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70 Years After D-Day: From Power to Impotence

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article by Mike Kelley

Seventy years ago, an American-led Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy marked the beginning of the end of the grip of tyranny over Europe. In little more than a year, the United States would emerge as a superpower and world policeman. Contrast that to today, when that superpower is in retreat—its influence and power rapidly declining.

Dwight Eisenhower addresses U.S. paratroopers before they board their aircraft to participate in the D-Day Invasion.

Source: Digital Stock

In the early morning grayness of June 6, 1944, lookouts manning scores of German artillery emplacements above the Normandy beaches of northern France saw the unbelievable sight of nearly 6,000 Allied ships of all types and sizes steaming toward them. Shocked as they were, they knew what those thousands of ships meant: The long-expected Allied invasion of Adolf Hitler's fortress Europe had begun.
A short time later, at about 6:30 a.m., the drop-down doors of hundreds of landing craft opened out as ramps into the surf and more than 160,000 British, American, Canadian, French and Polish troops stormed ashore in what was the largest seaborne invasion in world history. Attacking on a 45-mile stretch of five beaches designated Utah, Omaha, Sword, Juno and Gold, the Allied troops faced obstacles unlike nearly any encountered by invading troops in the history of warfare.
They attacked what military experts agree were the most formidable defenses ever constructed in modern warfare. Hitler had placed Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, the famed "Desert Fox" of North Africa, in charge of the German defensive effort. His "Atlantic Wall," an elaborate array of concrete gun installations, bunkers and pillboxes, allowed considerable interlocking fire that could be devastating to any attackers. Fortunately for the Allies those defenses, despite four years of effort, were still incomplete.
The Allied troops waded ashore into withering German machine-gun fire. Those who made it to the beach ran a gauntlet of land mines and barbed wire. While on the beach their only cover was the steel landing obstacles that offered little protection from German gunners. On Omaha beach, soldiers of the U.S. 1st and 5th Ranger battalions soon became pinned down, huddled under the 100-foot-tall chalk cliffs at Point du Hoc. The U.S. First Army commander, General Omar Bradley, seriously considered pulling them off the beach, a move that would have crippled the attack.
In actuality, Operation Overlord, as the invasion landings were code-named, began just after midnight on June 6 when some 24,000 glider-borne troops from the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted behind the German front lines. Their mission: to protect the flanks of the invading troops, secure bridges and main roads, and prevent the Germans from bringing in reinforcements from the north.
The airborne landings were at best a mixed success. Many gliders missed their landing zones, some men parachuted into swamps and drowned, while others were shot as they slowly drifted to earth. But the partial success they achieved made the difference.
And in spite of all odds, the invasion succeeded. By nightfall the invading troops had secured small beachheads on all five beaches. These were the first of an oncoming wave of Allied troops over the next two weeks. The Allies advanced and didn't stop until they got to the heart of Germany.
American resolve on the world scene, as displayed at that time, is not so easily found today. Clearly something has changed!

Did God play a hand in those events?

