Current News Update

Christian Adoption Agency Changes Policy

 Based in Michigan, Bethany Christian Services is the largest Christian adoption agency in the United States with operations in 32 states. They recently expanded their services to include “Christians with diverse beliefs,” now placing children with LGBT couples for foster care and adoption.

 Many evangelical and Christian leaders are disappointed in what is perceived as Bethany’s capitulation to the government rather than traditional Christian beliefs.

 Jim Daly, head of Focus on the Family, tweeted that “Bethany Christian Services should not have to choose between holding to their deeply held religious convictions and serving children and families. No government should tell any ministry how to run their ministry, let alone violate deeply held biblical principles.” 

Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote “Children need a dad and a mom in a healthy, biblical home. God’s Word is clear.”

Xavier Becerra Confirmed by Senate as Health Secretary

 In a 50-49 vote, last week the U.S. Senate voted to confirm California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra, head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). One Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, joined Democrats in support of his confirmation (Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii did not vote).

 Becerra is radically pro-abortion. He sued Little Sisters of the Poor -- Catholic nuns – to force their health care plan to pay for contraception which goes against their deeply held religious beliefs. Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Becerra prosecuted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for their investigation of Planned Parenthood and the sale of aborted babies’ body parts. He attacked pro-life pregnancy centers attempting to force them to promote government-mandated messaging on abortion inside their facilities and in their advertising. Becerra also “successfully” led the fight through appeals to reinstate California’s law legalizing assisted suicide.

 Last year, along with 15 other attorneys general, Becerra called on the Trump administration and the HHS to end its research ban on fetal tissue to aid the US’s medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not a stretch to believe that now he is head of the HHS, this will be reinstated as well. He is hardly the moderate nominee put forward by President Joe Biden.

Abortion and the Equality Act

 While it is noted that the Equality Act will expand LGBTQ+ protections at the expense of religious freedom, there are provisions in the act to boost the abortion industry. Refusing to participate in an abortion could qualify as sex discrimination because of the way the Equality Act has drafted a new definition to include abortion as a medical condition.

 The Equality Act would also eliminate protections for pro-life individuals and entities from participating in practices that violate their sincere moral, ethical, or religious convictions. This act considers disagreements about fundamental moral and religious beliefs to be discrimination. Health care providers, hospitals and health insurance plans could be discriminating on the basis of sex if they refused to perform, allow or cover abortions.

Catholic Clergy May Not Bless Same-Sex Unions

 Earlier this month, the Vatican responded to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless same-sex unions by releasing a formal document stating God “does not and cannot bless sin.”

 Approved by Pope Francis, a written answer clarifies that any sexual activity outside of marriage – an indissoluble union of a man and a woman – goes against God’s design. Since gay unions are not intended to be a part of that plan, they cannot be blessed by the church.

 The article reinforced that the church would welcome and bless gay people, treating them with respect, compassion, sensitivity and without discrimination.

Israeli Elections

 At the time of this writing, Benjamin [Bibi] Netanyahu does not have enough support to form a right-wing majority government. The Israeli election consisted of 13 different parties passing a threshold to hold seats in the Knesset. Each party will join with others in forming coalitions.  

The pro-Netanyahu coalition needs 61 seats to form a government, but it looks like they will only have 52 solid seats. The anti-Netanyahu coalition has only 50 seats.  

Joel Rosenburg writes in the All Israel News that “all eyes are on an obscure Arab-Israeli political leader named Mansour Abbas and his Ra’am party.” Ra’am, an Islamist political party, is Israel’s equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood. “Now Netanyahu has a huge decision to make – will he try to persuade Abbas to join his team? If he does, and is successful, that could, in theory, give Bibi 64 seats,” said Rosenburg.   

Continue to pray for the uncertain leadership and continued political gridlock in Israel.

Israeli Government Dissolves, New Elections on the Way

Israel’s divided government collapsed last year on December 23, thus triggering a need for the country’s fourth election in under two years. The next election will be held on March 23 and brings an unprecedented threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lengthy stay as prime minister.

Netanyahu finds himself confronted by a trio of disgruntled former aides who share his hard-line ideology, led by a popular lawmaker who recently broke away from the prime minister’s Likud party. Whether Netanyahu can fend off these challengers or not, the country is almost certain to be led by a right-wing politician opposed to concessions to the Palestinians, complicating hopes of the Biden administration to restart peace talks.

