Shalom Partner and Friend of Israel,

"If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

One of the greatest misconceptions of Bible Prophecy is that we fail to comprehend, that the God of History is guiding the affairs of planet earth …until the final culmination of all things, the eradication of sin and the salvation of all who give their hearts in adoration and service to the God of Israel and His Son, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), who is a descendant of the House of David. Empires come and Empires go and if we read Daniel 8 we find that Daniel soon found out that the God of Israel, the Sovereign Lord of all the earth, was protecting His people as one World Empire changed after another. God is controlling the Middle East, according to Daniel 11. In order for Iran to rise as an empire, which included ancient Mesopotamia, like other empires had done things had to change in Iraq… that’s is located in Mesopotamia (north of the Euphrates River).  Iran had already amassed considerably in Syria because Assad’s dynasty is "Alawite" which is an off-shoot of Shia Islam. A very interesting fact is that Hasan Rouhani is the 7th president of Iran and was born in 1948, the same year Israel became a nation. According to Wikipedia, Rouhani had very close ties with Iran’s first leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, whom he helped make speeches against the Shah as far back as 1965 and even accompanied him in exile from 1977 – 1978. When you think about it the 1979 Islamic revolution changed history because the "Shiite" Muslims went from being stamped out to becoming a legitimate power in the region and today Rouhani is the instrument of this disastrous US/Iran nuclear deal, together with US president Obama and Kerry and other world powers.  The effort of ISIS to revive the "Arab Caliphate" has ruptured the Arab World… while renewing the old collision of empires between Arabs, Turks and Persians – it is in fact a 7^th Century conflict replayed in the 21^st Century and Iran is reborn in the dream of the Persian Empire!  We are living in End-Times and seeing prophecy fulfill right before our eyes. God is capable of defending Israel from a nuclear attack. The Lord Himself will crush all those Islamic and their Russian, Turkey alliances just as His Word promises in Daniel 2:44.

In the late 4^th Century, the Western Roman Empire crumbled after nearly a 500 year run as the world’s greatest superpower. Why…? The most popular explanations were decline and disintegration of the Roman Empire. One of history’s most legendary Empires that came crashing down and 476 AD was cited as the year the Western Empire suffered its deathblow!

The invading army reached the outskirts of Rome, which had been left totally un-defended and the Visigoths, led by Alaric breached the walls of Rome and sacked the capital of the Roman Empire. They looted, burned and pillaged their way through the city, leaving a wake of destruction wherever they went. The plundering continued for three days and for the first time in nearly a millennium the city of Rome was in the hands of someone else other than the Romans. This was the first time the city was sacked …but by no means the last.

One of the many factors that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire was the rise of Christianity which was monotheistic (believing in one God) and ran counter to the Roman religion which was polytheistic (believing in many gods). Life and the future seemed hopeless for the millions of people who were ruled by Rome where an early death was almost inevitable. Christianity taught them that Christ died for their salvation and gave hope to the desperate even in the afterlife. At many times the Romans persecuted the Christians for their beliefs which were popular among the poor. In 313 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great ended all persecution and openly declared toleration for Christianity which later that year became the official religion …and spread to almost every corner of Rome! However, by this time the Romans had considered the Emperor as a god, who they considered had power over life and death! Constantine also enacted another change that helped to accelerate the fall of the Roman Empire when in 330 AD he split the empire into two parts…the Western part centred in the western half in Rome and the Eastern half in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) a city named after him. The Western Empire spoke Latin and the Eastern Empire spoke Greek. The eastern half was even more Christian than the western half and over time the east thrived whilst the west declined. In fact when the western empire fell, the eastern half continued to exist as the Byzantine Empire for hundreds of years.

