Israel-Hamas War is End Times Prophecy – Greg Laurie
Israel-Hamas War is End Times Prophecy – Greg Laurie: The senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, pastor Greg Laurie has said that the war in Israel is one of the many biblical prophesies of in the Bible and that supporters of peace should monitor closely the Russia-Iranian coalition, which he described as dangerous.
The pastor said this during a sermon after Hamas terrorists killed more than 800 Israelis, sparking the biggest war in the Holy Land since 1973.
According to his post on Instagram, Evangelist Greg Laurie had stated on his blog on Monday: “Interesting how it always comes back to Jerusalem. The Bible predicted, thousands of years ago, that the end time events would revolve around Jerusalem. Not San Francisco. Not Los Angeles. Not Moscow. Not Paris.
“But Jerusalem, this tiny little city, in this tiny sliver of land, will play a key role in the events of the last days. It’s the focal point of end times events. It’s amazing when you think about it, because in Zechariah 12:3–4 God says, ‘I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves’ (NLT).”
Laurie concluded by answering the question: “What should Christians be doing in the light of all this [turmoil and warfare in the Middle East].”
He gave two answers:
“Jesus said, ‘Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near’ (Luke 21:28 NKJV). That’s what we need to be doing, looking for the soon return of Jesus Christ.
“But we also need to pray. The Bible tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). We want to pray that they arrive at some kind of peace. We want to pray that this horrific terrorism stops, and that they’re able to get their hostages back. And we want to pray that God places His hand of protection on the nation of Israel during this unprecedented war.”
The California pastor then discussed how the current war may fit with the events prophesied in Scripture. Those events, he said, began with the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
“The sign that sets the prophetic clock ticking is the re-gathering of the nation Israel into their homeland,” he said. “On the heels of the Holocaust, who would have ever thought that these Jewish people who lost 6 million of their people to the Nazis would somehow regather in their homeland? But it happened against all odds. And on May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation. I’m proud to say the United States was the first nation to acknowledge that.”
Ezekiel 37 and 38, Laurie said, “speaks of the regathering of Israel” and then an attack on Israel from the North.
“That [attacking] force is identified as Magog. Who is Magog? Listen, no one can say with absolute certainty. But many Bible students and prophecy teachers believe it’s modern-day Russia. I think you can make a very good case for that. If you get out a map of the Middle East and look to the north of Israel, you will find Russia. Why would Russia ever want to invade Israel? Well, there’s another thing the Bible says about Magog if she is indeed Russia — and that one of her allies that will march with her is Persia. Persia is the ancient name for modern Iran. So the Bible predicted hundreds [of thousands] of years ago that this large force from the north of Israel would attack her after she was regathered, and one of the allies that would attack Israel with mother Russia or Magog … would be Iran — or Persia.”