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Wednesday, 30 March 2016
HERE ARE THE LATEST PROPHECY NEWS WATCH HEADLINES FOR YOU TO PERUSE!
"NORTH KOREA THREATENS WASHINGTON WITH NUCLEAR ATTACK IN NEW VIDEO" FROM THE CUTTING EDGE DR JOHN McTERNAN!!
New post on John McTernan's Insights |  |
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Tuesday, 29 March 2016
"THE RAPTURE IS IN THE AIR - PART TWO" BY PETE GARCIA FROM "THE OMEGA LETTER"!!
The Rapture's in the Air: Part 2 - Pete Garcia -http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8218
It is only natural for those who are watching the deteriorating conditions in the world today, too want to abandon the idea of the "blessed hope" in favor of 'prepping' for The Tribulation. History has, after all, shown us that fortune favors the prepared. But just as it is with our eternal salvation, our deliverance from this coming time isn't dependent upon our efforts but on what Christ has already done. After all, isn't that what distinguishes Christianity from every other faith-system? In other words, the 'blessed hope' goes against man-centered logic and puts the onus of salvation completely in God's hands.
Consider the two examples Christ gave us with Noah and Lot. What manner of prepping (aside from what God told them to do specifically) could Noah and Lot have done to 'weather the storm'? What bunker or high place could have saved Noah from the flood waters which covered the earth? What fortifications could Lot have done to make his house 'judgment-proof'? In either case, their deliverance wasn't dependent upon themselves to find a way through it, but as they were instructed by God.
NOWHERE in the NT epistles does the Church find instruction to prepare for the 70th Week of Daniel. The only way people can come to that conclusion is if they take information intended for another audience, and then misapply it to themselves. Such is the case with the confusion over the Olivet Discourse and Revelation 4-19.
Who's who in the Tribulation?
We now turn to Daniel's 70 Weeks Prophecy for further clarification of who this particular time is for. The future 70th week of Daniel then is a seven year, "week of years" and is the summation of the entire 70 Weeks (490 years) prophecy as was given to the Prophet Daniel by the angel Gabriel. Daniel 9:24 states;
"Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
If you were to take the whole passage of Daniel 9 in context, it becomes abundantly clear who Daniel was asking forgiveness for and on behalf of...that being national Israel. Here, we see the angel Gabriel comes to assure Daniel that God has a plan for the Jew's (your people) and for Jerusalem (your holy city). Again, the Church is nowhere to be seen in this, as Daniel (along with all the other OT prophets) had no concept of who or what the mystery of the Church was then, because it had not yet been revealed, and wouldn't be, until Christ first does in Matthew 16:17-20. Even then, Christ doesn't go into the details about the specifics of the Church, He will save that task for the Apostle Paul, many years later. And just as we don't see the Church in the first 69 weeks, neither will we in the 70th week.
As another point of confirmation, we see in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus addressing the Church (ecclesia) 19 times in chapters 1-3...yet doesn't mention the ecclesia anymore from chapters 4-19 while describing the 21 divine Judgments that are poured out upon the earth. Critics will argue that this is an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening. Note this as well, the phrase He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches accompanies each of the seven letters to the seven churches. Yet, inside the seven year Tribulation, we see this warning given in Revelation 13:9, which states if anyone has an ear, let him hear. If the Church were still in the Tribulation, this would have been the perfect opportunity to mention it.
At best, critics of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture liken the term 'saints' as the Church on the earth during the Tribulation. I'd like to point out, that 'saints' is a fairly generic term, which is used before, during, and after Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. So the usage of 'saints' as an indicator of who one is, must be understood in light of the context in which it is given. Jesus specifically addresses the Church as ecclesia, and is liberal in the usage of it in the first three chapters of Revelation. If the ecclesia is in the Tribulation, why neglect it for the next 17 chapters? If you were reading a story in a book and a character was regularly mentioned for the first three chapters, and then not mentioned again...wouldn't that strike you as odd? The burning question it should leave you unsettled with is...what happened to them?
