Saudi Arabia and Turkey Preparing For Massive Ground Invasion Of Syria?

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By Michael Snyder - The Economic Collapse Blog February 16, 2016

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350,000 soldiers, 20,000 tanks, 2,450 warplanes and 460 military helicopters are massing in northern Saudi Arabia for a military exercise that is being called "Northern Thunder".  

According to the official announcement, forces are being contributed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia and several other nations.  

This exercise will reportedly last for 18 days, and during that time the airspace over northern Saudi Arabia will be closed to air traffic.  This will be the largest military exercise in the history of the region, and it comes amid rumors that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are preparing for a massive ground invasion of Syria.

If you were going to gather forces for an invasion, this is precisely how you would do it.  Governments never come out and publicly admit that forces are moving into position for an invasion ahead of time, so military exercises are a common excuse that gets used for this sort of thing.

If these exercises are actually being used as an excuse to mass forces near the northern Saudi border, then we should expect an invasion to begin within the next couple of weeks.  If it happens, we should expect to see the Saudi coalition storm through western Iraq and into Syria from the south, and it is likely that Turkey will come in from the north.

The goal would be to take out the Assad regime before Russia, Iran and Hezbollah could react.  For the past couple of years, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies have been funding the Sunni insurgency in Syria, and they were counting on those insurgents to be able to take down the Assad regime by themselves.

You see, the truth is that ISIS was never supposed to lose in Syria.  Saudi Arabia and her allies have been funneling massive amounts of money to ISIS, and hundreds of millions of dollars of ISIS oil has been shipped into Turkey where it is sold to the rest of the world.

The major Sunni nations wanted ISIS and the other Sunni insurgent groups to take down Assad.  In the aftermath, Saudi Arabia and her allies intended to transform Syria into a full-blown Sunni nation.

But then Russia, Iran and Hezbollah stepped forward to assist the Assad regime.  Russian air support completely turned the tide of the war, and now the Sunni insurgents are on the brink of losing.

Aleppo was once the largest city in Syria, and Sunni insurgents have controlled it since 2012.  But now relentless Russian airstrikes have made it possible for Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah ground forces to surround the city, and it is about to fall back into the hands of the Syrian government.

If this happens, the war will essentially be over.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies have invested massive amounts of time, money and effort into overthrowing Assad, and they aren t about to walk away now.

If the war was to end right at this moment, a weakened Assad regime would remain in power, and Iran and Hezbollah would be the dominant powers in the country for years to come.  And once Assad died, it would be inevitable that Iran and Hezbollah would attempt to transform Syria into a full-blown Shiite nation.  This is something that Saudi Arabia and Turkey want to avoid at all costs.

So they are actually considering what was once absolutely unthinkable a massive ground invasion of Syria.

But if Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies go in, they run the risk of a full-blown war with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.  Just consider some of the comments that we have seen in recent days...

Reacting to a potential troop deployment, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said Saturday, "Let no one think they can attack Syria or violate its sovereignty because I assure you any aggressor will return to their country in a wooden coffin."

Pavel Krasheninnikov, a deputy of Russia s State Duma, has warned Saudi Arabia that any military ground operation in Syria without Damascus consent would amount to a declaration of war, Press TV reported.

We could literally be looking at the spark that sets off World War 3.  I can t believe that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are actually considering this.

And if it does happen, you can rest assured that Barack Obama gave them the green light to go in.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the decision may have already been made.  Just consider what Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is saying&

"If we have such a strategy, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch a ground operation," he added, fueling concerns that a foreign troop invasion may soon further complicate the already turbulent situation in the war-torn country.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE voiced their readiness to contribute troops for a ground operation in Syria on the condition that the US would lead the intervention. Damascus and its key regional ally, Iran, warned that such a foreign force would face strong resistance.

And in addition to all of the forces massing in northern Saudi Arabia, the London Independent is reporting that the Saudis have sent troops and aircraft to a military base in Turkey...

Saudi Arabia is sending troops and fighter jets to Turkey s Incirlik military base ahead of a possible ground invasion of Syria.

The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, confirmed the deployment in a statement to the Yeni ^afak newspaper on Saturday, days before a temporary ceasefire is due to come into force.

