2010 In Review

Documentation for every aspect of this report may be found on the corresponding topic pages in Prophecy Central and Apologetics Central.

Scripture quotations are from the New International Version. Hypertext links to Scriptures are to the King James Version in the Blue Letter Bible.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. – Matthew 24:6-7

GlobalSecurity.org listed 37 armed conflicts in the world at the end of the year. Again, Iran has technically escaped this list because it is not directly involved in warfare. The United States has continued involvement in four wars.

One war that was never settled since its inception in 1953 is the Korean conflict. North Korea has developed nuclear warfare capabilities and has apparently helped Iran and Syria in their nuclear ambitions. In March satellite images revealed that the North Korean’s were helping Iran build a rocket launch site to send Iran's new Simorgh missile into space. And that rocket could be transformed into an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

Recently North Korea has have engaged in provocative rhetoric and actions against South Korea . In November they shelled an island near the border between the two countries, killing four people. South Korea then conducted the largest military exercise in its history near the border, which, in turn, prompted North Korea's armed forces minister to declare that their country is ready for a "sacred war of justice" using a nuclear deterrent.

China has become a major factor on the world economic scene, and is in the process of greatly improving its military might as well. In November a mysterious contrail in the Pacific Ocean 30 miles off the coast of Southern California was never identified, but after examining the television videos of the event, two military experts said they believe it was the launching of a missile, probably from a submerged Chinese nuclear submarine close to America's coastline. If so, it is thought that China was trying to send a message to Washington. At that time President Obama was abroad trying to lessen concern by China about our country's out-of-control deficit in spending.

In December Adm. Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said that he believes China has achieved "initial operational capability" for its Dong Feng 21D "carrier killer" missile. The device was designed to sink an aircraft carrier. It might still take a decade to fully implement all the systems that are involved, but once it finished it could be a game-changer in the Asian security environment where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers have ruled the waves there since the end of World War II.

Under the general heading of war, we now consider three special aspects of this problem in the light of Bible prophecy.

1 - Iran’s Nuclear Development

Ever since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Shiite Muslim leaders in Iran have taken the lead in spreading Islamic law (Sharia) and encouraging the activities of terrorists against Israel, especially through Hezbollah in Lebanon. Their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. The country has been censured repeatedly by the United Nations and various countries for their apparent plans to produce nuclear weapons.

They claim that their nuclear program, which has been in progress for many years, is only meant to produce nuclear power. However, the evidence is clear that they are planning to produce weapons of mass destruction. And unlike other nuclear powers so far, Iran might well use such weapons to destroy Israel even though it would result in their own destruction. Ahmadinejad has stated that he believes it is his role to help usher in the Shiite Messiah, “The Twelfth Imam,” Muhammad al-Mahdi. Their prophecies indicate that this person, who was supposedly hidden by Allah, will return to save the world when it is in a state of chaos.

Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, the hard-line spiritual mentor of Iran's president, wrote a book calling for the production of the "special weapons" that are a monopoly of a few nations. This is apparently a veiled reference to nuclear arms. In September a report to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran already had enough enriched uranium to make three nuclear devices, but it would need to speed up enrichment from 20 percent to 90 percent.

Russian Leadership
Russia has been Iran’s primary source of expertise to build their nuclear reactor. Construction on Iran's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr was begun in 1975. In August the Russians began to install nuclear fuel in the facility. Iran claimed this as a great victory, but a mysterious computer virus called “Stuxnet,” appeared that evidently targeted only Iranian nuclear facilities, and caused malfunction of some of their equipment, delaying the actual start of the power generating station.

Meanwhile, US relations with Russia have become less friendly. In June the FBI uncovered a Russian spy ring and arrested 11 suspects.. They said that the accused spies were able to get close to a scientist working with "bunker-buster" nuclear bombs and a New York financier with powerful political ties.

In December, the US Senate ratified the START treaty that limits nuclear devices. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was was pleased with the development but he added that Russian legislators will now study the Senate resolution before they would also ratify the treaty. The New START treaty, signed by Obama and Medvedev in April, would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. US analysts complain that the treaty does not include adequate inspection provisions to insure Russian compliance.

