Iran speeds weapons deliveries to peshmerga forces

An article at foxnews.com by James Rosen published August 27, 2014 reveals that Iran has "begun arming the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq" in support of the KRG peshmerga forces pushing back the Islamic State advances.

The Islamic State fighters have "seized large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, and recently came close to overrunning Erbil, the capital of the KRG in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region," according to the article.

"We asked for weapons and Iran was the first country to provide us with weapons and ammunition," KRG President Massoud Barzani said during an appearance in Erbil on Tuesday with Iran's foreign minister.
"The State Department regards the development with apprehension," according to the FoxNews report.

READ MORE HERE...

A similar article at TIME suggests that, with the Iranian support, "it looks as if (the Kurds) will come out of the conflict better armed, with stronger international influence and recognition than before."

READ TIME ARTICLE HERE...

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The Iraq central government, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and now (it is revealed that) even Iran is arming the Kurds.  At some point, the Kurds are going to be awash in the latest weapons and bulging at the seams with ammunition.

Which makes the Jeremiah 50 - 51 prophecy that the nation to the north of the land of the Chaldeans will draw up battle lines against her, defeat her and plunder her, that much more plausible.

ISIS burn oil wells as Kurds attack

An August 28, 2014 article at Lebanon's dailystar.com Middle East news site relays an Agence France Presse report from Kirkuk that "retreating jihadists set three wells ablaze at a northern Iraq oil field Thursday as they battled Kurdish forces who launched a major attack nearby," citing officials.

Peshmerga fighters stand on a vehicle with a Kurdish flag as they guard Mosul Dam in northern Iraq August 21, 2014. (REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal)

U.S. airstrikes and international shipments of arms have "helped the Kurds claw back some ground" captured by a June offensive by radical Islamic jihadists in northern Iraq," according to the report.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah decreed that the cities of Iraq would be set on fire as one of nine judgments on the land of Babylon. Will the counter-offensive by Kurdish forces ignite the fires?

"Why control of a terrifying dam in Iraq is life or death for half million people"

"Why Control of a Terrifying Dam in Iraq is Life or Death for Half Million People" is the headline of an article at abcnews.com from August 7, 2014 by Lee Ferran and Mazin Faiq. The authors refer to the Islamic State take over of the Mosul Dam on the Tigris a few weeks ago, later re-taken by Kurdish Peshmerga forces with U.S. air support.

The article points out the critical question such control poses for "the millions of Iraqis who live downstream of the Mosul Dam all the way down the Tigris to Baghdad, because if the dam (is) taken over, ISIS would be in control of what effectively could be a major weapon of mass destruction -- one that the U.S. military said in 2006 was, without the help of brutal jihadists, already 'the most dangerous dam in the world.'"

The authors cite the inherent danger the dam poses, even without a rebel act -- "It wouldn't even have to be sabotaged to fail -- if an extremist group took control and wanted the dam to break, they may be able to simply do nothing."

The problem is that the "gargantuan dam, built in the mid-1980s, was constructed on 'a foundation of soluble soils that are continuously dissolving, resulting in the formation of cavities and voids underground that place the dam at risk for failure,'" as the article quotes from an urgent letter sent from David Petraeus, then commanding general of the U.S. Army, and Ryan Crocker, then U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2007.

PHOTO: Islamic State flag at Mosul Dam

Ferran and Faiq describe how the dam must be constantly reinforced by engineers "continously pumping in literally tons of grout" so as to fill in the holes and keep the dam "upright."
The authors cite U.S. experts, who say any failure of the dam could be "catastrophic." They refer to a 2011 report written by a USACE official and published in Water Power magazine that estimated failure "could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths."

 READ MORE HERE...

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One of the most devastating judgments pronounced by Jeremiah the hebrew prophet on the "land of Babylon" is the rising of "tumultuous waves" of the "sea" -- a euphemism for the Euphrates/Tigris river system -- which overwhelm the land of Babylon.  Following the flood event, the rivers are "dried up" in a drought so severe that the land becomes literally uninhabitable, and utter desolation is the final outcome of the judgments, so that the land remains a "horror" among the nations, a perpetual sign of the judgment of God on a people who had struck at Zion once Israel was back in the land for the final time.

This article drives home the point like a ton of bricks that just such a scenario of a major flood event that causes incredible devastation in the "land of Babylon" could very well occur, and that without extraordinary and constant measures, WILL occur, just as decreed by Jeremiah.

