(Cover of What Is Scientology?)

Police began a a raid and a search of  the Church of Scientology offices in Moscow, Russia on Thursday Oct.6. According to the Russian news agency Interfax:

The search could be part of a criminal investigation by the Moscow region’s Investigative Committee into the distribution of scientology literature of the extremist nature, the source said.

“Experts have made the conclusion that founder of Scientology Ron Hubbard’s books and booklets aim to form an isolated social group, whose members are trained to perform their functions impeccably and most of whom are in a struggle with the rest of the world.”

In June, a court in a Moscow banned several books by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as dangerous. At the time the court ruled that “What is Scientology?” and other L. Ron Hubbard books “contain calls for extremist activities.”

It is not clear why the police raided the Church and officials have not been forthcoming with the purpose or parameters of their investigation.

Response: Should we care? After all Scientology is a ‘non-Christian cult’ and not exactly a mainline church. In fact some doubt that it should be classified as a ‘church’ or religion at all. 

Yes, we should.

Freedom of religion in Russia is tenuous at best. Today they are coming for the scientologists and tomorrow it might be the Mormons. We might even be tempted to say ‘good rid ends.’ But where does it stop and where is the protection for churches that may be somewhat out of the ‘Orthodox’ mainstream in Russia? As it stands several charismatic churches in Russia have run into legal difficulties getting official government recognition.

The fact is that ‘freedom of religion ‘ and the relationship between churches and state is still in flux and far from being clearly defined in Russia. This gives legal authorities room to act or react according to their own views or opinions.  The ‘take down’ of the Scientology offices may set a dangerous precedence for minority religions in Russia.            *Top

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(Image by zoer via Flickr)

For years, Bible teachers and preachers have been looking for Russia to lead a coalition of nations in an attack against Israel as foretold in Ezekiel 38-39.

The only problem was that many of the ancient nations mentioned in the prophecy are now incorporated in modern Turkey and Turkey had close ties with Israel and the USA. As long as Turkey was part of NATO and had a close relationship with Israel I was not worried about the possibility.

Now comes the news today that Turkey has broken off diplomatic relations with Israel and has expelled the Israeli ambassador. The relations between the two countries has been on a downward spiral for over a year but there is a finality to this action that may mark the beginning of a new era in the Middle East.

Another recent announcement that I just noticed today also caused me to be concerned that just maybe we might be seeing the Ezekiel coalition beginning to actually line up.

Iran and Russia have agreed to explore stronger strategic ties. There is even the possibility that Iran may be allowed to join The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as China. This could take the relationship between Russia, Iran, and the former USSR Muslim ’istan’ republics to a new level and even potentially adds China to the mix.

We have posted on this new alignment possibility before (here, here, here, here, and here) but now it is increasingly becoming a reality and an actual threat that Israel may be facing in the near future.

Now add the uncertainty of Libya to the mix and the possibility that Islamic radicals (even more radical than Gaddafi) may soon be running that country it is time to take another look at how a ‘Gog and Magog’ scenario might be lining up.

Here is a survey of the nations listed in the Ezekiel prophecy and their possible modern location:

1. Meshech

Possibly a people inhabiting the Moschian Mountains, between the Black and the Caspian Seas in western Asia. Now north-eastern Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Armenia,  Azerbaijan, and northern Iran.

2. Tubal

Most scholars identify Tubal as coming from the Cappadocian region of eastern Asia Minor in modern Turkey. In ancient writings it is usually paired with Meshech. Called Tabali and Muski in Assyrian references, and Tibarenoi and Moschoi as mentioned in Herodotus as part of the Persian Empire of Darius and Xerxes.

3. Persia

Iran is the modern name and it’s leaders continually threated to destroy Israel. Iran is close to having nuclear weapons and a missile delivery system that could actually get the job done.

4. Cush

The land of Cush is usually identified as Ethiopia, but I believe that ancient Nubia may be a better match with Sudan as the modern equivalent. However, it might also be a reference to some of the descendants of Cush (Nimrod among the most famous) who settled by the Gihon River (Gen.2: 13-14) near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which is in Mesopotamia or modern Iraq.

5. Put

Identified as modern Libya in many sources. More than likely it is Libya in the Ezekiel reference. However, some scholars identify Put with modern Somalia and Yemen. All of these countries are anti-Israel. Al Qaeda is a major factor in Yemen and Somalia. Now also part of the radical Islamist rebel group trying to defeat Gaddafi.