June 6, 2014, marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Virtually all of the men who stormed ashore that awful day 70 years ago are dead, but a small handful, men in their late 80s and 90s, will visit those Normandy beaches for perhaps the final time to commemorate that important victory.
Despite the enormous cost of more than 9,000 Allied soldiers killed and wounded on that day, D-Day was a success. But many do not realize that it could easily have been a disaster. As supreme commander of Allied forces that day, U.S. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower knew as well as Rommel that if the invasion could be stopped at the beaches, it might be fatal to the Allied cause.
Over the decades, many have wondered if God had a hand in that historic day.
Let's look at the evidence. To begin with, Eisenhower and British General Bernard Montgomery, who commanded the land forces, successfully misled Hitler and the German High Command into believing that the invasion would take place across the narrow part of the English Channel at Pas de Calais. Over the previous year, they had planned and pulled off an elaborate ruse using fake guns, tanks, coded messages and other diversions to convince the German Fuehrer that a totally fictitious First U.S. Army Group was poised behind the cliffs of Dover for the attack.
When the landings took place, Hitler believed they were only a diversion from the main attack that he still believed would occur at Pas de Calais, 100 miles to the north of Normandy. Despite the urgent pleas of Rommel and General Gerd Von Rundstedt, the main German commanders, he refused to order the movement of troops to the south.
Could those thousands of extra troops have made the difference? Could they, as Hitler vowed, have thrown the Allied troops back into the sea?
Weeks after the landings it was revealed that a dispute between German commanders had kept most of the German panzer tank divisions away from the landing zones. By the spring of 1944 the Allies ruled the skies over France, and Rommel wanted most of the 10 panzer divisions near the beaches to minimize their exposure to Allied air attacks while in transit.
However, panzer commander General Leo von Gehr wanted the divisions kept closer to Paris. Hitler ordered what turned out to be a bad compromise: A few Panzer divisions would be at the beaches, but most would be kept inland.
Similarly, most of the Luftwaffe 's aircraft had been relocated far from the coast to defend Germany's heartland from American and British bomber attacks and weren't a factor when the invasion commenced.
Rommel had earlier told his aide: "The war will be won or lost on the beaches. We'll have only one chance to stop the enemy and that's while he's in the water . . . struggling to get ashore. Reserves will never get up to the point of attack and it's foolish even to consider them . . . the first twenty-four hours of the invasion will be decisive . . . for the Allies, as well as Germany, it will be the longest day" (quoted by Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day: June 6, 1944, 1959, pp. 27-28).
Would the outcome have been different had those forces been deployed near the beaches?
Weather and the timing of the invasion were other crucial factors. Eisenhower and Montgomery knew the invasion had to take place in a narrow window of opportunity: A full or near-full moon was needed for glider pilots to see their landmarks, and successful beach landings required high spring tides to clear as many of the German defensive obstacles as possible.
That narrow window presented itself only from June 5 to 7. The Allied generals knew that missing that window would force them to put off the invasion for at least two weeks. Secrecy might have been lost, and German defenses would be even stronger.
Storms and high seas arrived with the first days of June. Eisenhower had planned the invasion to coincide with the full moon of June 5. But June 4 was an especially stormy day. Forced to delay the invasion, Eisenhower huddled with his staff. His chief meteorologist, J.M. Stagg, forecast a brief break in the weather for June 6. Though some of his officers disagreed, Eisenhower made the fateful decision: The attack would take place on June 6.
As it turned out, the bad weather unexpectedly weakened German defenses. Viewing the winds and stormy seas, the German commanders concluded that no one in his right mind would launch an invasion under such conditions. Senior officers ordered their troops to stand down, and many of them were away for the weekend. The Luftwaffe canceled normal reconnaissance flights, which would have given them advance warning of the invasion.
Even Rommel, the supreme German commander, overworked and exhausted from overseeing efforts to finish the formidable coastal defenses he anticipated being completed in a few weeks, decided to return to Germany for the weekend to visit his wife on her birthday—June 6. He also wanted to make a personal visit with Hitler to plead once more to have the German tank divisions repositioned to the coast rather than held in reserve far to the rear where they would be too far away to make a difference.

A "great crusade" hung in the balance

Much has been written about seemingly miraculous events that turned the tide of World War II. Historians have long referred to the Miracle of Dunkirk, where calm seas allowed an evacuation that saved more than 300,000 British troops from annihilation or capture in May 1940 while heavy fog grounded German planes.
Others have pointed to the extremely fortuitous instance of the British navy finding and sinking the dreaded German battleship Bismarck in May 1941.
Did God Himself intervene to clear the seas and skies enough on June 6 to permit the glider and seaborne landings, yet have this come amid terrible weather to make the German defenders think no attack would be forthcoming?
One has to pause and consider. Had D-Day been delayed, would Hitler have caught on to the deception? Would he have transferred thousands of troops, guns and tanks from Pas de Calais to Normandy? Would he have made good on his vow to drive the invaders back into the sea?
On the day of the invasion, Eisenhower sent a message to the airborne and seaborne troops: "You are about to embark upon the great crusade, towards which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you . . . Let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking." He also carried in his pocket a second message—one to be read in case the invasion failed.
Years later, in referring to his agonizing decision to postpone the invasion from June 5 to June 6, Eisenhower said this: "If there were nothing else in my life to prove the existence of an Almighty and Merciful God, the events of the next twenty-four hours did it" (quoted by John McCollister, God and the Oval Office, 2005).