But first the fires burn the cities, then the announced abandonment of the land by the reconstructionists, and then a war with and defeat by the "Medes" -- the modern-day Kurds.

And then the flood.

When Babylon is burning, know that the flood will come. No one can stop it. Iraq is Babylon of Jeremiah 50 - 51.

Kurdistan oil pipeline export capacity to double

A Reuters.com article by Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun from August 19, 2014 claims that "the capacity of Iraqi Kurdistan's independent oil pipeline will almost double to at least 200,000 barrels per day by the end of this month," citing industry sources and officials.

The pipeline runs to Turkey's Mediterranean export terminal at Ceyhan. According to the article, the Kurds have "managed to load seven export cargoes from Ceyhan," citing Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz.

The KRG has said it plans to "increase oil sales to around 1 million bpd by the end of 2015, which could give it enough economic clout to speed a move to independence" claims the article.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah's prophecy sees the Medes -- today's Kurds -- as becoming a "great nation" to the north of the "land of Babylon" -- modern-day Iraq. Will this burgeoning oil export capacity help the Kurds achieve this "great nation" status seen by Jeremiah? 

Kurdish rivals unite to fight Islamic State

An article at Aljazeera.com from August 16, 2014 by Wladimir van Wilgenburg asserts that, despite historic struggle for leadership over "approximately 30 million stateless Kurds", Kurds of Turkey and Syria represented by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Kurds from Iraq's Kurdish region, represented by KRG President Massoud Barzani, have joined together to fight a common enemy, the Islamic State.

Barzani is quoted as saying, "We are brothers. They (the Islamic State fighters) are the enemy of the people of Kurdistan. We have one destiny."

The aligning of the PKK with the Kurdistan Regional Government peshmerga militia poses potential strain in Kurdish relations with Turkey, as that nation has fought a decades-long war with PKK rebels. Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the group as a "terrorist organization" according to the article.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah's prophecy sees the rise of the "kings of the Medes" -- modern-day Kurds -- from three regions: "Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz."  Minni is a designation of the region of the ancient Mannaeans in today's northwestern Iran, and Ashkenaz is associated with the region of the Adiabenes whose capital was Arbil, today's Erbil in northeastern Iraq. Both tribes were conquered and assimilated by the Medes, who are today's Kurds.  Today, the Kurds of Iraq and Iran have formed a unity government that rules the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq.

Ararat is an ancient designation for eastern Turkey and northeastern-most Syria, the home of the Syrian/Turkish Kurds.

If these Syrian/Turkish Kurds join in some kind of alliance with the Iranian/Iraqi Kurds of Kurdistan, the stage will be set for the three nations of the Medes -- Ararat, Minni and Askenaz -- to form into a "great nation of the north", capable of drawing up "battle lines" against "the land of Babylon" -- modern-day Iraq -- so as to defeat her in battle and plunder her treasures.

The "uniting" of these former rival Kurds is beginning to fulfill this aspect of Jeremiah's prophecy.

Militants kill at least 46 in Iraq mosque

An Associated Press article at FoxNews.com published August 22, 2014 from Baghdad reported that militants killed at least 46 people and wounded over 50 at a Sunni mosque in Imam Wais village in Diyala province, about 75 miles northeast of Baghdad on Friday.

The report claims a suicide bomber rushed into the mosque during weekly prayers and detonated his explosives before gunmen rushed in and began shooting worshippers.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah the prophet decreed that the cities of Babylon would be set on fire as one of the judgments of doom on the land. Will these latest attacks by the Islamic State jihadists light those fires?

Invasion, capture, execution. Those have happened in sequence. Burning and announced abandonment in failure at reconstruction comes next.

Are we on the verge of Babylon burning?

Italy to arm Kurdish forces

In an Associated Press article at CBC News | World posted August 20, 2014, it is reported that Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said that Italy intends to supply "light, portable arms for the Iraqi Kurdish forces battling ISIS."

The article states that the "ISIS blitz has forced some 1.5 million people to flee their homes since June, while thousands more have died, prompting the UN to declare its highest level of emergency last week."

According to the release, the gains made by the militants "have brought U.S. forces back into the conflict for the first time since American troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011."

The United States military began carrying out "dozens of airstrikes in Iraq" on August 8th.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah the hebrew prophet saw the rise of the Medes into a military power capable of defeating the army of the land of Babylon. The Medes are the modern-day Kurds, and Iraq itself is the modern manifestation of the "land of Babylon" -- the "land of the Chaldeans."

