Session 15 Foreshocks Part 2

In session 14 we saw foreshocks of the Antichrist. In this session we will search for

foreshocks of the Red Horse War. As a child it really worried me when I would see

the tense relationships that the United States had with other powerful nuclear

countries like the USSR and China. This is one of the reasons I studied prophecy

because I wanted to find out if the world was going to enter a nuclear war at some

point. Things cooled down for several decades, but it seems like a new cold war is

brewing with threats and counter threats being lobbed from one country to another. If

you recall from Session 9, we can see a lead up to the middle east part of this conflict.

It is possible that we may see part or all of the progression from Psalm 83->Isaiah

17->Ezekiel 38-39 before the Rapture occurs. This appears to be related foreshocks to

a Middle East Theatre for the Red Horse War. Another building conflict between a

Uni-Polar world power and a 10 nation Multi-Polar world power would be another

foreshock for a nuclear theatre of war spanning the rest of the globe but focused on

crumbling super powers as the Antichrist builds his empire. In this study we will

search for these foreshocks.

Foreshocks of Red Horse

Mideast War Theatre

Please read Matthew 24:6-7,15b-16

1. It seems apparent that there will

be multiple _____________ and

___________.

2. It seems that these rumors of wars and wars are before the big conflict (The

Red Horse of Revelation) so Jesus seems to be saying to the reader (Israel?) to

not be _______________. It’s not the end yet (Red Horse War leading to the

Day of the Lord)

Let’s re-read Psalms 83:1-8 to

remind ourselves of the

beginning signs of this

conflict.

3. What are some of the

foreshocks we might see if

the Psalm 83, Isaiah 17 and

Ezekiel 38 events are leading

to the Red Horse of War of

Revelation?

Matthew 24:6-7,15b-16 NIV

6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you

are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to

come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against

kingdom.

15b ..let the reader understand—

16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Psalms 83:1-8 NIV

1 O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand

aloof, O God. 2 See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear

their heads. 3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they

plot against those you cherish. 4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy

them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.” 5

With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against

you— 6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the

Hagrites, 7 Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people

of Tyre. 8 Even Assyria has joined them to reinforce Lot’s

descendants.

Here are some potential foreshocks that we should look for:

A. An escalating conflict between Israel and nearby nation states (Egypt, Jordan,

Syria, Lebanon and eventually even Saudi Arabia) and terrorist organizations

such as Hamas and Hezbola. (Psalm 83)

B. An enormous frustration built up in Israel against Syria and the government

that is in power there. (Isaiah 17 prophecy). Events bad enough to provoke

intense anger in Israel and a fear for survival.

C. Some sort of mechanism that might make Israel feel safe. This could easily

originate from a triumph and success over Psalm 83 combatants and the

annexation of territory to remove dangers. A peace plan after this war will also

contribute. (Ezekiel 38:11)

D. An alignment of nations matching the gathering horde in Ezekiel 38.

E. Leadership from the Russian nation for this grouping of nations.

F. Russia being bound by something to pull them into the battle (The hooks God

uses to turn them around). Probably more than one reason.

G. Saudi Arabia friendly but not willing to defend Israel (Willing to confront the

aggressor but not be with Israel).

H. Western Powers friendly, but not willing to defend Israel (Willing to confront

the aggressor but not be with Israel).

I. Growing tensions between Western Powers the unipolar power and a new 10

nation multipolar power.

What would introduce the Red Horse of War into the world? Here is some relevant

history that might explain how. Shortly after its creation on May 14

, 1948 Israel

came into conflict with neighboring countries. In fact, the next day Egypt,

Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded.

Israel prevailed in defending their

new country and they then ended up controlling the conquered territory. During the

Six-Day War of 1967 Israel again defended itself and enlarged its borders.

During

this period Syria lost the Golan Heights. Syria and Israel have been bitter enemies

since this time period. Israel officially declared that the Golan Heights would be under

Israeli law in December 14

, 1981. This is called the Golan Heights Law

. While this

law never mentions the term annexation it seems to represent the concept in all but

name. In recent years this sore point between the two countries is getting even more

painful with the discovery of oil resources in the area.

It is pretty easy to see that a

major conflict between Israel and Syria is very possible.

