Beating the Plowshares, Preparing for War!

Beating the Plowshares, Preparing for War!
“Multitudes in the Valley of Decision”
By the Watchman Dana G Smith
Words: 1876
Keywords: swords, battle, plowshares, war, nations, Israel, Lord, God

Revelation 6:8  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Prepare for war, let those who are weak come up and say they are strong. Let the mighty men gather, bring all your weapons. Turn your peaceful metal into instruments of war, let the gentiles be gathered. Call ye to all the nations and let them gathered for the day. It is a day of decisions in the valley of decision, for the Lord is near and gathers the nations of men. Come down all ye nations, come down all ye mighty men of war, come down all ye people to the valley and be gathered. This call is from the prophetic book of Joel, signaling an event when the call goes forward in judgment to bring the nations down to Israel, to the valley of Jehoshaphat. It will be there that in the midst of the battle, the Lord will judge all the heathen round about. The valley of Jehoshaphat meaning “Yahweh” judges is seen as the time when the Lord judges among the nations and peoples. The battle is to be fought, one where the gentile nations gather near to Israel and Jerusalem for the momentous war. It is here we see that in the last days, the time before the coming of the LORD, there is a supernatural call to battle. This is a Battle which will gather all the heathen nations against Israel, and against the LORD God. It is a call that the nations cannot resist and one where all will be affected to march into the valley of decision.

Prepare for War, Beat the plowshares into swords, pruning hooks into spears:

Joel 3:9  ¶Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11  Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12  Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13  Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Isaiah speaks of the anti-thesis of the statement which is found in Joel, saying “they shall beat their swords into into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks”. It is when the Lord comes back and puts an end to the fighting and war. It is in Isaiah where we find out that the nations will not learn war anymore. If anything about today’s society is true, this is that men today actually have ‘learned the art of making war.’ From the use of nuclear bombs in WWII, to the Vietnam mass carpet bombing, to the Iraqi war during Bush I and the show of bombing strength and the united armies of the coalition. Add to this all the horrendous slaughter of innocents in civil wars and unrest in many nations of the world and you surely understand that these people reveal their own ability to make war. There is no doubt with the advances in the United States alone in the ability to make war, keep the peace, and take on the aggressors, America stands at the forefront of all this ability. But even America will heed the call, which is supernatural and will gather the nations. This is a call which is a judgment upon the nations, a time when all men are gathered to a certain point on earth to make war.

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks:

Isaiah 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

From the current situation we see today there lays a threat with Iran. Iran speaks openly of their agenda to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, or try. Iran will not be able to finish this goal of theirs. Howbeit, Israel sees the danger and knows it very well. As one senior Israeli source said recently:

Nobody can explain why Iran is enriching uranium,” said a senior Israeli official. “The second thing is they are developing a delivery system and nobody can deny that.
“Israel can”t take the risk that Iran will be nuclear.” [Source Australian News]

The threat is real. The threat from the Israeli side is that Iran will strike Israel when they are ready. That is, when all their nuclear weapons are in the ready mode and the full preparations for war are finished. They will also heed the call from Joel to pursue the war and battlements in the valley of decision. Again from the Israeli side, a preventable strike on Iran to stop this is “unavoidable.”

Israel has said a strike on Iran will be “unavoidable” if the Islamic regime continues to press ahead with alleged plans for building an atom-bomb.” (London Daily Telegraph, 6/11/2008)

Of course, many are the rumors that the Bush administration will not let the Israel do this alone. First, Israel does not have the planes to do the destruction America could do. They also do not know how a new administration would act on such an attempt. So Israel would act sooner rather than later. Because of this fact, according to CBS news consultant Michael Oren said backing this saying:

“The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize, Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran.”

The Iranians for their part have a concept that if America attacks, they would hit Israel with everything they have. This would bring in the terrorist groups in Lebanon and in Gaza to hit Israel as well. The oil cut off would also be a primary goal. American officials are quick to point out that there is no way that the Iranians could cut off the “Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz” from oil traffic. If that were the case which meant that the Iranians succeeded in doing this, than the oil alone would be a huge problem for the entire world. The other factor in this is Russia; they would not stand by and let America and Israel destroy an ally. In all this posturing, we must also count Russia’s alley in, which is China, for they both have a non aggression pact with each other. This fact alone would also mean that the oil could be a paramount reason for the world wide cataclysm coming. All nations have a stake in the prize of oil in the middle east, therefore, they all would be drawn inextricably to this.

“Naturally, any country coming under attack will use all of its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy. Given the main route for energy to exit the region, one of Iran’’s steps will definitely be to exercise control on the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari told Jam-e-Jam, which is affiliated with Iran’’s state-run radio and television network

Whether Bush attacks this year is mute, however, for the Iranians that is the government anyway is hedging a bet that the Americans could not fulfill their potential threats. The last years in Iraq has actually bolstered the confidence of Iran. The weakness of America showed through. Now with oil rising before the war to what it is today, add in more turmoil and possible terrorism on high seas against oil targets and you will see oil rise even more. All this would possibly add to the highest numbers ever in oil costs, reducing the ability of Americans to even afford basic gas, heating, and other necessities. This also would put strain on the war machine America and her allies have. For Iran, Russia, and others in the region, they have oil; therefore, their war machine would not be bothered.

The times we are entering into and have even now seen are truly prophetic, directly out of the prophets. It is a time when the nations will be entering into what the Jews say is “Jacobs trouble”, or what many evangelicals call the “tribulation”, or what Jesus said would come on all the world “like a snare”, for said he, “these be the days of vengeance.” Remember what the Lord said, “vengeance is mine, I will repay.” The time when nations have gone on their own way, violating the commandments of the LORD God, doing as they please, and saying against the Lord “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” This is the rebellion of the nations and is a direct fulfillment of Psalms 2. The Lord will stand up in defense for his people Israel, and for all those who are the Lords. The right of the ‘scepter’ is the LORDS, and his inheritance is the nations, the earth, and all the people in them. The nations, peoples, and leaders are advised at this time to “be wise now therefore, O ye Kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”

Psalms 2:1  ¶Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7  ¶I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’’s vessel.
10  ¶Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

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Tags: battle, God, Israel, Lord, nations, plowshares, swords, War