Church of God News

Map from Viewsridge – as of 5 February 2024

COGwriter

Russia is proceeding militarily in the Donetsk region:

Russia claims it is now occupying ‘advantageous’ positions in Donetsk

February 6, 2024

Russian armed forces are occupying more advantageous positions in the Donetsk direction, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

“In the Donetsk direction, units of the Southern Group of Forces occupied more advantageous lines and positions,” the ministry said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.

It added that its units had “also repelled seven enemy attacks and defeated the manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Kleshcheevka , Andreevka, Kurdyumovka, Novgorodskoe, Georgievka and Katerynivka of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” referring to the self-proclaimed “republic” declared by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has since pronounced that the alleged “republic” and three other partially-occupied Ukrainian regions are a part of Russia. Russian authorities use Soviet-era spellings of Ukrainian place names in their statements.

Donetsk has been a hotspot for fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists since 2014, and Russian forces have attempted to further consolidate their territorial hold on the area since the 2022 invasion. They currently occupy around 57% of the region, Reuters says. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/06/ukraine-war-live-updates-latest-news-on-russia-and-the-war-in-ukraine.html

6 February 2024

Russia is firing between 1,500 and 2,500 shells and rockets at Ukraine’s war-ravaged Donetsk region every day and is targeting critical infrastructure to make it harder for people to remain there in winter, its governor told Reuters.

The eastern province, 57% of which is occupied by Russia, has been at the forefront of war since 2014, when Russian-backed proxies seized the region’s capital city, also called Donetsk, as well as many other large towns.

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022, this has been where many of the war’s most vicious and protracted battles have occurred. Read more: Ukraine’s Donetsk Region Pounded by Up to 2,500 Russian Strikes Daily | Newsmax.com

Good Weekend For Russia, Feb 5 2024

SHORT ANALYSIS: GOOD WEEKEND FOR RUSSIA, FEB 5 2024 It’s very late, but a quick analysis of the weekend. Russia scored four significant victories this weekend. Two military one political and one in media.

The surprisingly fast Russian advance in northern Avdiivka city made the fall of Avdiivka a sure thing. It will be almost impossible for UkrAF to take back lost territory and that will leave an operationally encircled city counting down its fall.

Further north another thing became clear. RuAF are now so close to Zherebets river that they have fire control over the few landpassages over Zherebets in the area. It is also almost impossible for Ukrainian units to make counterattacks. This will also lead to a Ukrainian withdrawal (map) to the West Bank of the Zherebets.

In the political sphere the Republican Bill in Congress to support only Israel, and not both Israel and Ukraine, is a great success for Russia. It increases division within the US and gives nothing to Ukraine?

Finally we have Tucker Carlson’s visit to Russia, which will be a huge PR success for Russia and give Russia an opportunity to reach western audiences and explain the Russian position on international conflicts.

All in all a very good Russian weekend. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-02-05/good-weekend-russia

As far as Tucker Carlson goes, he undoubtedly is planning something for X (formerly called Twitter) and/or other media related to his reported trip to Russia–he also has stated planned to interview Vladimir Putin and probably has done so by now.

That said, for about a decade, many in the Donbas region (which includes Donetsk) have called for Russia to defend them from Ukraine and/or annex them out of Ukraine.

Russia has since done that.

Here are parts of three items posted here in 2014:

Russia is moving forward with its plans and Vladimir Putin is taking steps to make his hoped for Eurasian Union a reality.  I am certain that he would as much of Ukraine as he can get (he wants all of it), and must be pleased that Donetsk wants to vote to join Russia. (Thiel B. Russian forces storm Ukraine bases in Crimea and residents of Donetsk take to the streets calling for a vote to join Russia; cruise missile threat to USA? COGwriter, March 22, 2014)

Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine, to influence, dominate, and ultimately control. He is repeatedly taking steps in order to increase Russian influence there.

As far as how it will ultimately end, that is not impossible to predict.  The Bible tells of the rise of a European Beast power and a Eurasian power.

Ukraine is geographically in the middle of that.