There are reports that Saudi officials are saying that the decision to send in ground troops is "irreversible", and Reuters is reporting that the Syrian government claims that some Turkish troops have already entered the country&

The Syrian government says Turkish forces were believed to be among 100 gunmen it said entered Syria on Saturday accompanied by 12 pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, in an ongoing supply operation to insurgents fighting Damascus.

"The operation of supplying ammunition and weapons is continuing via the Bab al-Salama crossing to the Syrian area of Azaz," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council published by state news agency SANA.

Of course the Turkish government is not going to confirm that report, but what we do know is that Turkey is shelling Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of the border.  The funny thing is that these Kurdish forces are actually being supported and supplied by the U.S. government.

So the Turks are not supposed to be doing this, but according to Reuters they have been doing it for two days in a row anyway&

The Turkish army shelled positions held by Kurdish-backed militia in northern Syria for a second day on Sunday, killing two fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Turkey on Saturday demanded the powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia withdraw from areas that it had captured in the northern Aleppo region in recent days from insurgents in Syria, including the Menagh air base. The shelling has targeted those areas.

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The hostility between Turkey and the Kurds goes back a long, long way.  The Syrian Kurds are not threatening Turkey in any way right now, but Turkey is using the instability in the region as an excuse to lob artillery shells at a hated enemy.  It is an act of naked aggression that the Obama administration should be loudly denouncing.

In addition, it is being reported that Syrian government forces have also been getting shelled by the Turkish military...

Anatolia news agency reported that the Turkish military hit Syrian government forces on Saturday, adding that the shelling had been in response to fire inflicted on a Turkish military guard post in Turkey s southern Hatay region.

Turkish artillery targeted Syrian forces again late on Saturday, according to a military source quoted by RIA Novosti. The attack targeted the town of Deir Jamal in the Aleppo Governorate.

Needless to say, the Russians are quite alarmed by all of this.

In fact, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is warning about what could happen if things spiral out of control&

In the wake of Saudi Arabia s proposal to send in ground troops on Thursday, the Russian Prime Minister claimed the move could spark a new world war.

"A ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war," he told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

"The Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war."

If Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies launch an invasion and make a mad dash to take out the Assad regime in Damascus, the Russians will inevitably respond.

And if tactical nuclear weapons are necessary to keep the invading forces out of Damascus, the Russians will not be shy about using them.

I don t know if I have ever seen a scenario which was more likely to initiate World War 3 than the one that we are watching unfold right now.

So what has the mainstream media been saying about all of this?

Incredibly, they have been almost entirely silent.  When he went looking for news about these events, James Bailey could find almost nothing on either Fox News or CNN&

I just visited the home page for Foxnews.com and found not one single mention of the insane events now unfolding in the Middle East. I could not believe it, so I used my Find tool to search for Syria and Saudi Arabia. Not one mention!

Of course that could change at any moment, but nothing there when I checked. Their stories were all about the meaningless Presidential election, which has already been decided regardless of what we think about it, and other stories about entertainment, sports, Congressional political theater, etc.

So I went to CNN and found just about the same thing with one news story about the Syrian cease fire, but when I read it there was no mention of any of the big events that have developed this week. This is truly an amazing media blackout!

But Fox News does have space to run headlines like these...

Spanish man skipped work for 6 years, still got paid

48 people rescued from stuck tram cars at New Hampshire ski resort

Lovelorn elephant takes out his rage on more than a dozen cars

And CNN apparently thinks that these news stories are more important than the potential beginning of World War 3...

Kanye West drops album, says he s $53 million in debt

Dutch cops train eagles to hunt drones

Teen hands out 900 flowers to girls at school

If Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies are going to conduct an invasion of Syria, the most likely time for this to happen will be by the end of this month during these military exercises.

If we can get to March 1st and no invasion has happened yet, perhaps we can breathe a little sigh of relief.

But if it does happen, and the Russians and the Iranians decide to shoot back, it really could be the start of World War 3.