The Kurds of Kurdistan are now being armed by the Iraq central government, France, the United States, the UK, Canada, Germany and now Italy.

If this build up continues, the Kurds will find themselves strengthened into one of the region's most formidable fighting forces, fulfilling one of the key elements of Jeremiah's 2,600-year-old prophecy.

Mosul "purged of Christians"

An article by Benjamin Hall at FoxNews.com from August 19, 2014 describes the escape of thousands of Christians from Mosul and Qaraqosh in northern Iraq after Islamic State jihadists overran those towns and demanded Christians "convert to Islam or die."

74-year-old Munira Aziz, her hip broken and her voice a raspy whisper, described the attack on her home in Mosul: "We heard the gunshots outside our door, and knew the terrorists were killing Christians... We cowered inside for two days, then knew we had to leave."

Hall recites how Mosul, a home to Christians for two millennia, has now been purged of them. Endless Islamic State shelling left their neighborhoods demolished.

Most Christian refugees escaped to Kurdistan, where they found safety in Erbil or Sulemaniya, but had little but their "lives and faith."

According to Hall, Iraqi Christians' hopes "now lie with the Kurdish Peshmerga" which is fighting the Islamic State jihadists.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah's prophecy of doom on Babylon warns the people of God to "flee from the midst of Babylon" so as to escape the destruction and judgment coming upon her.  While the refugees may consider their flight to be a persecution upon them, from the prophecy's perspective, they have been saved from greater calamity, the destruction of the "land of the Chaldeans" through burning, abandonment, further war with the "Medes" (Kurds), a catastrophic flood event and resulting drought that leaves the entire land desolate and uninhabitable.

Kurdistan has become a safe haven for Christians, and the Kurds have become God's chosen war machine to bring upon the land of Babylon God's vengeance, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. 

The New York Times: US should recognize all Kurds as allies

In an opinion piece by Aliza Marcus and Andrew Apostolou in The New York Times from August 18, 2014, the authors assert that President Obama should "rethink America's policy toward Kurdish nationalism, and recognize the Kurds, and not only Iraqi ones, are his main ally against ISIS."

Marcus and Apostolou claim the current borders are obsolete, and that Kurds from not only Iraq's Kurdistan region are engaged in the fight against the Islamic State insurgents, but also Kurds from Syria and Turkey. Alone, the Iraqi Kurds will be unable to deliver a victory, but by providing assistance also to Syrian and Turkish Kurds in their fight against ISIS, victory over the radical Islamic militants may be much more attainable.

 READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah foresaw the rise of the "spirit of the kings of the Medes" and the formation of a horde of great peoples into a "nation of the north" capable of "draw(ing) up battle lines" against the land of Babylon, engaging it in war, defeating its armies and plundering its treasures.

The Medes are known today as the Kurds of Kurdistan. Jeremiah saw three regions of Medes joining into this new nation: "Ararat, Minni and Askenaz." Minni and Ashkenaz would be better translated as the Mannaeans and the Adiabenes, references to the lands of the ancient tribes preceding and overrun by the Medes. These ancient tribes lived in and ruled over what is now westernmost Iran south of Lake Urmia, with a capital at Izirtu (Zirta), and northeasternmost Iraq, or Upper Mesopotamia, with a capital in Arbil (Erbil), areas now inhabited primarily by Kurds.

Iranian and Iraqi Kurds had until just two decades ago been at odds with each other, even engaged in tribal warfare. That changed with Saddam Hussein's campaign of terror and genocide on the Kurds, precipitating the two factions joining forces and political strategies to resist the dictator's attacks. The two have since joined to co-rule the democratically-inclined and capitalistic-leaning Kurdistan Regional Government, a semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, that may soon declare its independence from the Iraqi central government.

Ararat refers to the region of eastern Turkey and northeastern Syria, where the Kurds have been led by a completely different political force, will and goal from their eastern brethren. Many of these Kurds align with the political and insurrectionist leanings of the Marxist Kurd rebel Abdullah Ocalan, now a prisoner of Turkey.

With the conflict raging today, the threat of the Islamic State militants spread across Syria and into Iraq, the "Ararat" Kurds may find themselves thrust into circumstances where they cannot avoid joining in some sort of alliance with the "Minni" and "Ashkenaz" -- the Iranian and Iraqi -- Kurds.