This prophecy study was originally authored in early 2020. An event on October 7

2023 moved the author to re-consider assumptions made about the Psalm 83 prophecy.

With further study a more logical understanding of the Red Horse War came to be. On

October 7

, 2023 Hamas led a despicable and satanic attack on innocent Israelis and

foreign nationals. At least 1,139 of these people died at the hands of this terrorist

organization

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. While we are not certain, the Psalm 83 conflict could very well have

started on October 7

. (A)

Syria has had stockpiles of chemical weapons, a form of weapon of mass destruction

and have felt free to even use them on their own people early as 2013.

Although it

appears that they should be reluctant to use them on Israel the possibility still exists.

Apparently, the most terrible of chemical weapons that Syria had are almost gone

but, there is a possibility that some of them have been transferred to the terror group

Hezbollah

which has been described as the “Long Arm of Iran”. Russian has been in

Syria since 2015 trying to prop up the government of Bashar al-Assad. It seems

possible that if the allies of the Syrian government procure a win in the current civil

war that the government will feel emboldened. Whether it is a confident or a desperate

Syria or a resident Hezbollah terror group the possibility remains for a usage of

chemical weapons against Israel from Syrian territory. There is no question that Israel

is willing to defend itself violently. They may also feel especially betrayed by such an

attack because they may be under a peace plan that should be protecting them. (Refer

to Ezekiel 38:11). I find it interesting that the Israeli government has stopped handing

out gas masks because they do not see as much threat lately from chemical attacks.

This fact seems like a foreshock of the Ezekiel 38 passage as well. When reviewing

the reason why it can be speculated that Damascus will be leveled by Israel (Isaiah

17:1) we located a particularly chilling quote from the Jerusalem Post article Do

chemical weapons in Syria threaten Israel:

Imagine Syria trying to use chlorine or any remaining sarin, VX or mustard gas

against Israel, with Israel reportedly capable of responding with an estimated 75

to 400 nuclear weapons, according to foreign sources. (B)

Now we focus our attention more on the Ezekiel 38 war which may come as a result

of the situation presented Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17. Verse 11 of Ezekiel 38 describes

Israel as not having walls or not needing large protective defenses, having peaceful

unsuspecting people.

Bill Salus provides a very

informative study of the

Psalm 83 prophecy in his

book PSALM 83, The

Missing Prophecy

Revealed

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. I highly

recommend this book. Bill

suggests that Israel will

become a superpower in the Mideast. It is very understandable how the world will be

anxious to get a peace treaty in place with this new world power to prevent further

annexation of territory.

Are there any foreshocks of this treaty? There seems to be a recent one. In January of

2020 the Trump administration released the Peace to Prosperity plan. Here is a quote

from that plan:

Daniel 9:27 NIV

27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the

middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.

And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes

desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Daniel 8:25 NIV

25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself

superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his

stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not

by human power.

The time has come to end the conflict, and unlock the vast human potential and

economic opportunity that peace will bring to Israelis, Palestinians and the region

as a whole. Over the decades, many proposals and ideas have been put forward,

but elements of those plans were unachievable given the realities on the ground

and in the broader Middle East. While no plan will give either side all of what it

wants, what follows is our view of the best, most realistic and most achievable

outcome for the parties.

(C)

Let me hasten to say that I do not think that Donald Trump is the Antichrist for

introducing this plan. Remember the wording in the scripture presents the idea that the

Antichrist “raises the bar” or “confirms” a plan. This suggests the plan already exists

in some form. Remember that the leader of France has introduced his proposal for a

global ceasefire. One of the foreshocks mentioned in our last study. Perhaps the

Antichrist whoever he is “confirms” the value of the Peace to Prosperity plan as part

of this overall cease fire proposed by France.

Once Israel feels “safe” the beginning of the Ezekiel 38-39 conflict could start. In

session 9 we see three nations that are currently involved in the Syrian civil war,

Russia

, Iran

and

Turkey

. Russia seems to

be the leader in this group

(F) that is attempting to

support the Syrian

government under Bashar al-Assad. Russia also has a Collective security treaty with

the former Soviet states

. If you include Sudan which has a good relationship with

Russia after 2000 and Libya which has been helped by Russia to rebuild after its civil

war. The entire large grouping of nations (v4. Great horde) described in Ezekiel

assemble before us almost beyond mathematical probability (D).

