#luke21

Are We Living in the Last Days?

By Author Eli Kittim

Mt 24.6-14 (NRSV):

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of

wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this

must take place, but the end is not yet. For

nation will rise against nation [WW1], and

kingdom against kingdom [WW2], and

there will be famines and earthquakes in

various places: all this is but the beginning

of the birth pangs. … Then many

will fall away, and they will betray one

another and hate one another [hate

crimes]. And many false prophets will arise

and lead many astray. And because of the

increase of lawlessness [civil unrest], the

love of many will grow cold. But the one who

endures to the end will be saved. And this

good news of the kingdom will be

proclaimed throughout the world, as a

testimony to all the nations; and then the

end will come.”

The 20th Century Was the Most Violent in Human History

Notice that Matthew mentions that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (Mt. 24.7) as “the beginning of the birth pangs” (v. 8). And then he mentions another signpost, namely, “the increase of lawlessness” (v. 12). If we focus on these 4 prophetic markers——i.e. world wars, famines, earthquakes, and “the increase of lawlessness”——we will gain a better understanding of the specific *timeline* that Matthew has in mind. Francis P. Sempa, a prolific author and professor of political science, once wrote:

“The optimists among us who believe in the

inevitable progress of man, either forget or

ignore the fact that the twentieth century

was the bloodiest, most destructive century

in human history. The century’s two world

wars resulted in the deaths of at least 60

million people. The Russian Civil War of

1917-21 killed another 5-6 million. Between

them, the tyrannical regimes of Hitler,

Stalin, and Mao killed at least another 60

million of their own citizens. Many millions

more were killed in dozens of other, smaller

conflicts.”

Not to mention the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed almost a quarter of a million (226,000) people! Author Matthew White (Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century, 2010) has even higher estimates of the total number of victims of collective violence in the 20th Century, which indicate that over 200 million people perished due to war, oppression, famine, and disease. No other century even comes close.

The Deadliest Famines in History Occurred in the 20th Century

According to an article in Wikipedia:

“During the 20th century, an estimated 70 to

100 million people died from famines across

the world, of whom over half died in China,

with an estimated 30 million dying during

the famine of 1958–1961, up to 10 million in

the Chinese famine of 1928–1930, and over

two million in the Chinese famine of 1942–

43, and millions more lost in famines in

North and East China. The USSR lost 8

million claimed by the Soviet famine of

1932-33, over a million in both the Soviet

famine of 1946-47 and Siege of Leningrad,

the 5 million in the Russian famine of 1921–

22, and other famines.”

Some of the Deadliest Earthquakes Ever Recorded in History Occurred in the 20th Century

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_20th-century_earthquakes

A Significant Increase of Lawlessness in the 20th Century

Lawlessness also implies civil unrest. The civil unrest that the world has seen in the past century is unparalleled. It would be beyond the scope of this paper to furnish the reader with an exhaustive list of crime figures and statistics of the past century. One thing is certain. The 20th century ushered in, particularly with the advent of two global conflicts, an unprecedented increase of lawlessness and destruction on a scale unimaginable only a few centuries ago. There was also a significant increase in crimes against humanity in the past century, especially due to the rise of fascist and totalitarian regimes (e.g. Nazism, Stalinism, Maoism, etc.). Never before have there been war crimes, murders, massacres, genocides on such a massive scale where, for example, in the case of the Holocaust, approximately 6 million Jews were exterminated. Today, we still hear of hate crimes being perpetrated on large populations and minorities (e.g. ethnic cleansing, police brutalities, terrorism, etc.). Given that society is becoming increasingly lawless, more and more people are being armed with concealed weapons either to perpetrate crimes or to defend themselves and their loved ones.

