Posted on 09/16/2016 3:49:30 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.(Daniel 8:1-4)
In his vision, given whilst Daniel was still a minister in the government of Babylon, Daniel saw himself in the palace of Shushan, which at that time was on the eastern edge of the Babylonian empire, but was soon to become the capitol and residence of the Medo Persian King Darius, who would supplant the Babylonians.
Daniel saw a Ram, with two horns, one higher than the other. The Ram was wild, powerful and rambunctious, pushing west, northward and southward. Nothing could stop him, the Ram was successful in everything he did, and grew mighty.
The Ram with two pointed horns was considered a guardian Spirit by the Persians, and the Medo Persian Kings would wear Ram’s Head helmets into battle.The one horn represented Medea, and the longer one was Persian power.
In the immediate future, Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled in his own life. Persia grew in power and influence and overtook Babylon on the fateful night of “the hand writing on the Wall” in Daniel 5. The cryptic message from God’s own hand, was fulfilled within 24 hours,
And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians… In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.(Daniel 5:25:31)
Persia became a great power and did indeed spread to the west, North and Southward. Under Cyrus the Great (one of the truly great men of history) Persia conquered (Lydia, Ionia, Thrace, and Macedonia); in the West, and to the North (Caspians of the Caucasus Range and the Scythians east of the Caspian Sea and the Oxus Valley to the Aral Sea); and to the South (Babylon and Egypt).
But this vision is for the last days, so what do we see Persia (Iran) doing lately? Have we seen her expand and grow as a military power? Does she have ambitions to become a dominant regional and even a world power? Daniel 8 warns us that Persia would be an aggressive Ram, which is seemingly untamable.
In our lifetime we have seen the transformation of Iran from the Western and Israel friendly modern nation, she once was, into the Shariah dominated ,Hostile Shiite led nation of fanatics.
Iran (Persia) is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror and has paid very little price for her forty year state of war against the West, hijacking planes of Westerners, Promoting Shariah, setting up terror cells across the globe , kidnapping American diplomats, slaughtering 240 US marines in Lebanon, interfering with Lebanese and Syrian politics, and fomenting terror as far west as Venzuela, Argentina and Columbia.
Currently the Ayatollahs are emboldened by our feckless leadership to develop a Nuclear program, harass US warships, attack and humiliate US and British sailors, and to brutally supress her own citizens, who have seen what Shariah has to offer and want nothing more of it. No one stops Iran, she seems to do what she pleases and pays little consequence for her actions.
The Ram is going wild again, The Satanic prince of Persia is now moving across the earth, as Daniel would see in a later vision;
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days (Daniel 10:12-14)
Flush with the 150 billion dollars US that President Obama has released to Iran, and with the untold secret billions Obama sent to Iran in Cash bills on pallets, and flexing her muscles with the status of having shown the world that she has stood up to the “Great Satan” and prevailed time and again, Iran is feeling that her time has come to become the regional power and the head of Islam.
Iran believes that the twelfth IMAM is almost here and that she has an apocalyptic destiny, to bring about the end of days. She is adamant that Iran is the one destined to wipe out Israel, she openly proclaims it and at the beginning of the humiliating(for the US) nuclear deals concluded by Kerry and Obama, Iran made clear that the destruction of Israel which she has openly vowed, is “non-negotiable”. The US negotiators didn’t let that point stop them.
The Saudi’s are frightened, because as the Sunni guardians of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and Medina, they fear a Nuclear armed Shiite Iran.
The recent argument between Saudis and Iran over the 1000 plus Iranian pilgrims trampled to death at the Haj in Mecca, has resulted in open calls among Shiites to forsake Mecca and make their Haj to Karbala. In Shiite theology Mecca is destroyed before the last day.The Sunni Shiite rift in Islam will soon openly rupture, plunging the Muslim world and all who touch it into cataclysmic war.
Another factor that portends a soon move by Iran, is the demographic crisis which has mysteriously gripped Iran. Iranian birthrates have recently been in free fall, dropping from the typical 6 children per family, to somewhere below replacement rates
But after the war with Iraq, which killed between 500,000 and one million Iranian men, Iran’s high birthrate was viewed as a liability. In 1993, the government enacted a “family-planning” law that not only encouraged the use of birth control but also eliminated maternity leave after three children.
The results were unprecedented: In seven years, Iran’s birthrate had dropped to less than replacement level, two births per woman. Iran’s population, which doubled between 1968 and 1988, was now growing at less than 1 percent per year.
Not surprisingly, family-planning groups and other anti-natalists hailed the results as a triumph. But, as the Asia Times columnist who writes under the pen name “Spengler” has pointed out, a better term would be pyrrhic victory.
Like China, Iran’s plunging birthrate has produced a rapidly aging society. By the middle of this century, a third of all Iranians will be “elderly dependents,” nearly the same ratio as in the West.
This means fewer and fewer working-age Iranians to support its elderly pensioners. To make matters worse, there are signs that Iran’s oil reserves are dwindling. By some estimates, Iran will no longer be exporting oil by 2020.
According to Spengler, it’s against this background of a looming crisis that we must understand Iran’s belligerence. In the West, an unfavorable ratio of workers-to-retirees can place “uncomfortable burdens on taxpayers.” But in places like Iran, it can destabilize the society and threaten the regime itself. This is especially so when you consider another demographic fact: Ethnic Iranians are a bare majority within Iran.
The Ram is going to have to do something quickly if anything at all.
A lot of prophecies will unfold soon and that includes Elam-Persia-Iran. Only a matter of G!d’s perfect timing.
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