IS WWIII JUST AROUND THE CORNER?... W. Ben-Carl - 5/9/2004 2:38 PM During this brief commentary I'll try and bring a little sense to what increasingly is becoming a very complex issue. This isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis, nor will I take the time in this article to document these statements with sources - most of you are well aware of them who've read the WarReport over the past year from even just reading the secular news-sources. Besides - it's almost like preaching to the choir anymore. And if you don't agree, or question the veracity of my statements, then maybe you'll become upset enough to look up the facts yourself to prove me wrong - nothing would make me happier, indeed, I encourage that. Just remember, whatever news sources we have access to are quite time-delayed as to their subject matter. No matter how much we think we are 'on top of it', when you look at the news-lag, the filtering by the liberal media, and state-secrets that Governments know that we may not have access to for days, weeks or even years - if at all!, - then at this moment in time we simply cannot have much more than a delayed and limited understanding of just what is going on in the world today - (it's always later than you think!) - yet with one very important difference - we have the Word of God and know how it turns out in the end! During the Presidency of George Bush Sr., besides his statements about the NWO, we began to hear the notion of the U.S.A. being the "world's policeman". But since that time, not only has our military been downsized over 50% under Clinton - but we are deployed in one degree or another in military "policeman" actions in over 50 countries in the world. - Bosnia, Korea, Haiti, on and on. - We have troops stationed all across the world - Europe, Guam, Japan, etc.... But you need to also factor into all of this that now, with a down-sized military, we are also currently in two wars - Iraq and Afghanistan. - Afghanistan has gone well to date. - Yet unrest in the Middle East is increasing our conflict in Iraq, and could easily escalate out of control with the increasing involvement of Syria and Iran (not to mention the other Mid-East countries). All of this is taxing our ability to manage these theatres of operation, and they really aren't even out of control - yet! Just bear in mind that at the end of Clinton's administration, and at the beginning of President Bush's, the Pentagon analysis was that the U.S.A. military was no longer able to win major wars if they occurred on two fronts at the same time, and that the U.S. was only able for a brief period of time to maintain more than one major war front at all! Sure sure, the U.S. is the most "powerful" military in the world - if up against any ONE single enemy! But the complexion of the world has changed dramatically. NATO can no longer be relied upon to come to the U.S.'s aid - even though in "theory" we once headed NATO, - look at the recent conflict in Iraq for evidence of this, - EU support is almost nothing anymore by and large - (the one notable exception being England - and they are in hot water politically at home for their support of the U.S.). China's military, thanks in large part to the huge trade deficit the U.S. has with them, (they put all most all of their trade dollars into their military - in fact, most of their export products are manufactured in Chinese run military prisons), and the leaking of military technology to China from the U.S., (thanks mainly to the "Clinton years":: blue-prints for F16's, manufacturing tools for F16 parts; GPS tech.; the high-tech. missile chips from a failed U.S. missile launch; stealth-fighter tech. from one that was shot down and examined by enemy forces during the Clinton offensive; Cruise missile tech. from the unexploded cruise-missile captured by enemy forces during the Clinton offensive; capture of one of our high-tech. spy/surveillance planes, etc.... ),.they have developed into a high-tech. fighting force - even during only the last 10 short years! - Part of this is also due to their renewed military alliance with Russia. And Russia - while being stated as "bankrupt: by our media and no threat and barely even existing anymore - is actually quite a bit stronger then when they were the U.S.S.R. - as they've pulled out of their satellite countries and have consolidated their military might in one place (Russia) and are currently manufacturing high-tech military hardware for China at breath-taking speed! - (Russia the last time I checked, was cranking out one nuke-sub per month for both China and their other military allies; developing latest-generation offensive and defensive nuclear weapons; recently have deployed new aircraft that are actually more advanced than our aging F16's; etc.... - Well, yes - our most modern U.S. fighter is still more advanced than the Russian - but Congress never approved it - and to date we only have built 2 of this proto-type!) - Pretty impressive for a 'defunct' Russian empire I'd think! - Also worthy of note is that of late Russia has done several large scale practice attack scenario's against the U.S.! One military report on TV recently stated that at the current tech. and growth rate of the Chinese Navy - that they would supercede the strength of the U.S. Navy by 2012. - Yet one can note that when you figure that with China being aligned by pact currently with the Russian Navy - then they already do supercede the U.S. Navy in combined strength! -(Again, remember also that Clinton had downsized our military and Navy by 50% in the 90's!)