Some/much of Ukraine will likely temporarily align with the European power.  Even Russia appears prophesied to cooperate with it for some time (cf. Revelation 13:4,8).

The historian Herodotus claimed that there were six different tribes/families of Medes.

Herodotus identified the tribes of the Medes as Busae, Parataceni/Paratakeni, Struchates/Strukhates, Arizanti, Budii, and the Magi (Herodotus: A New and Literal Version with a Geographical and General Index by Henry Cary. Histories, book 1, chapter 101. Translated by Henry Cary. Harper, 1896. Original from the University of Virginia, Digitized Jan 23, 2009, p. 46).

Some of the Russians themselves appear to have been from the Medes. Notice the following:

Today the people who constituted the empire of the Medes may be found in western Russia, specifically the Ukraine and Volhynia. (White C. The Great German Nation: Origins and Destiny. AuthorHouse, 2007, p. 285)

But how are we to explain the name Russia? The old-fashioned view was to derive the word from the Rhoxolani. This, however, has long been abandoned. One thing is certain, namely, that these Rhoxolani were of Oriental descent, a Medic or Iranic tribe. They disappear from history, having, like so many other tribes — as, for instance, the Pechenegs and the Khozars—been swallowed up by the huge waves of immigration which overflowed the country (Morfill WR. Russia. Published 1890 by T.F. Unwin, London).

There are many disputes among academics as to who derived from whom, thus it is not completely clear, for example, that the Rhoxolani were Medes who went to Russia.

The Bible has several end time prophecies concerning the Medes (Isaiah 13:17-19) and the kings of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11, 28-29) that involve military action and point to Russian involvement (Jeremiah 50:41-43; Daniel 11:44).

Various ones in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Russia, and elsewhere are part of the descendants of the Medes, as likely are some in Moldova and perhaps elsewhere.

If the Rhoxolani were Medes, then it would seem to be consistent with certain biblical prophecies.

While some/many in Ukraine descended from the Medes, so have some/many in Russia.

The Bible shows that those who are the “kings of the Medes” will turn against the final European Babylonian power:

11 Make the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple.
12 Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon;
Make the guard strong,
Set up the watchmen,
Prepare the ambushes.
For the Lord has both devised and done
What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. (Jeremiah 51:11-12)

28 Prepare against her the nations,With the kings of the Medes,Its governors and all its rulers,All the land of his dominion. 29 And the land will tremble and sorrow;For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. 30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,They have remained in their strongholds;Their might has failed,They became like women;They have burned her dwelling places,The bars of her gate are broken. 31 One runner will run to meet another,And one messenger to meet another,To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides; 32 The passages are blocked,The reeds they have burned with fire,And the men of war are terrified.
33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor When it is time to thresh her;Yet a little while And the time of her harvest will come.” (Jeremiah 51:28-33)

Historically, the old Worldwide Church of God believed that many in Ukraine descended from Madia (see Countries and Their Biblical Names ), the Medes.  Various Russians are also descendents of Madia.

Barack Obama, the President of the USA, while encouraging sanctions, has repeatedly said the USA will not intervene militarily:

President Barack Obama again ruled out U.S. military action, saying there must be a diplomatic solution. But he said he would reaffirm U.S. commitment to NATO allies in the region at a summit next week.

“We are not taking military action to solve the Ukrainian problem. What we’re doing is to mobilize the international community to apply pressure on Russia,” he told reporters at the White House. https://bangordailynews.com/2014/08/28/news/world-news/obama-us-will-seek-diplomatic-resolution-not-military-action-to-russian-intervention-in-ukraine/

Russia, the Europeans, and the Ukrainians know this. (Thiel B. Vladimir Putin points to statehood for eastern Ukraine; Six tribes of the Medes. COGwriter, August 31, 2014)

As the USA has its own elections, the West and the United Nations has condemned the elections in Donetsk and Luhansk/Lugansk …

Russia is pleased with the results of the elections in eastern Ukraine.  Russia is attempting to figure out how to best handle this.  In my view, while Russia does have some concerns about the West and sanctions, it really is trying to figure out how to get the public in eastern Ukraine and Moldova on its side.

