The Good News!

THE MUSLIM EMPIRE
ISLAMIC CONQUEST

In the first half of the 7th century, Syria was absorbed into the Muslim caliphate. Arab forces had appeared on the southern border even before the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, but the real invasion took place in 633-634, with Halide bin al-Walid as its most important leader. In 635 Damascus surrendered, its inhabitants being promised security for their lives, property, and churches, on payment of a poll tax. A counterattack by the emperor Heraclius was defeated at the Battle of the Yarmuk River in 636; by 640 the conquest was virtually complete. 

The new rulers divided Syria into four districts (junds): Damascus, Hims, Jordan, and Palestine (to which a fifth, Kinnasrin, was later added). The Arab garrisons were kept apart in camps, and life went on much as before. Conversion to Islam had scarcely begun, apart from Arab tribes already settled in Syria; except for the tribe of Ghassan, these all became Muslim. Christians and Jews were treated with toleration, and Nestorian and Jacobite Christians had better treatment than they had under Byzantium. The Byzantine form of administration remained, but the new Muslim tax system was introduced. From 639 the governor of Syria was Mu'awiyah of the Meccan house of the Umayyads. He used the country as a base for expeditions against the Byzantine Empire, for this purpose building the first Muslim navy in the Mediterranean. When civil war broke out in the Muslim Empire, as a result of the murder of 'Uthman and the nomination of 'Ali as caliph, Syria stood firm behind Mu'awiyah, who extended his authority over neighbouring provinces and was proclaimed caliph in 660. He was the first of the Umayyad line, which ruled the empire, with Syria as its core and Damascus its capital, for almost a century. 

'ABBASID DYNASTY 

Second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim Empire of the Caliphate. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in AD 750 and reigned as the 'Abbasid caliphate until destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258.

The name is derived from that of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, al-'Abbas (died c. 653), of the Hashemite clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. From c. 718, members of his family worked to gain control of the empire, and by skillful propaganda won much support, especially from Shi'i Arabs and Persians in Khorasan. Open revolt in 747, under the leadership of Abu Muslim, led to the defeat of Marwan II, the last Umayyad caliph, at the Battle of the Great Zab River (750) in Mesopotamia and to the proclamation of the first 'Abbasid caliph, Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah. 

Under the 'Abbasids the caliphate entered a new phase. Instead of focusing, as the Umayyads had done, on the West--on North Africa, the Mediterranean, and southern Europe--the caliphate now turned eastward. The capital was moved to the new city of Baghdad, and events in Persia and Transoxania were closely watched. For the first time the caliphate was not coterminous with Islam; in Egypt, North Africa, Spain, and elsewhere, local dynasties claimed caliphal status. With the rise of the 'Abbasids the base for influence in the empire became international, emphasizing membership in the community of believers rather than Arab nationality. Since much support for the 'Abbasids came from Persian converts, it was natural for the 'Abbasids to take over much of the Persian (Sasanian) tradition of government. Support by pious Muslims likewise led the 'Abbasids to acknowledge publicly the embryonic Islamic law and to profess to base their rule on the religion of Islam. Between 750 and 833 the 'Abbasids raised the prestige and power of the empire, promoting commerce, industry, arts, and science, particularly during the reigns of al-Mansur, Harun ar-Rashid, and al-Ma`mun. Their temporal power, however, began to decline when al-Mu'tasim introduced non-Muslim Berber, Slav, and especially Turkish mercenary forces into his personal army. Although these troops were converted to Islam, the base of imperial unity through religion was gone, and some of the new army officers quickly learned to control the caliphate through assassination of any caliph who would not accede to their demands.

The power of the army officers had already weakened through internal rivalries when the Iranian Buyids entered Baghdad in 945, demanding of al-Mustakfi (944-946) that they be recognized as the sole rulers of the territory they controlled. This event initiated a century-long period in which much of the empire was ruled by local secular dynasties. In 1055 the 'Abbasids were overpowered by the Seljuqs, who took what temporal power may have been left to the caliph but respected his position as religious leader, restoring the authority of the caliphate, especially during the reigns of al-Mustarshid (1118-35), al-Muqtafi, and an-Nasir. Soon after, in 1258, the dynasty fell during a Mongol siege of Baghdad.

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THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM
THE OLD
HASHEMITE KINGDOM
AND THE PALESTINE WAR

During World War I the Arabs joined the British against the Ottomans. In a revolt of 1916, in which they were assisted by Colonel T.E. Lawrence, the Arabs cut the Hejaz railway. In July 1917 the army of Prince Faysal ibn Husayn (of the Hashemite dynasty) captured al-'Aqabah, and by October 1918 Amman and Damascus were in Allied hands. In 1920 the Conference of San Remo (Italy) created two mandates, allotting the one over Palestine to Great Britain and the one over Syria to France. This act effectively separated the area now covered by Israel and Jordan from that of Syria.  In November 1920 Abdullah, Faysal's brother, arrived in Ma'an, then part of the Hejaz, with 2,000 armed supporters intent on raising the tribes to attack the French, who had forced Faysal to relinquish his newly founded kingdom in Syria. By April 1921, however, the British had prevailed upon Abdullah to take over as ruler of what then became known as Transjordan.

Effectively, Turkish rule in Transjordan was simply replaced by British rule. The mandate, confirmed by the League of Nations in July 1922, gave the British virtually a free hand in administering the territory, although in September 1922 it was explicitly excluded from the clauses regarding the establishment of "a Jewish national home" and was closed to Jewish immigration. The British recognized Transjordan's independence under the rule of Emir Abdullah on May 25, 1923, codified in a treaty in 1928 (excluding matters of finance and military and foreign affairs, which remained in the hands of a British "resident"). In April 1928 a constitution was promulgated. Full independence was achieved after World War II by a treaty concluded in London on March 22, 1946, and on May 25 Abdullah proclaimed himself king. A new constitution was promulgated, and in 1949 the name of the state was changed to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Throughout the interwar years Abdullah had been dependent on British financial support. He also was assisted by them in the formation of an elite force, the Arab Legion, which was commanded and trained by British officers but staffed with Bedouin troops, to maintain order and secure the allegiance of his Bedouin subjects. On May 15, 1948, the day after the Jewish Agency proclaimed the independent state of Israel and immediately after the British withdrew from their Palestine mandate, Transjordan joined its Arab neighbors in the first Arab-Israeli war. The Arab Legion, commanded by Glubb Pasha (John [later Sir John] Bagot Glubb), as well as Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, and Iraqi troops entered Palestine. Abdullah's primary purpose, which he had spelled out in secret discussions with Jewish envoys, was to extend his rule to include the area allotted to the Palestinian Arabs under the United Nations partition resolution of November 1947. Accordingly, he engaged his forces in the area of Palestine popularly known as the West Bank and expelled Jewish forces from East Jerusalem (the Old City). When the Jordan-Israel armistice was signed on April 3, 1949, the West Bank and East Jerusalem--an area of about 2,100 square miles--came under Jordanian rule, and the half-million Transjordanians were joined by almost half a million more Palestinian Arabs. This territory was formally annexed by the kingdom in April 1950. Israel and Britain had tacitly agreed to Abdullah keeping the area, but the Arab countries and most of the world opposed the king's action, and only Britain and Pakistan recognized the annexation. The incorporation of the West Bank, with 400,000 Palestinians, into Jordan, as well as a large refugee population that, on the whole, was hostile to the Hashemite regime, brought with them severe economic and political consequences. On the other hand, Abdullah did gain the Muslim shrines such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City, which compensated for his father's loss of Mecca and Medina at the hands of Ibn Sa'ud a generation earlier.

