The headlines in the Middle East are very active. Iran is a the center of them. Russia is hosting a meeting of the P5 plus 1 on June 18 and 19. This consists of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. They are meeting to discuss how to curtail Iran's nuclear program. Of course, Russia and China traditionally have been the "nay" votes on anything that might place hard international pressure on Iran to give up its quest for what many consider a nuclear weapon.

For Iran's part, it has used negotiations for nearly a decade to stall action against it, and to use that time to work even harder on advancing its nuclear program. The prophetic implications here are enormous.

Many Christian prophetic sites and end time watchmen are pointing to the events leading up to this meeting and predicting that a collapse of the talks could signal the end of the world. In reality, there is a lot that must happen before the end time battle, known as "The Day of the LORD" prophesied in some way in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, Acts, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, 2 Peter, and Revelation (and I may have missed a few).

On the timeline of the end times, The Day of the LORD is at the end of the Great Tribulation, not at the beginning. These current events are prophetically significant because most of the nations that come against Israel in that colossal end times battle are very active in the news today.

Keep in mind that the antichrist figure mentioned in the vast majority of the Day of the LORD prophecies is called "the Assyrian." the Assyrian empire then is where part of modern Turkey is today. In fact, reliable sources, meaning those without a political axe to grind against Russia or the Roman Catholic Church, place Magog, Meshech and Tubal in Turkey, not in Russia/Moscow nor in the former Roman Empire. These locations were, however, part of the Ottoman Empire that reigned over the region from 1299 to 1923. The primary nations embroiled in controversy against Israel include Iran, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Libya. Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and Islam, is playing the entire world, plying it with oil and becoming richer and more influential.

These are days where the end times are fast coming into focus. Yeshua said in Matthew 24:4,

"Take heed that no man deceive you." 1 John 2:22 says, "Who is a liar but he that denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son."

The most powerful existing force on earth today that denies the Messiah is Islam. All the named nations coming against Israel in the Biblical end times are Islamic.

Keep your faith intact. Read the Bible with understanding so that false teachers may not deceive you.

Bill Wilson
The Daily Jot