If this alliance coalesces, the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah that these three nations will join into a "great nation" of the north will have occurred, and the stage set for an Iraqi-Median war in which the Medes defeat and plunder the land of Babylon in a God-decreed judgment.

Retaking of dam prevented a "calamity"

In an NBC News article at nbcnews.com this morning, August 19, 2014, Bill Neely writes that Kurdish soldiers who drove ISIS fighters from "Iraq's most important dam" thanked the U.S. for helping dislodge jihadist fighters. U.S. warplanes bombarded ISIS positions on Tuesday, allowing the Kurds to retake the dam that supplies power and water to millions.

Kurdish intelligence chief Masrour Barzani described the dam as a "nuclear weapon," and said retaking it had prevented a calamity.  In the video report at the NBC News website, Bill Neely showed improvised explosive devices the Islamic jihadists had planted around the dam.

"If that dam had breached, it could have proved catastrophic," said U.S. President Barack Obama. "There was a fear they might have blown it up, sending a tsunami down on Baghdad and the cities of Iraq," reported Neely.

READ MORE AND VIEW THE VIDEO HERE...

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Jeremiah's prophecy describes the cities of Babylon being overwhelmed by "tumultuous waves" -- a river "tsunami" -- as one of nine judgments that strike the land. This NBC report, reporter Bill Neely, the Kurdish government and the president of the United States all concur that if the Mosul dam were to breach, just such a calamitous flood event could be a very real possibility.

Could the Euphrates' Ataturk dam in Turkey also pose such a danger? The damage from its breaching would be even more catastrophic.

Invasion, capture, execution, burning, abandonment, war, plunder, flood, drought -- utter desolation and horror. These are the nine judgments of doom decreed by Jeremiah the hebrew prophet upon the land of the Chaldeans, as a vengeance for Zion by the God of Israel.

Invasion, capture and execution have occurred.  Burning and abandonment are up next. War, plunder, flood and drought will complete the desolation.

Will all these judgments occur in our time? Are we seeing the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy today?

Intensified U.S. bombing in Iraq appears to give Kurds boost at dam

www.latimes.com  August 17, 2014
By PATRICK J. MCDONNELL, DAVID S. CLOUD

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters in Bashiqa, northest of Mosul, on Saturday. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye /AFP/Getty Images)

Kurdish Iraqi fighters took back much of a strategic dam in northern Iraq as the United States stepped up its bombardment of Islamic militant positions in the region, Kurdish officials said Sunday. [...]

Kurds on Sunday also took back several towns and villages from the militants, including Tel Skuf, according to news reports in Iraq. [...]

Kurdish fighters, who retreated this month in the face of the extremist advance, have said they are outgunned by the Islamic State fighters. Kurdish authorities have requested additional arms, including heavy weapons, from the United States and Europe.

READ MORE HERE...

New US airstrikes in Iraq

abcnews.go.com
WASHINGTON -- Aug 18, 2014
By ROBERT BURNS AP  National Security Writer

The Pentagon says a new round of 15 U.S. airstrikes near the Mosul dam in northern Iraq were justified because the dam's failure could trigger a humanitarian disaster.

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said Monday the U.S. had no indication of the dam's imminent failure, but the airstrikes were part of a broader U.S. mission to help protect Iraq's critical infrastructure. The dam was captured by the Islamic State group earlier this month.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah prophesied that the "sea" -- a euphemism for the Euphrates River -- would send its "tumultuous waves" over the cities of the land of Babylon in a cataclysmic disaster as one of the nine judgments on the land of the Chaldeans.  This devastating flood event would be followed by a "drought on (Babylon's) waters" so that they would be "dried up", making the land completely uninhabitable and desolate.

Perhaps the events today are a harbinger for that coming disaster. But first, the cities must burn, the nation abandoned by the occupying reconstructionists as an announced dismal failure, and then a war between the Chaldeans and the Medes, today's Iraqis and Kurds of Kurdistan.

Following a defeat at the the hands of the Kurds, and subsequent plundering of its treasures, Babylon will then suffer the flood, and the drought, leading to utter desolation, a horror among the nations.

Is the fear that the dams could be sabotaged a sign that just such a disaster could really happen? Could Jeremiah's flood be fulfilled in our time?

Kurds advance in retaking Mosul dam

CBS/AP  August 17, 2014
ERBIL, Iraq -- An Iraqi security official says Kurdish forces have taken over parts of the country's largest dam, which was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria extremist group earlier this month.