Abdullah was assassinated at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on July 20, 1951, by a young Palestinian frustrated by the king's hostility to Palestinian nationalist aspirations. Abdullah's son, Talal, who succeeded him, was declared unfit to rule by parliament because of mental illness after only one year (in August 1952). Talal abdicated in favor of his eldest son, Hussein ibn-Talal, who was crowned king on his 18th birthday, on May 2, 1953.

JORDAN
UNDER KING HUSSEIN
SECURING THE THRONE
1953-1960 

A country poor in resources, Jordan is surrounded by wealthier and more powerful states. More than 60 percent of its population are Palestinians, the majority of whom arrived as displaced persons following the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967 and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Their presence has added to the economic and political problems of the kingdom.

Jordan has had to depend on outside economic assistance for most of its history. Before 1948 this came primarily from the United Kingdom. Following the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967 aid was provided by the United States and other Western countries (although suspended during the time of the Persian Gulf War), as well as by Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

The history of Jordan after 1953 was largely shaped by King Hussein's policies to secure his throne and to retain or regain the West Bank for the Hashemite dynasty. Jordan's relationship with Israel in the first decade of the Jewish state's existence, although uneasy, was tolerable, though bloody raids and acts of terrorism carried out by each side added to the tension. The kingdom's involvement in the Palestinian question led as much to a contest with Egypt over Jordan's future as it did to a struggle with Israel. In particular, it repeatedly forced Jordan to walk a tightrope between various Arab nations, the Palestinians, and the West and Israel. Thus, popular demonstrations, especially in the West Bank, and pressure from Egypt prevented Hussein in 1955 from signing the pro-Western mutual defense treaty between Great Britain, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq known as the Baghdad Pact, which he had helped initiate. And in 1956 Hussein--bowing to popular pressure and in a show of support for Egyptian efforts at pan-Arab leadership--dismissed his British advisers, including Commander in Chief Glubb, and abrogated the Anglo-Jordanian treaty of 1946. However, when members of the National Guard, drawn mainly from the West Bank, attempted a coup d'état in April 1957, the king, supported by loyal East Bank Bedouins, acted decisively to curb domestic unrest; he purged the legislature of Palestinian nationalists and extremists, banned political parties, and set up a royal dictatorship.

After Egypt and Syria merged in February 1958, establishing the United Arab Republic (UAR; 1958-61), Hussein was persuaded by his cousin King Faysal II to join in a federal union with Iraq. In July 1958, however, Faysal and his family were killed in an army coup coordinated by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Hussein, realizing his regime was under threat, turned to Great Britain and the United States for assistance.

Washington agreed to provide additional military as well as economic aid. The British government, eager to see the pro-Western Hussein secure in Jordan, stationed British paratroops in the country between July and November 1958. This thwarted a further attempt by anti-Hashemite Palestinians supported by Nasser to overthrow the monarchy. By the early 1960s the United States was providing about $100 million per year, enabling economic development, and, despite a number of assassination attempts, the king's future appeared secure.

THE PLO
AND THE
JUNE 1967 WAR 

The emergence in the late 1960s of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the militant group al-Fatah represented a potential threat to Jordan's sovereignty on the West Bank as well as to Israel. In early 1965 al-Fatah, supported by the radical Ba'ath Party government in Syria and encouraged by Egypt, began a series of  raids against Israel, generally from Jordan, inflicting serious casualties and damage. Israel responded with raids into the West Bank in an effort to force Jordan to quash these military operations. Relations between Jordan and Syria and Egypt and between the Palestinians and Amman deteriorated. Privately, Hussein had been seeking an understanding with Israel over an approach to the external and internal dangers facing the two countries. In late 1966 the Israeli army made a devastating raid into the West Bank village of as-Samu south of Hebron, destroying many of its houses. Hussein responded by attempting to stop the passage of Syrian-based Palestinian guerrillas through Jordan into Israel, eventually breaking off diplomatic ties with Syria (May 23, 1967). However, as tension mounted between Israel and Egypt and Syria in the spring of 1967, Jordan reversed its position and on May 30 signed a defense pact with Egypt and Syria, placing Jordanian forces under Egyptian command. Despite assurances from Israel that Jordan would not be attacked if it remained neutral, Israeli and Jordanian forces clashed in East Jerusalem, and King Hussein joined Egypt and Syria in the third Arab-Israel war in June 1967.

The June 1967 war was a watershed in the modern history of Jordan. Within 48 hours Israeli forces had overrun the entire territory west of the Jordan River, capturing Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus, Ram Allah, Janin, and the city of Jerusalem. Jordan suffered heavy casualties and lost one-third of its most fertile land, and its already overburdened economy was faced with supporting some 200,000 new refugees. Hussein had regarded entering the war as the lesser of two evils; he believed that, if he had not joined Egypt and Syria, they would have supported the Palestinians in overthrowing his regime. The loss of the West Bank and Jerusalem, devastating as it was, was preferable to the loss of his kingdom.

FROM 1967 TO CIVIL WAR 

Following the June war Hussein faced three major problems: how to recover from the economic losses caused by the war, how to live with Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the annexation of East Jerusalem, and how to preserve the Hashemite throne against a considerably augmented and increasingly hostile Palestinian population. The war reversed the progress made in Jordan's economy prior to June 1967, even though Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Libya provided the kingdom with foreign aid. Yet within a short period both the United States and Great Britain resumed economic and military aid. In 1971 arrangements also were made with Israel enabling Jordanian cultivation in the Jordan Valley.

Despite the fact that an Arab summit meeting held in Khartoum in August 1967 passed the "three no's" resolution--no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel--King Hussein resumed his secret negotiations with Israel over the disposition of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Relations with Israel were thus inseparably linked to the future of the Palestinians. Somewhat unrealistically, Hussein sought the return of all the territory lost to Jordanian rule, but, while willing privately to recognize Israel and to cooperate with it across a wide range of issues, he was not prepared to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state. The two nations were thus no longer enemies and cooperated against PLO terrorism, but there was little progress toward a lasting peace.

