Why Russia Will Not Attack America - Church of God - NEO

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Not to be sold. Published as a free educationalservice in the public interest."Why Russia Will Not Attack America" reprintedfrom The Plain Truth, volume 51, number 5.Original text by Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986)© 1948 Worldwide Church of God"South Asia in Prophecy" reprinted fromThe Plain Truth. volume 51, number 7.Original text by Keith W. Stump© 1980 Worldwide Church of GodAll Rights ReservedPrinted in U.S.A.Cover photos by:left, A. Nogues Sygmaright, J.L. Atlan Sygma•

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decades now, theprospect of war betweenRussia and the UnitedStates has continuallyheightened and lessened.Many who claim to beauthorities on prophecy assurepeople a war involvingRussia and the United\•States, Canada and Englandisprophesied inEzekiel 38.The United States, Britainand other democracies of northwesternEurope, they recognize,are the nations descended fromthe so-called lost Ten Tribes.Therefore, they conclude, theprophecy of Ezekiel 38 foretellsa military invasion of the NorthAmerican continent from theeen to ldthat Bibleprot's tune yoSoviet Union. Others claim itforetells an imminent Soviet invasionof the Middle East. Butthis is not what the prophecy says.What Ezekiel 38 does foretell istruly astounding. Let's understandit. But first, let's remember thatthe peoples of both the U.S. andthe U.S.S.R. are cautious. The Sovietpeople are patient, and the English-speakingnations in a crisis"fly into a calm" rather than acthastily. And now ...Time Sequence of ProphecyEzekiel's message is for our day aprophetic warning for America andBritain, now!To understand the time, theplace and all the facts of theprophecy of Ezekiel 38, we need tobegin at the first chapter ofEzekiel's prophecy and read thebook clear through.2When we do this, we find a timesequence flowing through thebook.Let us skim through it verybriefly.Notice, in the very first verse,Ezekiel was among the Jewish captiveswho had been taken from Judahto the river Chebar. It was inthe fifth year of the captivity ofKing Jehoiachin that this prophecybegan coming to Ezekiel throughvIsIOns.• •It is a prophecy. Ezekiel was beingshown things far into the future.Notice, the prophecy was inspiredand written after Judah'scaptivity began about 130 yearsafter the House of Israel had beentaken captive to Assyria. The advanceguard of the House of Israelalready had begun to arrive in theBritish Isles before Ezekiel's visionand writing.Yet, Ezekiel is a prophet to theHouse of Israel. (Not to be confusedwith the modern Jewish nationof Israel. These Jewish peopleare actually descendants of ancientJudah.) His prophecy applies tothe far future not to the captivityof ancient Israel, which had occurredmore than 130 years beforehe wrote.Notice Ezekiel's message, aprophecy for the future, is primarilyfor the House of Israel (Ezek.2: 3; 3: 1, 4-7).In chapter 3, verse 17, Ezekiel isset a watchman to warn the Houseof Israel.

Message to Israel, Not JudahNotice! Beginning chapter 3: Afterthe prophet "eats the roll" thatis, receives the prophetic warningmessage he is to "go speak untothe house of Israel" not to theJews among whom he dwelt.Remember he is already amongthe captives of Judah. But theEternal says to him, "Go, get theeunto the house of Israel" (verse 4).As we have often explained toreaders of The Plain Truth magazine,the 12 tribes of Israel had longbefore this divided into two nationsthe 10 tribes being the Houseof Israel, while Judah, Benjamin andLevi composed the House of Judah,who, only, were "Jews." For the benefitof those readers who do not understandthis vital distinction averitable "key" without which theprophecies cannot be opened to understandingthe special book TheUnited States and Britain inProphecy is available and upon request,a copy will be sent free.The Jewish people of today aredescended from the House of Judah.But the white, English-speakingpeople of the United States andBritain are the leading "birthright"tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh,heads of the 10 tribes of the Houseof Israel.Ezekiel's message is for ourday and it is, therefore, a messagefor America and Britain, NOW'Notice chapter 4. The prophet isto place before him a tile, and traceupon it the city of Jerusalem, and"lay siege" against it. The war picturedwas against Jerusalem, capitalof Judah. But "this" (verse 3)"shall be a sign to the house ofIsrael." Then follows the wellknownkey to the "day for a year"method of reckoning prophecy.Continue chapter 5: "... For,"comes the warning message fromthe Eternal, "thereof shall a firecome forth into all the house ofIsrael " (verse 4). Notice, this is toportray vividly a warning of someFUTURE destruction upon theHouse of Israel! Not upon Judah,already largely conquered by Nebuchadnezzar.But upon Israel the10-tribed nation who had gone intoits first and original captivity 130long years before! The warning isnot of the captivity already so farback in history. It says "thereofshall a fire come" upon Israel! It isa prophecy relating to a future destructionand captivity.No such destruction and captivityhas ever yet come to the Houseof Israel since this was written.