- And while the U.S. mainly kept the S.A.L.T. agreements -(we actually do have a FEW anti-ballistic missiles protecting our MX sites in North Central U.S. - but it isn't talked about much) - Russia has kept virtually NONE of the S.A.L.T. agreements that were signed under Carter - in fact, not only have they not removed much of anything - but instead they have greatly increased their anti-ballistic missile defense systems - and have even built under their Civil Defense programs entire underground cities. - All this while the U.S. has only 60's era stale crackers sitting in buildings with aging yellow CD defense signs. - Yet all the while we believe the media-spin that there is no longer any cold-war Communist threat! Now some of you may disagree with what I'm going to say next, thinking I'm just being conspiratorial and paranoid myself, but - given the explosive climate in the Middle East towards the U.S.A. and Israel - including Syria and Iran reportedly having WMD; North Korea threatening to nuke the U.S.A. about every other day it seems; the South American/Cuba/Iran alliance; the increasing tension with China and Taiwan as well as at times of China toward the U.S.A.; Russia's rise in tension with both the U.S.A. and NATO; and the collaboration between China, Russia, and North Korea with partners in the Middle East; not to mention tension in nuclear power Pakistan both towards the U.S.A. at times and also with nuclear power India; Global terrorism with reports of terrorists having some form of WMD; increasing hatred of the U.S.A. in much of Europe; and a whole host of other explosive situations beyond the scope of this article - I believe that we are on a hair-trigger alert for WWIII -Gog/Magog - as outlined in Scripture - and I believe this will be manifested BEFORE the Great Tribulation - and I believe that this is coming very soon - and is even at the door! I know there is a part of human nature that just doesn't want to see anything but good happening in the world - even up till the moment that Judgment is at the door. - That was the same mind-set of Europe in the late 30's before WWII broke out. - And if you study the climate of today with that just before WWII - then I think you'll note that it is far more explosive and worse today than at that time! You know, if you think back, - during the late 90's when many people thought due to the world situations at that time that war would break out in 2,000/2,001, - being triggered in part by world-wide computer failure - (and that failure would have occurred had not there been a massive effort starting a few years before the Millennium to correct the bios/software problems, - but when nothing happened - many just became apathetic) - yet we can now note that the problems then were miniscule when compared with the dire situations confronting us today, - even when compared to the problems we are now seeing that have come up in just the last couple of years! Indeed, it is as if the final birth pangs are coming up the earth - increasing in frequency and greatly in intensity each and every time they occur! And we simply can't use the excuse anymore that God's protection is upon the land - after over 40,000,000 murders of innocent children through abortion - and then the marketing and funding of this same evil to the world; the recent U.S. endorsement and rewarding of homosexuality and all manner of sexual perversion; our courts demanding that the 10 Commandments be removed from our cities; the general persecution in our land of Christianity; the murder of Christians and Jews world-wide; and all manner of evil in violation of God's Torah/Law increasing on the earth; - Then I believe that most of us know in our hearts, from what the Bible tells us: Judgment is coming - and that swiftly! Today you hear folks saying: "Well God's in charge". - Well: that is true; but God was also in charge during WWII, and yet millions died horrible deaths! Just having a "Mary Poppins" theology of: "Whatever will be will be..." -or- "I don't have to worry about it, the Rapture will happen before then" doesn't seem to me to be the answer -(besides the fact that most Scholars agree that Gog/Magog-WWIII precedes the Tribulation, and that this time, while not Armageddon, will still be horrible!)- Yet neither is one's hunkering down in fear the answer! If you had 100 years of food and provisions stored up - yet you aren't close to God in Yeshua/(Jesus) The Messiah - then all of your efforts will do you no good at all! - We are to walk in Faith and not in fear; - and the Bible tells us when we see all these things coming to pass to: look Up for your Redemption draweth nigh! And we are also called upon to 'occupy' till He comes - and to be a good steward with what He has given us -(and that doesn't mean to just "occupy" space!). We are told to redeem the times for they are evil. Some feel apathetic, - either not caring much, or else saying: 'there is nothing I can do about it'. - Yet we are given the example where Yeshua/(Jesus) tells us in Scripture concerning the End-Times to "pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath", - and then He goes on to tell us - because if it does happen during those times - that the tribulation would then be even far more severe. By this then we can conclude that the intercession of Believers can indeed have a mighty effect on world events! - That even though "persecutions must needs come", - that the amount of the severity seems to have been placed, to one degree or another, in the hands of us - the Believers - with their intercession and authority from Above (or by the sin of doing nothing - their lack thereof!) over all the power of the enemy. - Folks, wouldn't that be enough reason in and of itself to seek YHVH and take a stand!... ...Yet it's hard to pray and intercede for what you refuse to acknowledge even exists - and so can't see coming - but just know that this mind-set still won't make it go away! I know that many feel that "physical" preparations are in order - and as you feel led - that's fine. - Yet far more important than that is the call to: come ye apart and be ye separate from the world! - To not walk after the ways of the world! The most important "survival" measure then I believe that is shown to us in Scripture is: to draw close to YHVH in Yeshua/(Jesus) The Messiah - to be able to hear His Still Small Voice - and that being all the more important and necessary as we go head-long from: a 'green branch' into a 'dry'!