The War of Gog and Magog
Russia’s support of Iran, the declared enemy of Israel, and the strained relations between Russia and the US remind prophecy students again of Ezekiel’s prediction about the rebirth of the nation of Israel (Chapters 36 & 37), which, of course, took place in 1948, and of a great war against Israel (Chapters 38 & 39) that has not yet been fulfilled. Many prophecy scholars call this “The War of Gog and Magog” and relate it to the Second Seal of Revelation 6:3-4. The Seven Seals are developments during the future seven-year “Tribulation” period. The First Seal is the introduction of a world leader (The Beast). The second seal is a great war. According to Ezekiel 38:1-2, the leader of this offensive is “Gog,” the head of the land of “Magog.”

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; prophesy against him.”

Magog has been identified since before the rise of the Soviet Union as the area of Russia and the countries nearby. Magog and his allies are nations that have developed from some of Noah’s descendants in Genesis 10. They include other lands north of Israel, but also Persia, which is modern Iran; Cush, the ancient name for Ethiopia; and Put, which is Libya.

Early in the year Russia announced that Libya will be the first country in the Middle East to obtain top-of-the-line S-300 PMU-2 interceptor missile batteries from Russia. Some of the Islamic countries near Russia, which used to be part of the Soviet Union, could be allies in this coalition. Turkey, the center of the last Islamic caliphate -- disbanded by World War I, has drifted this year from attempts to become part of the EU, to open enmity with Israel. Following an Israeli capture of a ship carrying aid for Palestinians, Turkey’s very popular Prime Minister Erdogan, called for a jihad against Israel.

2-Rumors of War
“Rumors of war” are threats of war. It is not enough to have so many dreadful physical battles, but we must also endure several kinds of threats – some based on isolated attacks, such as acts of terrorism or cyber-attacks, and others based on what could happen, like nuclear war. Actually, the whole first section of our report was more about these threats than they were about conventional warfare. We will now look at some of these “rumors of war” briefly

Terrorism
Terrorism is a major fact of life in our time, but there is no universally accepted definition of the term. A simple description is “violence and attempted violence intended to produce a state of terror in the general public.” They are generally not approved by any government, although the US State Department did release a list this year of state sponsors of groups designated as terrorist. The list names four offending countries: Iran, Sudan, Cuba, and Syria. Other breeding-grounds of terrorism are the Gaza Strip, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.

Even in the US there appears to be a rising number of “home-grown” terrorists. It is truly an international problem, affecting most countries of the world. According to some sources there have been more than ten thousand terrorist attacks since the 9/11 carnage. A large percentage of them claim that they are caused by the tension between Israel and the Palestinians.

Some experts are pessimistic about ever destroying this evil since it is so widespread, and is growing by use of the Internet to communicate, educate, and train terrorists. An article in an Al Qaeda-affiliated magazine in November boasted that the recent shipping of two bombs in UPS packages was not expected to cause great damage, but to force the U.S. government to spend billions of dollars on preventive security screening measures.

Cyber War
According to the Jerusalem Post, the Stuxnet virus was the biggest Middle East story of the year. The ultra-sophisticated computer program spread like other viruses, but was designed to target Iranian nuclear facilities. Some experts say that it set Iran's nuclear weapons program back by two years. The Dec. 30 article (“Top Middle East Story of 2010: The Stuxnet virus”) states that this event is, “likely just the beginning when it comes to the use of cyberwarfare in global efforts to stop Iran. Some have compared it to the entrance of the airplane or tank into the modern battlefield.” It is assumed that Israel was behind the development of this virus, but there is no confirmation of its origin.

A visit to Prophecy Central’s “Cyberwar” page shows that other countries, including China and North Korea have been suspected of launching so-called “malware” against other countries and of stealing state secrets via the Internet. Some experts have even warned that future terrorist computer intrusions could cause a series of events that would lead to the launching of a nuclear attack

WikiLeaks
Another Internet threat is the new phenomenon of websites releasing to the public massive amounts of classified information. One high-profile example of this is Julian Assange’s “Wikileaks” website. The information is potentially very damaging. The US government says that the leaks had endangered the lives of several people working for the US in secret, and could ruin international relations between various countries. While the persons responsible for turning over the information may be guilty of treason, authorities are not sure that they have legal grounds to eliminate the website. This developing story will undoubtedly become even more serious as time goes on.

Electro-Magnetic Pulse Attack
Government officials are increasingly concerned about the possibility of the use of a nuclear device at high altitude over the United States. Such an attack would not require multiple warheads or pin-point accuracy to cause immeasurable damage to our country’s infrastructure. Therefore, a rogue state with simple nuclear capability could destroy computers all over the nation, leading to a loss of electrical power and other necessary utilities.

WorldNetDaily quoted Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, who warned, "Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can't support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity."