My own interpretation of Ezekiel 38 is that Gog is a name or title for the Man of Sin, and that between this prophecy and Revelation 13, the ten "horns" of the Beast are explained to us. Explaining my position fully would take up several pages as I identify Magog and the like (and no, I don't think Magog is Russia, though I think Meshech is), but it can be summed up that the Man of Sin's empire will be comprised of most of Europe, most of Africa, Greece/Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Obviously, that means that he will have to conquer or otherwise rule a large part of the Muslim world.
The way I see it, this war could go one of two ways: Either we get what we want and moderate Islam becomes predominant in the Middle-east, or things will escalate and fundamentalist Islam will become even more entrenched.
In the former case, this opens the door for the kind of ecumenism with Islam that Pope John Paul II has been striving for his whole life. I'm not going to get into "pope bashing" here, but I honestly don't think that you can combine Christianity and Islam and get what Christ gave us on the cross. This would seem to tie into the woman of Rev. 17.
In the latter, we will eventually have another war between Islam and the West, and for various reasons I believe that the Man of Sin will emerge out of just that kind of chaos to take hold of the world's steering wheel, so to speak. He could conquer his three horns--probably Iran, Iraq, and Turkey--and be seen as a great hero for it.
All of this is just my humble speculation and opinion, of course. :^)
How close are we? I don't know. Given how fast we've seen the political and geographical landscape suddenly shift in our lifetimes, events could spiral into the 70th Week in the next couple of years, or they could drift along for another generation or two. I do think the former is more likely than the latter, but again, I don't see the direct fulfillment of any particular prophecy in recent events, only the setting of the stage.
Another Freeper has expressed the concern that if we look for the Antichrist, we will forget that the true Lord who lives in us. Well, I suppose that this can be a danger, but at the same time, all Scripture is God-breathed and beneficial to read and know (2 Tim. 3:16). This includes the passages that warn us of exactly what the Man of Sin will be like, what kind of signs will herald his coming, so that we will not be deceived. We can't afford to have spiritual blinders on given the deception that is playing itself out right now, and the deception that is to come.
At the same time, we have not been given a spirit of fear. I am reminded of the closing line of an episode of Millennium: "When the Evil One walks the earth, rejoice, for our Lord is soon to come."
Maranatha!
Yours in Truth,
I'm going to enter some of that page tonight to more effectively contribute to this discussion that I started.
Again, thanks to those of you who have responded to the questions posed.
MM