World War III?

Fighter-jet in trouble: A Russian SU24 shot down by Turkey

The world's beginning to learn that it's unwise to cross Russian President Vladimir Putin. After Turkey recently shot down a Russian SU-24 fighter-jet when the plane allegedly violated Turkish airspace, Putin vented his anger at Turkey and threatened repercussions.

Putin called Turkey's action "a stab in the back by accomplices of terrorism." Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan responded that if the Russians continue to violate Turkish airspace, there will be "serious consequences." Thus, the war of words began between the two, and it's likely that Putin will respond against Turkey with more than just words at some point in the future.

Russia has been bombing ISIS fighters in the Latakia region of Syria which is in close proximity to Turkey's southern border. While the Russians claim that they've been careful to avoid Turkish airspace, the Turks claim otherwise. To compound matters, Turkey is a NATO member and a predominantly Muslim nation. 

And so, Putin believes that Turkey is using its NATO status as a shield to support ISIS terrorists. Putin sees NATO as a giant serpent with the United States at the head and nations such as Turkey as part of the serpent's long tail. 

Remember that Putin blames the United States--and specifically the Obama administration--for trying to coerce the Ukraine into NATO in 2014 so the U.S. and NATO could exert political and economic pressure on the Bear. Putin believes that the U.S. was behind the Euromaidan Revolution that ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych who was a de facto Russian puppet. 

It's no secret that the U.S. wanted to cutoff Putin's power by admitting the Ukraine into NATO. Why? Because the U.S. believes that Putin has a vision to create a new Russian empire in the eastern world on the ashes of the old Soviet Union. That's a legitimate concern because Putin indeed wants to build an empire to counter and ultimately put an end to American hegemony. 

Although Putin certainly isn't a nice guy, he's not the crazed, power-hungry madman that the west's media hacks who masquerade as journalists portray him. He's a pragmatist who's concerned about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the eastern world and the west's desire to build a one-world government behind the ruse of global warming-climate change. 

Putin wants to drive Islam out of the eastern world, and he needs a coalition of nations to do that. He understands that unless Islam goes, Europe, Africa and Asia will be conquered by Islam. And he needs a coalition to protect the eastern world from being coerced into a one-world government. 

Make no mistake about this: the climate agenda has absolutely nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with a one world government. And Putin knows that better than anyone. He doesn't want Russia being dragged into a world government that would have absolute authority over every nation on earth. 

Thus, Russia's involvement with Syria in its war against ISIS and American-backed Syrian rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is literally the beginning of a new world war between the eastern world and the west. Remember that Syria's civil war is the handiwork of the Obama administration that armed the rebels and abetted ISIS by pulling American troops out of Iraq while leaving military hardware and weapons behind for the terrorists to inherit. 

Putin knows that if Assad falls, then nothing will prevent ISIS from marching into Russia. Russia sits to the northeast of Syria and is separated by several nations that are all Islamic and would offer little defense against the burgeoning caliphate. The U.S. wants to see Assad fall because that could eventually lead to Russia's downfall.

And so, Russia's fight against ISIS in Syria is not only a fight against a terrorist organization, but it's also a fight against the west and the U.S. that made that fight possible. And don't think for a second that Putin's not aware of that.

How does this fit into biblical prophecy? The Bible reveals that Russia is eventually going to prevail and build its dreaded political-economic-military coalition that will dominate the world. (Daniel 11, Ezekiel 38-39) That will take several years because Russia currently doesn't have the economic resources to expand its fight beyond Syria into Turkey and other NATO nations. 

While Putin recognizes that the west has become weak and is dominated by pacifists such as Barack Obama and David Cameron, the west still possesses a lot of military firepower and might use it against Russia if necessary. Thus, the time for Russia's big move in the east hasn't yet arrived.

But it's coming. Realize that Russia has a wealthy ally in China, its southern neighbor. And realize that Russia possesses a lot of energy in natural gas, oil and coal that China needs to fuel its growing heavy industries. The Russians need money while the Chinese need energy. Certainly, the Chinese buy energy from other sources, particularly America. But the Chinese hate the U.S. almost as much as the Russians do, and the Chinese will eventually stop buying American energy and buy more from their northern neighbors in order to hurt the U.S.

China will help finance Russia's expansion into the dreaded monster that the Bible warns us is coming in the very last days directly preceding the return of Jesus Christ. The Bible identifies that monster as "Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshek and Tubal." (Ezekiel 38:1) The Bible identifies the other members as Persia, Cush and Put. Persia is now Iran; Cush is now Ethiopia, and Put is now Morocco. These nations will be joined by many Asian, African, eastern and western European nations.

Who is Gog? Gog was one of the ancient names for the Caucasian tribe of Rosh that many modern Russians are descended from. And Meshek and Tubal? They were part of what is now modern Turkey. Thus, Russia's current problems with Turkey aren't going to last.

And the U.S. and NATO aren't going to last either. The U.S. is going to collapse as a superpower and NATO is going to disappear. We're seeing the beginning of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy concerning Russia's rise to world dominance in the last days. It will take time--perhaps many years. But it's coming.