The Restrainer
One of the most significant points in understanding why the Church is not inside the confines of the seven year Tribulation, is that Paul exhorts and corrects the Thessalonians in his second epistle that they can't already be inside that specific time period (as someone had erroneously taught them), because the man of lawlessness had not yet been revealed. The man of lawlessness can't be revealed, until the Restrainer is removed. The Restrainer can't be removed, until the apostasia has arrived. See the sequential process in 2 Thess. 2:3-8;
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
1."Falling away"; apostasia occurs first
2.This occurs in conjunction with the removal of the Restrainer
3.And then the lawless one will be revealed
The apostasia, must be a singular event. Why is that you ask? Well, apostasy has been present in this world since the 1st century as Paul, Peter, Jude, John, early church fathers, etc. all have had to contend with it in their respective days, even until today. If apostasia simply means the KJV rendering of "falling away"....which "falling away" is it then? Paul dealt with Judaizers. John and Peter dealt with Gnostics. The ECF's dealt with heresies of all kinds. We have Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Roman Catholicism, and cults of every flavor to contend with these days. The current theory is the 'general falling away' across greater Christendom through ecumenism with heretical and non-Christian faiths. So which is it then and why would God give us such an unspecific sign that could be used in every single generation? And why do those who argue against imminence, then use apostasia as a type of imminence in their argumentation?
This author (along with others), believes that the apostasia is the actual departure at the Rapture. This concept of apostasia is tied to the removal of the Restrainer. Consider the identifying characteristics of the Restrainer who is first identified in a gender neutral identity (what is--vs. 6), then in the masculine form (He--vs. 7).
Were this speaking of Michael the Archangel, or the Antichrist himself, or Satan, they could only be referred to as a 'he' or 'him', since they are masculine in embodiment. Were the restrainer human government or religion, or some other type of institution, the restrainer would be a thing, and not referred to with a personal pronoun. The only One who this could be referring to is neither male, female, or human in any type of bodily form...yet, is also a living Being, so as to distinguish Him from simply being a 'thing'...which is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a 'He' numerous times in John 14-16, and thus we should conclude, that the clues Paul leaves here can only reference God the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, this Restrainer, must be God the Holy Spirit, since evil is present simultaneously all over the created order, and the Restrainer must be powerful enough to curtail it. We see in verse 9; The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. It first removes the Satan as a candidate, since Satan wouldn't hinder himself. Secondly, it removes Michael the Archangel since Michael doesn't (or doesn't presently) confront Satan with anything more than a rebuke. (Jude 1:9)
It would seem that just as it was in Creation (Gen. 1:2), in Noah's day (Gen. 6:3), and again before and after Pentecost, (Acts 2), there is coming a time when the Holy Spirit's active role here on the earth will be changed. To clarify something that often gets misconstrued, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, and so it's not that He disappears from the earth altogether, but His role changes, just as it had in the past with Creation, during the OT period, at Pentecost, and now during the Church Age. He will be removing (the apostasia) the Body of Christ via the harpazo (catching up) of those He permanently seals and indwells (John 14:16, Romans 8:9, Ephesians 4:30) in order for the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) to be revealed.
Imminence
I've recently had someone argue against the doctrine of imminence by stating that since Peter was foretold that he was going to have to die in a certain manner that this rules out imminence since Peter would not expect to be taken up in the Rapture prior to that. (John 21:18-19)
For me, that argument carries very little weight and seems to ignore the general expectation that Paul, John, James, and the others had in regards to keeping that 'blessed hope' alive, even in their generation. Marshall Hawkins writes concerning this "seeming" dilemma;
Time for this gap between Peter's middle age and his old age is allowed for by the progress of revelation. It was not until the book of James (written just about A.D. 50), and then later in Paul's writings that the imminence of the rapture is revealed. Twenty years would have elapsed between the prophecy and the writing of James-enough time for Peter to have aged sufficiently. . . . By this time imminence was a viable doctrine for most of the church since they would have no idea whether Peter was alive at any one moment or not. . . . For those accompanying Peter at this time, the rapture was also imminent because Peter may have been seized and martyred at any time, making the rapture possible immediately afterward. Marshall Hawkins, "Rebuttal of the Posttribulational Denial of Imminence" (Unpublished ThM thesis, Capital Bible Seminary, 1979), p. 45. Cited in McAvoy, "Critique," p. 83
Let me conclude this discussion on imminence with a sampling of passages linking our faith, with the biblical significance of imminence; 1 Corinthians 1:7, 1 Corinthians 16:22, Philippians 3:20, Philippians 4:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 1 Timothy 6:14, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 9:28, James 5:7-9, 1 Peter 1:13, Jude 21, Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20, Revelation 22:17, 20
[Excerpts from Dr. Tommy Ice's Imminence and the Rapture]
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, a believer's supernatural deliverance in Scripture, is in direct relationship to the size and scope of God's judgment. When the 70th Week comes, it will encompass the entire world and there will be no place for man to escape to on the earth, thus explaining the reason why the removal of the Church (those born-again believers), has to be off-planet. This reasoning fits exactly with what Jesus states in Revelation 3:10...