Hussein's relations with the PLO, which under the chairmanship of Yasser 'Arafat openly challenged the king's control in East Jordan, reached a crisis in September 1970. The radical Marxist Palestinian group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), hijacked four international airliners and blew up three of them in Dawson's Field, a deserted airstrip in the Jordanian desert. On September 16 the king declared martial law and called in loyal troops, and civil war (later remembered as Black September) erupted. When 250 Syrian tanks entered northern Jordan in support of the PLO, Hussein was forced not only to call upon military assistance from the United States and Great Britain but also to allow Israeli military over flights to attack the Syrian forces. The Syrian forces were defeated, and a peace agreement, in which Hussein made concessions to the PLO, was signed by King Hussein and 'Arafat in Cairo on Sept. 27, 1970. By July 1971, however, Hussein had forced the PLO guerrillas out of Jordan.

FROM 1973 TO THE INTAFADA 

King Hussein chose not to join Egypt and Syria in their surprise attack on Israel in the war of October 1973, although he did make a symbolic gesture by sending tanks to assist Syria in the Golan Heights. In negotiations immediately following the war, Hussein once again demanded the return of the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Israel. He was bitter that Israel--in response to pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger--proposed a withdrawal of its forces from Israeli-occupied Egyptian territory but made no such overtures to Jordan, the neighbor that had stayed out of the war. Yet by August 1974 discussions were under way with Israel over "disengagement accords" that included the recognition of Jordan as speaking for the Palestinians, regional economic cooperation, and tactical cooperation, especially in relation to the threat posed by Palestinian guerrilla groups. However, on Oct. 28, 1974, 20 leaders of the Arab League at an Arab summit meeting in Rabat, Mor., declared that the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the PLO ("their sole legitimate representative"), had the right to establish a national independent authority in liberated Palestine. On Nov. 4, 1974, Hussein announced that Jordan would exclude the West Bank from Jordan and that a federation between Jordan and a Palestinian state was "totally inconceivable," as such a step would inevitably give the Palestinian population a majority and bring about the loss of his kingdom. Faced with American reluctance to supply arms and an Egyptian-Israeli Sinai accord, Jordan and Syria, in an effort to control PLO activities, agreed in August 1975 to a joint "supreme command" to coordinate their foreign and military policies. On March 9, 1977, Hussein met with 'Arafat in Cairo, their first meeting since Black September 1970. In July 1977 Hussein, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter once again floated the idea of a link between Jordan and a Palestinian "entity," but in August the idea was denounced by the PLO.

The election of the right-wing Likud bloc with Menachem Begin as Israeli prime minister in May 1977 brought relations between Jordan and Israel to a low ebb. Jordan was faced with Begin's determination to annex and retain all of the West Bank, which Israel now called Judaea and Samaria. Begin greatly accelerated the program of constructing Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Although Israel was committed to granting autonomy to the Palestinians and to negotiating the future status of the occupied territories under the terms of the Israeli-Egyptian agreement hammered out at Camp David in 1978, Hussein condemned the agreement. He completely broke off the 15-year secret negotiations with Israel. From late 1977 until 1984 Jordanian contacts with Israel came to a virtual halt. Hussein became increasingly alarmed at the rise in popularity in Israel of the view that Jordan was, in fact, the Palestinian state and that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians would end only when the artificial entity--Jordan--officially became the Palestinian state. Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 fueled fears in Amman that this was the first step in the process of transferring Palestinians to the East Bank.

In the early 1980s Hussein sought an accommodation with 'Arafat and the PLO. The king realized that 'Arafat, following his expulsion from Lebanon and the destruction of his bases, was almost entirely friendless and in need of his support. The two men reached a temporary if somewhat uneasy alliance. In order to strengthen his legitimacy in the eyes of Palestinians, Hussein, in 1984, allowed the Palestine National Council (a virtual parliament of the Palestinians) to meet in Amman, and in February 1985 he signed the "Hussein-'Arafat" agreement pledging cooperation with the PLO and coordination of a joint peace initiative. Hussein believed that 'Arafat would accept a confederation of the West and East Banks with autonomy for the Palestinians of the West Bank under Jordanian sovereignty. 'Arafat, however, although agreeable to an eventual confederation between a future Palestinian state and Jordan, had not given up hope of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank. In January 1984 Hussein reconvened parliament for the first time since 1974, appointing seven new West Bank representatives and allowing by-elections to be held in March for eight East Bank vacancies in the 60-member House of Representatives. Women were included in the electorate for the first time.

In February 1986 Hussein, frustrated by 'Arafat's ambiguity regarding the PLO's recognition of Israel and the renunciation of terrorism, which in turn confirmed Israeli intransigence, repudiated the Amman agreement with 'Arafat and broke off negotiations with the PLO. Although the king was careful not to expel the PLO from Jordan entirely, despite an increase in guerrilla violence in the West Bank, he did order the closure of the PLO offices in Amman in March 1986. In a complete turnaround in the Jordanian policy that had been followed since the Arab Rabat summit of 1974, he declared that he would now be responsible for the economic welfare of the West Bank Palestinians and that the West Bank would be included in the new five-year plan for Jordan to be announced in August. The king also approved an increase in the number of Palestinian seats (to about half) in an enlarged National Assembly. His goal was to create a Jordanian-Palestinian-Israeli administration that would make the West Bank independent of the PLO and enable him to reach a settlement with Israel in which he would regain at least partial sovereignty of the area.

By April 1987 Hussein and Shimon Peres, Israel's foreign minister, agreed to a UN-sponsored conference involving all parties to the conflict to seek a comprehensive peace. The Palestinian representatives would be part of a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. Although the proposal was endorsed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir wanted a conference with only Jordan and resisted American pressure for a comprehensive peace conference. King Hussein scored a diplomatic triumph with the staging of an Arab League summit meeting in Amman in November 1987. During this meeting Arab League members agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations with Egypt. More importantly for the king, the Palestinian issue was not the main topic: the Iran-Iraq War, then in its eighth year, took precedence.

The situation changed dramatically in December 1987 with the outbreak of the intafada, a Palestinian uprising on the West Bank. King Hussein quickly realized that the uprising was directed against his rule as well as that of the Israelis. His immediate response was to support the intafada publicly and to offer aid to families of victims of Israeli reprisals in an effort to deflect hostility to his regime. But the intafada leaders (known as the Unified Command) renounced the king's overtures. 'Arafat quickly assumed the role of spokesman for the revolt. The intafada brought to a halt Jordanian and Israeli plans for an economic path to peace. Hussein canceled the five-year plan for the West Bank.

