Welcome back to Marilyn Brown with her take on where the world is up to according to Biblical Prophecy. You are certainly living in extraordinary times. I am relieved to say the Zoo is presently on an even keel. Just how long this will continue for, I do not know, but I am keeping a watchful eye upon the Eastern sky.

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

THE TIMES OF THE SIGNS

By Marilyn Brown

THE TIMES OF THE SIGNS What a time to be alive! Christians should be getting really excited now following the results of both the Israeli and U.S. elections. There are four prophecies, yet to be fulfilled, which signal that the final seven years leading up to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ are getting very close indeed. In Ezekiel 38:1-we read: Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man…. prophesy against [Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh]… I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws and lead you out, with all your army… Persia, Ethiopia and Libya are with them…. Gomer and…. The house of Togarmah…. Many people are with you….. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations and now all of them dwell safely.” Thus says the Lord God: “On that day….. thoughts will arise in your mind and you will make an evil plan: you will say, ‘I will go up against a peaceful people who dwell safely…. To take plunder and to take booty….’ Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’…. On that day, when My people Israel dwell safely,…. you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you…. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land….’” We learn four things from this passage which apply very much to our present time:

1. Israel is back in its ancestral homeland: Modern Israel returned to the land in 1948; in 1967 the State of Israel was declared;

2. Israelis are dwelling in safety: This is a significant detail which can only happen with the defeat of Iran and its Islamic proxies. It seems apparent that this will only come through Israel’s alliance with the U.S. under the presidency of Donald Trump. Vice President J.D. Vance has already and increasingly made it apparent that his heart is not with Israel and the results of the Mid-term elections indicate that the Republicans will be defeated at the next election, in which case it will certainly usher in, once again, a deeply anti-Semitic Democrat Party.

3. A northern alliance is forged with Russia, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer and Togarmah, and this group, plus “many peoples”, mount an attack on Israel: In modern terms “Rosh” is Russia; “Persia” is Iran; “Ethiopia” is Sudan; “Gomer and Togarmah” are generally considered to both refer to Turkey, although Arnold Fruchtenbaum, in The Footsteps of the Messiah, says: “Gomer is located in present-day Germany. This too was the rabbinic view…. The last name is Togarmah, which is present-day Armenia.” There is also a difference of opinion amongst prophecy teachers as to the identity of what is called “Put” in the original texts. The KJV quoted above simply translates it as Libya. However, Arnold Fruchtenbaum says: “Put…. Is not Libya (for which the name Lub would be used), but Somaliland or Somalia.” The first-century historian, Josephus, recorded that the people of Put inhabited Somalia and also crossed the water into Yemen. However this alliance finally manifests itself, I think it is obvious to anyone that we are seeing the present-day protagonists ranging themselves against Israel.

4. When this plan becomes internationally known, Sheba, Dedan, Tarshish and “all the young lions” will make some sort of feeble protest but take no action: Sheba and Dedan are in northern Arabia and the Abraham Accords have seen the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Kazakhstan normalize relations with Israel, which would explain why these Muslim countries will only raise a protest. There was a Tarshish in Spain and in Britain, both of which had “young lions” or colonies in America. Thus, probably Tarshish’s offspring will be America, who will also do no more than protest impotently.

I think one could safely say that this scenario does not fit with the present Trump administration, but would definitely be expected from either a J.D. Vance or Democrat administration. There are two other time clues concerning the war of Gog and Magog and the times in which we are living. The first is the globalist agenda for the Great Reset, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which was originally scheduled by the World Economic Forum for 2030. (Should anyone have missed the connection, this is exactly 2,000 years after Jesus began His ministry – just what one would expect for the Antichrist’s rise to power and the start of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble/the Tribulation). This is only three years away, although it does appear that the globalists are running behind schedule, and there is no guarantee that this aligns with God’s plans. It is interesting, nevertheless.

The second is the fact that the war of Gog and Magog must, to fit the Biblical timeline, take place at least 3½ years prior to the final seven years. Many prophecy teachers put the war within the Tribulation, or in the Interval between the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millenium, but Arnold Fruchtenbaum, backed up solidly by the Scriptures themselves, raises an almost indisputable argument against this: Ezekiel 38:18-39:11: “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ says the Lord God, “that My fury will show in My face. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel…. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground…. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him flooding rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone….’ Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal….. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you;… Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons…. And they will make fires with them for seven years…. I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel…. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land.”

