                    Throw away your newspaper;
           Pick up your Tanach, and find the real News
                        January 21, 1991
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg

       It was a very strange week, indeed.  President Bush surprised everyone by keeping his
word and attacking Iraq.  It is difficult to conceive of a surprise attack which was broadcasted months
in advance, but that is exactly what it was.  Because everyone believed he was just posturing, it came
as a shock to learn that he really went to war.  
       Stepping back for a minute none of this makes a lot of sense.  Who could imagine any
scenario which would actually find superpowers initiating a war, and that the battlefield of that war
would be in the backyard of Israel?  I will tell you who; the ancient prophets of Israel:  

Jeremiah 51:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 11, 30
       "Thus saith the L-rd; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell
in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
       And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall lay empty her land: for in
the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
       For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his G-d, of the L-rd of hosts; though their
land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
       Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her
iniquity; for this is the time of the L-rd's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.
       Babylon hath been a golden cup in the L-rd's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the
nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
       Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the L-rd hath raised up the spirit of the kings
of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the L-rd,
the vengeance of his temple.
       The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds: their
might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.

Isaiah 44:1 
       It will be like the burning of the melting fire, and the waters which the fire causeth to boil,
when thou wilt make thy name known to thine adversaries: the nations will tremble at thy presence.


Joel 4:11, 12, 14,16, 17, 19, 20-
       "Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye nations, and gather yourselves together round
about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O L-rd.


       Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat: for there will I sit
to judge all the nations round about.
       Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the L-rd is near in the valley
of decision.
       The L-rd also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens
and the earth shall shake: but the L-rd will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children
of Israel.
       So ye shall know that I am the L-rd your G-d dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then
shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
       Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence
against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
       But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation."

Micah 4:11, 12, 14  5:14  7:16, 17, 20
       "Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our
eye look upon Zion.
       But they know not the thoughts of the L-rd, neither understand they his counsel: for he
hath gathered them as the sheaves unto the floor.
       Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall
smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
       And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, such as they have not
heard.
       The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon
their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
       They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the
earth: they shall be afraid of the L-rd our G-d and shall fear because of thee.
       Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn
unto our fathers from the days of old."

"Ezekiel: 38:16 & 23-
       "And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall
be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall
be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
       Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many
nations, and they shall know that I am the L-rd."
       
       Yes, we wear our gas masks and secure ourselves in sealed rooms every time the siren
sounds, for we must take every precaution to protect ourselves.  But we are light of spirit and sit in
eager anticipation, as we do on the Night of Watching, awaiting the arrival of Eliyahu to announce
the arrival of Mashiach Tzidkanu and the coming redemption. 