RENOUNCING CLAIMS
TO THE WEST BANK 

An emergency meeting of the Arab League in June 1988 gave the PLO financial control of support for the Palestinians, thereby virtually acknowledging 'Arafat as their spokesman. In response Hussein, on July 31, renounced all Jordanian claim to the West Bank, allowing the PLO to assume full responsibility. He dissolved the Jordanian parliament (half of whose members were West Bank representatives), ceased salary payments of 21,000 West Bank civil servants, and ordered that West Bank Palestinian passports be converted to two-year travel documents. When the Palestine National Council recognized the PLO as the sole legal representative of the Palestinian people and proclaimed the independence of a purely national Palestine on Nov. 15, 1988, Hussein immediately extended recognition to the Palestinian entity.

In November 1989 Jordan held its first parliamentary elections in 22 years. Opposition groups, particularly the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, gained more seats than the pro-government candidates, and the newly elected prime minister, Mudar Badran, promised to lift the martial law in place since 1967--a promise not fully kept until July 1991.

FROM THE PERSIAN GULF WAR
TO PEACE WITH ISRAEL 

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and the subsequent 44-day Persian Gulf War in January-February 1991 forced Hussein to choose between two allies, the United States and Iraq. The king leaned heavily toward the "Arab Patriot" Saddam Hussein, who also received a zealous and vocal groundswell of support from the Jordanian people. In addition, trade with Iraq represented 40 percent of the kingdom's gross domestic product. Kuwait's allies immediately cut off all aid to Jordan, imposed an air and sea blockade, and condemned King Hussein's actions. To make matters worse, 200,000 to 300,000 refugees from Kuwait were expelled or fled (back) to Jordan. However, by the end of 1991 the United States and Israel were again seeking Hussein's support for an American-Israeli peace initiative. It was later unintentionally released that Hussein had been acting as a double agent for the United States during the war. This led Saddam to place a bounty on the head of the king. However, he once again took up the challenge and became and agent for peace in the region. A peace that his kingdom needs as desperately as the Israelis. 

The first multiparty general election since 1956 was scheduled for November 1993. In August the king dissolved the 80-member House of Representatives (the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly) and announced that the election would be conducted on a one-person-one-vote system rather than on the old "slate" system that allowed voters to cast as many votes as there were representatives in their constituency. In the election the number of anti-Zionist Islamic militants--who made up the Islamic Action Front (IAF), a coalition of Islamic groupings and the largest of the 20 political parties--was reduced from 36 to 16, giving the king the support he had sought for his policy.

King Hussein expressed public reservations over a PLO-Israeli accord, the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements in the occupied territories signed on Sept. 13, 1993, but he stated his willingness to support the Palestinian people. He was concerned over issues relating to Jordan's economic links with the West Bank and the future status of Palestinians in Jordan. About one year later, on Oct. 26, 1994, Jordan and Israel signed a full peace treaty, in which King Hussein was recognized as the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in East Jerusalem.

THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM
FAMILY TREE
AND
OTHER PHOTOS OF INTEREST

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THE LINE
OF THE
HASHEMITE DYNASTY
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THE FAMILY CREST
 

THE HASHEMITE KING
Hussein bin Talal
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Western Interests
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The Peacemaker

 The Ten Kings Of The Mideast Involved In Peace

THE TANGLED WEB THEY WEAVE

By Staff Writer

"Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we practice to deceive"

    Truer words have never been spoken about the cast of characters featured in "The End Time Of The Jews & Jerusalem". Daniel the prophet's deceit filled drama that is presently appearing on the Mideast stage of history.

We've come to a time in history where the lie becomes the truth, and the truth the lie.

The whole is equal to the sum of its parts, but when the whole thing is a lie, then so are all of the parts. And, as predicted, that's exactly what's evident when you watch the interaction of the players presently acting out Daniels' prophecy about the end time of the Jews and their holy city, Jerusalem.

To get a better understanding of how it all came to the present, we first have to know where the plot is going for the Jews. And of course, the objective is to bring peace and security to Israel, and rebuild the temple on temple mount in Jerusalem, and name the person who accomplishes these things, Messiah, for whom the Jews have long been waiting.

On the other hand, you have the one named Messiah, for his excellent deeds, and his motive for having the fortitude to attain such heights. And if his motives be known, they would reek of deceit, for he is a false deliverer, who has as his goals, monumental power and the ultimate destruction of the Jews, hidden deep in his heart.

But, he and the Jews are not the only ones involved. He has to perpetrate his lie to everyone involved in the peace and security of Israel, and the temples rebuilding negotiations. Each of the others involved suspect his evil intentions, because each has his own agenda for what will be the outcome of the agreed upon 'peace' that they make with Israel. Thus, each in turn lies to the other concerning their agendas, as each votes to make peace for the common good, because the option of war leads to their own annihilation.

Three of the participants cannot contain themselves at the thought of the Jews building a temple on their holy ground in Jerusalem, and must be put down in order to maintain existence of the region, and life itself. 

The insurrections are put down, and a time of peace will reign in the land of Nod. But the entire episode was built on the original lie, thus, after three and a half years, the weight of the lies breaks through the thin walls of the peace, and all of a sudden, hell is running loose among the Jews, and anyone else who tries to come against him.

All the while, the West, represented by the mightiest Democracy, is deluded into not only sponsoring him, with money, arms and promises, but aids him in his quest for powerful positions, based upon the lies hiding their own plan for world dominance.

One wonders why any of them thinks that their lie is the one that is going to stand up at the end of the day. They will all be quite surprised when the double cross comes their way, because they are each further diluted by their own lies, and don't see it coming.

The deception the Jews fall for comes about because they have been blinded by their ultra-religious segment, who is looking for a Messiah who brings peace and security to Israel, and allows for the temple to be rebuilt.

The Muslim nations each has it's own deceitful reasons to participate, but are held together in a loose confederacy by the sacred, holy nature of their spiritually endowed electee to the throne of peacemaker in their names. For this reason, they do not expect a double cross, and are shocked by the reality of it, but fall in line behind the leader, helpless before him.

No one is more shocked by his actions than the West (The Roman Empire West, sponsors of the 'little horn') They were so busy dividing up the world into ten neat little sections, each with it's own king at the helm, plenty of business, business, business to do, and, they thought their deal with him was solid (yea, solid his way), so they weren't watching close enough either.

So, he unites the Muslims around the oil, and the world is in a Mexican standoff, and because of the oil, the world stands by, and even cheers, as he turns on the Jews, and begins their systematic annihilation, as his plan called for from the start.

But, God never intended that Satan should be victorious over His people, so, He gathers their enemies together at Megiddo and Christ returns in triumph, defeats them in battle, saves the Jews and sets up His stone Kingdom from which He rules the earth for the next one thousand years.

The web of men's lies became so entangled that it brought the world to the brink of extinction, where only the God who created it, was capable of sorting it out, setting it straight and starting it over.

CHN Staff writer

THE PRINCE OF GRECIA

Once you understand it, the tie between the beast in Daniel 10 and Revelation 13 and 17 points directly at the identity of the spiritual force behind the 'little horn' character that turns a heretofore benevolent ruler into a mighty force the world will have to reckon with. 

