I do not believe Islam will attack Israel until it actually believes it can defeat them, and I do not think they will believe themselves to be ready for such an endeavor until some point in time between 2010 and 2015.

Russia and China do not want a war with the U.S. and the West at the present time, but both will demonstrate their military capacities as they have done in Tibet and Georgia. They will demonstrate their power on their borders, but don’t want a major confrontation in the Middle East at the present time.

As I have taught for many years, the U.S. will provide defensive help to Israel in the form of logistical equipment and humanitarian supplies during her three and one-half years in the Negev, and our naval forces will sail the Middle East waters in a defensive protective umbrella mode to insure Israel has some degree of safety in the Negev, but we will not order direct offensive ground forces to attack on Israeli soil during the time she is in the Negev. The U.S., China, and Russia will not meet head on until the final great battle of Armageddon.

The scenario I have laid out in the preceding paragraphs is what I have taught for many years, as you can see in the following Archive Prophecy Update Number 74.

June 27, 2002

Daniel 11:43 – But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

We closed Prophecy Update Number 73 with the antichrist in full control of Egypt in verse 43, after having driven the woman Israel into the Negev Wilderness, where she will remain for 3 and ½ prophetic years, or 1260 days. The woman will be made up of 1/3 of the Israel population (1.7 to 1.9 million) surviving his initial drive to Beersheva.

Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

While Israel is boxed in the Negev for 3 and ½ years, the city of Cairo will be his capital, and the center of his empire. He would be a fool to return to his home in Syria. Cairo is the midpoint of an Islamic world that stretches far to the east from Morocco to India, with a long shoreline extending along the entire southern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea to the southern coastline of the Black Sea, along both sides of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and eventually to the coastline of India. The political, economic, and military position of Cairo will meet all his requirements and he will rule his empire from Cairo. His influence in Europe, Africa, Eurasia, and Asia will be extremely strong, and by the end of his 3 and ½ years in Cairo, all of this area will politically be in his pocket. It is in this area that I believe the mark of the beast will be readily accepted, particularly in all the Islamic countries. It is also in this area that I believe the most horrific events of the Tribulation Period will occur. I believe he will have influence in the western hemisphere, but I do not believe he will rule it (See Prophecy Update 73 and Special Prophecy Update Number 73A).

After 3 and ½ years of dominating the nations of Europe and the eastern hemisphere, he will receive news out of the north and out of the east that troubles him.

Daniel 11:44 – But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

This was written in 600 B.C. Every time a great leader would arise in the east, his country would be identified as the one the antichrist would go forth to destroy with great fury, and to carry away many. Genghis Khan, the great Mongol ruler of one of the greatest empires in history, was believed to be the object in the east that was going to trouble the antichrist in A.D. 1200 to 1227. Attila, king of the Huns, from A.D. 441 to 450 claimed domination from the Alps and the Baltic to the Caspian Sea. He was labeled the Scourge of God, and was looked upon as being the source of bad news from the north that would trouble the antichrist. With the advent of the rise of the two great powers, the Soviet Union in the north, and China in the east, it was only natural that expositors would pick them as the culprits causing the bad news from the north and east. Now, it is supposed to be Russia and China. I do not doubt that both Russia and China will be among the nations that attack Israel at the final battle of Armageddon, but I do not believe one has to go all the way to Russia and China to find the source of the news that is troubling the antichrist.

Get an atlas with a map that has Cairo, Russia, and China on it and consider how far away the antichrist will be from Russia and China. Now consider this: the population of Russia is 150 million plus, and the population of China is 1 billion, 300 million plus. Now, look again at this scripture.

Daniel 11:44 – But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

If he proceeds forth from Cairo with great fury to attack China and Russia, that’s quite a few folks “to destroy, and to make away many.”

I do not believe you have to look thousands of miles to the east, and thousands of miles to the north, to find the source of the news that troubles the antichrist. Just look directly east of the city of Cairo and you will see the Negev Wilderness where he left the children of Israel some three years before, and then look to the north and you will see that portion of the Mediterranean Sea extending to the southern shores of Turkey. Those are the two locations from which the bad news will radiate. Some three years before the antichrist heavily fortified the zone along the northern border of the Negev north of Beersheva in order to prevent a breakout by the Israelis. But the narrow zone that is marked today by the Gaza Strip begins to look vulnerable to him because of the news he hears from the north and the east. The U.S. Navy has a frequent publication titled TRANSITIONS – All the Ships at Sea. It gives the location of the fleet on a specific date. You will discover from it that a U.S. carrier, and fighter attack squadron are routinely kept in the Mediterranean between Egypt and Turkey, and that at times it may consist of cruisers, destroyers, attack submarines, frigates, and support ships. In a recent mission in this area there were some 15,000 sailors and marines on these ships. During the last 25 years there have been some 18 episodes of U.S. marines conducting joint exercises with the IDF in the Negev. What the antichrist hears is that the U.S. and the IDF may be planning to cut off his rear flank back to his home country by conducting a military operation in the Gaza Strip. With the marines conducting an amphibious landing on the south of the Gaza Strip, and the IDF driving northwest to join them, they would do what no military commander wants to happen, that is, have his rear flank cut off from direct access to his major source of land supplies. The Scripture does not say whether what he hears is true or untrue, merely that what he hears troubles him. I would imagine it is only a rumor, but apparently he believes it enough to take the appropriate response. He heads for the city of Jerusalem, super reinforcing the Gaza Strip on his way, and sets himself up to issue a call for all nations to come and help him do what he could not do to Israel some 3 and ½ years before. He calls for all the nations of Europe, Eurasia, Asia, and Africa to come and help him to “go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” Israelis in the Negev Wilderness.

Daniel 11:44,45 – But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. [45] And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.