Ethiopia, Artsakh, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Afghanistan, USA, Iran: Wars and rumors of war
1887 depiction of the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’
While USA presidential election matters and increased COVID-19 concerns are dominating much of the news cycle, we are also seeing wars and threats of such in various parts of the world.
Notice the following about wars and rumors of war in Ethiopia:
Rockets Hit 2 Cities in Ethiopia’s Amhara State
November 14, 2020
“A rocket was fired towards Bahir Dar & Gondar cities. As a result, the airport areas have sustained damages,” the statement said.
The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in the neighboring northern Tigray region for more than a week.
Hundreds have been killed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the national defense force into Tigray on Nov. 4, after accusing local forces there of attacking a military base.
More than 14,500 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and the U.N. refugee agency says more people are on their way.
On Friday, The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in Tigray. https://www.voanews.com/africa/rockets-hit-2-cities-ethiopias-amhara-state
14 November 2020
The Ethiopian government said on Saturday that fighters from the northern Tigray region had fired rockets at the cities of Bahir Dar and Gondar in the Amhara region.
According to a tweet from the special task force set up to provide information about the government’s operations in Tigray: “In the late hours of Nov. 13, 2020, a rocket was fired towards Bahir Dar and Gondar cities.”
The statement also said that the airport areas in both cities had “sustained damage” as a result of the attack. …
Conflict may spread
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive against the Tigray region on November 4 after accusing local Tigray troops of attacking federal military camps in the area. The TPLF denies the claims.
Tigray is a federal state with many autonomous powers and home to many ethnically distinct people who make up around 6% of Ethiopia’s 110 million-strong population. …
Now considered a rebel group by the central government, the TPLF is also the leading party in Tigray and once dominated the government coalition in Addis Ababa. The party no longer feels represented by the central Ethiopian government. https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopian-cities-hit-by-rockets-from-tigray-forces/a-55599105
13 November 2020
Amnesty International on Thursday confirmed reports of a “massacre” of civilians in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
“Scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra town in the South West Zone of Ethiopia’s Tigray Region on the night of November 9,” the rights group said in a report.
Sam Dubberley, who is with Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Team, told DW: “We spent a good amount of time going through these videos, going through these photographs, making sure that they were they were taken recently, making sure that they weren’t from previous events from the region to really verify and to make sure we know what had happened.”
Citing witnesses interviewed and “verified” photo, video and satellite imagery, the human rights group said bodies had been “strewn” across the town. https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-massacre-of-civilians-in-tigray-amnesty-claims/a-55583493
The war between Azerbaijan and Armenia ended this week, but Armenians living in the area they call Artsakh (but known to many others as Nagorno-Karabakh) are devastated and burning down their homes:
Armenians torch their homes on land ceded to Azerbaijan
November 14, 2020
KALBAJAR, Azerbaijan (AP) — In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbors had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control.
The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan on Sunday as part of territorial concessions in an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with Armenian forces. The move gripped its 600 people with fear and anger so deep that they destroyed the homes they once loved. …
The settlement — called Karvachar in Armenian … has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the 1994 end of a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. …
After years in which sporadic clashes broke out between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, full-scale fighting began in late September this year. Azerbaijan made relentless military advances, culminating in the seizure of the city of Shusha, a strategically key city and one of strong emotional significance as a longtime center of Azeri culture.
Two days after Azerbaijan announced it had taken Shusha, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russia-brokered cease-fire under which territory that Armenia occupies outside the formal borders of Nagorno-Karabakh will be gradually ceded.
Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians once lived together in these regions, however uneasily. Although the cease-fire ends the fighting, it aggravates ethnic animosity.
“In the end, we will blow it up or set it on fire, in order not to leave anything to Muslims,” Dadevusyan said of his house. https://apnews.com/article/azerbaijan-armenia-de83aa9dae982b8bda76a4c370d8af09
Hong Kong’s political opposition resigned this week after China passed a law to be able to remove them anytime it wants (see DW: Hong Kong’s rule of law is at its end). Notice also the following:
As China tries to quell the political upheaval in Hong Kong, the city’s universities — ranked among the best in Asia, if not the world — have become potent symbols of the shrinking space for dissent or even discussion.
