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The A-O Report's:

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2009: Year in Review

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Top 10 Prophetically Significant News StoriesEditor’s

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Note:  It has been our tradition every year for the past 9 years to provide a year-end review of the top news stories of the year – that are “prophetically significant for fulfillment.” This year’s “Year in Review” for 2009 is presented below.


#1.  Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program

Iran’s nuclear program continued unabated during the year just as it has every year, despite President Obama’s campaign promises that his style of diplomacy would likely work magic with both Iran and North Korea. The president’s magic with words had no effect on Iranian leaders.

During the year, we once again saw another guessing game playing itself out. Much of the world wondered whether or not Israel would conduct a pre-emptive military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities even as Iran marched relentlessly forward with uranium enrichment, defying UN demands to cease and desist.

President Obama held true to his campaign promises to engage Iran in direct diplomatic negotiations although the Iranians failed to cooperate on that measure until October. Direct talks between the US and Iran were extremely limited, lasting only a few days, yet the international talks were rescued from collapse by a UN-sponsored compromise proposal that left Iranian leaders in a diplomatic quandary.

The Iranians responded in their typical fashion, with a predictable, stalling campaign before officially rejecting the compromise. What was interesting is how the international community and the Obama Administration reacted to the Iranian rejection. Everyone ignored the Iranian’s negative responses, apparently hoping that the Iranians would change their minds. Such wishful thinking by the international community merely exposed the insanity of negotiating with the Iranians. Indeed, diplomatic efforts continued to provide Iran with renewed golden opportunities to continue stalling for time to complete their nuclear weapons program.

By the end of the year, various experts including French and German intelligence believed that Iran now has nuclear weapons capability. Oddly enough, Israeli intelligence has backed away from such pronouncements despite assertions last year that Iran would be nuclear capable in 2009. Israeli intelligence reported that Iran would have nuclear capability by the 4th quarter of the year, probably by early December. Yet by the end of the year, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak whistled a different tune, stating that Iran might would not be a nuclear threat to Israel until perhaps 2011.

American military intelligence officially claims Iran has no active nuclear weapons program yet frantically the Obama administration attempted to negotiate under the assumption that Iran’s nuclear program was indeed active. In October, the White House revealed an additional secret Iranian nuclear facility buried inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom. This revelation provided dramatic proof that Iran was indeed working on a nuclear weapons capability. Yet the Obama Administration refuses to officially concede the fact and refute the official US intelligence estimate of December, 2007.
As 2009 drew to a close,  conflicting rumors circulate as to what will transpire in the coming weeks and months of 2010 regarding the Iranian nuclear weapons issue. Some rumors and speculation suggest an impending Israeli military strike. Other rumors and speculation, along with public statements by Israeli and American leaders suggest that the world must resign itself to living with a nuclear-armed Iran. This wildly divergent set of speculations raises the question as to what is really going on behind closed doors regarding the New World Order elite’s plans for achieving a global government.

The Biblical Prophecies regarding Iran, also known Biblically as “Persia” or “Medo-Persia” or “the Medes” or as “Elam” or as “Magog” according to ancient rabbinical writers of 200-300 B.C. indicate that Iran is indeed marching towards its role in the Ezekiel prophecies of chapters 38 and 39 for the Magog War prophecies.  Additionally, Iran also pops up as playing a role in the Babylon-America prophecies, according to Jeremiah 51:11 and again in verses 27 and 28. The Biblical Prophecies clearly predict the rise to prominence of Iran in the last days and in 2009 we such a rise being dramatically underscored.

For these two Biblical reasons, we give the Iranian nuclear issue the number one “prophetically significant” news story of the 2009 year.



#2.  Israel’s Gaza War

Just after Christmas, 2008 military hostilities broke out between Israeli military forces and Hamas terrorist-militia forces in the Gaza Strip. Hostilities lasted for nearly a month before a UN ceasefire could be implemented. Israel failed to achieve its desired goals but it did decimate the ability of Hamas militia units to fight an effective war against Israel. Unfortunately, the rest of the year saw Iran re-arming Hamas secretly.

As the year comes to an end, Hamas forces are now better armed and supplied than they were before the outbreak of hostilities a year ago. Clearly once again, Israel has lost a military clash with Arab militants in a fashion similar to its summer war of 2006 with Hezbollah, on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

The primary reason for both military defeats was political.
Indeed, after this latest clash, Israel now stands on the verge of being condemned by the international community for war crimes against humanity for the way it waged war on civilians in the Gaza Strip. Such a development has clearly hamstrung Israel, diplomatically and has breached a long-time friendship and alliance with Turkey.

Israel’s Gaza war isolates Israel within the international community thus correlating with the Biblical prophecies indicating that in the end times, Israel would be a pariah among the nations.


#3.  Turkey’s Magog Connection Materializes

Until the Gaza War, the Turkish government and Israel had maintained rather friendly diplomatic relations. The two nations had at one time been somewhat in alliance, particularly in regards to military issues. The Gaza War changed the relationship, apparently on a permanent basis. Turkey condemned Israel and led a diplomatic campaign to not only censure Israel for its conduct of the war but to actually have criminal charges brought forward in the international courts claiming Israel and her leaders were guilty of committing war crimes against Gaza civilians. Turkey’s efforts have been a major factor in isolating Israel within the international community.

In response to Turkey’s actions, Israel reluctantly cooled its heels with Turkey even as Turkey’s political leaders began to forge a new military relationship with Iran and Syria.
Yes, Turkey’s latest moves to wrap itself into military agreements with Iran sets the stage for a Magog confederation that can fulfill the prophecies of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. The stage is nearly set now for the potential fulfillment of those prophecies.