•Therefore it is still in the futureinour time. It is a warning toBritain and America now!A Captivity Yet FutureNotice more of this warning:"A third part of thee [America­Britain] shall die with thepestilence, and with famine shallthey be consumed in the midst ofthee: and a third part shall fall bythe sword round about thee; and Iwill scatter a third part into all thewinds [in captivity being removedfrom our own lands and scatteredover the world] ..." (verse I 2).Coming to chapter 6, the localscene of the vision shifts to themountainous land of ancient Israel,in the Middle East but the messageis for America and Britain,today.Will we heed it? God help us towake up!Listen: "... Behold, I, even I,"says the Eternal God (verses 3,5-7), "will bring a sword [invasion]upon you, and I will destroy yourhigh places .... And I will lay thedead carcases of the children ofIsrael before their idols; and I willscatter your bones round aboutyour altars. In all your dwellingplacesthe cities shall be laid waste[nuclear bombing] .... and ye shallknow that I am the Lord."Just a small remnant shall escapeand be spared (verse 8). These aredescribed in Luke 21 :36.Continue: "Thus saith the LordGod ... Alas for all the evil abominationsof [not Judah, but] thehouse of Israel! for they shall [notdid, in the captivity 130 years beforeEzekiel wrote, but shall] fallby the sword, by the famine, andby the pestilence" (verse II).The Time Is Yet FutureThis is not a popular message. Youprobably have never heard it before.The preachers and teachers ofprophecy almost unanimously willrise up to deny this warning messageto apply it to a different timeor people. But the warning is fromthe Eternal God, and it is sure! Thereader will do well to heed.Notice the time. It's important."All hands shall be feeble, andall knees shall be weak as water"(chapter 7, verse 17). "Howl ye;for the day of the Lord is at hand.. .. Therefore shall all hands befaint, and every man's heart shallmelt: and they shall be afraid ..."(Isa. 13:6-8). Plainly, the time isthe "Day of the Lord" yet in theimmediate future!Continue in Ezekiel: "They shallcast their silver in the streets, andtheir gold shall be removed: theirsilver and their gold shall not be ableto deliver them in the day of thewrath of the Lord ..." (Ezek. 7:19).Now compare that with ZephaniahI: 14-15, 17-18: "The great day ofthe Lord is near. ... That day is aday of wrath .... And I [the Eternal]will bring distress uponmen .... Neither their silver northeir gold shall be able to deliverthem in the day of the Lord'swrath ...." Both are speaking of thesame time a time shortly ahead ofus now, in this present generation!"Wherefore," continues verse 24(Ezek. 7), "I will bring the worstof the heathen, and they shall possesstheir houses: I will also makethe pomp of the strong to cease ....Destruction cometh; and they shallseek peace, and there shall benone. . .. Then shall they seek avision of the prophet; but the law3

I n the 36th chapter ofEzekiel, the Eternal addressesthe House of Israel:"Prophesy unto the mountainsof Israel ... Thus saiththe Lord God to the mountains,and to the hills, to therivers, and to the valleys, tothe desolate wastes, and tothe cities that are forsaken.... But ye, 0 mountainsof Israel, ye shall shootforth your branches, andyield your fruit to my peopleof Israel; for they are athand to come .... And Iwill multiply men uponThe Geneva handshake that brokethe ice between the superpowers.you, all the house of Israel, even allof it: and the cities shall be inhabited,and the wastes shall bebuilded: and I will multiply uponyou man and beast ... " (verses I,4, 8, 10-11).Yes, the House of Israel is picturedreturning to its original land,not from a condition of wealth andprosperity from Britain and Americanot in the position of a peoplevictorious in a great world warbutas a slave and captive people,scattered through the nations ofthe world. All prophecies picturingthis rescue and regathering ofIsrael at Christ's coming give usthe same prophetic picture.Both Houses of IsraelUnitedIn chapter 37, the firstpart pictures the "valleyof dry bones." This represents(verse II) thewhole House of IsraelincludingJudah. It has adual significance. It picturesthe rebirth and resurrectionof Israel as anation, from captivity,dispersion and slavery.It pictures, too, theliteral bodily resurrectionof the individualwho had already died,after which the knowledgeof the truth spiritualknowledge shallbe revealed, and he shallbe converted, and God'sSpirit shall enterwithin, and he shall besaved.Beginning with the15th verse, the illustrationof the two sticksshows the two houses,or nations, Israel andJudah, being oncemore united, underChrist at his SecondComing, in the land ofIsrael." ... Thus saith theLord God; Behold, Iwill take the childrenof Israel [from theBritish Isles andAmerica from a positionof wealth and affluence as recentvictors in the world war? No,but] from among the heathen,whither they be gone, and willgather them on every side, andbring them into their own land:and I will make them one nation inthe land upon the mountains ofIsrael; and one king shall be king tothem all: and they shall be no moretwo nations, neither shall they bedivided into two kingdoms anymore at all: neither shall they defilethemselves any more with theiridols, nor