Politically active professors have been fired or denied contracts, in what they call retribution for their criticism of the government. Students are requesting more secure platforms for submitting assignments. Scholars are reconsidering whether Hong Kong is a viable home for their careers.
Even seemingly politically neutral fields, like medicine, have become potential minefields. …
Government officials have been open about their intent to subdue the once-freewheeling campuses, even as they insist that academic freedom remains intact. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said last month that the city’s education secretary would meet with university presidents to discuss how they would roll out the law at their institutions.
“If they no longer have the ability to meet the requirements, then law enforcement of course will have to go in and resolve it,” she said. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/world/asia/hong-kong-china-national-security-law-university.html updated 11/12/20
Notice also something related to India and Pakistan:
Pakistan Claims ‘Irrefutable Evidence’ of Indian Links to Terrorism on Pakistani Soil
November 14, 2020
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has accused rival India of running dozens of training camps in Afghanistan for multiple globally outlawed militant groups to plot terrorism on Pakistani soil to destabilize the country.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and army spokesman Major-General Babar Iftikhar, at a joint news conference Saturday, presented what they said was “irrefutable evidence” linking India directly to almost all recent terrorist attacks across Pakistan.
Babar displayed for the first time what he said were documents, banking transactions worth millions of dollars, audio clips and details of contacts between Indian intelligence operatives and diplomats with fugitive Pakistani militants operating out of Afghanistan.
“Uncontrivable evidence reveals that Indian embassies and consulates operating along Pakistan’s borders have become hub of terror sponsorship against Pakistan,” the general said.
“We have verifiable evidence of terrorists funding by India. Indian ambassadors in Afghanistan have been regularly supervising various terrorist activities,” Babar added.
Neither Indian officials nor the Afghan government have immediately commented on the Pakistani allegations, though both New Delhi and Kabul have in the past rejected similar allegations levelled by Islamabad.
“The evidence provided by Pakistan provides concrete proof of Indian financial and material sponsorship of multiple terrorist organizations, including U.N.-designated terrorist organizations Jamaat ul Ahrar, Bloch Liberation Army and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan,” Qureshi said. https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/pakistan-claims-irrefutable-evidence-indian-links-terrorism-pakistani-soil
There are also conflicts currently between Turkey and Greece, Hamas and Israel, Israel and Iran, Syria, Libya, etc.
Notice something that Jesus predicted:
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:6-8)
As far as rumors of war, notice the following:
November 13, 2020
After a purge at the Pentagon, former national security officials are worried about the fallout if President Trump were to launch an unprovoked military action against Iran or make big changes in Afghanistan in his waning days in office. …
“The scenario most national security people are worried about is a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” says Kori Schake, who served on George W. Bush’s National Security Council and also in senior posts at the Pentagon and the State Department. “Because the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign that has been the signature of Trump administration foreign policy has very little positive result.” …
Speaking to Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered, Schake says “a number of serious national security people are really worried” that Trump’s purge “is putting malleable people in place in order to end his administration with a bang.” https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-2020-election-results/2020/11/13/934610694/former-national-security-officials-worry-what-trump-could-do-in-iran-and-afghani
Yes, it is possible that Donald Trump may take military action related to Iran. But he instead may prefer to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
Both COVID-19 and what we are seeing associated with wars and rumors of war could be a factor in ‘apocalyptic’ matters such as the following:
3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. (Revelation 6:3-4)
The literal Greek here for “peace” (εἰρήνην transliterated as eirēnēn) in Revelation 6 can be interpreted to mean taking away prosperity as well (see BibleHub.com). COVID-19 has, to a degree, done that. People are afraid or at least uneasy to a degree we have not seen around the world anytime in the 21st century. And then there are the actual conflicts, such as Ethiopia, Syria, Libya, etc.
Barnes Notes on the Bible states:
The power given to him that sat on the horse: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. This would seem to indicate that the condition immediately preceding this was a condition of tranquility, and that this was now disturbed by some cause producing discord and bloodshed. This idea is confirmed by the original words – τὴν εἰρήνην tēn eirēnēn – “the peace”; that is, the previously existing peace. When peace in general is referred to, the word is used without the article: Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come to send peace – βαλεῖν εἰρήνην balein eirēnēn – upon the earth.”