The prospects of Israel’s center-left bloc appear worse than in previous contests because its leader, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, entered the ill-fated alliance with Netanyahu. Gantz has lost the support of much of his disappointed base and the bloc has been left leaderless.

Netanyahu and Gantz formed their coalition last May after battling to a stalemate in three consecutive elections. They said they were putting aside their personal rivalry to form an “emergency” government focused on guiding the country through the health and economic crises caused by the pandemic. Under the deal, Gantz assumed the new role of “alternate prime minister” and was assured he would trade places with Netanyahu next November in a rotation agreement halfway through their term.

The immediate cause of the collapse was their failure to pass a budget. That caused the parliament to automatically dissolve and set new elections for late March. In the previous three elections, Netanyahu was unable to put together a majority coalition with his traditional religious and nationalist allies. Yet he controlled enough seats to prevent his opponents from cobbling together an alternate coalition.

According to recent opinion polls, that equation may be changing, with several rivals poised to control a parliamentary majority without him. Those rivals are led by Gideon Saar, a stalwart in Netanyahu’s Likud party who announced this month that he was breaking away and forming a new party. Saar, who once served as Netanyahu’s Cabinet secretary, has accused the prime minister of turning the Likud into a “personality cult” focused on ensuring its leader’s political survival.

If elections were held today, Saar’s party would finish second behind the Likud, appearing to give him a veto over a Netanyahu-led government, according to polls. Saar has vowed he will not serve under Netanyahu.

Naftali Bennett, another former aide who had a falling out with Netanyahu, leads a religious right-wing party that also has surged in the polls. And Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former chief of staff and a longtime Cabinet minister who now leads his own party, also says the prime minister is unfit to lead.

These rivalries are more personal than ideological, meaning Israel’s next government — led by Netanyahu or not — almost certainly will have a right-wing ideology that opposes Palestinian independence and supports continued Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. The recent polls indicate that Gantz, who appealed to left-wing voters in previous elections, may not receive enough votes to even enter the next Knesset.

Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, appears to be gaining some of those voters, but not enough to lead the next government, according to the polls. The left-wing Labor Party -- which established Israel and led the country for its first 30 years -- is not expected to cross the threshold of votes needed. The far-left Meretz party is expected to barely cross the threshold.

PRAY: Pray this election will not lead to greater instability in the region and for ultimately God’s will to be accomplished through the election.

Historic Middle East Agreement

Last week, Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations between the two nations and establish full diplomatic ties. In this agreement, led by the United States and brokered by President Donald Trump, the UAE became the first Arab country to formalize a relationship with Israel in more than 25 years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed agreed to exchange ambassadors and open each country to tourism and trade.

A joint statement released by the United States, Israel and the UAE, expressed that “this historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential of the region. All three countries face many common challenges and will mutually benefit from today’s historic achievement.”

This agreement launched the Strategic Agenda for the Middle East working to expand diplomatic, trade, and security cooperation, thus leading to better lives for ALL peoples in these regions. It also led to immediate cooperation between the nations to develop a coronavirus vaccine to help save Muslim, Jewish, and Christian lives.

As for their part of the deal, Israel said it would halt annexation in the Jordan Valley and other parts of the occupied West Bank. Iran and Turkey have both denounce the agreement. However, Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg told CBN News that he believes Turkey’s reaction to the peace deal is revealing:

“Why is that interesting? Because Turkey has a relationship [with Israel]. They have full normalization with us here in Israel. So, the idea that the would-be ‘sultan’ of Turkey is condemning a Muslim state for creating a full normalization with Israel that he already has, it’s ridiculous and it’s hypocritical.

“It’s indicative of the fact that Erdogan [Turkey’s president] is taking his country out of the western moderate camp, into the Iranian, Islamism more radical camp. And that’s a long-term, very serious problem.”

The UAE is the third Arab country to have full diplomatic ties to Israel. Egypt and Jordan are the first two Arab countries to have such a relationship with Israel.

Pray: President Erdogan and the leaders of Iran have stated in the past that they want to conquer the Holy City. We must continue to pray for the ever-changing relationships in the Middle East and for the

peace of Jerusalem.