with their detestablethings, nor with any of their transgressions.... And they shall dwellin the land that I have given untoJacob my servant, wherein your fathershave dwelt ... they, and theirchildren, and their children's childrenfor ever . ... Moreover I willmake a covenant of peace withthem; it shall be an everlastingcovenant . .."the New Covenant(verses 21-23, 25-26).At Peace in the Holy LandNotice, now the story flow thetime sequence: The prophet hascarried us through the sins of hispeople, the coming invasion andcaptivity and dispersion, and thecoming of Christ as Deliverer torestore the fortunes of Israel. Wehave come to the time when boththe Houses of Israel and Judahshall be reunited into one nation,rescued from captivity and dispersionand regathered again in theirland, once again made prosperous,having learned their lesson, nowliving God's way, under his laws,enjoying his richest blessings, bothmaterial and spiritual!And now we come to chapter 38.This chapter finds Israel restoredin her land "the land that isbrought back from the sword"(verse 8). We find Israel now atrest, dwelling safely, totally unpreparedfor war having "neitherbars nor gates" (verse II), in thedesolate places of the land of Israel,now inhabited (verse 12) yes, inhabited(same verse) by the peoplewho are once again restored togreat material prosperity "whichhave gotten cattle and goods, thatdwell in the midst of the land."Notice it!This prophecy does not picturethe British Isles and America. It picturesthe Holy Land. It pictures all12 tribes having been taken therefrom a dispersion and captivity andslavery, gathered out of the nationswhere they had been scattered, nowonce again beginning to prosper.Notice it: The time of thisprophecy is after not before, butafter the Second Coming ofChrist after the great Delivererhas come and rescued our peopleand restored us to the land of Israelafter Israel and Judah arereunited. Certainly the "latteryears" (verse 8).The place of this battle is notBritain or America it is the HolyLand. " ... thou shalt come into theland that is brought back from thesword, and is gathered out of manypeople, against the mountains of5

Israel, which have been alwayswaste [or "once a perpetualwaste" Moffatt translation]"(verse 8). The "mountains of Israel"is an expression used allthrough the book of Ezekiel, andrefers to the literal mountainousland of ancient Israel.Our people shall have regainedso much wealth that Gog and alliesshall come to "take a spoil" (verse13), "to carry away silver and gold,to take away cattle and goods, totake a great spoil."Christ's Reign ContestedBut this very fact that this invasionwill not come until after theSecond Coming of Christ willseem preposterous to many, at firstthought.That is because we have beenaccustomed merely to assumethings that are not true. We haveblindly assumed that when Christcomes, there will be no opposition.Every person and power on earth,we have thought, will simply submitmeekly and instantly to himand his power. But that is not true!Some gentile nations understandablyshall not submit untilforced to. The final restoration ofthe Roman Empire shall be subduedand conquered at a battlecommonly called "Armageddon."But the populous nations ofEurasia that the Almighty God upto this point has not dealt withshall still have to be brought tosubmission."Gog" Identified"Gog" in the land of "Magog" is thevast regions of the U.S.S.R. innorthern Eurasia extending fromthe Baltic to the Pacific. "Meshech"is Moscow, "Tubal" is Tobol'sk.Notice the allies who come withthem in this future battle. You willfind "Gomer" , "Togarmah," "Magog,""Meshech," "Tubal" identifiedin Genesis I 0 as the sons ofJapheth, father of the Eurasians.Ethiopia and Phut (mistranslatedLibya) are descended from Ham.Therefore, this prophecy ofEzekiel 38 shows who shall finallysucceed in marshaling peoples ofeach major race into a gigantic invasionupon our people.When God begins to rule theworld, through Christ with hischosen people restored to prosperityin the land of Israel, the verycenter of the land surface of theearth (verse 12, Moffatt translation)this great Eurasian union ofnations shall finally be tempted touse their mighty air force. "Thoushalt ascend," the Eternal says,"and come like a storm [in the air],thou shalt be like a cloud to coverthe land ..." (verse 9). There shallbe so many planes then that theywill hide the sun from the groundbelow, like a huge dark shadow!The End of World ConquestThe House of Israel our peoplesshall not be armed or prepared." ... In that day when mypeople of Israel dwelleth safely,shalt thou not know it?" asks theEternal. "And thou shalt comefrom thy place out of the northparts [due north of the land ofancient Israel], thou, and manypeople [allies] with thee ... amighty army: and thou shalt comeup against my people of Israel, asa cloud to cover the land; it shall bein the latter days, and I will bringthee against my land, that the heathenmay know me [note the purpose],when I shall be sanctified inthee, 0 Gog, before their eyes"(verses 14-16).But our people shall not have tofight in that battle. We shall havelearned by then that God fights ourbattles for us!"And it shall come to pass at thesame time when Gog shall comeagainst the land of Israel, saith theLord God, that my fury