A superpower emerges victorious

Seven decades have passed since D-Day. With its success, which from a human perspective was by no means guaranteed, Hitler's Nazi grip on Europe was reduced to less than a year. By mid-May 1945, Berlin lay in ruins, Hitler was dead, and the war in Europe was over.
Many don't realize that your Bible had foretold the national power and prestige that America and Britain, historical allies, experienced over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Was there any prophetic significance to Anglo-American victory in World War II? Surprising at it may sound, ancient Israel was the forerunner of our modern
English-speaking nations of the United States and many of the British Commonwealth nations. (To learn more about this, read our free study aid, The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy . )
Two parallel biblical passages, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, prophesied blessings or curses that would come on Israel for either obedience or disobedience to the divine laws God put in place. For example, Deuteronomy:28:7The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. speaks of great military victories if the people would obey and honor their Creator: "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face; they will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways" (emphasis added throughout).
The United States emerged from World War II as the world's leading national power. Tyranny had been defeated, and the country even embarked on a massive and generous rebuilding plan to help its defeated former enemies get back on their feet.
America assumed the role of the world's policeman, and in the bipolar world of the Cold War era, the United States was the clear leader of the free world—pitted against its totalitarian rival, the Russian-led Soviet Union.

America quickly losing power and influence

Over the decades since, America has played its leading role with decreased effectiveness. Despite trillions of dollars spent and tens of thousands of lives lost, the result of U.S. conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan has been stalemate or a negotiated peace that eventually turned to victory for America's enemies.
Past decades saw a willingness of the United States to go to the mat for its national interests. President John F. Kennedy faced down Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in October 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis, ordering Soviet missiles to be taken out of Cuba. Yet only recently America has seen its power and ability to influence outcomes checkmated in Syria, in Iran, and most recently in Ukraine, where many in the province of Crimea pushed the secession of the province to be annexed by Russia (see " Ukraine: Feeble U.S. Stand Allows Russian Imperialism ").
What has changed from the earlier period of American resolve to the present?
In late February U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel submitted a proposed fiscal 2015 defense budget that would reduce U.S. military personnel to about 450,000, the smallest since 1945. It would also reduce the U.S. Navy to its smallest size in decades. Despite these proposed cuts, the U.S. military would yet remain the world's most powerful—though Russia and China, seeing American weakness and withdrawal, are vigorously updating and expanding their military capabilities.
Again we ask, what has changed?

A return to the Cold War?

The United States has had little power to influence the outcome of the situation in Crimea, which for all intents and purposes is now effectively part of Russia. Notice what God prophesied about the modern descendants of ancient Israel, who today include the major English-speaking nations: "I will break the pride of your power" (Leviticus:26:19And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:). Though it still has the world's largest military, U.S. willingness and ability to use that military seems to be stymied around the world.
Recently suffering a humiliating withdrawal from Iraq and leaving that nation divided with parts of it taken over by radical Islamists, and now facing a similar withdrawal in Afghanistan, how is it that the world's greatest military power has essentially been fought to a draw by insurgents whose weaponry consists of AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and improvised roadside bombs?
America's sliding morals, national scandals and increasing disregard of God's law has brought consequences. Again, while Moses pointed out the blessings for obedience, he was also inspired to write about the consequences of disobedience:
"The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth" (Deuteronomy:28:25The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.).
We are commanded to watch and give heed to what is taking place around us (Matthew:24:42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.). At this time we have no way of knowing in full where the Ukrainian crisis will lead. But the stark reality of international events of recent weeks is stirring millions in the Western world to a renewed concern that the Cold War of decades ago has returned. An NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll during the week of March 10 revealed that 72 percent of Americans now view Russia as a threat, up from just 26 percent a few months ago.
As we reflect back on the amazing events of 70 years ago, we should ponder the years to come.
The God who created mankind has a plan for how these events will finally play out, and you need to learn more about that plan. And you need to know where the English-speaking peoples are identified in your Bible and what God has in store for them.

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The Rise of the Asian Dragon

article by Rod Hall

How do China's amazing transformation and increasing global power fit into prophesied end-time events?

During his recent trip to Asia, American President Barack Obama declared, "The fortunes of America and the Asia Pacific have become more closely linked than ever before." He "singled out China as a primary engine for sustaining the world's economic recovery" and welcomed "Beijing's greater role on the world stage" ("In Japan, Obama Stresses Asia's Role in U.S. Economy," Washington Post, Nov. 14, 2009).
China's greater global influence has led many analysts to predict that China will rival the United States as a global superpower by 2020. China's amazing transformation to greater economic, political and military influence over the past three decades is astounding and may have far-reaching effects on how events leading to Christ's return play out.

Transitioning to global power?