Turkey Continues to Stir Tension in Middle East

There are growing concerns about Turkey’s military operations in northern Iraq, after Ankara began bombing areas of the country claiming it was “fighting terrorists.” Turkey began operation “Claw-Tiger” on June 17 and it seems to come in the context of Turkey launching new military attacks every month in different countries to distract from failures at home by Ankara’s leading party. Turkey has had almost a year of near-constant new conflicts and militarist saber-rattling.

Last spring and summer it threatened to invade eastern Syria, threatening US troops and the Trump administration in the process. The US tried to appease Turkey by having its anti-ISIS partners on the ground remove obstacles to Turkey’s invasion. It wasn’t enough, in October Turkey told Washington it would begin bombing the region and US troops must move. After Ankara’s October offensive, in which some 200,000 people were forced to flee, Ankara signed a deal with the Tripoli-based government in Libya to help Tripoli fight opposition groups and secure Turkey’s energy demands in the Mediterranean.

Ankara then shipped thousands of Syrians to Libya to fight and sent drones to hammer the Benghazi-based Libyan National Army. In December and January, Turkey was busy heating up the Libya conflict, before moving on to stoke tensions with Russia and the Syrian regime in Idlib. Ankara threatened to send Syrian refugees to Europe during the Idlib crises of February and March.

In April and May, Turkey returned to fighting in Libya, capturing a key military base at Watiya. Then the Ankara regime decided to increase Turkey’s airstrikes in Iraq, claiming to begin fighting the “Kurdistan Workers Party,” known as the PKK. On June 17, Turkey launched airstrikes against Yazidi areas of Sinjar and near Christian villages along the border, forcing Kurds to flee the battles. Iraq has expressed increasing concern about the attacks, which appear to be coordinated with Iran.

Turkey has used the excuse of “fighting the PKK” to invade northern Iraq and Syria, taking over Afrin, Jarabulus and Tel Abyad, as well as to establish more than a dozen military bases. Turkey and the PKK once had a ceasefire before 2015, but it broke down. Since then, Turkey has claimed it has a right to bomb anywhere that members of groups linked to the PKK exist. This includes bombing unarmed people who are members of far-left groups that Turkey labels “PKK.” Turkey has produced no information that these groups are involved in armed attacks on Turkey this year.

The bombings in Iraq have created tensions with Arab states, including the Gulf which opposes Turkey’s actions. This is linked to the wider regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Ankara says it expects Iraq’s cooperation. Iraq has internal troubles with ISIS insurgents and disputes between the US and Iran, as well as Iranian-backed militias mobilized across the country. This means Iraq is so divided it has trouble opposing, even diplomatically, Turkey’s actions. A variety of Iraqi officials have nevertheless spoken up about the increasing war in northern Iraq.

While some US voices have expressed concern, including a tweet by the State Department after three women were killed in a Turkish air strike in Syria, most remain silent. Representative Jim Cooper from Nashville tweeted over the weekend that he was extremely disturbed by reports of “Turkish military attack on Kurdish people in Iraq.” Voices at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom have also expressed concern and called for an end to the attacks. Anytime that Turkey shows aggression in the region, Ezekiel 38-39 come to mind and it is possible that that event could happen in our lifetime.

Pray- Pray that the tensions will lessen in the Middle East and that the innocents in the region will be protected.

New Danish Bible Removes References to Israel

The Danish Bible Society has omitted dozens of references to Israel from translations of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in their new translation. Defending the deletions, the society said they prevent confusion with the modern-day country. The omissions occurred in a project titled “Bible 2020” that was published earlier this year under the society’s supervision.

A press release of the Danish Bible Society says this translation decision was made because, “for the secular reader, who does not know the Bible well, ‘Israel’ could be referring only to a country. Therefore, the word ‘Israel’ in the Greek text has been translated in other ways, so that the reader understands it is referring to the Jewish people.”

Jan Frost, a Bible enthusiast and supporter of Israel from Denmark, drew the media’s attention to the omissions on YouTube and other social networks. He counted 59 omissions out of 60 references to Israel in the Greek origin for New Testament texts. References to “the People of Israel” were replaced with “Jews,” while “Land of Israel” became “the land of Jews.” In other places, references to Israel were translated as referencing all readers or all of humanity.