shall comeup in my face" (verse 18). "So that... all the men that are upon theface of the earth, shall shake at mypresence ..." (verse 20). It is afterChrist's coming!"I will summon an utter panicagainst him [Gog], says the Lordthe Eternal, till every man in hishost shall draw the sword againsthis fellow; I will punish him withpestilence and bloodshed, I willrain on him and his hordes and allthe nations in his train an overpoweringflood, with hail-stones, fire,and brimstone. I will let all thenations see my might and dreaddivinity to teach them that I amthe Eternal" (verses 21-23, Moffatt).Notice, these nations do not seeand recognize the dread divinity,the might and power of the EternalChrist, even after he has returned.He has to teach them that HE ISTHE ETERNAL!The 39th chapter shows inmore detail the result of thisgreat battle, in which Christ, withsupernatural power, causes fivesixths of these armies to be slain.Notice, again, the time: "Nowwill I bring again the captivity ofJacob, and have mercy upon thewhole house of Israel [Israel andJudah], and will be jealous for myholy name .... When I havebrought them again from the people,and gathered them out of theirenemies' lands, and am sanctifiedin them in the sight of many nations;then shall they KNOW that Jam the Lord their God ... " (Ezek.39:25, 27-28)!Notice again! At Christ's SecondComing, he shall gather the10-tribed House of Israel ourBritish and American people outof our enemies' lands, not out ofour own land of wealth and power,North America and the BritishIsles and Commonwealth.And then, beginning chapter 40,the remainder of the book ofEzekiel reveals the ideal theocracyGod's new order of divinegovernment upon earth the permanentforms and institutions thatshall express the ideal relation betweenGod and man.In the meantime, our job is toWARN America and Britain andmany other nations of what liesahead. To shout the warning tocome out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4),that those who heed may find Godnow may come under his divineprotection (Ps. 91), and by a trueSpirit-filled life obedient to God'sways and laws, be prepared to becomea ruler or a teacher inChrist's soon-coming kingdom! 06•

5------4-3-2-1 :-.5 -Men and WomenUnder ArmsArmed Forcesin millions- CQ)E'" El:l . ō~~-- o ..':=Q)c-o.g(J='" '" >E~'"~•~~-- '"- Q)- .-C:::>~.. ~"''''..CI"l--g::_ 0,,-Q) " 00)~ .-0=CI"l~300------250-200 -150 -100 -50-MilitarySpendingAnnual expendituresin billions(thousand millions)of U.S. dollars.•--0o~o "til--~- o--~II>r.-.,-~r.oII>II>(/)•3.400 ------3 ,000 -2,600 -2,200 -1,800 -1,400 -1,000 -600-200-Gross NationalProductGNP inrounded bill ions(thousand millions)of U.S. dollars.•>­oCQ)0)~- C~E '"'"~. ō'"•~~- ---o~..Q)CD0..(J=E '" .. >..~ ~~- - .. '" -Q)Q) "'~CI"l(;j"0-Q) ~o-'- - C:::>~.. ~,,~ .--Q) " 00)30025020015010050World TradeExports and importsin billions(thousand millions)of U.S. dollars.ImportsExports•

•eve e Ive;;,N•.-.'••••:::• •.' . •C e •..'••• e,e' ee, •.'e' ,..''," . ••• 1MONGOLIAN .OREA....'~I,"'.IRANJAPANAFGHANIS.'--KOREAI,.-;:.TAIWAN,~'HONG KONG.....'.'.. '.'~•••••. . ,..... ..,.• . e.• •BANGLADESHPOPULATIONMORE THAN 500,000,000. SRI LANKAI. ...-.'••••,...... ep '60, 000, 000 500, 000, 00020,000,000 60,000,000•".... \~ .. , BRUNEI,. '.'~::::~M A LAY S I A... .........~o • .•.,•~ Ir- -10,000,000 20,000,000 SINGAPOREIUP TO 10,000,000DONESIA:~::::::::::: ------- POPULATION DENSITY OF MORE THAN 260 PER~SQUARE MILE, OR MORE THAN 100 PER SQUARE KM.... -'~

CAN KNOW!More than one third ofthe Bible is prophecymostof it for our day!Puzzled geopolitical analystswonder what willhappen next in thevolatile South Asia region.They simply do notknow what ultimately willbecome of Iran, ofAfghanistan, Pakistan,India and adjoining nations.But you can know!Astounding PropheciesBible prophecy reveals the startling future of thenations and peoples on the outer rim of Asia!•International attention continuesto be riveted on turbulentSouth Asia. That vast regionstretching from the PersianGulf to the South China Sea is ina precarious state of ferment andunrest.Yet how many know that thefuture of the peoples of the vastSouth Asia region was recordedmillennia ago in the pages of theBible? The stage is now set for theunfolding of an astounding sequenceof Bible prophecies.Turn, first, to the book of Revelation.Here is revealed a greatend-time political ruler referred toas the "beast" (chapter 17). Thebeast will be a superdictator over acoming European confederation of10 nations a rebirth of the RomanEmpire. This European powerwill eventually establish its capitaland religious headquarters atJerusalem (Dan. 11 :45).Daniel says that this Europeanconqueror will become troubled by"tidings out of the east and out ofthe north" (11:44). There can belittle doubt about the source of thebeast's trouble. East and north ofPalestine are Russia, China andother nations of the vast Asian continent.The clear implication of thisverse is that a great Eurasian alliancewill ultimately arise at ornear the end of the Great Tribulation(mentioned by Daniel in chap-ter 12 and in Matthew 24:21) andwill enter into a confrontation withthe restored Roman Empire. Muchof Asia will eventually be marshaledinto a great end-time, communist-dominatedconfederacyencompassingnearly one half ofthe earth's