Now we need to address why Russia might be pulled into a battle with Israel (like a

hook in their jaws Ezekiel 38:4. The first obvious possibility would be that if Russia

has spent enormous resources and time trying to keep Bashar al-Assad in power to

have Israel destroy Damascus in one fell swoop would be infuriating certainly. Also,

they would be bound by a bilateral relationship first established in 1944 and renewed

every 5 years

. Russia’s only Mediterranean naval base is located in Tartus Syria

As presented in session 9

there is another reason that

Russia will enter Israel.

That would be resources.

In this case the spoils of

war would be very tempting. Remember that large deposit of oil we mentioned in the

Golan Heights. Please re-read Ezekiel 38:12 to review this motive. In summary, we

see two large “hooks” in the jaws of Russia that pull it into Israel for the battle,

revenge for the decimated, allied Syria and a desire to “acquire” resources (plunder

and loot). (F)

Sidebar: You may be thinking that we are pointing at the current leader of Russia,

Vladimir Putin, as being Gog the leader of Magog in Ezekiel. We are not. It is

possible that the current leader of Russia will not be the leader during the Tribulation.

He is also finding some of his citizens displeased with the government’s handling of

Ezekiel 38:11 NIV

11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will

attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living

without walls and without gates and bars.

Ezekiel 38:12 NIV

12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled

ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and

goods, living at the center of the land.”

Corona Virus

. We cannot assume any person in current events is a particular person

mentioned in prophesy. Only when the prophecy is fulfilled will the identity be

confirmed.

When we evaluate the

response of two other

nations to this attack on

Israel, we can see more

foreshocks of prophesy. In

session 9 we found two groups/nations that confront Gog (Russia) on their invasion

attempt. Let’s read their complaint to Gog in Ezekiel 38:13. It seems obvious that they

understand exactly what Gog is doing, and they make kind of a weak mocking jab at

him. In session 9 we identified Sheba and Dedan as modern Saudi Arabia and the

merchants of Tarshish as likely the “western powers”. Let’s look at these two groups

separately to see why the weak response. Amazingly, there is evidence that Israel and

Saudi Arabia are slowly building some sort of friendship.

88,89

In this modern-day,

relationships between Israel and an Islam country are rare and considered news items.

It all makes sense however when you realize that Saudi Arabia and Iran are bitter

rivals. Iran has a majority population of Shia Muslim and Saudi Arabia is the major

Sunni Muslim leader. Each country wants regional dominance. Since Israel is

threatened by Iran the old saying applies “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

This relationship although seemingly present, is not official at least, apparently, to the

point where Saudi Arabia would try to help their new friend when being attacked by

the world power Russia. So, this developing relationship between Israel and Saudi

Arabia seems to be a foreshock of the Ezekiel 38 battle(G).

In session 9 we identified the “Merchants of Tarshish” as likely to be the “Western

Powers”. Which would seem to point to Western Europe which may actually be

referring to the new Antichrist power. What we have seen concerning the Antichrist is

that through peace many will be destroyed. At this point it would appear that he very

likely is supposed to defend Israel via the treaty he confirmed, but from what we see

of his characteristics, he will harbor a hatred and secret desire for destruction of the

Jewish people (Daniel 8:25). Therefore, he confronts and complains about Russians

building invasion for political points, but then does nothing else but set back and hope

they succeed. What sort of foreshock might be visible for this future prophesy in

Ezekiel? Perhaps these two quotes from AJC will help identify it. It concerns

antisemitism in France:

Both Jews (67%) and the general public (47%) identified antisemitism as a

serious problem in French society. In the wake of horrific antisemitic attacks from

the kosher supermarket siege in 2015 to the brutal murder of Mireille Knoll in

2018, it should come as no surprise that 77% of Jews and 53% of the general

public believe that anti-Jewish hatred is on the rise.

The following information is particularly interesting considering other foreshocks

connected to the leader of France.