As a result of God’s intervention, Israel will have to spend seven years and seven months cleaning up the mess from the war which can’t be done during the Tribulation as, from the mid-Tribulation, Israel will be in hiding. In Matthew 24:15-21, when speaking of His return, Jesus issues a warning for Israel: “Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place….. let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes…. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.” And in Revelation 12:5-6, we read of the time that this warning is heeded: “And she [Israel] bore a male Child [Jesus] who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne [the Resurrection and Ascension]. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

Regardless of which faction finally forms government in Israel, they remain locked into the timeline of Donald Trump’s presidency if Israel is to gain a time of temporary security. Probably the most effective alliance would be with Bibi Netanyahu, but it does seem possible under Gadi Eisenkot as he is a military man whose son was killed fighting in Gaza, keeping in mind that God is the one who raises up and tears down leaders: “Daniel answered and said, ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever…. He removes kings and raises up kings;’” (Daniel 2:20-21).

We also need to consider the role of Israel’s leaders in ushering in the Tribulation: “Then [the prince who is to come] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week [seven years]; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” (Daniel 9:27). Irael’s leaders will know perfectly well that this is a bad alliance: “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.’” (Isaiah 28:14-15) It seems highly unlikely that Bibi Netanyahu would ever “make a covenant with death”, i.e. with a global leader who did not have all of Israel’s interests at heart. So, either the Great Reset will not commence on time – 2030, or P.M. Netanyahu will not complete another four-year term. If Gadi Eisenkot’s alliance forms government, it is possible that he could temporarily complete the defeat of the Islamic threat AND he may well be amenable to a “covenant with death”. How privileged are we to be the generation which is watching all these things come to pass – all the signs of the Lord’s return. We are rushing towards the final days and Jesus encourage us when He said,

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28

Marilyn Brown was born in Sydney, Australia. A darkly unhappy child and passionately enamoured of horses but unable to own one, by the age of 10, she was suffering from ulcerative colitis, a stress-related
illness, causing ulceration of the bowel. She managed to scrape through the Leaving Certificate at the Methodist Ladies’ College, where evolutionary biology and geography were two of her subjects.

At theage of 21, an on-again/off-again relationship drove her to hand her life over to a God whose Word was not particularly relevant as science had proven that its opening chapters were not. Classical singing lessons produced a passion to succeed in this field and, at the age of 30, she and Max, her life-long friend and husband of 6 years, set off for England to pursue the dream. But the Lord had other plans. Instead of continuing her training, the colitis, which had come as acute attacks at times of stress, now became chronic. It was Max who directed their search for answers to the Lord, buying books onChristian healing for them to read. It was through these books that the Lord led them both to be baptized with the Holy Spirit which, soon after, prompted Marilyn to question whether David Attenbrough’s Life on Earth, showing on U.K. television at the time, were the whole story. Could the Biblical version have any supportat all? As the Lord always does, once we display an interest in the truth, He will see to it that we find it.

It took very few pages of a thick tome, The Creation/ Evolution Controversy, by D.L. Wysong, for the
truth to burst the bubble of the evolutionary lie. From that moment, the passion of Marilyn’s heart has
been to point people to the absolute, unshakeable truth of the Bible. The worsening level of the colitis
would send Max and Marilyn back home to Australia where they began attending Hills C.L.C. (now
Hillsong), then only 12 months old. Here they would be nurtured and encouraged to hold fast to the
Word of God and would provide an Australia-wide network of prayer as the illness continued its grim
progress over the next 10 years, culminating in a perforated bowel that would place Marilyn on lifesupport in hospital. However, after 12 years, without any fanfare, the Lord moved and the colitis began to recede so that now, contrary to all medical expectations of this disease, there have now been 19 years that have been free of colitis. When finally able to return to C.L.C., the Church that had once been Biblebased and Christ-centred seemed to be shifting away from these foundations, subtly at first and now, ofcourse, in a landslide. It was time to move on. Marilyn continues to constantly strive to be equipped to impart Biblical truth to whomever should ask questions. “…and always be ready to give a defense to meveryone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…..” (1 Peter 3:15)