population!These atheist-led Asian armiesare also described in Ezekiel, chapters38 and 39, where elements ofthose forces are prophesied to invadethe Holy Land when all 12tribes of Israel have returned.Misunderstood ProphecySome Bible scholars assert falselythat these prophecies of Ezekielwere fulfilled anciently. Theynever were. Others believe they areabout to occur but some years beforeArmageddon. Both views areerroneous.The events of Ezekiel 38 and 39are without question still futureforthe "latter days" (38: 16) and"latter years" (38:8). Moreover,Ezekiel 38:14 describes the timesetting as being "in that day whenmy people of Israel dwellethsafely." This is certainly not thesituation in the State of Israel today!The Israel described byEzekiel is a nation that dwells insecurity, in unwalled villages,totally unprepared for war (38:8,11, 14). Read it for yourself! Thesecircumstances will be extant onlyafter the coming of the Messiah,when surviving Eurasian forces willbe supernaturally punished.Asian alliances, however, will begintaking shape well in advance:­and are even now beginning tomove into their prophesied endtimeconfiguration!Table of NationsThe composition of the army thatwill come against the restored 12tribes of Israel is clearly defined:The account begins in Ezekiel38: 1-2: "And the word of the Lordcame to me: Son of man, set yourface against Gog, of the land ofMagog, the prince of Rosh, ofMeshech, and Tubal, and prophesyagainst him" (The AmplifiedBible).Here is a great power that willchallenge the very rule of Christ!Ezekiel reveals that joined withMagog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubalin this confederacy will be Persia,Cush, Phut (incorrectly rendered"Libya" in the Authorized Version),Gomer and Togarmah (seeverses 5-6).Who are these peoples today?And what do these prophecies haveto do with the future of SouthAsia?With the exception of Persia, thenames mentioned by Ezekiel are9

nowhere to be found as names ofnations on world maps today. Thenames of the majority of theworld's modern nations are offairly recent origin. Nations andpeoples have undergone sometimesdozens of name changes over thecenturies and millennia of history.In the Bible, nations are namedafter their ancestors. Nations arefamilies grown big. The whole humanfamily of today, according tothe Bible, springs from Shem,Ham and Japheth, the sons ofNoah (Gen. 10:32). The "Table ofNations" of Genesis 10 is an accountof the origins of today's nationsand races.Through migrations, these diversepeoples overspread the entireearth. You can read the story inGenesis II. In many cases we canaccurately trace their travels fromthe starting point of Babel (in whattoday is I raq) through the pages ofhistory to their present locations.Especially helpful in such researchare the accounts of the classicalhistorians and geographers(such as Herodotus); Persian,Tatar and Arabic histories (such asMeadows of Gold by al-Masudi);the works of early Jewish historians(such as Josephus); Chineseand other Asian traditions; and medievalEuropean chronicles.Modern scholars generally givelittle credence to the Table of Nationsor to many of these earlyhistories and traditions. Consequentlythey are ignorant of thetrue identities of many of theworld's peoples today.Let us look again at the namesmentioned by Ezekiel. Where arethese peoples found today?Gog of the Land of MagogRuling over all these allied peoplesis Gog. Gog (meaning "mountain"or "high") is described as a greatprince, the political/military headof the vast region in question.Ezekiel pictures Gog as a guardand commander over the assembledpeoples (38:7).Along with the beast, the miracle-workingfalse prophet (Rev.16: 13; 19:20), and the leaders of anArab-Muslim confederacy, Gog isone of the major end-time personalitiesspecifically mentioned in theBible.10Gog is also a people, apparentlya tribal subdivision of Magog. Theoriginal Gog was probably a son orgrandson of Magog.Ezekiel describes the end-timeGog as being of the land of Magog.How, then, do we identify Magogtoday? The Table of Nations listsMagog as the second son ofJapheth, son of Noah.Japheth's descendants are primarilyEurasian peoples. They includethe East Slavs Great Russians,Little Russians, WhiteRussians and the Mongoloid peoplesof Asia outside of the NearEast and the subcontinent of India.Japheth's son Magog graduallybecome divided into two mainbranches. The western, CaucasianlookingSlavic branch is identifiedby the first-century Jewish historianJosephus and others as amongthe nomadic Scythian tribes northof the Black Sea in what today isthe Soviet Union.But there was also an eastern orMongoloid branch of theScythians that ancientlyinhabited the plainsstretching all the way tonorth China. The Venetiantraveler Marco Polo,who visited the Mongolrealms in the 13th century,identified Magog asbeing part of the Mungulsor Mongols. Otherhistories identify Magogwith the Mandarin-speakingnorthern Chinese.(The Cantonese-speakingsouthern Chinese, incidentally,are an Asianbranch of Javan, anotherof Japheth's sons.)Which branch of Ma- ' ...... - '"' ~gog is intended in the~.~lated "chief' in Ezekiel 38:2-3 inthe Authorized Version. In Hebrew,the word for chief is Rosh.But in Ezekiel's prophecy the originalHebrew may also be a propername.Rosh is the ancient Hebrewname for the Russ ("blonds") whosettled in the plains of Eastern Europein the ninth century, A.D.They gave their name to the Rus--.. 