If you have not been paying attention up until now, you need to start, because this could literally change

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=132#4cmz1jQ2ML5uK938.99

J.D. Farag Mid-East Prophecy Update February 14th 2016

Jonathan Cahn - Teaching on the 9th of AV (the day of calamity for the Jewish people) throughout history starting with Moses prophecies in Leviticus

The Grand Deception: How False Doctrine Is Key To The End Time Scenario – Jack Hibbs

The Olivet Discourse … Luke’s Version

 

 Republished from gracethrufaith.com

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

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A Bible Study by Jack Kelley



Students of prophecy often pay more attention to Matthew’s version of the Olivet Discourse because of its greater length and detail. But when we bypass Luke’s account, we miss one third of the Lord’s message. That’s because the disciples asked the Lord three questions and in Matthew 24 He only answered the last two. Also, it’s Luke’s answer to their first question that confirms the whole message as it relates to the End Times.


Here’s why. When a prophet revealed events that would take place beyond the lifetimes of the people he was speaking to, the Lord often provided a short term partial fulfillment to validate the distant prophecy. This is because He had told the people that if what a prophet said didn’t come true, then the people were not to fear him, for he hadn’t spoken for the Lord. (Deut 18:21-22)

There are numerous partial fulfillments in Scripture that would serve as good examples of this, but perhaps the clearest one comes from John 5:43. Speaking to Israel, Jesus said, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.”  He was referring to the anti-Christ, who many in Israel will believe to be the Messiah when he comes on the scene at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week. But just before Jesus was handed over to be executed, Pilate offered to free Him as a sign of Roman mercy, traditionally expressed on Passover. He gave the people a choice, the innocent Jesus who came in His Father’s name, or a convicted killer named Barabbas who came in his own name. The people chose Barabbas. It was the partial fulfillment that validated the Lord’s prophecy of Israel and the anti-Christ in the 70th Week.
And as we’ll see, the destruction of Jerusalem in 69AD was the partial fulfillment that validated the Lord’s prophecy of the End Times. Let’s take a look.

Luke 21:5-36

Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.  But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?” (Luke 21:5-7)

According to Mark 13:3, it was Peter, James, John and Andrew who asked. And in Matt. 24:3 we can read their complete question. “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
This is our first hint that things will be different in Luke’s account. He only has the disciples asking the first question, the one about their immediate future.

As we get started, it’s important to understand that none of the gospel writers thought of themselves strictly as historians. Had the Lord only wanted to document history, one gospel account would have been sufficient. Instead, each writer was assigned a different audience, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tailored his account to meet the needs of that audience. Each also portrayed Jesus a little differently to show a particular side of Him. Matthew wrote to the Jews showing them that Jesus was their Messiah-King, the Lion of Judah.  Mark wrote to the Romans, describing Jesus as the humble Servant of the Lord.  Luke wrote to the Greeks, portraying Jesus as the Son of Man, and John wrote to the Church identifying Jesus as the Son of God.

Among other things, this was the fulfillment of four Old Testament prophecies of a figure God called “The Branch”, a messianic reference. In Jeremiah 23:5 the Branch is called the King. In Zechariah 3:8 He’s the Servant. In Zechariah 6:12 He’s the Man and in Isaiah 4:2 He’s the Branch of the Lord. In each case the word Branch is capitalized.  OK, now let’s get to the Lord’s answer.
He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:8-11)
In the beginning, His answer sounds a lot like those in Matthew 24:4-7 and Mark 13:5-8. But that’s about to change.

“But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.  All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.” (Luke 21:12-19)

These verses clearly describe the lives of the Apostles in the earliest days of the Church. Peter and John testified before the Sanhedrin. Paul was on both sides of this prophecy, first attacking Christians with a vengeance and after his conversion bearing witness to leaders like Felix, Festus, and Herod Agrippa. Of the original 12 disciples, only John died of natural causes, and all of them suffered through the most terrifying forms of torture without ever recanting a single word of their testimony.
“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20-24)