The Song of Ascents from the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible, a popular Shabbat hymn for Jews, originally states that “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” In the new translation, Israel is replaced by the word “us.” A Bible Society representative told Frost that the decision was made to avoid confusing the Land of Israel with the State of Israel. However, the names of other countries from that time that still exist, such as Egypt, have not been changed.

Olivier Melnick, the Northwest Regional Director of Chosen People’s Ministries, also has came out in objection to the new translation. In a recent article, he wrote that, “Such a Bible widens the divide between Christians and Jews. At a time when antisemitism is thriving around the globe, Jewish people need to be reassured that they have Christian friends. Publishing a Bible that erases Israel is sending a clear message to the Jewish People that ‘We the Christians do not think that Israel is important enough to remain in the Bible’.

The Bible Society in Israel also issued a press release about the new translation, stating, “While all translators must make difficult decisions, those decisions must be freed, as much as humanly possible, from any interpretation foreign to the text. Even if done to accommodate for a secular Danish audience, the meaning of the word of God must not be compromised. We believe that the replacing and removing of the term “Israel” in the way that it was done in the Danish Contemporary Bible 2020 was a harmful decision which has hurt many who love the word of God, in Israel and beyond.”

These types of changes are usually put in by replacement theologians who believe that the nation of Israel has been replaced by the church and that no is no future for national Israel. That idea goes against both the promises given to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament as well as the future for the nation spoken of in the New Testament in places such as Romans 9-11. This type of thinking also laid down the foundation in Germany and other places for the rise of the type of anti-Semitism that eventually ended up in the Holocaust. Words are very important, and scholars should be careful with the types of messages they send when they replace words in translations. 

Pray- Pray for the Jewish people as anti-Semitism continues to rise once again throughout the world.

Jewish Holy Site Set on Fire

Earlier this month, reports emerged that the tomb of Esther and Mordechai had been set on fire. Located in Hamedan, Iran, the tomb was labeled a world heritage site in 2008. US-backed Radio Farda reports there was no major damage.

The tomb is traditionally believed to be the resting place of the Old Testament Queen Esther and her relative, Mordechai. Esther was the queen of the Persian King Ahasuerus. She is credited with helping save the Jewish people from being massacred. It is a popular pilgrimage site for Jews and Christians in Iran.

This is not the first time that the tomb has been desecrated. In February, members of Iranian Basij, a paramilitary unit, attempted to raid the historic site in an act of revenge against the Israeli Palestinian peace plan presented by President Donald Trump. And, Iranian authorities have threatened to destroy it and convert the site to a consular office for Palestine.

The Jerusalem Post reports US Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr condemnation of the attack, “Iran’s regime is the world’s chief state sponsor of antisemitism.” He called on the Islamic Republic to “stop incitement” and “protect its Jewish community” and its other minorities.

Several sites in Syria and Iraq sacred to Christians and Jews have also been targeted over the years by radical Muslims. In 2014, the Islamic State destroyed the tomb of Jonah in Iraq. In the Muslim mindset, anything that occurred prior to the founding of Islam is not true history and is open for destruction, especially Jewish and Christian sites and relics.

Iran ranks as the ninth-worst country in the world for Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List. Religious minorities are regularly arrested for worshiping in house churches. Muslim converts to Christianity are severely persecuted.

PRAY: Pray the Islamic forces in control of Iran will stop persecuting Christians.

Turkey and Russia Reach Ceasefire in Syria

Turkey and Russia have agreed to a ceasefire deal in Syria’s Idlib region according to their two leaders after talks in Moscow to contain a conflict which has displaced nearly a million people in three months. Russian President Vladimir Putin, standing next to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, said he hoped their agreement would lead to a halt of military action in Syria’s last major rebel stronghold in the northwest of the country. “I express hope that these agreements will serve as a good basis for a cessation of military activity in the Idlib de-escalation zone (and) stop the suffering of the peaceful population and the growing humanitarian crisis,” Putin said.

Russia and Turkey back opposing sides in Syria’s nine-year conflict, with Moscow supporting President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey backing some rebel groups. Several previous deals to end the fighting in Idlib have collapsed. The latest offensive in Idlib by Assad’s forces, backed by Russian air strikes, sparked what the United Nations says may be the worst humanitarian crisis yet in a war that has driven millions from their homes and killed hundreds of thousands.

