Many headlines of late have involved Russia and what has happened in the Ukraine.
What does the future hold? We aren’t there yet, but someday the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 & 39 are going to come to pass. Ezekiel 38 lists 6 Nations that will unite against Israel:
- Magog = Which is Modern Day Russia
- Persia = Which is Modern Day Iran
- Cush = Which is Modern Day Ethiopia
- Put = Which is Modern Day Libya
- Gomer = Which is Modern Day Eastern Europe
- Beth Togarmah = Which is Modern Day Turkey
Let’s look at Ezekiel 38:10
“On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme.”
The evil scheme includes
- to disturb their (Israel’s) peace,
- to dispossess them (Israel) of their land,
- and plunder their (Israel’s) resources.
Russia is mostly flat with no natural barriers to keep enemies from invading. Therefore, the Russian’s defense is in their sheer size. History proves that Russia gobbles up as much territory as it can in order to ensure that it has size.
Today’s headlines are about Russia and Ukraine. How much do you know about Ukraine? What if this little country was a key, a huge key to the evil plan of Ezekiel 38?
Where does Ukraine fit into this thinking? The gap between Ukraine and Kazahkstan is only 300 miles wide. If any foreign army were ever to place itself in Ukraine, they could threaten to cut off Russia’s influence.
Russia has a natural gas pipeline, and most of that pipeline network which transports natural gas to Europe goes through Ukraine. Russia needs to ensure that Ukraine can’t turn off the flow of gas over pricing disputes like it has before. Russian gas must reach Europe because Russian gas is key to ensuring that Germany remains submitting to Russia.
On March 1, 2014 Russia took control over Crimea (which is the southern peninsula of Ukraine). This force by Russia caused German Chancellor Angela Merkel to comment that President Putin was living “in another world”.
Why did Putin decide to resort to force?
- We saw the pictures of the military tanks forcing their way into Crimea
- And why does he seem unafraid of the West’s reaction?
The popular opinion is that the Russian President is a hard-nosed leader who believes “it is better to be feared than loved.” One must understand that Russia has always had doubts about Ukraine’s ability to exist as an independent state. The Kremlin publicly said that the level of dysfunction and corruption in Ukraine is unbelievable. Yes, there has been much corruption.
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the main causes of corruption in Ukraine are a weak justice system.
In a 2008 Global corruption report, it reported that the highest corruption levels were found in vehicle inspection (57.5%), the police (54.2%), health care (54%), the courts (49%) and higher education (43.6%).
The Kremlin, the former Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov, more than a decade ago publicly said sovereignty is not a legal right. In order to be sovereign a state must be economically independent and militarily strong. In Putin’s opinion Ukraine is lacking both of these components, and as a result Ukraine is likely to always be dominated by one or more external powers. The Russian leadership needs to ensure that the dominant political forces in the Ukraine are not hostile to Russia.
The popular assumption is that the Russian President behaves as he does simply because he can. He is convinced that the Ukraine is more important to Russia than it is to the West and that any Western retaliation would be ineffective. Putin is aware that the EU is crippled by its economic problems and nervous about some of the parties in many of its member states. And, he has concluded, based on the evidence of the US’s decision to avoid intervention in Syria, that the American public will oppose any military action far away from its borders. He is probably right on all counts.
Here is the evil scheme of Ezekiel 38:
Russia supplies 30% of Europe’s natural gas through their company Gazprom
- Founded in 1989
- Headquartered in Moscow
It has 18 pipelines running through the Ukraine. Putin can exert political and economic pressure on the EU anytime he chooses by shutting off the supply. This means that Europe is completely dependent on Russia.
Chevron, Exxon and several European oil companies have been doing some exploratory drilling in Ukraine. They found a massive natural gas field in the Western part of that nation, which extends into Poland. However, they have not been able to obtain the contracts they needed from the former Ukrainian President (Yanukovych) because he had made an agreement with Putin. If you remember, this is the president who fled from Ukraine. Where did he go? Russia.
With him gone – the EU really wants those gas fields, thus another reason to topple the government of Ukraine which will only cause Russia to rise up even more.
What is not being talked about much is that both the EU and NATO are schmoozing the government in Kiev. Kiev is in the northern part of Ukraine. The EU and NATO are hoping they will grant contracts to drill that gas, seriously cutting dependency on Russia. This is one of the reasons we have seen Russia move military into Ukraine. Russia has a huge naval base on the coast of Crimea on the Black Sea. Putin moved troops in to protect Russia’s interests, especially in Kiev.
Where does America fit into this? Well let’s remember some modern history…
In March 2010. Russia started Iran’s first nuclear power station:
23 months ago – In May 2012 – we had the (Moscow-Istanbul-Rome Initiative) (MIR) – To help promote Russia’s interests in the Middle East, The Moscow-Istanbul-Rome Initiative, or MIR Initiative, held a conference in Rome in late May (2012) Conference was called “Bridging the New Middle East.” The Muslim Brotherhood leadership and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, participated.
20 months ago – Russian Attack Submarine Sailed in Gulf of Mexico Undetected - On August 14, 2012 The Washington Free Beacon published a report that a Russian, nuclear-powered attack sub patrolled the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, off the U.S. coast, and it was undetected for a month.
U.S. officials said the submarine patrol exposed deficiencies in U.S. anti-submarine warfare abilities—at the same time the U.S. military were/are facing cuts with the Obama administration’s plan to reduce defense spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years.
Today:
U.S. wants to place sanctions on Russia and has led the charge to bar Russia from the G-8 (they have been a member since 1975).
Russia’s stock market has taken a hit and the value of its currency, the ruble, has declined. We are now threatening to freeze accounts of Russian businesses and citizens. In response, Putin says he is willing to completely dump the U.S. dollar.
So what?
Russia holds more than $200 billion in U.S. treasury bonds – U.S. debt. If Russia followed through with this it would devastating to the U.S. financial markets.
“The leader of the north will devise an evil plan” – Ezekiel 38:10
Click to enlarge map