Other fundamental problems contributed to the fall, such as natural disasters… However, in the economically ailing west, a decline in morals, a decrease in agricultural production leading to high food prices, reliance on cheap slave labour from Northern Africa, and cost of “gladiatorial games.” Christian attitude changed towards slaves and worked to free slaves thus resulting in a decline in the slave labour that Rome had become dependant upon. When the thousands of unemployed Romans became bored this led to riots and civil unrest. The western half of the empire had large trade deficits with the eastern half. The west purchased luxury goods from the east but had nothing to offer in exchange. To make up for the lack of money, the government began producing more coins with less silver content. This led to inflation and finally piracy and attacks from Germanic tribes who disrupted the flow of trade especially in the west.

Two of the most important reasons for the “fall of Rome” were attributed to decline in ethics and values… and Barbarian knowledge of the Roman military tactics:

 1) Life became cheap, blood shed led to more bloodshed and extreme cruelty and what was valuable or important in life declined and with it came the total disregard for human and animal life. Any conformity to acceptable rules or standards of human behaviour was lost. The decline in morals especially in the rich, upper class, nobility and the emperors had a devastating impact on the Romans… immoral and promiscuous sexual behaviour including adultery and orgies. Emperors such as Tiberius kept groups of young boys for his pleasure;, incest by Nero who also had a male slave castrated so he could take him as his wife; Commodus with his harem of concubines enraged the Romans by sitting in the theatre or at games dressed in woman’s clothing. The decline of morals also affected the lower classes and slaves. Bestiality and other lewd and sexually explicit acts were exhibited in the Colosseum arena to amuse the mob. Brothels and prostitution flourished and widespread gambling on chariot races and gladiatorial combats with massive alcohol consumption.

2) The knowledge that the Barbarians gained from the Roman style of warfare and of their military tactics by serving the Roman army were eventually turned against the Empire and this led to disadvantage when eventually attacked and Rome fell.  In 476 AD Romulus the last of the Roman emperors in the west was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer who became the first “barbarian” to rule Rome and the order that the Roman Empire had brought to Western Europe for 1,000 years was no more!

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!” George Santayana

The fall of the Greek Empire… The Hebrew language does not use the word for “Greece” or “Grecia,” but the word “Yavan” and this name is derived from “Javan” (Yavan) of Genesis 10:2, one of the son’s of Japheth and therefore a grandson of Noah. It is therefore considered that “Javan” was the forefather of the Greek people who inhabited not only Greece but also the Islands related to it and hence is properly translated by “Grecian” where it occurs in the Bible; Isaiah 66:19; Ezekiel 27:13, 19; Daniel 8:21; 10:20; 11:2; Joel 3:6 and Zechariah 9:13.

To the Ancient Greeks, what was beautiful was holy …but to the Jews, what was holy was beautiful – and these views were bound to clash!

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) conquered the vastly bigger Persian armies in decisive battles and is acknowledged as the father of modern manoeuvre warfare. After only twelve years of campaign he was the master of a vast area from Greece to India and died probably of malaria at the age of 33 years in Babylon (Iraq). Greece is the nation in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:32) interpreted by Daniel as the “belly and thighs.” The army of this empire is likened to a leopard, swift and manoeuvrable (Daniel 7:6) and the empire were likened to a “ferocious goat with one horn.” The “single horn” was Alexander the Great and the horn was broken soon after the goat vanquished the ram with fury (Daniel 8:5).  After the death of Alexander the Great his kingdom was divided into four kingdoms corresponding to the “four horns” of the goat which arose after the “single horn” was broken (Daniel 8:6, 21-22): Cassander in Greece, Lysmachus in Thrace, Seluceus 1 Nicator in Mesopotamia and Persia (Iran), and Ptolomy 1 in the Levant and Egypt. These later consolidated into two kingdoms, the Ptolomies and the Seleucids. One of these kings, Antiochus Epiphanes (Epiphanes’ means god made manifest) sacrificed swine in the temple at Jerusalem and declared himself to be as God in 168 BC (Daniel 8:9-11).