The Russian military has, however, repeatedly played down any talk of a refugee crisis and accused Turkey of violating international law by pouring enough troops into Idlib to make up a mechanized division. Turkey, which has the second largest army in the transatlantic NATO alliance, has funneled troops and equipment into the region in recent weeks to resist the Syrian government advance and prevent a wave of refugees over its southern border. Russia also raced to reinforce its troops in Syria by sea and air before the Putin-Erdogan talks.

Assad himself has vowed to recapture “every inch” of Syrian territory, but his depleted military depends heavily on Moscow’s power and Iranian-backed militias on the ground. Iran was not a party to Thursday’s deal. Apart from Idlib, a large stretch of northern Syria remains outside Assad’s control, held by Turkey and its rebel partners, and by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.

The Kremlin said the two leaders had spoken for three hours on their own before being joined by their officials. They agreed to establish a secure corridor near the M4 highway, which runs east to west through Idlib, and hold joint patrols along the road. In a joint statement, they said the corridor would stretch 6 km to the north and 6 km to the south of the M4 - effectively advancing Russia’s presence further north into Idlib.

The deal did not spell out - as Erdogan has repeatedly demanded - that Syrian forces withdraw to the edge of the Idlib “de-escalation zone”, around which Turkey has stationed a dozen military observation posts, most of them now surrounded by Russian-backed Syrian government forces. The fighting, which raised the prospect of a direct clash between Russia and Turkey, has killed around 60 Turkish troops in the region since last month. Two hours after the joint announcement Turkey’s defense ministry said two soldiers were killed after Syrian government forces opened fire in Idlib.

Ahead of the talks, at least 16 civilians were killed when Russian air strikes hit a gathering of displaced people near the town of Maarat Misrin in Idlib, according to civil defense workers helping clear the rubble and search for survivors. Russia denies targeting civilians. Turkey hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees and says it cannot handle more. Seeking to extract more funding and support from Europe over Idlib, Ankara said last week it would no longer abide by a 2016 deal in which it stopped migrants crossing into the European Union in return for billions of euros in aid. While this is certainly good news, the tension is still very tense and could escalate quickly.

Pray- Pray that the ceasefire would hold and that the refugees in the area would be safe.

Two Sobering Anniversaries

47th March for Life

Friday, January 24 marked the 47th March for Life held in Washington, D.C. This march has been held every year since 1974, one year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling led to legalized abortion nationwide.

President Trump became the first sitting president to speak in-person at this largest pro-life human rights demonstration in the world. He told the crowd that “every child is a precious and sacred gift from God.”

“Together we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life,” he continued. “When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation. When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family.”

The Christian Post noted that more and more young people are joining the March for Life. The 2020 march was attended by “countless high school and college students.”  Students from Oakcrest School in Vienna, Virginia lead the march, holding the official March for Life banner.

Catalina Scheider Galinanes, the 16-year-old president of Oakcrest’s Respect Life Club, spoke at the rally. She said this was her seventh March for Life, “From the moment I realized that the abortion industry was ending the lives of millions of babies and lying to women everywhere, I knew God was calling me and each of us to act to defend human dignity and protect the lives of generations to come. That is what we are doing here today.”

In 2019, we witnessed New York, Illinois and Vermont expand abortion up to birth. The State of Virginia’s General Assembly, currently in session, is seeking to loosen existing regulations on abortion, one of which would also legalize abortion up to birth.

Praise God that 10 states with majority pro-life legislatures and governors passed laws requiring clinics to meet health and safety standards and placed limits on abortion. Pray that other states would follow their lead. And pray for God to raise a pro-life generation who will ultimately change the culture in those states which have removed regulations!

What can we do today? We can support mothers and fathers. We can speak for the unborn through our votes, in our churches, in our communities and with our families. Together, we can end abortion and create a culture of life!

Remembering the Holocaust

Last week, more than 200 Holocaust survivors and their families gathered at Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp 75 years after it was liberated on January 27, 1945. This event commemorated the more than one million people murdered at Auschwitz, the vast majority of whom were Jewish.

NBC News reports that many of the survivors described their experiences. “My number was 45,554,” said Bat-Sheva Dagan, who is originally from Lodz, Poland. “They tattooed my number on me and it’s just as visible today as it was back then. It was tattooed very well,” the 94-year-old added.