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
The Mid-Trib, Pre-Wrath, and Post-Tribulation views try to promote the notion that 'prepared' believers are somehow exempted from the judgments and persecution that will come upon believers during the Tribulation. Yet, we see in Rev. 6:9-11 and 13:7 martyrdom has become global, and that the Antichrist is given permission to overcome the 'saints' completely. In fact, the ONLY ones' who are sealed supernaturally, are those 144,000 Jews from the twelve tribes of Israel, who are listed out by their respective tribes. (Rev. 7:1-8) So the question then becomes....what exactly is the believer 'kept from' during the Tribulation? It would seem martyrdom is the only sure guarantee...which negates the idea of being 'kept from'.
The only view, which ensures and supports the biblical view of imminence is the Pre-Tribulation view. The Tribulation is a highly chronicled time, broken down by days (2,520), months (42 x 2), and years (3 ½ x 2) and marked by 21 divine judgments, with a clear halfway-point (Matt. 24:15) that separates the first half of the 70th week, from the last half. The question then is, how can any view outside the Pre-Trib view be considered imminent, (no man knows the day or hour) when there are so many clear signs and markers inside the confines of the 70th Week, which count down to the day the Lord will return at His Second Coming?
The only view which correctly defines the apostasia, the Restrainer, and the role each play in accordance to the revelation of the man of lawlessness, AND also fits perfectly with chronological nature of Revelation 1-6 beginning with the Churches, the Rapture of John, the Throne Room scene, and Christ opening of the Seal Judgments, is the Pre-Tribulation view.
The only view which is in keeping with the biblical purpose of "the why" of the Tribulation, is the Pre-Tribulation view. Jeremiah 30:7-11 and Daniel 9:24-27, very specifically teach that this time is for the Christ rejecting world, and for the nation of Israel. This then correlates perfectly to the obvious absence of the "ecclesia" from Revelation 4 onwards.
The only view which properly defines divine wrath consistently, and in keeping with the principles laid out throughout the Bible, is the Pre-Tribulation view. Again, trials and persecutions in this life are to be expected. That is NOT the same thing as the wrath that God pours out in His indignation.
The only view, which takes the biblical understanding of salvation, both eternal and physical, and puts it solely in God's hands, is that of the Pre-Tribulation view. Our 'blessed hope' isn't dependent upon our own ability to preserve ourselves, but in placing our faith in a God who is faithful to His word, and that He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
Lastly, if the Rapture were in conjunction with the Second Coming, the passage below would make no sense. If the Rapture were at some point inside the Tribulation (which Christ said would be the most horrific time in human history), would makes no sense. The only way this passage makes sense, is if the Rapture happens before the Tribulation begins. Therefore...
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3
Monday, 28 March 2016
ISIS SENDS 400 TRAINED ATTACKING FIGHTERS INTO EUROPE TO CONDUCT TERROR OPERATIONS!!!
More Islamic Terror Coming: ISIS Has Sent 400 Trained Fighters Into Europe
BY MICHAEL SYNDER/ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG MARCH 28, 2016
As you will see below, the Associated Press is reporting that ISIS has specially trained "at least 400 attackers" and has already sent them into Europe with specific instructions to conduct terror operations. So Barack Obama may not think that we have anything to be concerned about, but the facts on the ground tell us a completely different story.
Thanks to Europe's openness to "war refugees" from Syria, it is very easy for radical jihadists to get into countries such as France, Belgium and Germany. And once they are on European soil, there are plenty of other disgruntled Islamic refugees that they can recruit to their cause.
Europe stands on the precipice of the greatest terror crisis that it has ever known, and the attacks that are coming next are likely to be far more deadly than anything we have seen so far.