Kurdish officials say that peshmerga forces backed by Iraqi and U.S. warplanes started the operation to retake Mosul Dam early Sunday.

READ MORE HERE...

Canada and Germany to aid Kurds

A The Canadian Press article at ctvnews.ca by Murray Brewster published today, August 15, 2014, dateline OTTAWA, asserts that Canada will begin shuttling weapons to Kurdish forces in Iraq to help defend against the "barbarous attacks" of radical jihadists with the Islamic State insurgency.

According to the article, at least "one defence analyst says Canada should be prepared to follow Britian's lead" by dispatching Chinook helicopters to help allied nations deliver relief supplies.

Brewster also asserts that "Germany is also preparing to send military aid."

READ MORE HERE...

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There seems to be a swelling consensus to offer military aid to Kurdistan now, in their fight against the Islamic State.

If IS conquers Baghdad, Iraq will become the Islamic State, and Kurdistan will find it is the neighbor to the north of a radicalized, brutal, militant, terror nation.

In that case, the war between the Medes and the Chaldeans that Jeremiah prophesied will be a war between Kurdistan and the vicious Islamic State of Iraq.

The Medes win. And then plunder.

Will the military arming of the Kurds by the allied nations today help to bring this victory about?

First, though, we must see the burning of the cities of Babylon, then an announced abandonment of Babylon by the occupying reconstructionists. When those two events occur, we have really, truly conclusive proof that the Jeremiah prophecy of doom on Babylon is occurring here in our time, leading to the utter desolation of that land.

Britain prepared to arm Kurdish forces

An article by Steven Swinford, Ruth Sherlock and Carol Malouf at The Telegraph published August 14, 2014 announces that British Prime Minister David Cameron is "ready to supply arms (to the Kurds) in a significant escalation of Britain's involvement in the (Iraqi) conflict."

READ MORE HERE...

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This brings to four the number of entities that have pledged military aid to the Kurds in their fight against Islamic State insurgents: Iraq's central government, the United States, France and now the United Kingdom.

With this infusion of military hardware, ammunition and support, the scenario of the empowerment of the "Medes" -- modern-day Kurds -- into a force capable of defeating the forces of the "land of the Chaldeans" -- modern-day Iraq -- becomes less "ridiculous", as one anonymous comment poster suggested it was back in November 2006, when I first lofted the notion that the Kurds would one day be strong enough to defeat the Iraqi army in battle.

US hopeful as al-Maliki steps down

Iraq's new prime minister-designate vows to fight corruption, terrorism

In an article at FoxNews.com published today, August 15, 2014, Fox News reporters say there is "relief in Iraq and among Western leaders... as a new prime minister-designate vowed to unite the Iraqi people, and fight corruption and Sunni militants who have overrun large parts of the country."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he would not seek a third term, making room for new leader Haider al-Abadi. The decision gives hope to U.S. officials that Iraq will now be able to move towards a more united front against Islamic State extremists, who have conquered about a quarter of the country.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is quoted in the article as saying the move "sets the stage for a historic and peaceful transition of power in Iraq."

READ MORE HERE...

I am skeptical of the optimism expressed by Kerry.  So far, every major event that has occurred in Iraq since the original 1993 Gulf War invasion by U.S. forces has coincided with the sequential judgments on the "land of Babylon" decreed by the prophet Jeremiah in chapters 50 and 51 of his book in the Hebrew bible.

The judgments and decrees fulfilled thus far:

The judgments come when Israel has been "(brought) back to his pasture" (Jer 50:19)
      -  Israel became a nation once again in 1948 after almost 1,900 years of exile

The "report" of coming "violence" will come in one year, and then another report in another year, and then "violence will be in the land" (Jer 51:46)
      -  The first Gulf War did not result in invasion of Iraq itself, but then ten years later, the second Gulf War resulted in invasion of the land of Iraq itself

An "outcry is heard among the nations" at the shout "Babylon to be seized!" (Jer 50:46)
      -  The largest expression ever seen of mass anti-war protest against the announcement of the intent to invade Iraq breaks out world-wide

Invasion by "a great nation and many kings" (Jer 50:41)
      -  US-led invasion by the "Coalition of the Willing"

The "mighty men of Babylon" cease fighting and hide (Jer 51:30)
      -  Saddam's armies gave little resistance and many of them threw down their weapons and melted into the civilian population