Greece today… The conflicts in many Middle Eastern and African countries have devastated life in these regions and made survival uncertain. While the world is witnessing the horrific decapitations and burning alive of human beings by ISIS, Islamic terrorists at the same time large scale events are occurring that can change the fate of history and that of the Western World! Thousands of people, Christians and Muslims, are fleeing the war zones in any way that they possibly can – and in over-crowded boats entire desperate families jump into boats hoping to reach Europe – if they don’t drown! Others arrive in Greece through Turkey who simply turns a blind eye to this situation giving human traffickers free rein.

Greece a small country of only 10 million people has had to absorb one and half million mostly illegal (some legal) immigrants putting a strain on their economy and now has unemployment rate of 27 percent and is in a financial debt crisis. Signs of the crisis are everywhere and many Greeks are being fed by their local churches as they watch the illegal immigrants fill the streets of Athens. Southern Europe is most accessible and in particularly Greece or Italy. Greece today can be compared to a boat …where those aboard are trying to prevent it from sinking …while people who are desperate to avoid drowning appear all around the boat and try to jump in … the fate of such a boat and all abroad is sadly predictable! The humanitarian catastrophe which was not triggered by Greece has reached large scale is now paying a high price!

God is the one who controls history and everything in the end will be “His-Story!” America at the beginning of the 20^th Century emerged as a “world power” this century. Only America had the power and spiritual resources to stand as a barrier between Communism and the people of the world. At the end of World War 2 the two close allies America and Britain seemed destined to dominate the world for centuries as Central European countries devastated and Germany and Japan lay in ruins. The Soviet Union (Russia) had also suffered much from two world wars, revolution and seemed that it would remain forever a non-threatening backward country.

It may have looked like that way back in 1945 …BUT, was not to stay like that for long! Soon the British started dismantling their empire as they were exhausted after years of war and almost two centuries of playing the role of the International policeman and in this seemly terminal decline of Britain, America took over. Germany began rebuilding immediately after they lay in war ruins with the help of America and Britain and in 1949 became the Federal Republic of Germany/ The Soviet Union responded by dividing Germany into two which contributed to the “cold war” that separated Germany for more than 40 years. Within a short time the Western democracy exchanged one enemy, fascism for communism …and only America could save the world from tyranny and emerged powerful and prosperous enough to take up this role! But, America could not enjoy the world supremacy that the British had maintained from the defeat of Napoleon to World War 1 …instead America found itself facing another nuclear power as 1949 brought to light that the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb and four years later the hydrogen bomb. Thus, a new arms race had just begun with far more deadly potential than any previous rivalry in history. Before the end of 1949 China, followed by Korea and North Vietnam embraced Communism and to counter this U.S. with world alliances created N.A.T.O. to stop the spread of communism.

1948 – 1949 – 1967 were very prophetic years! In 1948, Israel became a nation again, after 2,000 years, just as the Bible predicted that the Jewish people would return to their homeland. Soon after, surrounding Muslim nations (Egypt, Jordan, Syria with Iraq), between May 1948 and March 1949 gathered to destroy the newly reborn State of Israel but was miraculously defeated by Israel! And, on the 05^th June, 1967 Israel launched a pre-emptive strike (Yom Kippur - 6^th Day War) on Egypt, Jordan and Syria but Israel miraculously defeated them once again …and Jerusalem was finally back in Jewish hands! The Russians supplied the Arabs with arms to defeat Israel in the Yom Kippur war in 1967 War, whilst America supplied Israel with arms …and this nearly caused a conflict between the two nuclear superpowers!

In the 1950’s the Americans, together with a coalition of European nations, led the war against Korea but something went wrong …and only a few years after their greatest triumph in World War 2 they failed to gain a clear-cut victory as North Korea today remains a hard-line Stalinist nation …and still a major threat to world peace more than half a century later!