Once again, the bulk of this passage is identical to Matthew’s account, but there are two striking differences showing us that they’re not describing the same event. First, in Matthew 24:15 the warning sign that it’s time to flee is the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place. Here it’s the positioning of the Roman army around Jerusalem.
Normally it would be too late to flee when a besieging army could be seen encircling a city. But in 68-69AD the political situation in Rome was unstable to say the least. The former general of the Roman armies in the Middle East was a man named Titus Vespasian. He had recently turned his command over to his son, also named Titus, so he could position himself to become the next Emperor. (This came to pass upon the death of Nero in 68, and Vespasian was named Emperor on July 1, 69.)  He had been concerned that he would need more military backing to make his claim good, so even though the legions now under his son’s command had already begun their siege of Jerusalem, Vespasian ordered them to disengage and return to Rome. When they began pulling back to prepare for the journey, the believers in Jerusalem who had been taught the Lord’s warning hastened to escape the city.

But before the Romans could leave entirely, Titus Vespasian sent word to his son that the troops wouldn’t be needed after all and ordered them to resume their siege of Jerusalem. By then all the believers had escaped.
In the month we call August of 69 AD the walls were breached and the Temple was captured. The interior furnishings caught fire and the heat caused the gold plating on the wooden ceiling beams to melt. As the liquid gold ran down the walls it flowed into the cracks between the stones. When the fire had gone out and the stones had cooled, the Roman soldiers tore the ruins apart stone by stone to get the gold that had flowed between them and solidified. Not one stone was left standing on another, in fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy (also in Luke 19:43-44).

In 70 AD the Roman army completed its conquest of the Holy Land in the siege of Masada. Although over one million Jews had perished, according to tradition not a single believer died in the destruction of Jerusalem. (Some historical accounts place the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple one year earlier in 68AD but the general consensus is that it happened as I’ve described it.)

The second difference in the two accounts is that while Matthew’s version ends with the 2nd Coming and is world wide in its focus, Luke describes the Jewish diaspora and the ensuing control of Jerusalem by the Gentiles. In short, Luke’s account has so far been confined to describing events concerning the fall of Jerusalem. He was describing the short term partial fulfillment within the lifetimes of the Lord’s audience that validates the ultimate fulfillment at the End of the Age.
“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25-28)

Suddenly the Lord expanded His answer to include the whole world and the End of the Age. Those who are alive on Earth when the signs He described begin to happen are to understand that the culminating event will be the Lord’s return, just like Matthew and Mark said.  And believers are told that when we first begin to see the signs, we should start looking at the sky in expectation, because the Lord will be on His way for us. Notice how the narrative changes from the third person, “men will faint from terror” and “they will see the Son of Man coming” to the second person, “lift up your heads” and “your redemption is drawing near“.  He was distinguishing between believers and the rest of the world.

And pay particular attention to how the focus changes from the end of the sequence, “they will see the Son of Man coming“, to its beginning “when these things begin to happen“. If you didn’t already know it from Paul’s teaching you wouldn’t recognize that He’s hinting at two separate events, the Rapture and the 2nd Coming. But since you do, you can.  And you can also see that the second coming is at the end of the sequence, but our redemption (rapture) will take place at its beginning.

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:29-36)
As in Matthew’s account, the fig tree parable is not meant to signify Israel, but the speed with which these events will unfold once they begin. The fig tree was the last one to get its leaves in the spring, so they knew when they saw leaves sprouting on the fig trees, that summer was really close.  In the same way, the span of time between the beginning of the End Times signs and the Lord’s return will be relatively short.

I think this summary was meant both for the generation alive during the fall of Jerusalem and the one that’s here at the End of the Age. Thirty five years after the Lord spoke these words, the Romans began their three year campaign to complete the overthrow of the Jewish nation. Many who were taught this prophecy by the very men who got it straight from the Lord’s mouth were still alive when this happened.  And at the End of the Age many who are alive as these signs begin to appear will still be alive at their conclusion.

The last sentence is especially meaningful. “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” By watching for the sign of the Roman armies encircling Jerusalem and praying for deliverance (from all that was about to happen), believers on Earth at the time were able to escape the death and destruction of Jerusalem’s judgment.  Just so, by watching for the End Times signs and praying for deliverance, the  believers on Earth in our time will be able to escape from the death and destruction of Earth’s judgment (to stand before the Son of Man).