However, nearly one in two French Jews (47%) and members of the general

public (48%) raised doubts that French President Macron was tackling

Ezekiel 38:13 NIV

13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her

villages[e] will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you

gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take

away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’

antisemitism effectively, compared to 46% of Jews and 41% of the general public

who questioned the commitment of the French government to treat anti-Jewish

hatred as a national priority. (H)

Foreshocks of the Multi-Polar-Uni-Polar War Nuclear Theatre

Session 16 will go into depth about the Great Prostitute in Revelation. Currently the

United States is the last superpower. It leads the West in foreign policy in many cases

and it will almost always get involved with any large conflict, especially if allies are

being threatened, for example

Israel. At this point please do

not consider the USA to

already be this entity. It is my

assumption that after the

Rapture the USA will devolve

into Babylon the Great or the

Great Prostitute. Before this

great dividing line there are

hints at immorality increasing

and other hints that this is the

path this great nation is on.

Most likely you have not

heard anything about a

10-nation economic

block/alliance. Please re-read

Revelation 13:1-9. Very

recently a candidate might have arisen out of the sea of nations as it were. Could it be

the future empire of the Antichrist? Or is it simply a foreshock. Only time will tell.

We will now take a look. The BRICS organization was initiated by Russia on

September 20

, 2006 on the margins of a UN General Assembly Session.

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It has had

a stable membership of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). In

August of 2023 BRICS invited 6 other countries to join their group. (Egypt, Ethiopia,

Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Argentina) Argentina has officially

declined

124

. All the remaining nations except Saudi Arabia accepted the invitation on

January 1

,2024. If Saudi Arabia does join there will be 10 nations. (I) I have to

hasten to say there have been various groupings of 10 nations in the past that were

potential fulfillments of this prophecy that grew way past 10 eventually (The EU is an

example). It is possible that this group of 10 nations will also fall out of the running.

The thing that makes this grouping interesting is that you can see articles on there web

site infobrics.org that suggests there is already tension with the USA and the West

concerning economic sanctions which often originate from the USA on member

countries like Iran and Russia

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. This article is entitled The BRICS Summit 2023:

Seeking an Alternate World Order? This paragraph is particularly telling about the

motivations of this organization (emphasis mine):

Revelation 13:1-9 NIV

1 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast

coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten

crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The

beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear

and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power

and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast

seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been

healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the

beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given

authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked,

“Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” 5 The beast

was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to

exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to

blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and

those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against

God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority

over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of

the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been

written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the

creation of the world. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

The slew of applications to join the BRICS is clearly a symptom of a deeper malaise. The

West’s proclivity to deploy unilateral financial sanctions, abuse international

payments mechanisms, renege on climate finance commitments, and accord scant

respect to food security and health imperatives of the Global South during the pandemic

are only some of the elements responsible for the growing disenchantment with the

prevailing international system.

This sounds very suspiciously like an organization ready to “buck” a powerful

unipolar world power. Especially under the eventual leadership of the Antichrist ready

to eliminate all superpower competition from the world. It certainly appears to be a

foreshock of things to come.

Red Horse Foreshock Conclusions

This concludes our search for foreshocks for the Red Horse of War both theatres of

war. You may consider a lot of this to be speculation. So, lets back up, play devil’s

advocate a bit, and hit the core scriptural points that may produce foreshocks.

a) At some point Damascus will be destroyed. We may not have proof as to who

does it but it is prophesied. Any evidence that points to a mechanism for that

destruction probably can be viewed as a foreshock of prophetic events.

b) At some point all the nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 will gather to invade the

holy land. Whether it is this current group now or some point in the future

after some form of disbanding from the current gathering.

c) Even if BRICS+ is not the 10 nation multi-polar power we can be assured that

at some point such a grouping will arise to contest with the western nations

headed by the USA.

It is the task of the watchmen to search for approaching events on the horizon.

Black Horse/Famine/Economic Disaster

As we progress deeper into the Tribulation the related foreshocks are less visible.

Only recently do we see some other foreshocks for the black horse of famine and

economic disaster.

4. What are some foreshocks that we might expect from the black horse of

famine and economic disaster?

The foreshocks of the black horse are not as clear because the black horse events are

deeper into the Tribulation, but here are some ones we can anticipate might be

beginning to “shake”.

J. Signs of instability in economies and overspending policies by governments.

(The setup for hyper-inflation)

K. Demonstrations of the fragility of the food supply. (The start of famines)

L. Movement towards paperless digital currency for stability. (The start of the

development of the paperless Mark of the Beast.)

