputation.
- Ukraine, with massive, steadily increasing western aid, is holding its own in the fight for continued territorial integrity and political independence.
- The war has motivated major military defenses along NATO countries’ borders with Russia and Belarus, and has also prompted some non-NATO nations to consider seeking membership in the alliance.
- The twin crises of internally-displaced persons (IDPs) and international refugees have exploded.
- Western sanctions on Russia have been tightened and sanctions enforcement appears to be strong. This has triggered a major brain-drain from the country, and is estimated to have significant, long-term, negative economic impacts.
- Depending upon how long western sanctions are effectively applied, Russia’s ability to re-build its military capabilities after the war could be seriously degraded. NATO countries have now pronounced this as their long-term strategy against any future Russian invasions.
What could this last point infer for
the 1st War of Gog and Magog and the Armageddon War??
(See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel)
These two promise land invasions are predicted to defining events that will end the great tribulation. The Armageddon War will usher in The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ (Millennial Reign age) with His (then) immortal, first-resurrection saints. Though they are iteratively predicted in The Bible, no one knows when these wars will occur, or how long they will last. Ezekiel 38, Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19 are the most detailed and clear physical predictions of how these wars will unfold and conclude. And Zephaniah 3:8-13 infers one of several objectives for these wars, namely to weed out of the massive population Jews who are predicted to be crammed in Israel, even spilling over into northern Jordan and Lebanon (per Zechariah 10:10) 2, leaving 'a meek and humble people who will trust in the Name of The Lord and do no unrighteousness' (Zephaniah 3:12-13 and Zechariah 10:10). This sounds like The Lord's 'people pruning' approach to ensure leaving only those Jews who will embrace Him as Messiah. Revelation 19 adds the 'behind-the-scenes' spiritual dimension.
One point in Ezekiel 38 is curiously very clear, and I imagine potentially related to NATO's recent declared strategy noted above:
Motivated by a principal demon, named Gog, the country ‘in the far north’, presumably of Israel - current-day Russia, might determine it independently lacks adequate military might to invade, on its own, even a (then predicted) defenseless Israel!!! 3
By the time of the 1st War of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38), predicted global destructions from tribulation plagues will likely have decimated much of Earth, triggering massive migration, famines, and deaths across the human population and animal kingdom, economies and national militaries not excluded.
Thus, this demon will catalyze that country’s government and military to call for several other countries with standing militaries to join in the predicted invasion. The stated purpose of this war will be to seize food and wealth after their economies and populations will be severely devastated during The Lord’s promised, worldwide tribulation plagues, generally referred to as the apocalypse. NB: This will not be 'the end of the world', as many erroneously believe, but simply the end of thr next 4th age of human history. The Armageddon War will be the global judgment that will trigger the transition from the 4th-to the-5th age of history. 4 (Over a thousand years later, the 2nd War of Gog and Magog will signal the end of the 6th age of history, and ALL human history on this current version of the Earth. It will also trigger The Great White Throne Judgment event.)
As if to taunt this demon en evance, The Lord, in Ezekiel 38:7, tells this demon, ‘…and [Gog] be a guard for them’, i.e., protect all your invading troops! But alas, Gog will not be able to provide any protections for his troops when Heaven responds massively. (It is unclear whether Jesus and His resurrected, immortal saints will appear in both the Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 19 wars, or only in the latter. It is not clear to which war Zechariah 14:12 applies, or possibly to both. Nor will Gog be able protect countries that will have participated in the first invasion, countries Jesus ‘will seek to destroy’, per Zechariah 12:9. 5
Devils and demons have been on Earth for ages, and they are not dumb, just defiant. After all, they have out-smarted humans generations-after-untold generations, motivating every evil and wicked thing we have done since Adam! Moreover, as spiritual beings (for now at least 6), they understand spiritual issues and events, including clear, written predictions in The Bible, and also possibly the much more detailed Scripture of Truth noted in Daniel 10:21. Yet even with this understanding, they will still motivate a huge number of troops from several countries to invade a (then) defenseless Israel, and to die from a massive, ‘nuclear-like’ event, one without the horrible environmental effects! 7 Does that stir your anger?!
It is interesting to compare and contrast these wars, and to see how Bible scholars are conflicted on which is the real Armageddon War.
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1 Transparency International (TI) organizes and produces an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) across 180 nations for which adequate data are available, with a focus on the public sector. The index scores and ranks perceptions of these countries’ public sector on a scale from 0-to-100, where 0 is very corrupt, and 100 is very clean. Country scores, rankings, and changes in both of these data points can be tracked over time in The Corruptions Perceptions Index. See: Corruption Perceptions Index Explained and also How CPI Scores Are Calculated.
2 Possibly from having fled global anti-Semitism. See: The Coming Lame Blame (Poem)
3 See: A People, Un-walled (Series).
4 Why does the Bible predict there will be plenty of food and wealth in Israel during the great tribulation? See: The Goshen Effect (Part 2) and Booty, Pre/Post Millennial Reign (Series). See also: Isaiah 26:20-21. See also: Human History Ages (Series).
5 Revelation 20:1-3 explain why no devil or demon will be around during The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ with His first resurrection saints. Look it up and be informed. Also, see: A Forced Reconciliation (Poem).
6 See: The Goshen Effect, Grand Finale, (Poem, Part 5), and especially Is THIS the Man?! (Poem).
7 See: The Final Nuclear-type Effects.