As you know, I don’t believe the Lord ever gave a clear teaching on the Rapture of the Church. But with two brief mentions, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28) and “pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man ” (Luke 21:36) He gave the clearest hints of His entire earthly ministry that the Church will be delivered from the end times judgments. (60 years later, when He visited John on the Isle of Patmos, He confirmed this, saying, “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Rev. 3:10). Before the end times judgments begin we’ll be standing before the Son of Man, having met Him in the air (1 Thes. 4:16-17).

The King James version of Luke 21:36 reads “pray that you may be counted worthy to escape” and there are those who use this verse to justify a partial rapture, saying only those believers who are worthy will be taken.  But it’s important to remember that just as it was then, so it is now.   No one will be counted worthy based on his or her own merits.  We pray for our salvation and are made worthy by accepting the Lord’s death as payment for our sins and believing in His resurrection, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy (Hebr. 10:14). 

Now you can see that the partial fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy, found in the first century destruction of Jerusalem, confirmed the ultimate fulfillment of all that He said would happen soon to the entire world.  You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.  (This is an expansion of a study I originally posted on 08-24-13).

I stand in awe of you

Crocodile Rock

Republished from omegaletter.com
Witnessing Tools
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Wendy Wippel

Joseph Campbell, the “father of comparative mythology”, considered the Scriptures themselves mythology, once saying that the Biblical story of Joseph should not be considered, in any way, shape, or form, historical. Sorry, Joe, but that dog won’t hunt. In fact, there’s more evidence for the Biblical Joseph than there is for you.

Beginning with the Nile river, specifically a particular island in the Nile called Sehyel, on a major trade route about 2.5 miles from Aswan.
Littered with large granite boulders, the island, beginning about 2000 B.C., became a popular place to post inscriptions, and, thousands of years later those inscriptions remain. Prayers for safety for those continuing down the Nile, records of government business, basically the 2000 B.C. version of "USA Today" Egyptian news.

One inscription, should sound more than a little familiar to most students of the Bible.  It records the distress of one Pharoah Djoser regarding a dream that he had, and the assistance of a particular servant (called Imhotep in the inscription), who had the ability to interpret the Pharoah’s dream.
The inscription goes on to announce that that his servant, also called the son of Ptah (Ptah being the supreme Creator God in Egyptian mythology) had deduced from the dream that Egypt would be blessed with seven years of bumper crops, but that seven years of famine would follow.  The inscription finished by notification that Imhotep had leveled a tax on the population in order to create national storehouses in order to protect what was produced in the first seven years and thus ensure long-term provision for Egypt’s people.
Kudos for Genesis, right?

But it gets better. You would expect any self-respecting Pharoah, if he needed to get urgent information out to his subjects, to post it in more than one place, right?
Yep. And sure enough, a very similar inscription was erected on the island of Philae, an important holy city in ancient Egypt a little ways down the Nile, that boasted the Temple of Isis.
But it gets even better….

A lot of the ridicule of the Biblical account of Jewish by the “scholars”  centers on a passage in Exodus:

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses." (Exodus 1: 8-11) NASB

The “scholars”(AKA  Egyptologists), are fairly certain that Rameses himself lived around 1250 BC and have found no evidence for any Joseph figure in that time period. Joseph therefore, was officially labeled a myth.

Fortunately, there’s a “rest of the story”.  Excavation and study of ancient Egypt has continued fervently since the discovery of King Tut, and eventually, beneath the city of Ramses, archaeologists discovered the ruins of another city that had been founded around 2000 BC by a Semitic people.
A people called the "Hyksos” by the scholars but whom the Bible calls the Canaanites, who then lived in the land of Israel. The city, called Avaris, was in the area called Goshen.
And these Hyksos conquered the northern part of Egypt and ruled there.

We know from Scripture that Joseph ruled over Egypt. In fact, if you pay attention, he had a varied and extensive career in Egypt. "So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt".
These are all official titles describing duties Joseph held. Egyptian titles. “Lord of all his household” was responsibility for managing the Pharaoh's personal holdings (palace and all other property). “Father of the Pharaoh”  was more of a personal assistant who tutored/advised the Pharoah (and no doubt interpreted dreams). "Ruler over all of Egypt” was essentially the Prime Minister who acted as the chief administrative ruler of Egypt (and would have been the person who dealt with visiting dignitaries like his brothers.)