It is not by mere coincidence that America began to fall apart internally in the 1960’s as the country was turning away from the moral laws of God… The Bible reminds us that the consequences of a nation’s turning away from God are not always immediate. In fact, they may be delayed or extend over generations. Deuteronomy 28 sums up well the consequences for a nation that abandons its Creator. A nation that is faithful to God and His Laws will be blessed …and a nation that rejects God and His Laws will be cursed! “Woe, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward.” Isaiah 1:4

The 20^th Century, as no other in history, has been the age of abandonment… The once-Christian West has self-consciously abandoned God in every area of culture. This pattern is as old as the “fall of man,” in the Garden of Eden. God leaves men alone in their “respective gardens” to see whom they will worship. Adam and Eve; in His “visible presence” …and after Adam's fall, God has a remnant that will stay faithful in His “invisible presence!”

 The Clash of Civilization today… Today we are living in a time where there are many different cultures and multiple civilizations… BUT, we can narrow it down to two that are affecting the whole world; Western Christian civilization and the rise of Islam. What is the difference…? Why are they at odds with each other…?

Islam and Christianity have long been at odds as two dominant expansionary world religions …but geography has allowed some distance between the two faiths. As the population has increased and our world has become more globalized, it was inevitable that the two religions have been swept toward each other and this clash forced to face off not only in Africa and Asia, but as we now see in the urban centres of Europe and increasingly on the US. On the other hand the continent of Africa is where Christianity is still flourishing in Sub-Saharan Africa due to strong evangelization efforts. With the added boost of globalization and connectedness, Christianity is rapidly growing and thrusting itself northward. At the same time, Islam is rapidly spreading downwards from the north of the continent due to the rapid increase of the Muslim population and economic coercion. When the population expands, so does the religion that allows people to simply be born into it. In addition, outside Muslim nations are pumping petrol dollars into new mosques, health care and free universities across the continent of Africa to attract new followers and infiltrate these nations, including South Africa!

Jews and Christians as well as Islam claim belief in one God… BUT, the God of the Bible and Allah of the Quran are not one and the same! Islam begins and ends with the concept that there is no god but “Allah” who is supposedly all-powerful and unknowable. While the Arabic word Allah means “god,” the fact that this Allah is pictured in the Muslim’s Quran as so “distant, abstract and transcendent as to be un-knowable” helps to show that Allah is not just another name for the God of the Bible, Yahweh, as some mistakenly believe! (Jeremiah 9:24; John 17:3)

The Quran simply lumps peoples, places and practices (stolen from the Bible) separated by thousands of years and hundreds of kilometres (miles) all together at the same time. For example; it has the crucifixion being used at the same time of the Exodus, but it didn’t come into practice until about a thousand years later. It has Haman, a Persian official mentioned in the book of Esther working for Pharaoh in Egypt at the time of the Exodus, when the event took place a thousand years earlier. It claims that Alexander the Great was a Muslim who lived to a ripe old age, when Alexander was a Greek who died in his early 30’s.

There are crucial differences between Christianity and Islam that are so vital…! The Old Testament Jewish prophets and the New Testament Jewish apostles wrote the Bible which was God breathed, divinely inspired and therefore represent Judeo-Christian Scriptures. Israel is God’s plan for the whole world …from beginning to the end …from Genesis to Revelation. As true Christians we await our soon returning “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lord’s” to supernaturally usher the divine Kingdom of God to rule the nations …finally, bringing peace to this chaotic world (Revelation 11:15; 20:4-6). We need to know this!

In sharp contrast to Christianity, the ultimate goal of Islam is to bring all nations under its 7^th Century Islamic religious Shariah law, during this age, even if it means bringing down existing governments. Radical Islamic terrorists use suicide bombing, beheadings, and other gruesome ways to accomplish this goal. Did you know that Islamists actually see a two-fold division of the nations of the world; “dar-al-Islam” (“the abode of submission”) and “dar-al-harb” (the “abode of war”)…? Islam means “submission!” To the devout Muslim only those countries predominantly controlled by the Islamic religion constitute the “Abode of Submission.” Therefore the rest of the world face infiltration, oppression and attacks by Muslims until these countries are “coerced” into Islamic “submission” …so until then, non-Islamic nations are part of “dar-al-harb” – “the Abode of War!” We need to know this!