As I mentioned above, the Associated Press is reporting that ISIS has already sent at least 4003 trained fighters into Europe for the purpose of conducting terror attacks...
Security officials have told The Associated Press that the Islamic State group has trained at least 400 attackers and sent them into Europe for terror attacks.
The network of interlocking, agile and semiautonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria. The officials, including European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French lawmaker who follows the jihadi networks, describe camps designed specifically to train for attacks against the West.
And just in case you were tempted to think that this threat was not real, you may want to consider what happened in France on Thursday.
According to NBC News, police in Paris were able to foil a terror attack that was in "the advanced stages"of planning...
Raids in northwest Paris have foiled a terrorist attack, French officials said late Thursday.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve gave a press conference in Paris announcing there was an operation underway in Argenteuil, a commune in the northwest suburbs of Paris.
One man was arrested Thursday morning Cazeneuve said, adding that the operation thwarted a potential attack. Police were raiding his home again later Thursday evening.
The suspect was a French national who was in "the advanced stages" of a terror plot, the minister said, calling it a "major arrest."
Of course much of the rest of the world is already solidly in the grip of Islamic terror. The number of people killed by Islamic terror attacks has been increasing year after year, but the western media only seems to get excited when an attack happens in North America or Europe.
For instance, did you even hear about the horrific Islamic terror attack that happened in the Ivory Coast earlier this month? Gunmen opened fire on a very crowded beach in a key resort area on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the bloodshed. The following comes from the New York Times...
Gunmen opened fire on picnickers and swimmers enjoying a perfect day at three beach resort hotels near the Ivory Coast s capital on Sunday, killing 16 people and leaving bodies strewn across the bloodstained sand. It was the third major attack in West Africa since November, and verified fears that the spread of terrorism across the region was far from over.
The attack, on the first sunny Sunday in weeks, took place in Grand-Bassam, a popular palm tree-lined getaway for Ivorians and foreigners. Fourteen civilians and two members of the country's special forces were killed, as well as six gunmen, according to a spokeswoman for the president.
So why do we get so bent out of shape when there is an attack in France or Belgium, but not when there is an attack in the Ivory Coast?
And what does that say about us?
As ISIS and other Islamic terror groups conduct more attacks in North America and Europe, the pressure to conduct military action in the Middle East is going to become very intense. For a long time I have been warning about the potential for World War III to erupt in Syria, and U.S. troops are already taking on a more prominent role in Iraq.
In fact, the International Business Times is reporting that U.S. marines are now on the front line in the fight against the Islamic State...
The Islamic State group is trying to retake control of the oil fields it lost two years ago in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan by launching rockets at Kurdish and Iraqi soldiers. In an attempt to earn back the massive amount of cash it used to fund its international terrorism in 2014, the group has focused its resources on attacking Makhmur, a city just 75 miles miles from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. So far, the group, also known as ISIS, has succeeded in outgunning the Iraqi forces in the city, but a new contingent of American Marines might change the outcome on the ground.
"Several weeks ago, thousands of Iraqi troops began occupying a tactical assembly area in Makhmur. This is part of the force generation associated with the liberation of Mosul, Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, said in a press briefing this week. Mosul is the de facto ISIS headquarters in Iraq. "These Iraqi forces, along with their coalition advisers, require force protection, Warren said. "So we constructed a small fire base to do just that."
The U.S. Marines in Iraq are on the front line and have been tasked with protecting Iraqi units in Makhmur a scenario President Barack Obama wanted to avoid as long as possible during his time in office.
And what happens when ISIS or another terror group is able to set off a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon in a major western city?
That would change the world literally overnight.
As I have been warning, most people have no idea how incredibly fragile our society truly is. Humanity has created weapons that are frighteningly powerful, and it is only a matter of time before terrorists acquire these weapons and begin using them.
The free and open society that we are all enjoying today is on borrowed time.
All it is going to take is the detonation of a single weapon of mass destruction in a major western city and everything will change.
OBAMA AND HIS GOVERNMENT AT EASTER AS THEY IGNORE THE MUSLIM SLAUGHTER OF OVER 10,000 CHRISTIANS, AND THE DESTRUCTION OF 13,000 CHURCHES IN NIGERIA!!