You will never understand the connection if you don't believe in spiritual forces [demons]. 

You can't say you believe in the Bible, and then say you don't believe in demons. This is not going to be a lesson in demonology, you'll have to discover their reality from the Bible yourself, or wait until I do an article on the subject. For the purpose of this little adventure of discovery, you'll just have to take scriptures word on it, and go for the gestalt of the picture that's painted.

The one thing about demons you do need to know is that there is a place that they are kept when they are defeated. [We're talking about spirits here, they don't die, they get bound]. The place is referred to as The Abyss, The Pit, The Bottomless Pit, but the word that is being translated is ABYSS. The 'legions' [of demons] that possessed the demoniac that Jesus encountered were worried that He was sending them to the Abyss before their time. Revelations says Satan will be bound there for a thousand years, and calls for the 'locust demons' and The Prince of Grecia to come out of there.

Prince Grecia is the central focus of our story. The angelic citizens of Heaven who have fallen have some kind of pecking order, as there are Princes, Chief Princes, and demons. A Chief Prince, some Princes, and a mess of demons are in charge of this world. They rule! And, they rule through us, the citizens of earth.

In Daniel we learn that at one time, Prince Grecia, an angelic prince from among the ranks of the fallen, was ruler over the earthly Greek Prince, Alexander, whose military exploits in early B.C., gained him the historic title, 'Alexander The Great'. 

Those military exploits play an important role in this story, because Daniel tells us that when Alexander comes into the scene in history, he easily uproots and replaces a formerly unbeatable Medo-Persian Empire, also that he would die at the height of his power, his kingdom would split into four parts, and the rulers of those parts would not be his prodigy, nor rule in HIS POWER. So, the divided kingdom would no longer be ruled by Prince Grecia [defeated spirits go to the ABYSS]. This was all depicted in the prophecy as a Goat and a Ram, and then clearly interpreted by the angel.

Daniel had already seen this kingdom twice before. Once as the 'sides and belly of brass', of king Nebuchadnezzar's' dream, then again as the leopard in his own dream, and now the meaning becomes clear when he sees it for the third time, up close, with the Goat and the Ram and their explanation.

The angel bringing this message to Daniel told him a story about his delayed arrival that exposes the 'angel hierarchy'. He tells Daniel that he had heard his prayer three weeks earlier, but his arrival was delayed because of a battle he had to fight with the Prince of Persia. Daniel was in the court of the earthly Prince of Persia and the fight wasn't with him. It was the spiritual head of the Empire, the fallen Prince, Persia. The angel told Daniel that he enlisted the help of Prince Michael, the Chief of Heavenly Princes, someone who owed him a favor, to fight a sort of holding action, while he delivered his message. Then he said, when he returns to the battle, the Prince of Persia would be no more [off to the ABYSS], but, lo, the Prince of Grecia comes.

That explains why Medo-Persia fell so easily to Alexander. The former spiritual head of the kingdom had been defeated in a battle with Michael and Gabriel, leaving the territory vulnerable to the invasion by another spiritual head. And when Alexander comes on the scene so does the Prince of Grecia! When The Great Alex dies, the spiritual head, Prince Grecia, [does not pass go, does not collect $200], he goes directly to the ABYSS, wounded, as was slain to death, locked up with his pal, Prince Persia, the 'locust demons', and the rest of God knows what.

In Revelations, John sees the same seven headed, ten horned beast that Daniel had seen. Here the beasts [kingdoms], are described as the animals depicted in Daniels' vision. The beast, looked like a leopard [it's leader had the swiftness and DEMON POWER of Prince Grecia], had feet like a bear [his kingdom is in the territory of the Medes], had the mouth of a lion [his capital is in Babylon], and the dragon [he's on Satan's payroll] gave him his seat and great authority.

These are the characteristics, in broad brush, of the demon behind Antichrist and his Kingdom. 

John narrows his focus to one of the seven heads. He looks at the head that was wounded, as to death, and saw it's 'deadly wound' was healed. When Daniel saw this same head, in his vision, it was described as; the beast that 'was, is not, and shall come again'.

Bound in the ABYSS to a spirit being is the same as death to us. Once there, there's no getting out, they're the same as dead! Getting out of the ABYSS and regaining your former stature would constitute the healing of a deadly wound. This is the spirit we are talking about in this passage, so the spirit head was wounded, as to death, and later, he regains his spiritual leadership role, thereby healing his mortal wounds. And then, after he's back in charge, he gets a mouth! A person to speak his words. 

That's the day [and it is one of God's set times] when benevolence dissolves into GOG. And, he's back in Magog, his old headquarters.

This is explained by the angel in Revelations 17. The angel told him the beast [the wounded head spirit] that you're looking at, was [before Johns' time], is not [during Johns' time], and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [the ABYSS], and go into perdition [evil deeds], and become the eighth in a line of a succession of kings that started with ancient Egypt and flowed through Babylon. They were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome, end time (seventh kingdom) and Antichrists, the eighth.

He, the wounded head spirit, is the eighth head, but he came out of the seventh kingdom. The seventh kingdom is the end time, physical kingdom, lead by the seventh physical king.

The seventh king, comes out of ten kings from that region, acts as the peacemaker, is given back his ancestral throne [the 'little horn', seventh kingdom], whose capital is Baghdad, and whose kingdom is within the area of the Seleucid portion of the Old Grecian Empire, Prince Grecia's old domain.

The spiritual leader of that kingdom, Prince Grecia, possesses the seventh king, and becomes the eighth ruler in succession. The former Prince of the Empire, Prince Grecia, got his old job back. Then, the world begins the last half of the 'Great Tribulation the Great'! May God have mercy on it.

Overview Of Today's Stage

The final Empire that spreads over the area covered by the old Grecian Empire, is The Muslim Empire. The other side of the regions spiritual coin.  The Kingdom within the Muslim Empire, that is within the area of the Seleucid portion of the old Grecian Empire, with Bag add as its capital, is The Hashemite Kingdom. [Baghdad is right in the heart of Babylon, Magog]

Because the Arab nations and the Jewish nation came from the same father, the basic problem is, who gets the birthright, and considering the spiritual nature of the entire story, it seems to be the identical warfare between the spirits continuing to play out on earth as it has for centuries. This coming encounter would be just another case of 'again', except, God said, that this time, will be the last time! Because this time it's against His people.

In preparation for this final encounter, according to scripture, it's time for God to fulfill His word to the Church [The RAPTURE], and after that, return His attention back to His Chosen People, and complete the covenant He made with them.

The demon spirits that we know of, Prince Persia and Prince Grecia, occupied that very land, and wound up in the Abyss. Now, when Grecia is released, his assignment is to go right back home and secure the kingdom for Satan. He possesses whom ever is ruling his kingdom at the time. 