We are going to tackle each of these foreshocks, one by one, to try to detect any

evidence in current events for them.

What are the signs we can see for instability in national economies? An amazing

article by the International Monetary Fund shows the economic response of just about

every country on earth to the Covid-19 situation

. Just reviewing the response of the

United States, we see a $483 billion Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care

Enhancement Act, an estimated $2.3 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economy

Security Act and an $8.3 billion Coronavirus Preparedness and Response

Supplemental Appropriations Act and a $192 billion Families First Coronavirus

Response Act. If anything, this is a stratospheric increase in government spending.

The IMF article does not mention the 700 billion quantitative easing program

(printing money) the USA embarked upon, but a CNBC article did on March 16

2020. Almost certainly these moves by the US government must represent a foreshock

of de-stabilizing economic policy. (J) Policy that may bring us to the door of

hyperinflation! This hit on the economy does not even encompass the effects of

un-employment and lost tax revenue to the government. Will the US do even more

“quantitative easing” when the tax revenues fall short? Remember the spiral we

studied in session 10 involves less tax revenues causing more money printing,

devaluing the currency, leading people to just pay for goods for survival and not

paying taxes and so we loop etc.. The IMF article demonstrates that the entire world

economy has been affected by Covid-19. The term “quantitative easing” was applied

to Hungary and Papa New Guinea in that IMF article. The tracker includes 196

economies on earth and each had an entry describing how they were coping fiscally to

the pandemic. How can we not interpret this as a foreshock of the black horse?

Are we starting to see fragility in the food supply for humanity? The answer is a

resounding yes! Right now, as of this writing on June 14

, 2020, the continent of

Africa is being literally plagued with swarms of locusts. Each swarm can have tens of

billions of insects

. Here is a shocking quote from an NPR article on the topic:

They range anywhere from a square third of a mile to 100 square miles or more,

with 40 to 80 million locusts packed in half a square mile. They bulldoze

pasturelands in dark clouds the size of football fields and small cities. In northern

Kenya, Cressman says, one swarm was reported to be 25 miles long by 37 miles

wide — it would blanket the city of Paris 24 times over.

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that one plague can introduce famine in the

world. Covid-19 was already threatening 130 million people with starvation

. The

locusts are creating an even worse situation in East Africa:

If control operations can spare farmers’ crops, or the grass that herders depend on,

that will prevent the most acute crises. If the locusts return later in the year, the

crisis can repeat itself. But if those crops and vegetation can’t all be saved, people

will exhaust their food supplies, pushing another 2.5 million to the brink of

hunger in East Africa.

The fragility of the food supply is becoming evident even in our modern age. (K)

Finally, what foreshocks can we see in relationship to decline in cash usage in favor of

paperless transactions? In the policy contribution to the European Parliament’s

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs the article: The next generation of

digital currencies: in search of stability

we can see 4 recent developments that are

pushing the world into using paperless currencies (digital currency). The following

list is a truncated list from the introduction of the document:

a. The share of transactions in cash in developed countries has fallen.

b. The emergence of distributed-ledger technology, or blockchain (ie a

decentralized, secure and unchangeable record of financial transactions), has

enabled the appearance of thousands of cryptocurrencies

c. While the first generations of digital coins proved not to be stable means of

payment and storing value, more recent versions have explicitly aimed to

provide stability.

d. As a result of these rapid and potentially significant developments, central

banks are now contemplating the idea of creating central bank digital

currencies (CBDCs).

The foreshocks of the Mark of the Beast are shaking (L). Can you feel it?

Foreshocks Indicating Events Deeper into the Tribulation

Interestingly, foreshocks that point to events deeper into the Tribulation seem harder

to identify. Perhaps we may see some foreshocks related to the Pale Horse of Death

and Hell such as more deadly weapons or even more horrific possibilities concerning

death by disease and starvation. I would rather see the Rapture instead.

Wrap up

The analogy of foreshocks before an earthquake has served us well. As we get closer

to the Tribulation the foreshocks get more intense and unprecedented. Things like a

world-wide pandemic effecting every economy on earth, or the potential for world

leaders, or conflicts where nations align in a pattern described thousands of years in

the past are firsts that point to the unique times, we live in. The end times. In the next

session we introduce one of the prophecies not covered in our sessions. The prophesy

of Babylon the Great.