6. Gomer

Usually identified as an ancient people who settled in the far north around the Black Sea in what is now North-Eastern Turkey and Southern Russia. Some settled even further north while others may have migrated over the Caucasus into Western Asia.

7. Togarmah

North-eastern Turkey, Armenia, or Azerbaijan.

All of the modern nations possibly associated with this prophecy today except Armenia are now anti-Israel in some form or another. Iran and Turkey are the most certain of the modern nations identified in the prophecy with Turkey being the key since so many of the ancient nations listed were located in Asia minor.

Now that Turkey is turning against their former allies and Russia is said to be negotiating a new security agreement with Iran. It is now possible that we are seeing the different nations of the ‘Gog and Magog’ scenario actually lining up for the first time in history.

Does that mean that Ezekiel 38-39 may soon be fulfilled? Not necessarily.

However, the whole Muslim Middle East and North Africa is in turmoil, Iran says it will soon destroy Israel, the Palestinian’s are preparing for war, and the Israeli’s have indicated that they will not stand by and watch Iran become a nuclear power. Now Turkey is against Israel and Russia is indicating that it will support Iran.

It sure seems like the major players are all in place and beginning to line up.             *Top

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(Image by didkovskya via Flickr)

A Russian court in Moscow has banned Scientology books by L. Ron Hubbard.

The Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement today that the Shchyolkovo court has ruled that “What is Scientology?” and other books by L. Ron Hubbard “contain calls for extremist activities.”

Accordingly the Scientology books will now be put on the federal list of extremist materials banned for release throughout all of Russia. Previously the Russian Orthodox Church had denounced Scientology as a “totalitarian sect” making it difficult for the ‘church’ to receive official registry in the country.

Scientology officials who claim to have “tens of thousands” of members in Russia say that they will be appealing the court decision.

Response: This is not a good sign for ‘Freedom of religion’ in Russia. To ban these books is tantamount to banning the religion based upon them. If a court in Russia can do that, what is to prevent them from banning other religious books like the Book of Mormon or even Protestant versions of the Bible? Can you say ‘slippery slope’?

I am not sympathetic to the so-called ‘Church of Scientology’ in any way and even question whether it is a religion at all. Nevertheless, the court in Russia doesn’t even bother with questions of religious freedom but decides it has the power to ban the whole thing regardless?

Not a good portent for religious freedom in Russia. Today they are coming for the Scientologists, maybe tomorrow for the unregistered Pentecostals.             *Top

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On January 19, Orthodox Christians all over Russia took a traditional dip in ice-cold water to celebrate Epiphany –the day in the Orthodox Church calendar set aside to commemorate the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.

In Russia, Orthodox believers traditionally mark the occasion by plunging into a river or pond sometimes even cutting a hole in ice if necessary.

Response: Brrrr. All I can say is, may God bless them. A tradition I am more than happy to miss even if it does demonstrate boldness in the faith.

However, many years ago I was baptized during the winter in a backyard swimming pool. But winters in Southern California probably don’t qualify for this Russia tradition plus the pool was heated to boot.            *Top of the Blog

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(-Jerusalem via Wikipedia

Here’s a few articles I read this week that indicate that Iran will soon have nuclear weapons and a missile capable of delivery.  Also, Russia and Iran seem to be forming a close alliance that is causing some concerns:

While Bush was president the media tried to ignore Iran as much as possible hoping to head off military action by the former administration to stop Iran. In fact the media questioned any concerns that the former president had with Iran and always published data that showed Iran to be years away from going nuclear.

Now with a new president in charge that they trust, the main stream media is all of a sudden starting to let stories get through which clearly show that Iran will soon be a viable nuclear threat. This week Iran launched their first satellite into space–demonstrating that they now have a potential missile delivery system for their upcoming nuclear weapons.

You probably missed these latest developments on the nightly news programs, this news is still being downplayed for some reason.

Now the final article– I found it in WorldNetDaily, this one by Hal Lindsey: “Zero hour approaches“

For those unfamiliar with Hal Lindsey, he has made it his life work to study current events and identify how they may be a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.  

In this article, Hal does what he is best at– identifying how events in the Middle East are quickly progressing towards an end-time Biblical scenario. With Iran on the brink of having nuclear weapons, Hal cites the beginning of an Ezekiel end-time coalition with Russia and Iran in the lead against Israel.

According to Lindsey, a potential Ezekiel 38-39 scenario attack against Israel now is beginning to fall in to place and coming at a time when we have a new administration that is ready to make concessions and might blink when it comes to a possible confrontation with a nuclear power like Russia. Hal always does a great job at scaring the heck out of me!           *Top

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