Joseph had a long career. But exactly when was that career? Can we nail down the timeline?
Joseph, taken captive to Egypt by some Canaanites, can be safely placed in Egypt during Hyksos rule.
Another  important clue to when Joseph was in Egypt can be found in Exodus 1:1-10:

Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants[a] of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Translation: It had been a long time since Joseph’s rule, and his family had obeyed Yahweh’s instruction to be fruitful and multiply.  

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”

We are told a new king arrived in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Exodus 1:8-10.
And history records that Hyksos rule of Egypt ended when an Egyptian Pharoah, Ahmose, came to power. And that Ahmose, worried that the Jews, who were relatives of Hyksos (all of whom descended from Abraham) would unite with the Hyksos against him, began to persecute the Jews.
And he thus managed to defeat the Hyksos and reunite Israel.

The “new king” (long after Joseph) was the king that re-established Egyptian rule.  So that pretty much nails it down to close to the time that Avaris was founded.
Which makes it extremely interesting that Austrian archaeologists unearthed a large fragmented statue in Avaris in 1985, which they spent the next three years reconstructing. The cemetery, part of the palace in Avaris, and obviously reserved for royalty, dated back to the Hyksos reign in Israel, and the art and other trappings of the monuments reflected Semitic themes and motifs.  The statue, reconstructed, was found to be that of a man, but approximately 1.5 times life size
(But not as would be expected by it’s being larger-than-life, a pharaoh). The man did, however, hold a crook and flail, symbols of authority in Egypt.

Who is it? Well, no name appears, but the man depicted is obviously an inhabitant of the levant (the area of Israel) depicted as such by hair style.
And the man is wearing a cloak decorated with numerous stripes—both vertical and horizontal—in varied colors. I’m pretty convinced.

But if I wasn’t, the last thing the Austrian researchers discovered would have sealed the deal.  The particular tomb that was graced by the statue of the non-Egyptian ruler was curiously and in contrast to others in the cemetery—absent of its bones.

I don’t think Joseph Campbell has a statue anywhere today, and I sure don’t think there will be anywhere thousands of years from now.
He reigns!

About Wendy Wippel

J.D. Farag - Mid-East prophecy 02 07 2016

Christians “Should be Eradicated”: Researchers Document Anti-Christian Agenda Among Powerful Elite

Republished by thenewamerican.com
Written by  Selwyn Duke

A student is punished for refusing to “stomp on Jesus,” a Christian baker faces a year in jail for refusing to cater faux marriages, two men are arrested for reading the Bible aloud near a government building, a school “purges” Christian works from its library. Critics asserting the existence of an institutional anti-Christian bias, and a resultant war on the faith, have often been labeled paranoid. But now two University of North Texas sociologists have produced research showing that just such an agenda exists — among America’s most powerful people.

Professors George Yancey and David Williamson shared their findings in their newly released book So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? The researchers say that while Christianophobia — which the sociologists define as "unreasonable hatred or fear of Christians” — isn’t common among common people, it does characterize those in the upper echelons of American society. It’s intense, too. The book’s title was apparently inspired by elitist interviewees lamenting how there were “so few lions,” referencing the Roman Empire’s practice of throwing Christians into an arena to be slaughtered by the wild cats. One respondent even remarked that Christians “should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse.”

This is something about which Christians “should be concerned,” reports the Christian Post, on a warning Yancey issued in an e-mail interview, “because those with ‘Christianophobia’ tend to be powerful elites with influence in certain important areas, such as higher education.” Commenting on this and the professors’ motivation for conducting their research, Yancey told the Post, “There is a lot of literature on hostility toward many different groups but just about none on hostility toward Christians. Yet when we collected qualitative data from cultural progressive activists we quickly saw some of the unnecessary vitriol and fears within many of our respondents. We also saw the social status of those who exhibited this hatred and many of them would be in positions that allowed them to at least subtly act on their anger and fears.” As for the sources of their data, the Post writes that it “comes from a large national survey, the American National Election Survey, and interviews they conducted with members of liberal advocacy organizations.”