'ALAIN DEJEAN-$YGMA-.--/. ' ,- "'-.. '­, • . J •prophecy of Ezekiel? The Magog sian nation. The people of Rosh areof Ezekiel 38 and 39 is pictured as among the White Russians ofa people of a northern locality Byelorussia today.i.e., the vast lands of the Soviet Living next to the people ofUnion. Ezekiel describes Gog as Rosh are Meshech and Tubal. Bothcoming "from the north parts" Meshech and Tubal are sons of(39:2). The Soviet Union is far to Japheth (Gen. 10:2) and thusthe north of Palestine.brothers of Magog. To HerodotusMoreover, Gog is described as and other classical geographers andthe prince of Rosh, Meshech and historians they were known as theTubal, peoples clearly Russian by Moskhi or Moschi and thedescent.Tibareni, occupying the region ofRussians Great and Whitethe Caucasus between the Blackand Caspian Seas. In Assyrian inscriptionsThe Hebrew word Rosh is trans-they are the Muska and/•

•JTubla. Josephus calls them theMoschevi and Thobelites.The descendants of Meshech(Moskhi) ultimately traveled intothe lands north of the Black Sea,settling around Moscow. They gavetheir name to that city, as well asto the Moskva River and the stateof Muscovy.Part of Tubal also moved north,giving their name to the river Toboland founding theSiberian city of Tobolsk.(Mongoloid branches ofTubal are found in Tibet,Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, theScenes in turbulent SouthAsia:ofcommunist New People'sarmy train in remotearea of the Philippines(top); Muslimopposing Soviets inAfghanistan pose withcaptured Soviet armoredvehicle (middle); Iraqitroops guard Iranianprisoners taken insix-year-old Iran-Iraqwar (below).Indian state of N agaland, Xinkiangor Chinese Turkestan, and parts ofnorthern China and Manchuria, accordingto Arabic sources.)Together, the Caucasianbranches of Meshech and Tubalform the two distinctive branchesof the Great Russians of today.The Great Russians are the largestethnic group of the Soviet Union.Future Russo / China Alliance?Ultimately allied with the Russiansunder Gog will be "many people"(Ezek. 38:6,9,15). These couldhardly exclude the militarilyweaker Chinese and their Asiatickinsmenthose eastern Magogiteswho "dwell securely in the coast-•lands" of the Pacific (39:6, TheAmplified Bible).The People's Republic ofChina the "many people" ofEzekiel 38is thus pictured as beinglinked with Gog in the lastdays. We can conclude that, oneway or another, the breach thatseparates the Soviet Union andChina will eventually be bridged.Beijing and Moscow will yet cometo terms in spite of racial and politicaltensions!Linked with the Russians andthe other nations of the Orient inthe vast end-time Asian confederacywill be Persia, Cush, Phut,Gomer and Togarmah (Ezek. 38:5-6). Who are these peoples today?History and Scripture identifythem as the very peoples of theSouth Asian region. Willingly orunwillingly, they will all be• drawn into the Soviet sphere ofinfluence in the years justahead! Let us look at each oneindividually.Let us begin with Persia(Ezek. 38:5), the most easilyidentified. Persia is simply anothername for modern-dayIran.The name Persia originatedfrom a geographical regionwithin southern Iran. This regionwas anciently known asPersis, the Greek form of OldPersian Parsa. Historically, thepeople of Iran have never usedthe name Persia for their country.They have always called itIran, "Land of the Aryans."(Aryan is used to designatespeakers of Indo-Iranian languages,as distinct from SemiticspeakingArabs, for example.) Thename Iran, however, did not comeinto widespread use in the westuntil the 1930s.Iran today has a population ofsome 45 million. Iranians comprisenearly 70 percent of the country.Iranians, though Islamic, are totallydistinct from the neighboringArab peoples of the Middle East.They are a mixed people of theremnants of Media and Elam andother ancestors of Semitic andHamitic stock.Modern Iran also includes numerousminority groups of varyingethnic backgrounds: Turks, Kurds,Arabs, Baluchis, Armenians, Lurs,Azerbaijanis, Bakhtiaris and others.There is growing evidence of aSoviet attempt to utilize to theirown advantage disputes among certainof these ethnic minoritieswithin Iran. Some observers seethis activity as aimed at precipitatingan internal crisis a crisis thatcould provide an opportunity forSoviet military "intervention" inIran.An appeal for help by any pro­Soviet ethnic minorities in Irancould be answered by a movementof Soviet troops both from the SovietUnion across Iran's northernborder and from Afghanistanacross Iran's eastern border. Alternately,a pro-Soviet governmentmight ultimately rise to power inTehran and move the country intothe Soviet orbit by nonviolentmeans.Whatever the method, theprophecy of Ezekiel clearly indicatesthat Iran will eventually becomelinked with the Soviet Union.This is not to say that Iran or otherSouth Asian nations will be incorporatedinto the Soviet Union asfull-fledged republics. Rather,there will generally be only politicallinkage in the form of alliancesor as vassal states dominated byMoscow.Afghanistan, of course, is alreadyin the Soviet orbit. A Sovietinstalledregime today governs inKabul.Known anciently as Ariana andBactria, and in the Middle Ages asKhorasan, Afghanistan lies in thevery heart of Asia. Historically, thegreat invasions of the Indian subcontinenthave been made throughits strategic mountain passes.Afghanistan'S present raciallymixed population is a reflection ofits location astride the ancienttrade and invasion routes of Cen-11

