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Niger coup, Haitian gangs, wars, and rumors of war


COGwriter

Here is a report about the military coup is Niger:

August 3, 2023

Days after the democratically elected president of Niger was deposed in a military coup, thousands of supporters of the takeover thronged the French embassy in the nation’s capital to deliver an unmistakable message to their former colonial power and its Western allies.

As President Mohamed Bazoum was being held captive by his soldiers at the presidential palace in Niamey, tense scenes played out down the road where pro-coup Nigeriens, some waving Russian flags, chanted “long live Putin” and “down with France” as a plaque at the embassy was torn down. …

The toppling of Bazoum was just the latest in a spate of recent coups stretching from one side of Africa to the other. Five countries in western and central Africa have been seized by military juntas in the past three years, five of them former French colonies.

The coups have unfolded within the context of a wider struggle between the West and Russia for influence in Africa, where experts say a rising tide of anger in former French colonies has left the door open for the Kremlin. While there is no sign that Russia helped instigate Niger’s rebellion, Moscow has sought to take advantage of anti-Western sentiment around the region in recent years. …

Despite its wealth of resources, Niger remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Many Nigeriens, especially in the younger generation, see France as responsible for prevailing poverty levels in their country.

“We came out to tell this little Macron from France that Niger belongs to us. It is up to us to do what we want with Niger, we deal with who we want,” Maman Sani, a pro-coup protester, told CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/africa/africa-anti-french-sentiment-analyis-intl/index.html

Five military coups in three years in Africa. We are seeing a lot of violence.

Though no coup, here is a report related to Ethiopia:

August 3, 2023

Violent unrest is escalating in Ethiopia’s Amhara region as federal security forces clash with a local ethnic militia, leading the deputy prime minister in an unusually outspoken statement to call the situation “increasingly grave.”

Ethiopia’s second most populous region has been gripped by instability since April, when federal authorities disarmed the Amhara regional force as part of the recovery from a devastating two-year conflict in the neighboring Tigray region. Authorities last year also tried to dismantle the Amhara militia known as Fano.

Both forces had fought alongside federal ones in the Tigray conflict, but now the federal government wants to centralize its security powers. Many Amhara, however, are deeply attached to their regional fighters and accuse the federal government of trying to undermine their region, which federal officials reject. https://apnews.com/article/ethiopia-military-amhara-violence-c487bd66bc4042bd23bb7122f05dafa0

Elsewhere in Africa, notice the following:

Democratic Republic of Congo’s army said Rwandan forces crossed its border on Thursday morning and attacked its frontier security forces, potentially escalating tensions between the central African neighbours.

“The ensuing clashes enabled the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to repel the Rwandan terrorists who perpetrated this intolerable provocation,” Congo’s army said in a statement, adding that the attackers retreated to Rwanda. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congos-army-rwandan-forces-crossed-congolese-border-2023-07-27/

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United Nations warned that violence in northeastern Congo has escalated significantly, with more than 40 civilians killed in three days.

More than 600 people have been killed and 345,000 displaced in Ituri province so far this year, according to Stephane Dujarric, a United Nation’s spokesman. 07/19/23 https://apnews.com/article/congo-humanitarian-crisis-displaced-killed-msf-7f7057a4c6473d1027cca2a60d59515c

Notice also the following related to Haiti:

The Bahamas has committed 150 people as part of a multinational force to combat rising gang violence in Haiti. https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/08/02/exp-bahamas-haiti-violence-kidnapping-reader-080203aseg1-cnni-world.cnn

Ravaged by violence and poverty, one of the most beautiful, yet poorest countries in the world clings to the small hope that things might get better. Haiti has become paralyzed as warring groups clash over territory. According to the U.N., at least 846 civilians were killed in Haiti in the first three months of 2023.

One Haitian, one machete. There’s only one thing that the gangs here are afraid of: the machete.
Mertil Marcelin, Leader in the Bwa Kale Movement …

The chaos and violence has driven record levels of migration, with hundreds of thousands of Haitians leaving. 07/31/23 https://abcnews.go.com/immersive/haiti-forgotten-crisis?id=100287588

Gangs take away peace and are making the horrible situation in Haiti worse.