Conclusion

It is worth noting that there is a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that suggests an *increase in knowledge* in the last days (which would include modern innovations, such as smartphones, computers, satellites, self-driving cars, laser surgery, the internet) as well as *transportation efficiency,* such as increased speed in sea, road, rail, and air transportation, unlike anything we had ever seen or even imagined before. Up until the 20th century people still used traditional means of transportation, such as Horse Carriages to get around. But with the twentieth century came an explosion of knowledge and innovation, from cars to high-speed trains to airplanes to jet engines to space shuttles to computers to nuclear weapons, you name it. Anticipating all that, Daniel 12.4 (ESV) reads:

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal

the book, until the time of the end. Many

shall run to and fro [fast travel], and

knowledge shall increase.”

Is Russia on the Brink of Nuclear War?

By Author Eli Kittim

Who or What is Gog?

Joseph Stalin——the Soviet Union’s longest serving ruler from 1927 until 1953 (for nearly 3 decades)——was born in Gori, Georgia. Curiously enough, in both English and Russian, the initials of Gori, Georgia would be Gog or ΓοΓ (i.e. Гори, Грузия). If the Bible wanted to symbolize the terror of Communism in the 20th century, as well as the final empire on earth, what better way to do so than by pointing to its cruelest and most infamous leader, who was born in the land of Gog and Magog.

In the Bible, Γώγ or Gog symbolically represents the final leader of the last superpower on earth. The last-days prophecy of Ezekiel 38.1-2 (LXX) reads:

ΚΑΙ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με λέγων·

υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, στήρισον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου

ἐπὶ Γὼγ καὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ Μαγώγ, ἄρχοντα

Ῥώς, Μοσὸχ καὶ Θοβέλ, καὶ προφήτευσον

ἐπ’ αὐτὸν.

Translation (NKJV):

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land

of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and

Tubal, and prophesy against him.

The term Γώγ might actually be an abridged version of the word Γεωργία (Georgia), the country that has a northern border with Russia and was once part of the Soviet Union. Based on both linguistic and historical studies, the rest of the names indicate a Russian connection: prince of Ρώς (Gk. Ρωσία/Russia), Μοσόχ (Gk. Μόσχα/Moscow) and Θοβέλ (Tobolsk). In his book The Footsteps of the Messiah (p. 70), the biblical scholar Arnold Fruchtenbaum provides a supplementary elaboration of Ezekiel 38:

The identification of Magog, Rosh,

Meshech, and Tubal is to be determined

from the fact that these tribes of the

ancient world occupied the areas of modern

day Russia. Magog, Meshech and Tubal

were between the Black and Caspian Seas

which today is southern Russia. The tribes

of Meshech and Tubal later gave names to

cities that today bear the names of

Moscow, the capital, and Tobolsk, a major

city in the Urals in Siberia. Rosh was in what

is now northern Russia. The name Rosh is

the basis for the modern name Russia.

Similarly, according to Wikipedia:

Josephus refers to Magog son of Japheth

as progenitor of Scythians, or peoples north

of the Black Sea [Josephus, Antiquities of

the Jews, Book I, Chapter 6]. According to

him, the Greeks called Scythia Magogia.

The Scythians were a group of nomadic warriors who lived in what is now southern Russia. More importantly, the Bible seems to point to Russia as the birthplace of the last-days Antichrist (see e.g. Ezekiel 38). In order to understand the historical reasons for tying the Ezekiel 38 narrative to Russia, see “The Magog Identity” article by Chuck Missler: https://www.khouse.org/articles/2002/427/print/

The Septuagint Conflates the Biblical References to Gog and Agag

In Numbers 24.7 of the Septuagint, Agag is called Gog (Γώγ), and the LSV translation of the Bible uses the two titles interchangeably in Numbers 24.7 (cf. Amos 7.1 LXX; Rev. 9.3, 7-12):

He makes water flow from his buckets,

‘And his seed [is] in many waters; And his

King [is] higher than Gog [or Agag],’

And his kingdom is exalted.

Here’s the Septuagint version of Numbers 24.7:

ἐξελεύσεται ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος

αὐτοῦ καὶ κυριεύσει ἐθνῶν πολλῶν, καὶ

ὑψωθήσεται ἢ Γὼγ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ, καὶ

αὐξηθήσεται βασιλεία αὐτοῦ.