Sunday, 27 March 2016
LISTEN TO THE AWESOME SPEECH GIVEN BY DONALD TRUMP ABOUT ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST AT THE "AIPAC" MEETING!!
AWESOME SPEECH about Israel and the Middle East by Donald Trump at AIPAC
Posted in General
AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee By BI: FYI: Leftist Jews hate Donald Trump and this speech won’t win them over because they aren’t particularly fond of the State of Israel, either. They are just like leftist Christians whose real religion is ‘Leftism.’
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THE PRO-ISLAM OBAMA, EVEN AFTER THE BRUSSELS ATROCITIES, SAYS THAT MUSLIM AMERICANS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTNERS AGAINST TERROR!!
Obama After Brussels Attack: Muslim Americans Are Most Important Partners Against Terror
By
“Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:1 (The Israel Bible™)
“Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:1 (The Israel Bible™)
President Barack Obama greets members of the audience after he delivers remarks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque and Al-Rahmah School in Baltimore, Maryland, Feb. 3, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
In the wake of deadly terror attacks in Brussels, US President Barack Obama stated that it was important to avoid measures that might “stigmatize” Muslims-Americans – but the Republican presidential candidates did not agree.
In his weekly media address, President Obama responded to the double attack in Brussels that left 31 dead and approximately 300 wounded. Two of the dead and 14 of the wounded were American citizens. The Islamic State (ISIS) took responsibility for the attack.
Obama said that targeting Muslims would be “counterproductive”.
“[Muslim-Americans are] our most important partners in the nation’s fight against those who would wage violent jihad. That’s why we have to reject any attempt to stigmatize Muslim-Americans, and their enormous contributions to our country and our way of life,” Obama said. “Such attempts are contrary to our character, to our values, and to our history as a nation built around the idea of religious freedom. It’s also counterproductive.”
“It plays right into the hands of terrorists who want to turn us against one another — who need a reason to recruit more people to their hateful cause,” Obama addded.
Obama’s comments were in response to those by Republican candidates.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz called for “law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized. We need to secure the southern border to prevent terrorist infiltration. And we need to execute a coherent campaign to utterly destroy Isis.”
“The days of the United States voluntarily surrendering to the enemy to show how progressive and enlightened we can be are at an end,” Cruz added.
“Radical Islam is at war with us. For over seven years we have had a president who refuses to acknowledge this reality. And the truth is, we can never hope to defeat this evil so long as we refuse to even name it.”
Cruz also reiterated his position to suspend the relocation of Syrian refugees to the US.
Donald Trump, whose well-known position on the issue has been the focus of much criticism, reiterated his demand for the government to temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the US.
“We have to be very careful in the US, we have to be very vigilant as to who we let in this country,” he told Fox & Friends.
He first announced this position after the shooting in San Bernadino in December, in which a Muslim Pakistani American and his wife killed 14 people in a terror attack. Trump’s position was received with horror by many, but solidified his support on the right. Trump is currently the front-runner for the GOP nomination.
Trump also advocated using torture on to extract information about terrorism.
“If they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding,” Trump said on NBC’s Today Show. “You have to get the information from people.”
Hillary Clinton referred to the attacks as a result of “radical jihadism”, saying the terrorists “seek to undermine the democratic values that are the foundation of our alliance and our way of life.”
She objected to torture and closed borders as being counter-productive.
"LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA" BY THE SPLENDID WENDY WIPPEL FROM "THE OMEGA LETTER"!!
Love in the Time of Cholera
By Wendy Wippel
By Wendy Wippel
Of all the moments in human history in which the continued existence of God’s chosen people has been in peril (admittedly, there are lots of them, and still more to come) the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrian potentate Sennacherib certainly ranks right up there. Yep. Near the top of the list in the magnitude of Jerusalem’s danger. And in the method of its deliverance.
Sennacherib, you see, was a man with something to prove. His father (Sargon) had dutifully given his son a top administrative post in his kingdom, but he also made it clear to those within the Assyrian kingdom (and their enemies abroad) that he had little regard for his son’s abilities to rule or conquer.
Then Daddy died. And Sennacherib set about changing world opinion. Through world domination.