tral Asia. The bulk of the population(60 percent) is Pushtun orPathan, the main tribes being theDurrani and the Ghilzai. Othergroups represented are the Tajiksor Tadhziks (30 percent), Uzbeks(5 percent), Hazaras, Turkomansand Kirghiz.The unifying factor amid all thisethnic diversity is religion. Afganistanis almost wholly Islamic,mostly Sunni. Moslem armies hadgained control of Afganistan asearly as A.D. 652.The biblical origins of theAfghan peoples are widely varied.Some are traced to the sons ofJapheth. (The Turkomans, for example,claim descent from Tiras, ason of Japheth.) Others descendfrom branches of the families ofJoktan, of Gomer, of Uz and ofEsau. Some Afghan chronicleseven claim that elements of thePathans are descended by intermarriagefrom King Saul of ancientIsrael through his grandsonAfghana.Also predicted to cluster aroundthe banner of Gog in the latterdays are Cush and Phut (or Put).These peoples of Ezekiel 38:5 aregenerally found today in the regionof India and Pakistan.Cush was a son of Ham (Gen.10:6). Cush is often translated"Ethiopia" in the Bible. But not allCushites live in Ethiopia!The descendants of Cush splitinto two major groups, the Easternand Western Cushites. The WesternCushites are found in majorareas of Black Africa today, includingmodern Ethiopia, now underSoviet influence.The Eastern Cushites, on theother hand, are the brown peoplesof central and southern India andpart of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Theyare represented by such groups asthe Dravidians, Tamils and Tehtgus.Herodotus calls these EasternCushites "Asiatic Ethiopians."During their migrations, incidentally,these Asiatic Cushites gavetheir name to the Hindu Kushmountain range of Central Asia.Interestingly, the names ofCush's sons Seba and Raamah(Gen. 10:7) have been perpetuatedin the Hindu god Siva or Shiva(the destroyer) and the hero Rama(an avatar of the god Vishnu).12Phut was also a son of Ham.Phut is often translated "Libya" inthe Bible, referring to the land ofLibya in North Africa. As withCush, there is also an Asiaticbranch of the family of Phut orPut. It is that Asiatic branch thatwill eventually become associatedwith the U.S.S.R.Along with elements of Shem,descendants of Phut (or Put) wereamong the Indo-Aryans who settlednorthern India and drove theCushitic Dravidians into the southof India in the second millenniumB.C. The warrior-caste Rajputswere rulers over the historic regionof Rajputana, a former group ofprincely states comprising what isnow Rajasthan state of northwesternIndia.Elements of Phut are also foundtoday in other states of northernand central India and in the neighboringcountries of Pakistan andBangladesh. The clear implication,therefore, is that these nations willultimately become politically associatedwith the U.S.S.R.India, along with China, will undoubtedlycontribute heavily to the200 million-man army of Revelation9: 16. After one-thousand-million-strongcommunist China, Indiahas the largest population ofany country in the world (morethan 750 million!). India today ismilitarily the most powerful countryin the South Asia region.The nation of India is officially aneutralist state aspiring .to a nonalignedstand between the superpowers.But in light of India's longand often tension-ridden borderswith China and Pakistan, the SovietUnion has become necessaryinsurance for New Delhi. Indialeans on Soviet protection to counterbalancethe alliance of Chinaand Pakistan.India is heavily dependent on theKremlin for key military supplies.New Delhi has a friendship treatywith Moscow, signed in 1971. Andthe Soviet Union has become India'smajor trading partner.The government of Pakistanlyingto the east and south of Soviet-occupiedAfghanistan isgrowing more nervous by the day.Pakistan now stands as the onlyobstacle between the Soviet troopsin Afghanistan and Moscow's goalof a warm-water Arabian Sea port.By virtue of the Soviet militarypresence in Afghanistan, theKremlin is now in a prime positionto exert political and military pressureon Pakistan.The Muslim nation of Pakistanconsists of four provinces, two oneach side of the Indus River. Thetwo provinces on the eastern side­Punjab and Sind are firmly inthe control of President Zia ul­Haq's government in Islamabad.The two provinces west of theIndus North-West Frontier andBaluchistan are in a state of unrest.These provinces share a1,200-mile border with Soviet-occupiedAfghanistan. The Pakistanigovernment fears that the Sovietsmay now use Afghanistan as a baseto exploit the separationist sentimentsamong the ethnic groups inthese two provinces. Troubleamong these ethnic minorities isalready straining Pakistan's unity.Of primary concern is the longsimmeringindependence movementamong the Baluchi tribesmenof western Pakistan. The Baluchishave long sought to unite with fellowtribesmen in southernAfghanistan and eastern Iran toform an independent state ofBaluchistan.There is strong evidence of deepSoviet involvement in this effort tocarve out a separate Baluchi state.A pro-Russian vassal state inBaluchistan would effectively extendSoviet influence all the waysouth to the Arabian Sea. TheKremlin would at last have thewarm-water ports that it hassought since the days of the czars.As an added bonus, the Sovietswould be in a position to controlthe major oil supply lines leadingfrom the Persian Gulf!Pushtu-speaking tribesmen innorthwestern Pakistan and easternAfghanistan have also longdreamed of their own independentstate of Pushtunistan. These peoples,like the Baluchis, provide potentiallyfertile soil for Soviet revolutionarypropaganda.The predominantly Muslim nationof Bangladesh once known asEast Pakistan broke away fromPakistan in a bloody civil war in1971. Though Bangladesh officiallyadheres to the principle of

nonalignment, its relations with theSoviet Union have grown steadilycloser.Also allied with Gog will be"Gomer, Togarmah and all theirbands" (Ezek. 38:6).Gomer was the eldest son ofJapheth. Contrary to the assertionsof many students of Bibleprophecy, Gomer in this prophecyis not West Germany.Who, then, is Gomer? Amongthe Oriental descendants ofGomer's three sons are found elementsof the Turkic and Tatar(Turko-Mongol) peoples of theAsian steppes and deserts.Many of these peoplesinhabitingthe five socialist republics ofSoviet Central Asiahave alreadybeen incorporated into theU.S.S.R. The nation of Mongolia,wedged between the Soviet Unionand China in the region just southof Siberia, is a virtual Soviet satellite.The Turkic Uighurs of Xinkiang(western China) and the Mongolsof Inner Mongolia are underCommunist Chinese control.Gomer's third son, Togarmah, isspecifically mentioned in Ezekiel38. Togarmah, in part, settled ancientArmenia. Descendants ofTogarmah also migrated eastwardinto Mongolia, where they are todayfound mixed with elements ofMagog. Togarmah's modern-daydescendants are also found inChina's Xinkiang province and inRussian Siberia or Tartary.Ezekiel, however, speaks specificallyof Togarmah "in the uttermostparts of the north" (38:6,Amplified). This is a clear referenceto the Siberian branch ofTogarmah.But what of Southeast Asia?region are of the southern Mongoloidracial group. These nationsare primarily Japhetic in descent,of the line of Gomer and, farthereast, of Javan. Here communismhas already deeply penetrated.Vietnam is already a communistnation in the Soviet fold. Aftersome two decades of fighting, theAmerican-backed government ofSouth Vietnam surrendered to Soviet-supportedNorth Vietnameseforces in the spring of 1975.Within days the communist conquestof South Vietnam was effectivelycompleted. Vietnam was officiallyreunited as a communiststate in July 1976.The government of neighboringLaos is an ally of Vietnam and theSoviet Union. Nearby Cambodia(Kampuchea) has been dominatedby Vietnam since 1979.Continuing Vietnamese militaryactivity within Cambodia poses apotential threat to the security ofThailand to the north and west.Malaysia also sees a potential militarymenace from expansionistVietnam. Adding to the uncertainty,small bands of communistguerrillas continue to roam theThai-Malaysia border area.In Burma, militarily active communistguerrillas are challengingthe government in Rangoon. 1 nsurgentuprisings among the country'sethnic minorities add to the instabilityin that nation. In Indonesiaand the Philippines too, communistinsurgency occasionally assails theauthority of the central governments.Most of Southeast Asia will undoubtedlyfind it difficult to withstandincessant communist pressure.Ultimately, prophecy reveals,the region will be forced into coop­"I Am Against You!"As we have seen, the comingEurasian confederacy will devastatemuch of Western Europe. AfterChrist decimates the armies of allnations gathered at Armageddon,Gog will assemble a large army fromamong his s urviving Eurasianforces. That army will attempt toimpose its ideology on a restored Israel.But it will not succeed!"Behold, I am against you, 0Gog!" God declares (Ezek. 38:3).The fate of hi s armies is vividly portrayed:"You shall fallon the mountainsof Israel, you and all yourtroops, and the peoples who are withyou; I shall give you as food to everykind of predatory bird and beast ofthe field" (Ezek. 39:4, Amplified).The people of Israel will labor sevenmonths burying the millions ofGog's dead (39: 12). The survivorswill know that God rules.The demise of Gog and his allieswill furnish a powerful witness to thenations of the world. "And I shall setMy glory among the nations; and allthe nations will see My judgmentwhich 1 have executed," God declares(39:21, Amplified).The people of Israel will utterlydestroy the weapons carried byGog's army (39:9-10). With thepower of Gog irretrievably broken,the nations of the world will at lastsubmit to the government of God.After 6,000 years of war and internationalstrife, worldwide peacewill finally become reality. "Andthey shall beat their swords intoplowshares, and their spears intopruninghooks: nation shall not liftup sword against nation, neithershall they learn war any more"(Mic. 4:3; Isa. 2:4).The modern-day nations of thiserating with the Soviet Union andSouth Asiaand the world­her allies.will at last know true peace! 013

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