That Empire, whose capital is Babylon, Satan's seat, is the Moslem Empire. It's son, the kingdom of Allah's Prophet, Muhammad, is the Hashemite Kingdom, whose capital, Baghdad, is centered right in the middle of the action on today's stage.  And, the Hashemite King, whose Kingdom was stolen from him, by none other than Egypt and Syria, is the key player in the regions peace process, and is being hailed as the Peacemaker, by his friends and enemies alike!

I would anticipate that as part of the peace settlement agreement, he makes a deal that includes the return of Iraq to Hashemite rule. The uprooted there would be replanted with it's rightful heir. [If that happens, Syria better start running because that's his territory, and he does get it back, and the story says Egypt, who challenges the Hashemite Ruler, is defeated.]

Remember, he is the religious royalty, he is guaranteed his continuance, by treaty, of his hereditary role, of being in charge of the holy shrines of the Muslims. Remember also, that the Jews get to rebuild their temple, and resume animal sacrifice as a result of the peace. At present, he has the say about that. The story says that the outer court is for the gentiles, and the Dome is in the outer court.

Jordan just got another one hundred million dollars, in weapons, from the U.S., with another two hundred million dollars worth on the way. What the heck is he going to do with all those weapons, they're at the peace table! How much more would he need if he were at the war table? It's not a very long leap to say that maybe he's showing just how resolved the interests of his friends are about a favorable decision to trade Iraq for the temple. The West is involved for sure, but in the capacity of finance, military aid and strategy, but it is him that they are sponsoring, to their best interest for sure, and when the double cross happens, it happens to them also. The guy in the story is a master of deceit, and the god he worships is the god of munitions. How interesting.

The Hashemite King is religious royalty, the heir to the throne of Muhammad, prophet of Allah, he's the rightful owner of the Hashemite Kingdom, keeper of the keys to the holy shrines of Allah. His present Kingdom, Jordan, isn't worth a pittance as compared to Iraq, and it really belongs to the Palestinians. That would be a righteous trade, make peace by giving up a little self rule on part of your dessert Kingdom to it's rightful owners, for the milk and honey of Iraq. Artaxerxes, the king of the Medes, did it for the Jews, during Nehemiah's time, and Satan always has his caricature.

The whole drama fits Daniels' end time prophecy to a tee.

Because the warfare is between the spirits, as reported to Daniel, when Prince Grecia gets paroled from the ABYSS, he will make a play to regain his former territory, because the earthly king is about to get it back, and then, from there, he will unleash Satan's own version of Armageddon on God's people, the Jews.

That's Satins Seat. He's owned it through all the Empires and Kingdoms, and in the time of the 'little horn's' kingdom, [the seventh kingdom, in the end time, our time], half way through it's time, [set by God, from it's start], it becomes the eighth kingdom. Because now, as the seventh kingdom, it is on the scene again and Prince Grecia occupies it again, just as Satan always has. And the earthly mouth  that is given to him, he gets through the earthly ruler of the kingdom at the time, and that kingdom is the Hashemite Kingdom, a kingdom wounded as to death, restored back to life! - Lo, Prince Hashemite comes!

If our time is the preached 'END TIMES', this is the reason it is. Otherwise, show me what else is occurring on the stage of history today that even closely resembles Daniels' end time prophecies that would give the religious leaders of the world a reason to preach that these are the end times of the Bible.

Daniels prophecy was about the end time of his people the Jews and their holy city Jerusalem. If you're looking for end times, you have to look there, not in the EC. Daniel was told to seal up the prophecy until it's time. If you find Daniels drama playing out on the world's stage, then it is it's time!

CHN Staff writer

THE PRINCE OF GRECIA

Once you understand it, the tie between the beast in Daniel 10 and Revelation 13 and 17 points directly at the identity of the spiritual force behind the 'little horn' character that turns a heretofore benevolent ruler into a mighty force the world will have to reckon with. 

You will never understand the connection if you don't believe in spiritual forces [demons]. 

You can't say you believe in the Bible, and then say you don't believe in demons. This is not going to be a lesson in demonology, you'll have to discover their reality from the Bible yourself, or wait until I do an article on the subject. For the purpose of this little adventure of discovery, you'll just have to take scriptures word on it, and go for the gestalt of the picture that's painted.

The one thing about demons you do need to know is that there is a place that they are kept when they are defeated. [We're talking about spirits here, they don't die, they get bound]. The place is referred to as The Abyss, The Pit, The Bottomless Pit, but the word that is being translated is ABYSS. The 'legions' [of demons] that possessed the demoniac that Jesus encountered were worried that He was sending them to the Abyss before their time. Revelations says Satan will be bound there for a thousand years, and calls for the 'locust demons' and The Prince of Grecia to come out of there.

Prince Grecia is the central focus of our story. The angelic citizens of Heaven who have fallen have some kind of pecking order, as there are Princes, Chief Princes, and demons. A Chief Prince, some Princes, and a mess of demons are in charge of this world. They rule! And, they rule through us, the citizens of earth.

In Daniel we learn that at one time, Prince Grecia, an angelic prince from among the ranks of the fallen, was ruler over the earthly Greek Prince, Alexander, whose military exploits in early B.C., gained him the historic title, 'Alexander The Great'. 

Those military exploits play an important role in this story, because Daniel tells us that when Alexander comes into the scene in history, he easily uproots and replaces a formerly unbeatable Medo-Persian Empire, also that he would die at the height of his power, his kingdom would split into four parts, and the rulers of those parts would not be his prodigy, nor rule in HIS POWER. So, the divided kingdom would no longer be ruled by Prince Grecia [defeated spirits go to the ABYSS]. This was all depicted in the prophecy as a Goat and a Ram, and then clearly interpreted by the angel.

Daniel had already seen this kingdom twice before. Once as the 'sides and belly of brass', of king Nebuchadnezzar's' dream, then again as the leopard in his own dream, and now the meaning becomes clear when he sees it for the third time, up close, with the Goat and the Ram and their explanation.

The angel bringing this message to Daniel told him a story about his delayed arrival that exposes the 'angel hierarchy'. He tells Daniel that he had heard his prayer three weeks earlier, but his arrival was delayed because of a battle he had to fight with the Prince of Persia. Daniel was in the court of the earthly Prince of Persia and the fight wasn't with him. It was the spiritual head of the Empire, the fallen Prince, Persia. The angel told Daniel that he enlisted the help of Prince Michael, the Chief of Heavenly Princes, someone who owed him a favor, to fight a sort of holding action, while he delivered his message. Then he said, when he returns to the battle, the Prince of Persia would be no more [off to the ABYSS], but, lo, the Prince of Grecia comes.