The invaders are cruel and have no mercy (Jer 50:42)
      -  Abu Graib tortures

The king of Babylon has heard the report of them and distress grips him (Jer 50:43; 51:31)
      -  Saddam Hussein cried when he was told Baghdad was captured

Capture of the whole land (Jer 50:24; 51:41)
      - The invasion results in a complete capture of the whole nation, culminating in the capture of dictator Saddam Hussein

The "noise of battle in the land" and "great destruction" (Jer 50:22)
      -  Critics say the U.S.-led invasion "destroyed" Iraq

Punishment of the "Arrogant One" with no one to support him (Jer 50:32)
      -  The execution of the "arrogant" Saddam Hussein while witnesses deride and mock him

There is a sound of fugitives and refugees in the land (Jer 50:28)
      -  Mass exodus of refugees continuing even to this day

"I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon to devastate her land" (Jer 51:2)
      -  Islamic State militants are wrecking havoc and destruction all over Iraq

There is a call to God's "people" to come out of her (Jer 51:45)
      -  Jews have all left Iraq, and now Christians are fleeing Iraq in droves in the face of militant Islamic jihadist threats

JEREMIAH'S JUDGMENTS YET TO COME --

"I will set fire to his cities, and it will devour all his environs" (Jer 50:32; 51:58)
      -  The cities of Babylon will be set on fire

The occupiers abandon her after a failed attempt at reconstruction (Jer 51:8-9)
      -  With the U.S. back in Iraq with military advisers and troops to protect "U.S. personnel" and interests, the scenario exists for an announced abandonment of Iraq as a failed attempt to "heal her"

"A horde of great peoples from the land of the north [the Medes] draw up their battle lines against her and take her captive" (Jer 50:9; 51:11,14,27,28)
      -  The Kurds, modern-day Medes, are growing more powerful economically and militarily in a stunning transformation; they will invade and defeat Iraq

"A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!" (Jer 50:10,37)
      -  The nation from the north will plunder Babylon's "treasures"

A major flood event devastates the land (Jer 51:42)
       -  The dams on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are potentially dangerous, both in potential collapse or as targets of sabotage

"A drought on her waters, and they are dried up!" (Jer 50:38; 51:36)
      -  After the flood event, the rivers will be dried up, and the land will be unable to sustain life

"And it will never again be inhabited from generation to generation" (Jer 50:39)
     -  Because of the wars, flood, and perpetual drought, no one shall be able to live there ever again

Complete desolation.  This is the judgment of the LORD in the land of Babylon according to Jeremiah the Hebrew prophet, at the time Israel is back in its promised land.

Is the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy coming true in our time?  Are we witnessing prophecy being fulfilled? Will the cities of the "land of the Chaldeans" soon be burning?

Is Babylon burning, Jeremiah?

France to join US in arming Kurds

Middle East Eye
MME and agencies, Wednesday 13 August 2014


France has been pushing the European Union to meet for several days to coordinate a European response to the crisis in Iraq

Iraqi children from the Yazidi community wave to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near Dohuk after they fled their hometown which was attacked by Islamic State militants (AFP)

France will join the US in sending weapons to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic militants in Iraq, President Francois Hollande announced on Wednesday.

"In order to respond to the urgent need expressed by the Kurdistan regional authorities, the president has decided, in agreement with Baghdad, to deliver arms in the coming hours," Hollande's office said in a statement.

READ MORE HERE...

In a 13 August 2014 blog post found at The New Statesman on line, George Eaton asks the question, "Will the UK follow France and arm the Kurds?" READ THE POST...

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Jeremiah saw the spirit of the kings of the Medes rise up so as to be capable of drawing up battle lines against the land of the Chaldeans, invade, defeat and plunder her treasures. The Kurds are the modern-day "Medes", and with the coalition of powers now arming them against the Islamic State militants, they may be on their way to becoming the "great nation out of the north" capable of such military achievement.

US to directly arm Kurdish peshmerga forces in bid to thwart ISIS offensive

Monday 11 August 2014 | Spencer Ackerman in New York

Several administrations have refrained from arming the peshmerga due to concerns about reprisals from Saddam Hussein and his successors. PHOTO: Anadolu Agency/Getty

The Obama administration has announced it will arm the militia forces of Iraqi Kurdistan, to prevent the fall of the final bastion of pro-US territory in Iraq.