The Asian dragon is a symbol of power and strength often used in the West as a national emblem of China. I visited this fascinating country in 1984 as anchor for an ABC affiliate television documentary, A Glimpse of China Today. China was just beginning to emerge economically and politically from its long isolation. At that time, six years had passed since the introduction of market reforms by the Chinese Communist Party. American President Ronald Reagan visited China earlier the same year, being the third consecutive president to do so.
In interviews with street merchants, many of them peasants, it was clear that a new wave of economic reform was taking hold, allowing some entrepreneurs to carve out a new way of life. A small middle class was beginning to emerge as China's access to the outside world began to transform the 5,000-year-old civilization.
The question remained, Could China rise to become a major power? Throughout much of its history China's enormous population, land mass and political influence made it the center of gravity in world affairs unequaled by any other nation in the region.
China's dominance ended after two millennia as a result of the dynasties' gradual weakening, lack of technological innovation and defeat in the Anglo-Chinese (or Opium) Wars of the 19th century. "In fact, China was the largest economy for much of recorded history...In 1820 it still accounted for 30% of world GDP [Gross Domestic Product]" ("A Survey of the World Economy—the Real Great Leap Forward," The Economist, Oct. 2, 2004, p. 5).

The long march from Marxism

Chairman Mao Tse-tung led the Communists to power in 1949 and brought the country into isolationism. After his death in 1976, China chose new leadership with a new formula for strengthening the country for the modern world. Veteran politician Deng Xiaoping became chairman in 1981 and implemented changes that decoupled the economy from politics, allowing a command economy controlled by the government to transform into a market-based economy where free enterprise could take root.
Upon Den Xiaopeng's death in 1997, The Washington Post commented, "Deng had guided the country out of the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, flung open China's doors to the outside world and loosened the grip of central economic planning while insisting that the Communist Party's monopoly on power go unchallenged" ("China's Deng Xiaoping Is Dead at 92," Feb. 20, 1997).
Technological advances and manufacturing skills quickly developed. Politically, however, China remained under the tight control of the Communist Party, as the crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student uprising demonstrated.
In 1995 I hosted a delegation of Chinese officials, including several political leaders from the manufacturing area just outside Shanghai. They toured American manufacturing facilities looking for new ideas and technologies. Over the next decade and a half, hundreds of similar groups traveled the world and used many other means to advance the manufacturing and technological capabilities of the Chinese industrial complex.
In 1996 China launched three nuclear-capable M-9 missiles toward Taiwan, increasing tensions with Taiwan's American ally and reinforcing China's growing military power and nuclear weapons capability. In 2007 China again showed its growing sophistication by launching an antisatellite missile, destroying a satellite in space. They have also launched two- and three-man crews into orbit.
In 1997, after 156 years of British rule, Hong Kong was handed over to Beijing's Communist leaders. They began the tricky task of managing one of the world's most sophisticated modern economies and 6 million people who were immersed in capitalism.
Today, China's growing urbanization, gargantuan global manufacturing operation, technological advancement and major military spending and output position it for growing global influence.

Growing economic influence

"China's population of 1.3 billion makes it the most populous nation on earth with a fifth of the world's people. It is estimated that by 2025, China will have the world's largest middle class" ( Foreign Policy, March/April 2008).
China's high growth rate, low labor costs and a huge emerging market have attracted the world's highest levels of direct foreign investment.
"Over the past 20 years, China has made an unprecedented leap from being the world's tenth-biggest economy to becoming number two. Its GDP has increased by an average of almost 10% a year for the past 30 years" (Pam Woodall, The World in 2010, 2009). In 2010 "its exports will reach 10% of world trade" (ibid.). It has $1.5 trillion in reserves, is the largest holder of U.S. government debt and is America's second-largest trading partner.
China's economy will likely grow by 8.3 percent in 2009 and 10.9 percent in 2010, while the world economy will grow by just 3.3 percent in 2010. China's economy could overtake the United States in less than 20 years ("Crisis Speeds BRIC Rise to Power," Reuters, June 2009).

Military power

China has the world's second largest navy and the largest standing armed forces with over 2.25 million troops. They have integrated former Soviet weapons technology with advanced Western manufacturing.
China recently became the world's second biggest military spender behind the United States. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, "China is continuing to acquire both domestic and foreign arms as it seeks to equip its armed forces for conditions of modern 'informationalized' warfare" (Nov. 7, 2009). China employs sophisticated precision weapons, high-tech information and communications technology. While global arms spending rose 4 percent in 2008, China's grew by 10 percent to an estimated $84.9 billion.
The Center for Security Studies (CSS) reported, "According to official sources, defense spending has increased by an inflation-adjusted 300 percent over the past decade" ("The Rise of China: Regional and Global Power Shifts," CSS Analyses in Security Policy, February 2007).
Christopher Foss, editor of Jane's Armour and Artillery, was recently quoted in London's Telegraph: "China is a highly manoeuverable force able to operate anywhere as good if not better than Western armies" ("China Aims for Military Might ," Sept. 28. 2009). By 2015 China will likely possess six Jin-class submarines with the capacity "of firing the JL2 ballistic nuclear missile that could threaten both the western and eastern American seaboards" (ibid., emphasis added). The Economist reports that China "has a few dozen land-based nuclear missiles capable of hitting some or all parts of America" ("Overkill," Oct. 22, 2009).