And some of the remarks made by the “cultural progressive activists” are eyebrow-raising. The Blaze reports on a sampling referencing the “Christian right”:

“I want them all to die in a fire.” (Male, aged 26-35 with Doctorate).

“They should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse. Their only purpose is to damage and inflict their fundamentalist virus onto everyone they come in contact with.” (Female, aged 66-75 with Master’s degree).

“They make me a believer in eugenics…. They pollute good air…. I would be in favor of establishing a state for them…. If not, then sterilize them so they can’t breed more.” (Male, aged 46-55 with Master’s degree).

This brazen hatred brings us to something else motivating the researchers. Yancey in the Post again:

Another aspect that drove me to work on this project was that while I consistently saw evidence of Christianophobia in other areas of my life and in our society, unlike other types of intolerances, those who exhibited Christianophobia do not tend to think that they are intolerant. Usually those who do not like blacks or Muslims admit that they are intolerant but simply try to justify their intolerance. Those with Christianophobia tend to deny that they are intolerant but rather that they are fairly interpreting social reality. Envisioning themselves as fair and free of intolerance allows them to blame those they detest.

This reflects the common modern usage (and misuse) of the term “tolerance,” which is supposed to pertain to a person’s ability to abide a perceived negative. We wouldn’t have to “tolerate” a fine car or delectable meal; we relish those things. But we would have to tolerate bad weather or a stubborn cold. In this sense, not liking blacks, Muslims, or Christians is not indicative of intolerance; quite the opposite, only a person with such feelings could exhibit tolerance with respect to such a group because he perceives the group as a negative. If he liked the group or was indifferent to it, he couldn’t exhibit tolerance because there would be nothing for him to have to tolerate.

So there are two relevant questions here: Is the perceived negative an objective negative? And is the intolerance truly justified? Examples:
• You may dislike exercising self-discipline (emotion, remember, isn’t logical), but recognize that since it’s objectively good, your feelings are disordered; thus, when you tolerate its exercise, it’s virtuous.
• You may dislike a neighbor boy’s piano playing. But while you have a moral right to your tastes in this case, practicing an instrument isn’t objectively bad; thus, tolerating it in the name of good fellowship is virtuous.
• You will surely dislike having the flu, and it is objectively negative. Once you’ve done all you can to ameliorate the symptoms, however, keeping a stiff upper lip and tolerating it is virtuous.
• Almost all of us dislike theft, and rightly so because it’s morally wrong. And tolerating it would be a severe fault because when dealing with a remediable objective negative, the only virtue lies in wiping it out.

The same applies to belief. We may recognize someone’s First Amendment right to espouse Nazism, but should we be tolerant of Nazism itself? Likewise, should the Spaniards have been tolerant of the Aztec religion prescribing the sacrificial slaughter of thousands of innocents? Many today believe that tolerance is ever and always a virtue, but as Greek philosopher Aristotle put it, “Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.” Tolerance of vice is vice itself.

So the question about the anti-Christian elitists isn’t whether they’re intolerant. By definition they are: They view Christianity as a negative and want it purged from society. The only question is whether their intolerance is justifiable. Does it serve to preserve understanding of Truth and expose lies or just the opposite? As to this, Dr. Yancey pointed out that Christianophobes claim to believe “that they are fairly interpreting social reality” but don’t “recognize how their emotions have distorted their intellectual judgments.” In other words, they don’t realize that what their feelings tell them is negative isn’t actually objectively so. But why do they have these disordered feelings?
It’s an old story. We all have had the experience of rendering some constructive criticism, only to have the object of it react with anger. No one likes having his bubble burst. And the more attached to the misbegotten idea the person is, the stronger his resistance will be — and the more viciously he may attack those who dare challenge his illusions.

In this relativistic age of “If it feels good, do it” where sin is in, Christianity upholds the absolute, unchanging, nonnegotiable standard of morality. It tells people that their sins really are sins — not just lifestyle choices — and that they’ll be judged for them. And just as one small pin can burst a balloon, a tiny bit of Truth can shatter a rationalization.