That explains why Medo-Persia fell so easily to Alexander. The former spiritual head of the kingdom had been defeated in a battle with Michael and Gabriel, leaving the territory vulnerable to the invasion by another spiritual head. And when Alexander comes on the scene so does the Prince of Grecia! When The Great Alex dies, the spiritual head, Prince Grecia, [does not pass go, does not collect $200], he goes directly to the ABYSS, wounded, as was slain to death, locked up with his pal, Prince Persia, the 'locust demons', and the rest of God knows what.

In Revelations, John sees the same seven headed, ten horned beast that Daniel had seen. Here the beasts [kingdoms], are described as the animals depicted in Daniels' vision. The beast, looked like a leopard [it's leader had the swiftness and DEMON POWER of Prince Grecia], had feet like a bear [his kingdom is in the territory of the Medes], had the mouth of a lion [his capital is in Babylon], and the dragon [he's on Satan's payroll] gave him his seat and great authority.

These are the characteristics, in broad brush, of the demon behind Antichrist and his Kingdom. 

John narrows his focus to one of the seven heads. He looks at the head that was wounded, as to death, and saw it's 'deadly wound' was healed. When Daniel saw this same head, in his vision, it was described as; the beast that 'was, is not, and shall come again'.

Bound in the ABYSS to a spirit being is the same as death to us. Once there, there's no getting out, they're the same as dead! Getting out of the ABYSS and regaining your former stature would constitute the healing of a deadly wound. This is the spirit we are talking about in this passage, so the spirit head was wounded, as to death, and later, he regains his spiritual leadership role, thereby healing his mortal wounds. And then, after he's back in charge, he gets a mouth! A person to speak his words. 

That's the day [and it is one of God's set times] when benevolence dissolves into GOG. And, he's back in Magog, his old headquarters.

This is explained by the angel in Revelations 17. The angel told him the beast [the wounded head spirit] that you're looking at, was [before Johns' time], is not [during Johns' time], and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [the ABYSS], and go into perdition [evil deeds], and become the eighth in a line of a succession of kings that started with ancient Egypt and flowed through Babylon. They were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome, end time (seventh kingdom) and Antichrists, the eighth.

He, the wounded head spirit, is the eighth head, but he came out of the seventh kingdom. The seventh kingdom is the end time, physical kingdom, lead by the seventh physical king.

The seventh king, comes out of ten kings from that region, acts as the peacemaker, is given back his ancestral throne [the 'little horn', seventh kingdom], whose capital is Baghdad, and whose kingdom is within the area of the Seleucid portion of the Old Grecian Empire, Prince Grecia's old domain.

The spiritual leader of that kingdom, Prince Grecia, possesses the seventh king, and becomes the eighth ruler in succession. The former Prince of the Empire, Prince Grecia, got his old job back. Then, the world begins the last half of the 'Great Tribulation the Great'! May God have mercy on it.

Overview Of Today's Stage

The final Empire that spreads over the area covered by the old Grecian Empire, is The Muslim Empire. The other side of the regions spiritual coin.  The Kingdom within the Muslim Empire, that is within the area of the Seleucid portion of the old Grecian Empire, with Bag add as its capital, is The Hashemite Kingdom. [Baghdad is right in the heart of Babylon, Magog]

Because the Arab nations and the Jewish nation came from the same father, the basic problem is, who gets the birthright, and considering the spiritual nature of the entire story, it seems to be the identical warfare between the spirits continuing to play out on earth as it has for centuries. This coming encounter would be just another case of 'again', except, God said, that this time, will be the last time! Because this time it's against His people.

In preparation for this final encounter, according to scripture, it's time for God to fulfill His word to the Church [The RAPTURE], and after that, return His attention back to His Chosen People, and complete the covenant He made with them.

The demon spirits that we know of, Prince Persia and Prince Grecia, occupied that very land, and wound up in the Abyss. Now, when Grecia is released, his assignment is to go right back home and secure the kingdom for Satan. He possesses whom ever is ruling his kingdom at the time. 

That Empire, whose capital is Babylon, Satan's seat, is the Moslem Empire. It's son, the kingdom of Allah's Prophet, Muhammad, is the Hashemite Kingdom, whose capital, Baghdad, is centered right in the middle of the action on today's stage.  And, the Hashemite King, whose Kingdom was stolen from him, by none other than Egypt and Syria, is the key player in the regions peace process, and is being hailed as the Peacemaker, by his friends and enemies alike!

I would anticipate that as part of the peace settlement agreement, he makes a deal that includes the return of Iraq to Hashemite rule. The uprooted there would be replanted with it's rightful heir. [If that happens, Syria better start running because that's his territory, and he does get it back, and the story says Egypt, who challenges the Hashemite Ruler, is defeated.]

Remember, he is the religious royalty, he is guaranteed his continuance, by treaty, of his hereditary role, of being in charge of the holy shrines of the Muslims. Remember also, that the Jews get to rebuild their temple, and resume animal sacrifice as a result of the peace. At present, he has the say about that. The story says that the outer court is for the gentiles, and the Dome is in the outer court.

Jordan just got another one hundred million dollars, in weapons, from the U.S., with another two hundred million dollars worth on the way. What the heck is he going to do with all those weapons, they're at the peace table! How much more would he need if he were at the war table? It's not a very long leap to say that maybe he's showing just how resolved the interests of his friends are about a favorable decision to trade Iraq for the temple. The West is involved for sure, but in the capacity of finance, military aid and strategy, but it is him that they are sponsoring, to their best interest for sure, and when the double cross happens, it happens to them also. The guy in the story is a master of deceit, and the god he worships is the god of munitions. How interesting.

The Hashemite King is religious royalty, the heir to the throne of Muhammad, prophet of Allah, he's the rightful owner of the Hashemite Kingdom, keeper of the keys to the holy shrines of Allah. His present Kingdom, Jordan, isn't worth a pittance as compared to Iraq, and it really belongs to the Palestinians. That would be a righteous trade, make peace by giving up a little self rule on part of your dessert Kingdom to it's rightful owners, for the milk and honey of Iraq. Artaxerxes, the king of the Medes, did it for the Jews, during Nehemiah's time, and Satan always has his caricature.

The whole drama fits Daniels' end time prophecy to a tee.

Because the warfare is between the spirits, as reported to Daniel, when Prince Grecia gets paroled from the ABYSS, he will make a play to regain his former territory, because the earthly king is about to get it back, and then, from there, he will unleash Satan's own version of Armageddon on God's people, the Jews.

That's Satins Seat. He's owned it through all the Empires and Kingdoms, and in the time of the 'little horn's' kingdom, [the seventh kingdom, in the end time, our time], half way through it's time, [set by God, from it's start], it becomes the eighth kingdom. Because now, as the seventh kingdom, it is on the scene again and Prince Grecia occupies it again, just as Satan always has. And the earthly mouth  that is given to him, he gets through the earthly ruler of the kingdom at the time, and that kingdom is the Hashemite Kingdom, a kingdom wounded as to death, restored back to life! - Lo, Prince Hashemite comes!

