2018: A Middle East Year in Review

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JD: Let me just throw out a couple of phrases which would relate to what has been happening in 2018 may even have play into 2019 as well, the killing of the journalist there at the Saudi Embassy in Turkey and all of the ramifications of that.

KT: That has really been a difficult event for the United States because President Trump has embraced Mohammed bin Salman the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who appears to have been behind it. But never the less I continue to worry that this may have been a manipulation by the Turks because all the information coming out has been by Turkey. And Turkey is trying to diminish Mohammed bin Salman who is against the Moslem brotherhood which Turkey has been supported. So there’s a big rivalry going on there behind the scenes.

JD: Civil war going on in Syria with Russia and Iran involved. It seems to be winding down but is that the case? Could it pick up again in 2019?

KT: I think the war is winding down and I think one conclusion is already just about certain is that Assad is going to stay in power, Bashar al-Assad the President of Syria will remain in power. He’s won his war with the help of Russia and Iran. The Syrian free democratic army and the other Syrian fighters who are opposing the government had been pretty much defeated. The US had been trying to orchestrate between the Kurds in northern Syria and the government so that Syria would allow them to live in peace in the semi-autonomous zone. That is actually a big improvement and that’s a big plus going forward.

JD: Well Iran wants to deploy about a hundred thousand more fighters into Syria. That’s not good news as far as Israel is concerned.

KT: This was an announcement from the outgoing Chief of the Israel Defense Force, the IDF, and he said that’s the goal of the Iranians is to build up a fighting force in Syria of a hundred thousand men strong. That is a very large force. It’s roughly ten times what the Iranians are currently believed to have deployed in Syria of their own people. Now they’ve got tens of thousands more that they’ve recruited in Iraq from Pakistan and from Afghanistan.

JD: Ken Timmerman with a look at events in the Middle East 2018 and prospects for 2019.

We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

Ken Timmerman with his report on a Middle Eastern region in 2018, a year-end review mentioned several nations, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia and Iran. All of these nations according to Ezekiel 38, Daniel 11 and Psalm 83 will be major players who will align themselves to destroy the Jewish State of Israel. These prophetic passages are set to be fulfilled very soon now. 

In the book of Genesis we find the first prophecies of the Messiah, Jesus Christ

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JD: Let’s go back to Genesis. We often say that the seeds of all theology can be found in Genesis. So from a prospective of the Bible are there a couple of passages in Genesis that you would go to when you would like to point to Jesus Christ being the Jewish Messiah?

DJ: Absolutely, I would say that the very first one goes back to the first prophecy of the Messiah in the word of God and that’s Genesis 3:15 where God speaking to the serpent who had deceived the woman who in turned deceived Adam in which led to the fall of them. God says to the serpent I will put enmity between you and the woman and in between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. From the book of Revelation that this serpent of all is actually the devil himself. So if you look at the offspring of the woman being the one who actually defeats Satan there is no one that can defeat Satan but God and the offspring of the woman therefore must be ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ who we find in the scriptures later that this offspring is God himself.

And then later in Genesis chapter 49 as Jacob is blessing his sons he says to Judah, you are he whom your brother shall praise, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s children shall bow down before you; that’s a sign of worship. In verse 10 it says the scepter shall not depart from Judah. That is a matter of ruling, that’s a matter of the kingdom, a kingdom prophecy concerning an offspring from the tribe of Judah until Shiloh comes. And interestingly even though Shiloh is a name of a town it’s related to the Hebrew word for Shalom which means peace. Which once again there will not be any peace until the specter from Judah representing the millennial kingdom shall be in place on the earth. So it’s very clear from the book of Genesis that Jesus Christ is the one to fulfill those prophecies and he is the Messiah.

JD: David James with a look from the Bible at the first prophecies of the coming Messiah Jesus Christ.

We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

Matthew chapters 1 &2 and Luke 1 & 2 gives us 168 verses of prophecy pertaining to the birth of Jesus Christ the long awaited Jewish Messiah. Those prophecies on the coming of the Messiah actually begin in the book of Genesis. In all of the Bible there are over 300 verses of prophecy for telling the Messiah. All by the way fulfilled by the God man Jesus Christ.

There is concern across the world about President Trump’s pullout of US troops in Syria

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JD: I’m wondering whether the caliphate of Islamic State has really been destroyed. Now I understand geographically that is probably the case but they still have a number of troops even in Syria as it relates to Islamic State. They really haven’t totally been defeated have they?

KT: And that’s where the US presence as a deterrent comes in. It’s to make sure that the gangs on the ground which are very real. ISIS has been defeated they no longer have a caliphate. They no longer have a geographical presence as you just said in Syria or Iraq that’s a real accomplishment of President Trump and this administration and of the US military and our coalition partners. But that could be lost those gains could very easily be lost if the United States goes through with this announced decision and pulls those 2,000 troops out. It seems like such a small number but those 2,000 American Special Forces Operators serve as a force multiplier to the Kurds on the ground, to the French and the other coalition partners on the ground by providing intelligence support, air support and training in-particular to the Kurds. So this will indeed make a very big difference. ISIS could come back. I think this is a tremendous mistake.

JD: Well I guess Tayyip Erdogan over there in Turkey he’s thrilled, happy, very excited and I guess he must have expressed that to Trump when Trump called him. It seems like Donald Trump only got advise from Erdogan as to what to do in Syria.

KT: Yeah Erdogan and Rand Paul and I think that’s a real big mistake. Erdogan who has repeatedly shown himself to be an enemy of the United States to openly mock the United States. And now Erdogan is saying he’s getting ready to launch a new military attack into Northern Syria and if we’re to believe what we’re hearing now President Trump is going to applaud him.

JD: Ken Timmerman voicing his opinion of the Trump pullout of US troops in Syria.

We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

Our broadcast partner Ken Timmerman says that the Trump decision to pull US troops out of Syria was a bad decision. Many world leaders and US politicians are echoing Ken’s statement. Prophetically the decision fits the scenario that is found in Daniel 11:40-45. This passage states that Syria, the King of the North in the scriptures will make the first move in the coalition of nations who want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. The stage is being set for that prophecy to be fulfilled.