So, this rider is not just a rider of war, but taking away THE peace.
It is NOT constant physical warfare everywhere, though physical violence and warfare (consistent with Jesus’ words in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21) will also occur.
But things will get worse.
The old WCG also put out the following:
Where is it all going to end? That was the question the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ posed in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Christ’s answer, known as the Olivet Prophecy, is quite revealing. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars,” Christ said, referring to one of the prophetic signals that would herald the end of an age (verse 6).
Certainly there have always been wars. And certainly Christ’s words had particular meaning for that day and age. Within a few short decades Roman legions under the command of Titus sacked, burned and pillaged the city of Jerusalem.
But Jesus’ warning about war was also applicable to another period in history. In the book of Revelation, Christ, speaking through the apostle John, amplified some of His previous prophetic statements. In the sixth chapter, John writes: “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:4).
John was not speaking about the fall of Jerusalem. That war was already some twenty years behind him. John was referring to future events that would bring 6000 years of human history crashing to a cataclysmic close. … John is referring to a time yet ahead of us when “peaceful coexistence” will be a thing of the past. …
It’s no wonder that Jeremiah, in referring to these tumultuous times, stated: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble …” (Jer. 30:7). (Ritter G. 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Red Horse – War, pp. 48, 52; see also Ritter R. The War that could end it all. Good News, December 1975)
There may also be wars in parts of the world that have rarely had them (perhaps, for example, even between some South American nations), as well as wars in areas that have long been especially tense (like Korea, possibly involving other Asian nations). Damascus (capital of Syria) ultimately will be destroyed and could be a signal for destruction to come for Jacob (Isaiah 17:1-4). There will likely be civil unrest and perhaps rioting in scales not seen before, including within some Western nations (such as in Europe and North America). This will lead to military leaders rising up in various parts of the world. And one European (the final King of the North) will, after making one or more false peace deals/pronouncements (e.g. Daniel 9:26-27; 11:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:3), become the final Beast leader (Revelation 13:4) and he will take over many nations (Daniel 11:39-43).
We are getting closer to the start of the Great Tribulation than most people realize.
Related to some of this, the Continuing Church of God put out the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:
1:15Revelation 6:1-8 shows the opening of four seals and discusses the rides of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Each of which appears to be associated with aspects of the “beginning of sorrows” that Jesus mentions in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What do each of the horsemen represent? Did the old Worldwide Church of God teach that these rides were still in the future in the late 21st century? Could any have began in the 21st century? Does the rider of the white horse represent Jesus or false religion? Are there ties to the interfaith and ecumenical movements? What might the bow the horseman has represent? Could this be a tie to Satan the Devil? What about the Beast and False Prophet? Has the “beginning of sorrows” started? Could the first seal be opened? Could COVID-19 have anything to do with the second seal? Has “the peace” been taken from the earth? Could the rider of the red horse have begun with an opening of the second seal? What about riots, looting wars, and rumors of war? Are food inflation, food shortages, and famines associated with the opening of the third seal and rider of the black horse of famine? Could human actions such as evolution teachings, genetically-modified crops, and viral research be factors in the rides of the four horsemen? Is more than death related to pestilences associated with the rider of the pale horse, the fourth seal? Why might this be a factor in 666? Will most people fail to recognize the rides of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse until it is too late to take action? What about the fifth seal and the start of the Great Tribulation? Are there problems with Roman and Eastern Orthodox prophecies concerning the end and the Great Monarch? What about prophecies related to Noah, the King of the North, Armageddon, and Antichrist? Dr. Thiel covers these issues and also includes some speculation and analysis.
Here is a link to the sermon video: Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Some items of possibly related interest include the following:
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
COVID 19 is NOT the End, but could it be TEOTWAWKI? The novel coronavirus called COVID-19 is wreaking havoc around the world. Many states of the USA as well as countries in Europe are on lockdown with shelter in place /shelter in residence requirements. In France, a form is required when you are not at your house. In Spain, drones are being used to warn people who are outside to got back to their homes–does that bring up feelings of ‘Big Brother’? Italy, France, and other areas are using police and/or military force to encourage people to stay inside. According to the Bible could this be the end? If not, what has to happen first? Have the second and third of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse started their ride? Could COVID-19 be the fourth horseman? Why or why not? Could we be seeing The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) like the R.E.M.’s 1987 single song discussed? Do Christians need to fear? What did Jesus teach? What did the Psalmist teach? This is a video. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: Corona 19 no es el final PERO es el TEOTWAWKI.