In Non-Muslim nations with a minority Islamic population, the basic strategy is to appear outwardly “peaceful” and “cooperative.” And, yes, many Muslims may well be. Yet there is a radical work covertly underground in carrying out the subversive plans and as their Muslim population grows, particularly in the Western nations, Muslims in increasing numbers become more assertive in demanding their “so-called” rights, using Western freedoms to advance their cause of expanse! Then if and when the demographic tipping point arrives, the tactics switch to various types of force using the fresh powers, thus, any means possible to the advancement of their Islamic agenda! At first those countries outside the realm of Islam are now in control and are asked to convert. Should they refuse conversion then the radical terrorists freely use any means necessary to forcefully bring these countries into the Islamic rule.

Not only are radical Islamic fundamentalists working actively to destroy the West and Israel… BUT, at the same time the Western world leaders are undermining resistance and by political correctness they are willingly aiding these dangerous Islamic influences that would destroy Western civilization. When there is no real leadership nations fall! The Western leaders don’t want to confront the hard facts of the reality of radical Islam as well as the Western moral decline; abortions, loss of family values, same-sex marriages …and so are like ancient Rome and Greece are participating in the downfall of the Western society!  Unlike Islam, sadly, the West has lost faith in its own traditional religious values. In the midst of the deceptive darkness, the homosexual agenda, the moral collapse, and the seemingly constant barrage of victories by Satan …God will have the final say! For true believers in Yeshua (Jesus Christ) we can be peaceful in knowing that God’s Word tells us to expect these things …and we have this confidence that our God is good …is all knowing, and is preparing us for the Lord’s Second Coming when we will walk on the streets of gold! These dots may come together sooner than we think!

Christians, the Body of Christ, have been privileged and entrusted with the answer that the whole world desperately needs and that is Yeshua (Jesus Christ)… But, with mainstream Churches in decline especially in Europe, attendance is in a downward freefall and in some instances even God’s existence as Creator is seriously being questioned …sadly, we have failed! At this time of history every nation of the world is someway or another facing the onslaught from the Islamic World that recognizes the Western Nations as decadent since we no longer know what it is that we want to defend! Do we the West defend our freedom and Christian values and be biblically correct …Or, do we want to be politically correct even at our own downfall…? “Has a nation changed their gods who are yet no gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit,” Jeremiah 2:11. Right or wrong in the West is becoming for many a matter of adhering to “one’s own standards” based upon what they embrace or believe …and NOT built upon God’s Word and standards set by Him for us to live our lives. King Solomon warned us that the way of life that may seem right to us will end up in our own destruction and death! (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25) As in the days of ancient Israel, many men and women today are thinking and doing what is “right in their own eyes” and choosing wrongly (Judges 17:6; 21:25) and biblical standards are first ridiculed and then largely abandoned! We are witnessing Islam growing in numbers and strength, while the West continues in its moral decline. Muslims don’t question their god (Allah), whilst the supposedly “Christian” West foolishly, disrespects and questions the only true God and the Bible!

The Middle East is under fire by Islamic radical terrorists and Syria is the “Gateway”… One important fact that many seem to miss is the belief that the one who controls the ground under “Assad’s feet” (Syria) has that all important “gateway” from the Middle East into Turkey, Israel and Europe …a “gateway” so critical to one nation that has all the natural gas in the world, and no end to sell it to, is Qatar! ISIS and other radical terrorists are supported by Qatar and Iran financially, Turkey supports them logistically, and US President Obama and the West support them politically!

The Middle East is becoming a very dangerous place… Russia is selling the S-300 missile batteries to Iran the sworn enemies of Israel and at the same time the US /Iranian deal is revealing secret deals that will allow Iran to do their own nuclear inspection and empower them to do whatever they want for easy money that the West so desperately needs. Obama is also considering withdrawing American troops from the Sinai which provides a buffer zone between Israel and Egypt and Gaza and will leave Israel in a very precarious position. Obama’s disastrous deal has given Iran freedom to do whatever it wants. Russia and Iran know their window is less than two years because by then America will have a new President that will be stronger than Obama. Israel is also aware of this time limit too …but much can still happen under the current US President that will put Israel into further danger.