Notice also the following:

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5, KJV)

Gang warfare is often fierce.

Then there is the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

3 August 2023

Ukraine shoots down drone bound for Kyiv

Ukrainian air defences intercepted more than a dozen drones launched at Kyiv overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, according to a military official.

Ukrainian forces “detected and destroyed nearly 15 aerial targets”, said the head of the capital’s military administration, Sergey Popko.

He wrote on Telegram they were Iranian-made “Shahed” (Martyr) drones, which are built using stolen Western technology, as revealed by Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based organisation.

It was the 820th air alert in Kyiv since Russia invaded last February, said Popko. The attempted assault lasted three hours.

“According to the information available at the moment, there were no casualties or damage in the capital,” he added.

The night before Ukraine’s army said it shot down more than 10 drone drones bound for the capital, with falling debris causing minor damage to buildings.

In July,  Dr Jade McGlynn, Research Fellow in War Studies at King’s College London, told Euronews Russia was deliberately “terror bombing” civilians in a bid to “break their will” to fight.

She expressed doubts this strategy would work, however, suggesting it could in fact steel public resistance.

Russia denounces Ukrainian ‘terrorist attack’ on capital

Russia said on Thursday it had shot down six Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, amid a rise in tit-for-tat attacks on the capital.

Russian forces “prevented overnight an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with drones over the Kaluga region”, some 180 km southwest of Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Kaluga governor Vyacheslav Chapcha wrote on Telegram the drones were intercepted over his region and that this was not their target. https://www.euronews.com/2023/08/03/ukraine-war-barrage-of-russian-drones-intercepted-over-kyiv

Here is something about Afghanistan:

August 2, 2023

“The United States does not want to see a return to violence in Afghanistan, and we do not support armed opposition to the Taliban,” said a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, who spoke on background.

The denial of support comes with a piece of advice to Afghan groups that want to defeat the Taliban militarily.

“We call on all sides to exercise restraint and to engage. This is the only way that Afghanistan can confront its many challenges,” the spokesperson told VOA.

U.S. officials say they are aware of former Afghan officials visiting the United States and advocating for armed resistance to the Taliban, but they cannot stop them because the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of expression for everyone inside the country.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 left no military support for former allies in the country and disappointed those that oppose the Taliban.

“We feel betrayed. We feel left alone. … We are empty-handed,” Ahmad Massoud, leader of an anti-Taliban group, told an Aspen Security Forum last week from an undisclosed location via a video call.

Since seizing power two years ago, the Taliban have controlled all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces largely uncontested, except for periodic attacks by Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

The Taliban and IS Khorasan each have declared religious war against each other. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-calls-on-afghan-groups-to-refrain-from-violence-engage-in-talks/7209112.html

There are also conflicts currently between Turkey and Greece, Hamas and Israel, Libya, Syria, Iran, 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)

Notice 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).

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:


1:15

Revelation 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.

Pray, as Jesus said, for God’s kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10).

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.
21 items to prophetically watch in 2021 Much is happening. Dr. Thiel points to 21 items to watch (cf. Mark 13:37) in this article. Here is a link to a related sermon video: 21 Items to Watch in 2021.
Mexico, Central America, South America, Brazil, and the Caribbean in Prophecy [Español: México, América central, Suramérica, Brasil y el Caribe en la profecía] [Português: México, América Central, Ámérica do Sul, e Brasil na profecia] What will happen to those of Latin America? Will they have prosperity? Will they cooperate with Europe? Will they suffer in the future? What role might the various Caribbean nations/territories play? Two videos of related interest are available: Will Mexico Regain USA Territories? and Donald Trump and Mexico’s future. A sermon of related interest is available: Latin America in Prophecy.
Africa: Its Biblical Past and Prophesied Future What does the Bible teach about Africa and its future? Did the early Church reach Africa? Will God call all the Africans? A related online sermon is also available: Africa: Its biblical past, present, and future. A video of possible interest is: Nairobi Conference: All About Love.
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? 2031 or ? 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?
Might the U.S.A. Be Gone by 2028? Could the USA be gone by the end of 2028 or earlier? There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028? In Spanish: Seran los Estados Unidos Destruidos en el 2028?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? 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? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
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. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 3rd, 2023 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Prophecy.



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