The weaponry is said to be light arms and ammunition [...]

US officials say they are not currently considering providing Kurdish forces... with missiles, armored vehicles or helicopters. [...]

The idea of arming the Kurds has been the subject of weeks of internal deliberation and official silences by president Barack Obama's foreign policy advisers. It is a fateful step in Iraq's current crisis [...]

The danger is that arming the peshmerga will facilitate a permanent fragmentation of Iraq, something the Kurds consider a national aspiration [...]

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah prophesied the rise of the Medes -- modern-day Kurds -- into a great nation capable of attacking and defeating the "land of Babylon" -- modern-day Iraq. For the last ten years, this scenario seemed preposterous. Are we now seeing the military empowerment of Kurdistan, brought about by the nation with the most powerful military on earth?

Iraq arms Kurds against ISIS

 | by Missy Ryan  posted: 08/08/2014  updated: 08/09/2014
www.huffingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The Iraqi government provided a planeload of ammunition to Peshmerga fighters from Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region on Friday, a U.S. official said, in an unprecedented act of military cooperation between Kurdish and Iraqi forces brought on by an acute militant threat.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah foresaw the rise of the "spirit of the kings of the Medes" -- a people group now known by the name "Kurd" -- so as to become a "great nation" to the "north" of the "land of the Chaldeans", capable of "draw(ing) up battle lines" against "Babylon", attacking her, defeating her army, and "plunder(ing) her treasures."

For centuries, if not millennia, the Kurds were an oppressed, poverty-striken people who did not even have a country to call their own. Only in the last decade, since the invasion of Iraq by the coalition of nations led by the United States, have the Kurds been able to build a nation-state. But since that time, an amazing transformation has taken place, with oil-wealth and a western mentality driving the progress and building of the Kurdistan region, an entity on the verge of independence.

Now Babylon -- Iraq itself -- is helping to arm the very nation that will one day, should Jeremiah's prophecy come true in out time, overwhelm and defeat her. Perhaps the Iraq of that time will not be run by al-Maliki, but by radical Islamic jihadists bent on attacking and destroying their neighbors, including Kurdistan.

Jeremiah saw the Medes rise as a great military power, capable of defeating the Chaldeans. Are we witnessing that rise now, in our time?  Will the Peshmerga become a formidable modern fighting army?

Archbishop Dawod calls on UK to open country's doors to Iraqi Christians

In an article at theguardian.com published Friday 8 August, 2014, authors Sam Jones and Owen Bowcott cite Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dawod of the Syriac Orthodox church in the UK as urging the UK government to "open the country's doors to those fleeing the violence" in Iraq, especially for Iraqi Christians, who are being targeted by ISIS terrorists.

"We are dying," he said. "The British government needs to help people and give them asylum. If they stay (there), they will be killed."

According to the article, his pleas were echoed by Patriarch Louis Sako, the Iraq-based leader of the Chaldean Catholic church, who said that about 100,000 Christians had abandoned their villages in the Nineveh plains earlier this week after ISIS launched mortar attacks.

"[It is] an exodus, a real via crucis (lit. 'Way of the the Cross' -- a lengthy and distressing procedure); Christians are walking on foot in Iraq's searing summer heat towards the Kurdish cities... They are facing a human catastrophe..." said Sako in a statement to the charity Aid to the Church in Need.

The Iraq-based leader of the Chaldean Catholic church, Patriarch Louis Sako, says Iraqi Christians face a 'human catastrophe'

Save the Children described the speed of the displacement caused by the ISIS advance as unprecedented, adding that thousands of families had entered the Kurdistan region from Qaraqosh in the last 48 hours.

According to the charity, 1.2 million Iraqis have been displaced in the past two months since the fighting began, placing the humanitarian relief effort under huge pressure.

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah wrote of this exodus: "There is a sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon..." (Jer 50:28).

Jeremiah expressed a plea for the people of God -- certainly Jews explicitly, but by implicit extension Christians -- to "flee from the midst of Babylon" so as to save ones self from the coming destruction. It is good the leaders are calling for asylum for the Iraqi Christians, but Jeremiah had given ample notice as to when it would have been prudent to prepare and leave:

"'Come forth from her midst, My people, and each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the LORD. Now, so your heart does not grow faint, and (so) you (do not have to be) afraid at the report that will be heard in the land -- for the report [of the invasion] will come in one year, and after that another report [of invasion] will come in another year, and (after that) violence will be in the land with ruler against ruler -- therefore behold, days are coming when I will punish the idols (false gods) of Babylon, and her whole land will be put to shame and all her slain will fall in her midst... For the destroyers will come to her from the north,' declares the LORD," (Jer 51:45-48).