Isaiah foresaw this aspect of our tragic events of today… “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those wise in their own eyes, and bright in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21

Israel is situated along the border between the African Tectonic Plate and the Arabian Tectonic Plate. The border between these two plates forms part of the Great Rift Valley, the world’s most extensive geological fault, which extends southward through eastern Africa as far south as Mozambique. In the North, Israel’s enemies are Hezbollah from Lebanon and ISIS in Syria together with Iranian supporting Assad’s Syrian regime to North East, on the East lays Jordan and Egypt in the South with who stands shaky peace deals …and Hamas in Gaza who seek Israel’s destruction and who have vowed to “push Israel into the Sea.” To the West is the Mediterranean Sea a huge border that often sees so-called “peace flotilla’s” from Turkey and other activists provoking Israel and threatening her right to exist. One day God will save Israel from her enemies! The forces of darkness and evil are marching toward the Holy Land for a day of judgement!

The Gog/Magog alliance of Ezekiel 38/9 continues to take shape as Turkey, Iran and Russia are co-ordinating their moves more than ever before... Iranian weapons are now smuggled into the so-called "West Bank" to weaken and try to attack Israel from within.

So what can we do about this…? Our relationship with Almighty God must be at the very heart of our existence. Yeshua (Jesus) tells us exactly how to approach these End Time days…"And take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts are weighed down with headaches and drinking and anxieties of this life; and that day should suddenly come on you; for it shall come as a snare on all those sitting on the face of the whole earth. Watch, therefore, praying in every season that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things which shall occur, and to stand before the Son of Man," Luke 21:34-36. We need to remain in God’s Word and not be allured by the deceits of this age with its ungodly distractions…"Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever," 1 John 2:15-17.

God is in the process of bringing this evil age of man to a close but first He will teach the nations some very hard lessons just as Yeshua warned us of events preceding His return… "For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled," Luke 21:22. In Revelation 4:1, just after John hears the "trumpet" and is caught up to heaven in a prophetic event that has been equated to be a reference to the future "Rapture" of the Church… "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, ‘Come and See!" John describes hearing something that sounded similar to thunder just before the opening events of the Great Tribulation begin to unfold on the Earth in Revelation 6:1. Could it be that what John heard was a Nuclear Explosion…? Time will tell!

The Bible contains two kinds of information – that which is checkable and that which is not. If the Scriptures prove accurate …and it is infallibly so, that it can be examined and verified and confirmed in Bible prophecy, archaeology and most of all in God’s Word! Therefore it stands to reason that it CAN also be trusted in areas that are not physically verifiable …but for the promise of forgiveness of sins, Salvation and the hope of eternal life. Let us, therefore, embrace our Bible with joy, submitting to those requirements that are made of us in this Age …and embracing the promises pledged by its Holy Author, God.

We most sincerely believe that God WILL bless you for your faithfulness and love for His Land and His chosen people, Israel. God’s Word is true! He IS watching to see how the nations are treating His people (the Jews). God will have mercy on Israel through Gentile believers acting as mediators towards them… This is one of the most amazing revelations ever given to the church – an opportunity to do something that carries the highest priority in the heart of God. Yet… sadly, so few have seen the potential and the rewards of serving God in this manner, as agents of mercy to Israel and the Jewish people! Israel was and still is despised today… and a despisable nation continually turning away from God but nothing ever altered the purpose of God for that nation. The despised element is always a noticeable element in the purpose of God. When the Saviour of the world came, He came of that despised nation; like Israel… He Himself was "despised and rejected by men," …and there is that despised element, "things that are despised God has chosen," 1 Corinthians 1:28. Now more than at any time is the time to support Israel and the Jewish people… the Lord’s Brethren!

We hope that you enjoy and become more informed by our work. We serve an awesome God and we are humbled by this opportunity to bring you this information. With Shalom to you and your family always,

Alf & Julie Saunders

01^st November, 2015

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