“I would love Hitler should be alive to see what I accomplished—that I’m alive,” said survivor David Marks, who now lives in Sherman, Connecticut.

On January 23, more than 40 dignitaries attended the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem marking it as one of the largest political gatherings in Israeli history. World leaders in attendance included Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prince Charles, Vice President Mike Pence and the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria. The event was highlighted by a three-hour-long ceremony called “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism” at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Tel Aviv University researchers noted a significant rise in anti-Semitic violence in 2018. They recorded 400 cases of violent attacks against Jews, with the largest reported number of Jews killed in anti-Semitic acts in decades. The spike in violence was most dramatic in western Europe. For instance, in Germany there was a 70% increase. In addition to shooting attacks, assaults and vandalism, the research also noted increased anti-Semitic vitriol online and in newspapers, as extremist political parties grew in power in several countries.

Middle East Peace Plan

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released this week a plan for peace in the Middle East. Arab Ambassadors from Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates attended the announcement and expressed a desire to work towards peace.

In spite of growing support of the Peace Plan by multiple Arab nations, Palestinians have soundly rejected it and instead have called for a “Day of Rage” to attack the Jewish people and Americans in protest.

We must continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And, we must stand against anti-Semitism and pray for the protection of Jewish people worldwide.

Russia-Turkey Collusion in Syria

Russia and Turkey have reached an agreement that would put a combined Russian-Turkish force into northern Syria after Turkey had invaded the region and in support of Russia’s Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria. The agreement will allow Turkey to keep its holdings that it has already taken from its recent invasion and place a combined force in the rest of the border region. With the withdraw of United States forces from the region, this move fills the power gap and strengthens both Turkey and Russia’s hold and influence in the region.

Russia has long been a supporter of Iran and now seems to be making greater headway into a Russian-Turkish alliance. President Vladimir Putin of Russian and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey met for six hours to discuss the negotiations and formalized the agreement.

Erdoğan stated afterward, “I believe that this agreement will start a new era toward Syria’s lasting stability and it being cleared of terrorism.” However, pundits of the invasion view this as a move to increase Turkish power and influence in the region, with the support of their new friend Russia.

President Putin has emerged as the dominant force in Syria and a major power broker in the broader Middle East — a status showcased by Mr. Erdoğan’s hastily arranged trip to the Russian president’s summer home in Sochi. And it looks increasingly clear that Russia, which rescued the government of Syrian President al-Assad with airstrikes over the last four years, will be the arbiter of the power balance there.

Reuters reports “Russia is the Syrian government’s most powerful ally and helped it turn the tables in the country’s civil war by retaking much of the country from rebels in 2015. The Turkish-Russian deal last week allowed Syrian government forces to move back into border regions from which they have been absent for years.”

Putin already has strong ties in the region and has attempted to increase Russian influence through various means, including working with Iran. His goal is to make Russian the dominant influence in the region and secure both influence and resources, including oil, for Russia.  

That Russia is working with both Turkey and Iran should not come as a surprise to scholars of the Bible. This could easily be the beginning of the foundation of the alliance spoken of in the book of Ezekiel in chapters 38-39, called by scholars the battle of Gog and Magog. Ezekiel speaks of an alliance between several nations that invade Israel and are only defeated by divine intervention. Magog has long been associated with the Russian people, tying back to the table of nations in Genesis 10 to settling in the Caucus region that eventually became part of Russia.

Persia, ancient Iran, is also mentioned as an ally of Magog in the text and so is the Ethiopia, Libya and Gomer and Togarmah, both which would be associated with modern day Turkey. Today, outside of Russia, these nations are primarily Islamic and Russia has worked very hard to develop relations with both Iran and Turkey. Iran and Turkey both view Israel as an enemy in the region and hope to both lesson Israeli influence and territory while expanding their own.

While this does not necessarily mean that the battle of Gog and Magog will happen soon, it should alert us that the pieces of this battle described by Ezekiel are being put into place and could very easily occur, especially now that Russia and Turkey are becoming more aligned in their goals.

Turkey had long been a staunch opponent of Russia as a part of NATO, but is turning into a more cooperative Russian ally in the region. This combined Turkish and Russian alliance should send red signal warnings to us that something prophetically significant may be occurring in the region.

PRAY: Pray for God’s sovereign will to be done in this region.