If our time is the preached 'END TIMES', this is the reason it is. Otherwise, show me what else is occurring on the stage of history today that even closely resembles Daniels' end time prophecies that would give the religious leaders of the world a reason to preach that these are the end times of the Bible.

Daniels prophecy was about the end time of his people the Jews and their holy city Jerusalem. If you're looking for end times, you have to look there, not in the EC. Daniel was told to seal up the prophecy until it's time. If you find Daniels drama playing out on the world's stage, then it is it's time!

Therefore, it is the end time!

By Staff Writer

The Whole World In His hands

"The most high ruleth in the kingdom of men,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will"
(Dan.4:17,25,32)

In Daniel, Chapter 4, God repeats this phrase three times, and if you know Gods numerology, then you know that the number 3 stands for 'manifestation', and the number 4 represents the 'earth'.

Nothing could be clearer than the manifestation that God is making to the people of the earth. He's in control. The whole world is in HIS hands, and He doesn't want you to forget it. And, for those of us who make Jesus our Lord and Master, this is a blessing we can count on during these last days.

God's seven thousand year plan is closing in on the completion of the sixth millennium. There are things happening on the earth today that confound the minds of Christian people, but God is assuring us that He's in Control, so keep your eyes on Him. Focus on the prophecies pertinent to this time, and heed their message. If you do this, your redemption will not sneak in, like a thief in the night, as Satan would have it, but will be sung in by a united Christian family, rejoicing, and marveling at the wonder, of the love that God has for them. He provided for us the way in which to watch the drama of the end play out on the stage of history, right up to the day of our catching away to be with Him forever.

Because Daniel was the prophet of the Jews, and his prophecies concern their last days, we can explore what God is foretelling the latter day, end time Jews, and how this message to them has provided the Christian world with a time for rejoicing during those days.

Paul was introduced to Gods 'fail safe' program, The Church, after the Jews formally rejected Jesus of Nazareth, Our Lord, as the promised Messiah. The Church was to be a body of believers in, and followers of, the Messiah, Jesus. They were to be assembled from throughout the world, and given, by grace [unmerited favor], the reward promised the chosen people for their strict obedience to the covenant made with them.

The new covenant people would be a branch grafted on to the tree of the root of Abraham. As the atonement for sin was accomplished by Jesus, the Christians, rather than the Jews, would now become the joint inheritors of the promises of God, through Jesus, the Messiah. This left Gods covenant with the Jews unfulfilled at the time, and yet so, to this day.

But, in Daniels prophecy of the last days, God provides for a seven year period in which He refocuses on the Jews, and completes the covenant he made with them. In Daniels prophecy, we learn that a time will come in history when Israel, and the nations surrounding it will be in such turmoil, that a peace among those nations becomes the only viable option. 

The person bringing that peace, would be a king of the time, and one among ten other kings of the area bound in a loose confederacy agreeing on a peace plan with Israel. There would be dissension on the part of three of the kings, causing them to be uprooted.

The peacemaker king would be of little significance as far as the kingdom he rules is concerned, but he personally, in time would grow to become very powerful.

At the time of the peace, the peacemaker king is presiding over a lesser kingdom than his true rank allows for, as his true kingdom was stolen in a military junta, killing a large part of his family in the takeover. Personally, he is highly respected for mainly two reasons; he has powerful Arab and western friends, who sponsor his very existence, and because, except for the Jews in Israel, he lives in a land dominated by the followers of Allah, their one true god, and he is the descendant of Muhammad, the prophet of Allah, and hereditary ruler of the stolen kingdom, The Hashemite Kingdom, which he has vowed to regain, and return to Hashemite rule. By treaty, he is the keeper of the keys to the holy shrines of the Muslims in Jerusalem. He presently controls the Temple Mount.

Daniel tells us the peace that is agreed upon provides for the Jews to rebuild their Temple, on Temple Mount, in Jerusalem, and resume animal sacrifice for the atonement of their sins, which has not been practiced since the year 70 A.D. 

According to the Jews today, when their Messiah, who could be anyone, comes on the scene, he will bring peace and security to Israel, and rebuild the temple. That's what they are looking for, and that is what will blind them to the false deliverer, who provides them with these two things. They are being set up right this minute as we speak.

Daniels prophecy goes on to describe many other events that will happen to the Jews, and finally the return of Jesus with His saints [us] in the battle of Armageddon, where He is victorious over Satan world, and begins His reign of one thousand years on earth.

I glossed over the ending, because the part that concerns the Christians happens in the beginning of the prophecy.

First, Paul tells us that the peace that is made will never be seen by the Christians. They will undoubtedly see the events leading to peace, but not the declaration of the peace. The catching away of the Church [the Rapture] will happen prior to that peace declaration.

Sit up and pay particular attention to this. Enough background, here comes the message. Here is where Gods provision comes in so that we can watch our redemption come to pass.

God told Daniel to seal up the prophecy, in order that it might be unsealed in its time. That means that when you can see the events spoken of in the prophecy, happening in time, then, and only then could the fulfillment come to pass. Only at the time of the fulfillment will you be able to clearly see the events taking place. 

So, there is no sense saying we are in end times, at this time, if the drama spelled out in the prophecy, is not being played out on the stage of history today.

This not a matter of denominational beliefs, or doctrine, or philosophy. This is pure history, and reading it in relation to Daniels prophecy. And, we don't want you to take our word for it, just take a look through our glasses, and then tell us that it isn't happening.

You will see it, even the blind can't miss it. God said you would be able to see, so if you say you believe in the Bible, then you owe it to yourself to at least take a look. It won't hurt, it will bring joy to your life, just as Paul admonishes you.

IThes.5:6-16 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober - But let us, who are of the day [us, now], be sober, putting on the breast plate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And, be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore.

Have you ever heard anything any more clear than that?
 Wake up, your redemption is closer than you think! 

 God specifically points out that you will see Daniels prophecy when the seal is broken, and it comes spilling out on to the stage of history. Paul tells us, the end time people, to wake up and smell the coffee, and sing in your redemption, because it's not hidden, and most of all, BE AT PEACE AMONG YOURSELVES, and REJOICE EVERMORE!

If Daniels drama isn't happening, then I don't care how many other minor alignments are on the scene, the time isn't now. All the alignments align on Daniel, Daniel doesn't align on them! The Key to the end times is Daniel!

Read the story of the Rise of Antichrist - The Peacemaker, and Right Leg? Left Leg? - The EC is in the wrong leg. These articles can be found on our web site at http://www chn-net.com. They will go into more detail on how the drama is playing out, who the players are, and where we stand in biblical time as of today.

Everyone, Christian and non Christian alike owes it to themselves to take a look. When you do, you will find the glory of God shinning in the fulfillment of his word.

God Bless you.