COVID-19 Leading to 666? The novel coronavirus of Wuhan, China fame, is now called COVID-19. It has also been called the ‘Coronapocalypse.’ Does COVID-19 have any prophetic ramifications? What did Jesus teach about pestilences and sorrows in the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24? Could COVID-19 be the ride of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse? Why was this type of disease expected according to the O. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: ld Testament prophecies in Deuteronomy and Leviticus? What has the US Centers for Disease Control warned about? What has the CDC reported about the flu? Were there lessons about fear and infections in the 2011 movie ‘Contagion’? Because of COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO), nation of Iran, and certain French locations are telling people not to use cash, but instead electronic forms of payment. The US Federal Reserve is now quarantining money repatriated from Asia to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus on US currency bills. Is COVID-19 worse than we have been told or could this all be a ‘false flag’ event to encourage people to move towards a cashless society? If the thousands of deaths associated with COVID-19 are pushing parts of the world towards cashlessness, how much more likely will the ride of the fourth horseman and over a billion human deaths motivate people to move to making electronic payments that can be monitored? The Bible tells of a soon coming society that controls buying and selling to force allegiance to a coming European Beast power, known as 666 (Revelation 13:16-18). Does the ‘great tribulation’ begin before ride of the fourth horseman or with the opening of the fifth seal of Revelation 6? Do the words of Jesus helps us better understand the sequence of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and the start of the Great Tribulation? Will the ride of the fourth horseman help lead to the rise of 666? Is that ride very close? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: El COVID-19 ¿Conduce al 666?
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation. Here is a version of that sermon in Spanish: El Cuarto Caballo, El COVID y El Surgimiento de la Bestia del Apocalipsis. Some shorter related videos may include Amphibian Apocalypse: Threat to Humans? and Zombie Deer Disease is Here! Are the 10 Plagues on Egypt Coming? Here is a version of the article in Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2028 or 20xx? There is also a video titled 6000 Years: When will God’s Kingdom Come? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2020, 2021, or 2022? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter and newer video is: Could the Great Tribulation Begin in 2020? Here is a link to the Spanish version of that video: ¿Podría la Gran Tribulación comenzar en 2020?
The Times of the Gentiles Has there been more than one time of the Gentiles? Are we in it now or in the time of Anglo-America? What will the final time of the Gentiles be like? A related sermon is available and is titled: The Times of the Gentiles.
Armageddon Who is involved and when will this gathering happen? Here is also a video from Dr. Thiel, from Tel Megiddo in Israel: Armageddon. Other videos include: Armageddon Will it come on Trump’s watch?, Iraq, Armageddon, & Prophecy, Freemasonry, Armageddon, and Rome, Is China paving roads to Armageddon?, and Jordan, Petra, and Armageddon.
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here are links to two related videos: The King of the North is Alive: What to Look Out For and The Future King of the North.
The Great Monarch: Biblical and Catholic Prophecies Is the ‘Great Monarch’ of Catholic prophecies endorsed or condemned by the Bible? Two sermons of related interest are also available: Great Monarch: Messiah or False Christ? and Great Monarch in 50+ Beast Prophecies.
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation Will all get a fair chance at salvation? This free book is packed with scriptures showing that God does intend to offer salvation to all who ever lived–the elect in this age, and the rest in the age to come. Here is a link to a related sermon series: Universal Offer of Salvation 1: Apocatastasis, Universal Offer of Salvation 2: Jesus Desires All to be Saved, Mysteries of the Great White Throne Judgment (Universal Offer of Salvation part 3), Is God Fair, Will God Pardon the Ignorant?, Can God Save Your Relatives?, Babies, Limbo, Purgatory and God’s Plan, and ‘By the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets’.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is a link to a related sermon: Could God be Calling You? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
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