There was an invasion -- "violence in the land" -- in 1993.  But then the invasion was cut short, and the land allowed to remain unmolested for ten years. Then, in 2003, another invasion, and this one filled the whole land with "foreigners" who would break it and destroy things.

Now it is 2014, over ten years more, and destruction and violence is in the land. If the "people" of God haven't gotten out yet, they may have waited too long. It has been over 20 years since the first "report."

"You who have (barely) escaped the sword, 'DEPART! DO NOT STAY! Remember the LORD from afar..." (Jer 51:50).

'Vicar of Baghdad' Canon Andrew refuses to leave Iraq

In an article found at www.anglicannews.org  August 7, 2014, originally published at the Huffington Post, Yasmine Hafiz writes that despite threats by ISIS terrorists to kill Christians, Anglican Canon Andrew White, also known as the "Vicar of Baghdad' according to the article, refuses to leave Iraq.

Canon Andrew White

In another article at anglicannews.org, by ACNS staff, Canon White is quoted describing how he had baptized a boy several years ago who was found "cut in half" during an attack by Islamic State militants on the Christian town of Qaraqosh in Nineveh province.

"I'm almost in tears because I've just had somebody in my room whose little child was cut in half," White is quoted as saying in an interview with ACNS. "I baptised his child in my church in Baghdad. This little boy, they named him after me -- he was called Andrew."

The Islamic State group captured Qaraqosh overnight Wednesday/Thursday after the withdrawal of Kurdish forces. The boy's family, along with many other townspeople, have now fled to Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan Region, according to the article.

According to anglicannews.org, Anglican leaders from countries including Egypt, Wales, Brazil and South Africa have all expressed their dismay at the situation unfolding in Iraq. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, issued a statement on the latest events:
"What we are seeing in Iraq violates brutally people's right to freedom of religion and belief, as set out under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.... The international community must document human rights abuses being committed in northern Iraq so that future prosecutions can take place... We must continue to cry to God for peace and justice and security throughout the world. Those suffering such appalling treatment in Iraq are especially in my prayers at this time."

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Is Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 simply missing from anglican bibles?
In my narrow, simple-minded brain, if there were a prophecy that explicitly mentioned the "land of the Chaldeans" as being invaded by a coalition of forces from the remote parts of the earth, as being captured by those forces, who are described as "without mercy," and then that happens in the land of the Chaldeans, and then if the prophecy goes on to say the king, called an "arrogant one", will be punished with no one to support him, and then the dictator, who is arrogant even in the face of capital charges, is hanged and the witnesses dance around his body mocking him, and I was actually living in the "land" that was filled with "Chaldeans", and I myself considered myself "Chaldean," and all of those things happened just as the prophecy declared, I myself, in my simple-minded thinking, might just think that there was at least a remote possibility that the prophecy was talking to me.

And if the prophecy declared in no uncertain terms, "FLEE FROM THE LAND OF BABYLON so that you are not caught up in the coming destruction", I myself might just consider that it would be a good time to "FLEE FROM BABLYON."

But that's just me. The good vicar of Baghdad, who says he's not going anywhere, obviously has a better, more reliable source of understanding than the old, dusty Hebrew scriptures.

Here, though, is what the apostle James had to say about teachers: "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment," (James 3:1).

Iraq: ISIS terrorists killing Christians, beheading children

An article at thenewamerican.com/world-news/ Friday, 08 August, 2014 by Dave Bohon asserts the "Islamic terrorist group ISIS continues its effort to eradicate the Christian faith in Iraq, as reports come out of the nation's besieged Nineveh province of wholesale executions of believers, including crucifixions and the beheadings of children."

Bohon writes that in July the terrorists overran Mosul, prompting families who had lived there for generations to "flee under threat of death."

READ MORE HERE...

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Jeremiah the hebrew prophet called to the people of God to "flee from the midst of Babylon, and each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the LORD's time of vengeance; he is going to render recompense to her," (Jer 51:6).

Those who did not heed Jeremiah's call are now being caught in the destruction. Their leaders will be held accountable for not sounding the alarm. The book containing the explicit warning to that very people is sitting on their venerated pulpits, unopened, unread.