International influence

China's need for fuel and other natural resources has increased its interest in creating international relationships. It is the world's second largest consumer of oil (following America), with proven oil reserves of about half that of the United States ("BP Statistical Review of World Energy," June 2009).
China began importing oil in 1993 and "by 2025, imports will account for 75 percent of China's oil consumption" (China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, October 2007). "In 15 years, China is expected to surpass the US as the world's largest spender on oil and natural gas" ("ExxonMobil to Boost Mainland Sales," China Daily, Nov. 12, 2009).
The largest source of China's oil is the Middle East, providing about half of its needs (U.S. Government Energy Information Administration, July 2009). This growing dependency has led to investing in energy in several countries in the region including Sudan, Iran and Syria. It is a favored trading partner and established the China-Arab Cooperation Forum to build closer relationships. It negotiates with the Gulf Cooperation Council members. Its recent energy deal with Tehran for $100 billion was harshly criticized by the United States (CSS Analyses in Security Policy).
What happens in China today is critical to the future of our world. China's amazing economic, political and military transformation over the past three decades is astounding and will likely have far-reaching effects on the end-time events leading to Christ's return.

End-time events

The Bible reveals that at the time of the end, during the Great Tribulation, the world will be dominated by a commercial, political and military union of 10 kings that combine power with the "beast" for a short period of time (Revelation:17:12-14 [12] And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
[13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
[14] These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.).
The prophet Daniel refers to this power as the king of the North (Daniel:11:40And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.). He will sweep down with major military force, occupying Jerusalem and much of the Middle East in response to aggressive actions by the king of the South (verses 40-43). "But news from the east and the north [of Jerusalem] shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many" (verse 44, emphasis added throughout).
Revelation:9:13-19 [13] And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
[14] Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
[15] And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
[16] And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
[17] And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
[18] By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
[19] For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. reveals that a massive 200-million-man army will arise from the region east of the Euphrates River. They are prepared for battle and ride on what the author John describes as horses with heads like lions that spew out fire, smoke and brimstone. "By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed" (verse 18).
This appears to be John's best effort to describe the modern warfare he was seeing in vision. The description given and the massive numbers of deaths may indicate the use of modern weapons of mass destruction (verse 19).
At the time John wrote, the eastern border of the Roman Empire was the Euphrates River, which begins in Turkey and bisects Syria and Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The countries involved with the kings of the North and South are located west of this river. From where does this massive army of the East arise?
Currently China is the major power east of Jerusalem. It has the capacity to form the nucleus of a massive army, has the fastest growing economy, spends a large percentage of its annual GDP on the military and possesses nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. In addition, it is creating close ties with other Asian nations as well as many in the Middle East.
It is also possible that a multinational Islamic force from countries along or to the north and east of the Euphrates will join forces. This could include nations like Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. India has the world's second-largest Muslim population, even though most of its citizens are Hindus.
A regional threat could provoke some or all of these nations to come together to fight a common foe. The aggressive military actions of the king of the North could rally them to form a massive counterforce. Even a threat to the Persian Gulf oil supply, upon which many Asian nations rely, could provoke a military response.
These events are followed by a continued buildup of the eastern powers as we see in Revelation:16:12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.: "Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared." Notice more than one king is involved.
This may be a second phase of the overall operation begun earlier at the blowing of the sixth of the "seven trumpets" (Revelation:8:6And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.; 9:13-21). The trumpets are followed by the "seven last plagues" or "seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God" (15:1, 7), the sixth of which includes the drying up the Euphrates (16:12). Each of these bowls of wrath appear to fall quickly one after another as the Great Tribulation comes to a close and armies of the kings of the "whole world" gather at Armageddon (verses 14-16) before they battle the returning Jesus Christ at Jerusalem 55 miles south (19:17-21; Joel:3:9-14 [9] Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
[10] Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
[11] Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
[12] Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
[13] Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
[14] Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.).
For more information on the trumpets and last plagues of Revelation, request or download The Book of Revelation Unveiled . For an overview of the grand sweep of prophecy, also request or download You Can Understand Bible Prophecy .