#4.  Iran’s Magog Confederation Develops

According to the writings of some ancient Jewish rabbis, the Magog Prophecies of Ezekiel should relate to the area which was the original homeland of Magog. These rabbis cited an oral tradition handed down through several generations by Ezekiel’s students to rabbis of the 3rd Century B.C. who wrote down this oral tradition identifying Magog’s homeland.

According to the ancient rabbinical writings, the “land of Magog” to which Ezekiel references in chapters 38 and 39 included what is now present day eastern Iran, western Pakistan and southwestern Afghanistan. Other modern-day nations involved in the confederation would be Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon.

Now there will be many who will dispute the inclusion of Syria but some of the ‘tribes’ named by Ezekiel included parts of modern-day Syria. So even though Syria is not mentioned by name as Syria or Assyria, in Ezekiel’s prophecies, the absence of those names does not mean Syria is not mentioned or included. Lebanon would be another nation involved in part because it is the route by which the invasion forces use to come against Israel.

In 2009, we saw Iran strengthen it’s defense treaty with Syria and Lebanon, specifically, Hezbollah, which controls Lebanon. Additionally, as we noted earlier in this article, Turkey has joined in new military agreements with Iran and additional agreements are in the process of being negotiated. Iran has also made inroads with several African nations including the Sudan, Ethiopian Muslim rebels, as well as Somalia, with new inroads towards Libya. Some prophecy scholars believe that Yemen is also mentioned in a disagreement over the identity of Libya.

The actual Hebrew terms “Put” and “Cush” could be references to Sudan and or Somalia and portions of Ethiopia. The name “Put” has been traditional thought of as referring to Libya, but some scholars argue that “Put” was actually part of the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula or what is now modern-day Yemen. Indeed, there are some that also claim “Cush” is in Saudi Arabia, but from the evidence I’ve researched, it seems more likely that “Cush” was indeed Ethiopia and surrounding environs along the southern region of the Nile River.

On this basis of interpretation, we note that in 2009, Iran moved to improve its relationship with Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. Thus laying the groundwork for what may well be the Magog confederation of nations described by the prophet Ezekiel.


#5.  The Global Warming Summit & Global Gov’t

The Global Warming Summit in Copenhagen in early December turned out to be pretty much the debacle that some experts predicted. Red China and India balked at many of stipulations put forward by Third World nations and some EU member nations. Surprisingly, President Obama was rather flexible and agreeable to many of the outrageous demands placed by the Third World nations, yet in the end, China’s rejection of the treaty doomed any chance for agreement in 2009.

What resulted from the conference was a non-binding agreement in principle that Global Warming was a problem and on the need to reduce carbon emissions and take other steps to reduce contributing pollutants. So everyone agreed on the need but not on how to go about it. As such, the tremendous effort to establish a bureaucratic body to regulate and police the member nations collapsed without approval. Thus, the machinery is not yet in place to form a one-world government, but we can bet that such a bureaucracy will eventually be agreed upon, sooner or later.


#6.  Mediterranean Union

French President Sarkozy’s launch of the Mediterranean Union in 2008 continued to take root in 2009 but out of the media spotlight. Most experts predicted its swift demise, but behind the scenes diplomatic efforts took hold in 2009 to cement the member nations into an up and coming geo-political force that would replicate the territories of the old Roman Empire.

Daniel’s prophecies concerning the statue of world empires through out history is viewed by prophecy interpreters as suggesting the statues feet and toes indicate a revival of the Roman Empire because the legs of the statue were made of iron, and indicative of Rome’s iron-clad rule for hundreds of years, split into two branches – the eastern and western segments of the old Roman Empire based in Rome and Constantinople.
Although little noticed, the Mediterranean Union suggests the coming fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.


#7. The Move For a 1-World Currency
 
2009 saw the G-20 Summit take steps to prepare for a new global reserve currency and jettison a world reliance on the US dollar. Such a move is the forerunner to an eventual, electronic currency that would become the global monetary system within the next few years, perhaps as early as 2012, 2013 or 2014. It would be preceeded, most likely by a ‘basket’ of national currencies that would include the US dollar, the EU as well as China’s Ruan and the Japanese Yen. Such a basket of currencies would be an interim step towards the electronic currency system.

The basket of currencies concept is now being negotiated behind closed doors by central bankers working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. At present, the discussions revolve around the technical aspects of implementing such a system.



#9.  H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Scare

The H1N1 “Swine Flu” virus threat turned out to be ‘much ado” about very little. Yes, there were deaths associated with the disease but it has not become the pandemic that many medical experts warned about. Of course, the 2010 flu season is just getting underway amid continued shortages of controversial vaccines. We placed this ongoing news story at the number 9 position mostly because it remained throughout the year as an ongling major news story. It’s Biblical Prophecy connection is related to the prophecies in Revelation which speak of plagues and pestilences in “the last days.” Therefore, with such a connection by H1N1 to these prophecies, we gave it 9th on the list of Top 10 news stories of the year.

#10.  The War on Terror


The war on terror, primarily against Al Qaeda and the Taliban took a backseat in news coverage for much of the year, despite a fairly active year for terrorism in places such as Africa and Asia, but not so in the western hemisphere. Still the war on terror continues to impact on US foreign policy and US foreign policy still has an impact on Biblical Prophecy by virtue of America’s geo-political power.

Because of the impact of 9/11 and the ensuing “war on terror” – America’s foreign policy is keyed to terrorism. The war did not go well for America in 2009 as Afghanistan and Pakistan erupted into renewed setbacks for American forces. Additionally, Al Qaeda blossomed in Yemen as well as in African nations such as Somalia and the Sudan. These are key areas perhaps related to the Magog prophecies.


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