It’s no surprise Yancey found that anti-Christian elitists are generally “white, educated [miseducated, actually] and wealthy.” These are not just the “idle minds” that are the “Devil’s playground” or, to echo George Orwell, the kind of people who could believe truly absurd ideas: intellectuals. They also invariably are advocates for some anti-Christian movement, such as feminism or our Great Sexual Heresy. They not only usually indulge sin (people tend to push what they’re attached to), but have come to believe that their very happiness depends on the realization of their social vision — and Christianity stands in its way. And there’s something that is often a corollary of “If it feels good, do it”:
If it feels bad, destroy it.

Outrage as France become first country in world to ban pro-Palestine demos

Republished from dailymail.co.uk

• Move follows violence at protests in Paris last weekend
• Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said there was a 'threat to public order'
• Thousands across France were set to march again this weekend
• Anyone who breaks the ban faces a year in prison and a 15,000 euro fine.
• If they hide their faces the sentence can be increased to three years jail, and a 45,000 euro fine

By Peter Allen for MailOnline

Published: 10:56 GMT, 18 July 2014 | Updated: 12:30 GMT, 19 July 2014

France's Socialist government provoked outrage today by becoming the first in the world to ban protests against Israeli action in Palestine.

In what is viewed as an outrageous attack on democracy, Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said mass demonstrations planned for the weekend should be halted.

Mr Cazeneuve said there was a ‘threat to public order’, while opponents said he was ‘criminalising’ popular support of the Palestinian people. 

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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take to the streets of Paris on Sunday. France's socialist government has sparked uproar after it banned protests against Israeli action in Palestine

Thousands were set to march against the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, calling for an immediate end to hostilities in which civilians including many children have been killed.

But Mr Cazeneuve fears there might be a repeat of the fights between ‘ultra’ Jewish vigilantes and pro-Palestinians which happened after a demonstration last Sunday.

Referring to the main Paris march, Mr Cazeneuve said: ‘I consider that the conditions are not right to guarantee security.’

Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve fears there might be a repeat of the fights between Jewish vigilantes and pro-Palestinians which happened after a demonstration last Sunday

He welcomed a legal procedure instigated by the Paris police prefecture to ban the march, despite it already being widely advertised.

Anyone who turns up to an illegal demonstration now faces up to a year in prison, and a 15,000 euro fine.

If they hide their faces to avoid being identified, this sentence can be increased to three years, and a 45,000 fine.

Even those who publish details of an illegal rally on social media face up to a year in prison, and a 15,000 euro fine.

This can be increased to seven years and a 100,000 fine if the postings lead to violence.

Mr Cazeneuve also advised other prefects across France to examine planned marches on a ‘case by case’ basis, and to ban ‘if appropriate’. 

But Michele Sibony, of the Jewish Union for Peace, said: ‘By outlawing free speech by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, France puts itself in a unique position in the world and Europe.’

And Youssef Boussoumah, of the Party of the Indigenous of the Republic (PIR) said: ‘France is criminalising any show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

‘This is an absolute outrage, it is a continuation of attempts to muzzle the Palestinian people and to get them and their supporters in France to surrender absolutely to Israel's oppression.’

Sylvie Perrot, another pro-Palestine activist from Paris, said: ‘Fascist states stop people demonstrating against wars – it is beyond belief that French Socialists are following their example.’

There were false claims made last week that synagogues in Paris had been targeted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In fact videos showed armed vigilantes from a group called the Jewish Defence League (LDJ) baiting demonstrators into fights. 

 

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A protester wearing a gas mask holds a fake rocket during protests in Paris over the weekend

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator shouts anti Israeli slogans in Paris on Sunday. The French government is attempting to prevent planned marches this weekend from going ahead

There were no arrests among the LDJ, despite them fighting and smashing up property in full view of the police. 

Six pro-Palestine protestors were arrested for a variety of public order offences, but none had been anywhere near Paris synagogues, which remained undamaged.

A judicial enquiry is set to be launched into the false allegations made about the synagogue attacks – ones which people claim were made up to demonise supporters of Palestine by associating them with anti-Semitism. 

On Friday night lawyers for a number of groups hoping to campaign on behalf of Palestine on Saturday lodged an appeal against the ban in a Paris court.