In Hebrew, the pronunciation of Agag is Ag-awg, similar to that of Gog (gawg). Some scholars think that Agag represented a dynastic name for the kings of Amalek, much like the title Pharaoh that was used for the Egyptian kings. Interestingly enough, according to scholars, the root of the word Georgia (Γεωργία), which, as mentioned earlier, may represent the biblical Gog (Γώγ), is the Persian word gurğ (“wolf”), a possible cognate of Agag. One of Agag’s descendants is Haman the Agagite (Esther 3.1), whose cruel plot against the Jews can only be matched by those of Hitler and Stalin. Thus, the name Agag (or, alternatively, “Gog”) has become synonymous with antisemitism and with evil! It seems, then, that the titles Gog and Agag are interchangeable.

Old & New Testament Prophecies About the Same Cataclysmic Event

Even though in Ezekiel 38 the term Gog is an appellation of rank and status, notice that in Revelation 20.8 Gog and Magog (Γώγ και Μαγώγ) are references to nations (ἔθνη), not titles:

καὶ ἐξελεύσεται πλανῆσαι τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ἐν

ταῖς τέσσαρσι γωνίαις τῆς γῆς, τὸν Γὼγ καὶ

Μαγώγ, συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν

πόλεμον, ὧν ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτῶν ὡς ἡ ἄμμος

τῆς θαλάσσης.

Translation (NRSV):

and will come out to deceive the nations at

the four corners of the earth, Gog and

Magog, in order to gather them for battle;

they are as numerous as the sands of the

sea.

And the next verse (Rev. 20.9) is seemingly talking about the exact same event that Luke 21, Zechariah 14, and Ezekiel 38 are describing, namely, “Jerusalem [being] surrounded by armies” (Lk 21.20), or a gathering of “all the nations against Jerusalem to battle” (Zech. 14.2; cf. Ezek. 38.16):

καὶ ἀνέβησαν ἐπὶ τὸ πλάτος τῆς γῆς, καὶ

ἐκύκλευσαν τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ

τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἠγαπημένην. καὶ κατέβη πῦρ

ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ⸃ καὶ κατέφαγεν αὐτούς ·

Translation:

They marched up over the breadth of the

earth and surrounded the camp of the

saints and the beloved city [Jerusalem].

And fire came down from heaven and

consumed them.

This so-called “fire” may refer to a nuclear blast that causes the desolation of Jerusalem (cf. Ezek. 38.19-20; 39.6, 8; Dan. 11.31; 12.11; Zech. 14.11; Mt. 24.15-22).

Notice that the exact same word that is used in Revelation 20.9 to refer to the armies of Gog and Magog that “surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [Jerusalem],” namely, the word ἐκύκλευσαν (derived from the word κυκλόω, meaning to encircle, besiege, or surround), is also used in Luke 21.20 (κυκλουμένην) to describe “Jerusalem surrounded by armies.”

This is presumably the same event prophesied by Jeremiah the prophet (10.22):

Hear, a noise! Listen, it is coming— a great

commotion from the land of the north to

make the cities of Judah a desolation.

For a detailed study on the nuclear implications of the phrase, “the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place” (Mt. 24.15), see my article “What is the Abomination of Desolation?”: https://eli-kittim.tumblr.com/post/651654379241406464/what-is-the-abomination-of-desolation

If experts claim that it wouldn’t be difficult for terrorists to build and detonate an improvised nuclear device, how much easier would it be for an invading army to do likewise?

According to Wiki:

Since 1947, the Doomsday Clock of the

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has

visualized how close the world is to a

nuclear war. As of 2021, the current time to

'midnight,' (midnight representing nuclear

war,) is 100 seconds.

See the following article: “Are we on the brink of nuclear war? Un researcher says yes”: https://www.google.com/amp/s/sofrep.com/amp/news/are-we-on-the-brink-of-nuclear-war-un-researcher-says-yes/