Surprise! Russia not about to invade Mideast, says new prophecy theory

WASHINGTON – Even though Russia has advanced south into Georgia, a best-selling new Bible prophecy book says suggestions this signals an imminent march into the Middle East are mistaken.

Instead, says Bill Salus, author of "Isralestine," the world is about to be surprised by a different kind of devastating regional war involving Israel and its Arab neighbors.

"Isralestine: The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East," currently rising to the top of the prophecy charts, says scholars have missed a significant piece of what the Bible reveals about the future of the region. And it has many of them reconsidering their prophetic model for the near future.

"You can set Russia's recent invasion of Georgia and Israel's concern over Iran's nuclear aspirations on the back burner, not that these topics lack importance," says Salus. "The stage is not adequately set for the highly publicized Ezekiel 38 and 39 Russian-Iranian nuclear-equipped consortia of nations to invade Israel. Psalm 83 comes first, and then Ezekiel 38 follows on its heels like a Goliath shadow. There are two distinct invasions of Israel, one building upon the other, with both occurring sequentially in the Middle East."

According to Salus, the next war in the Middle East will involve Israel's closest Arab neighbors – not faraway Iran or Russia, the re-emerging military power to the north. He says a sometimes overlooked or misinterpreted passage in Psalm 83 is the key to understand the next major prophetic development. He says it suggests Palestinians, al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syrians, Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians will confederate and launch an all-out war against Israel before what has been called the "battle of Armageddon" involving another alliance of Iran, Russia and Turkey.

"Indeed something is very near, but it is not Armageddon," says Salus.

The theory has many long-time students of Bible prophecy sitting up and taking notice.

The result of this regional war will be devastation for the Arabs who launch it and startling territorial and resource gains by Israel, claims the theory. It is this unexpected development that will precipitate the final showdown involving what has been termed "the Ezekiel invasion."

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