Part of the reason for that is because Russia wants more and more nations to support its upcoming Eurasian Union.  The Bible itself tells of a type of Eurasian confederation (Jeremiah 50:41-42; Revelation 16:12-14) as well as a confederation of the “kings of the Medes” (Jeremiah 51:11,28).  Russia wants both to form.

Here is one view of the recent history of the Donetsk movement:

The Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR or LNR) (Russian: Луганская народная республика, Luganskaya narodnaya respublika) is a self-proclaimed state in eastern Ukraine, bordering the Russian Federation, the (also self-proclaimed) Donetsk People’s Republic, and Ukraine itself. Following the Euromaidan protest movement and the impeachment of President Viktor Yanukovich in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, local Antimaidan and pro-Russian protests intensified, culminating in the proclamation of the Lugansk People’s Republic on 27 April 2014. The authorities of the Republic later held a referendum on 11 May to seek legitimacy for the proclamation, and subsequently declared independence on 12 May 2014. On 24 May 2014, the self-proclaimed government agreed to a merger with the Donetsk People’s Republic into an unrecognized confederation known as the Federal State of Novorossiya. The Republic is recognised only by South Ossetia, which itself only has limited international recognition. Ukraine classifies the Republic as a terrorist organisation.

The northern part of Luhansk Oblast, which is predominantly Ukrainian-speaking, has remained under Ukrainian control. Although the LPR lost control of much of the Oblast, and currently control less than half of their territorial claim, the Ukrainian government estimates that 64.4% of the population of the Oblast (about a million and a half) live under separatist rule. (Lugansk People’s Republic, Wikipedia, viewed 11/03/14)

It appears that the DPR wants to basically be independent, wants Kiev-related troops to go away, wants to make its own economic deals, and probably will want to either officially join Russia or at least join its upcoming Eurasian Union.

(As I have mentioned before, biblically, because of prophecies involving the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11-32), some of which are in Ukraine, and those in the “north and east” in Daniel 11:44, it would seem that Russia would be closer to at least parts of Ukraine (like some of the eastern portions of it) in the end than many realize. (Thiel B. West condemns Donetsk and Luhansk elections; USA holds its own election that some wonder where it will lead to. COGwriter, November 4, 2014)

Earlier in 2022, just prior to Russia’s ‘special military operation’ into Ukraine, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

21:20

Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy

The situation between Russia and Ukraine has again heated up, although it has been tense since the Euromaiden protests and Russia’s annexation of Crimea. There was later a separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Russian Orthodox Church. Is war prophesied for Russia and Ukraine? Are prophecies in the Bible associated with the ‘kings of the Medes’ and a power from the “north country” related to any in Russia and Ukraine? Is a confederation of powers from the north, east, and central Asia prophesied to destroy the coming end time European Babylon? Will the destruction be reminiscent of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? How is the King of the North and who will destroy him? Do those in Russia and Ukraine have a hope of salvation? Will Russia and powers of the east be involved in the gathering in Armageddon as prophesied in Revelation 16? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues.

Here is a link to our video: Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy.

And yes, more territory once controlled by Ukraine is part of Russia, as there are millions in Ukraine’s original territory that do support Russia.

Ultimately, irrespective of how things may temporarily turn out on the battlefield, as I had written at the COGwriter.com webpage for over a decade (beginning no later than 2013) at least parts of Ukraine are going to align with Russia as that is consistent with numerous prophecies in the Old Testament.

We are seeing that happen.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2024 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Prophecy.

• In Ukraine, Donetsk remains divided
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• Eastern Ukraine votes for independence: Kiev upset, Russia pleased.
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• NM: Russia Captured 162 Square Miles in Ukraine Since June 14
• Eastern Ukraine Voting on Secession
• Donetsk supporters push ahead, while G7 condemns Russian actions in Ukraine
• Russia reports military advances in Donetsk
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• Putin sets partial military call-up, won’t ‘bluff’ on nukes, and referendums in the Donbas