Sennacherib’s own records (inscribed on the stone cylinder known as the Taylor Prism) lists his many victories:
“Merodach-baladan, king of Babylonia, together with the army of Elam, on the plain of Kish… I seized .his palace, …I entered jubilantly. opened his treasure-house: gold, silver, vessels of god and silver, precious stones of every name, goods and property without limit, …—all his artisans, as many as there were, his palace servants I brought out, and I counted as spoil. …, seventy-five of his strong walled cities of Chaldea, and 420 small cities of their area I surrounded, I conquered, I carried off their spoil. The Arabs, Arameans, and Chaldeans who were in Erech, Nippur, Kish, Harsagkalamma, Kutha and Sippar, together with the citizens, the rebels I brought out and counted as booty. The Tu'muna, Rihihu, Yadakku, Ubudu, Kibrê, Malahu, Gurumu, Ubulu, Damunu, Gambulu, Hindaru, Ru'ûa, Bukudu, Hamrânu, Hagarânu, Nabatu, Li'tâu, I conquered all of them. 208,000 people, great and small,,I carried off to Assyria. The warriors of Hirimme, wicked enemies, I cut down with the sword…Their corpses I hung on stakes, surrounding the city. . The cities of Bît-Kilamzah, Hardishpi, and Bît-Kubatti, their strong, walled cities I besieged, I captured. People, horses, mules, asses, cattle, and sheep I brought out from their midst and counted as booty .and their small cities, which were beyond numbering, destroyed, I devastated, and I turned into ruins. The houses of the steppe I set on fire and turned them into flames”.
And that was just his first campaign.
The inscription goes on for seven more campaigns, but you get the idea. When Sennacherib came after you, you were pretty much toast. The entire account of his victories lists literally hundreds of towns and peoples that Sennacherib came against, and that Sennacherib destroyed.
Without an ounce of pity.
Somewhere in the middle of that the Taylor Prism inscription? It describes Sennacherib’s campaign against Jerusalem.
Somewhere in the middle of that the Taylor Prism inscription? It describes Sennacherib’s campaign against Jerusalem.
But let’s hear the Bible’s version first:
“Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.”
He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them. And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. II Kings 18:1-13 NKJV
Hezekiah was the best king Israel had had in a while, but he knew the destruction Sennacherib had already wrought on their neighbors, and when Samaria fell, he started getting nervous. So instead of trusting God, he tries to ward off the threat. In fact, as the next verses tell us, Hezekiah tries to buy Sennacherib off:
Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.’ II Kings 18:14-16
Sennacherib, predictably, happily took the gold but continued to ready for the attack. And worse, tried to exploit Hezekiah’s lack of faith:
‘So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?” II Kings 19:9-13
Sennacherib made his point. Nobody else had survived his Assyrian forces. And it seemed like Jerusalem was about to suffer the same fate as the hundreds of cities that had fallen before Sennacherib’s armies.
The scriptures tell us what happened next:
“Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, You alone.” II Kings 19:15-19
The passage then tells us how God’s response to Hezekiah’s prayer:
And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home. II Kings 19:35-36
Sennacherib took his ball and went home.
The really interesting thing here, however, is that God had promised His people, not all that long before this, "that The LORD your God, He will go over before you, and he will destroy these nations from before you." (Deuteronomy 31:3)
Earlier texts, also, tell us that,
"Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him. Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?" II Chronicles 32:1-4
The same chapter also tells us that,
"This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David.” II Chronicles 32:30
So let’s recap the situation. Thousands of hostile troops camped right outside Jerusalem’s walls (eating, sleeping, urinating and defecting. (Gross but true.) Fresh water was in the city, but only stagnant water available outside.
And in one night, those thousands of hostile troops are all dead.
Interestingly, there’s a very natural—but nonetheless God ordained, explanation for the mysterious death of all the hopeful Assyrian invaders. One specific disease that- out of the blue, seemingly-- can cause that kind of rapid death.
Cholera.
A disease which has caused millions of deaths in all parts of the world, caused by sewage mingling with stagnant water. A disease that can kill hundreds of thousands in a manner of hours.
So there is no more perfect scenario for a cholera epidemic than exactly what the Bible describes; thousands of people camped in a confined area relying on only stagnant water to stay alive.
While fresh water remained available right across the wall.
God went before. And, as always, He has their back.
“O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption." Psalm 130:7