The Prophecy Letter is a circular letter that we send out relating to the development of latter-day prophecy.

June 2024

Rafah Update, “Palestine”,  the Role of Egypt, and MUCH MORE!

TGP Prophecy Letter – June 2, 2024

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Lots of incredible things are happening, so let’s get right to it! The first item worth discussion is

An Update on Israel’s Rafah Operation

Israel has continued their push into Rafah with great success, though hostages remain in the hands of Hamas and aren’t likely to be let go unless Israel abandons its operation altogether. But this is unlikely to happen for a few reasons. The first is that it is necessary to get rid of Hamas or otherwise guarantee that another event like October 7th will happen again. The second is that in some ways, Netanyahu needs the operation in Rafah to be successful as it was under his prime ministership (if that’s a word) that the attack occurred, and there were supposedly warnings that it would happen which adds more guilt. If he hopes to retain office, he needs to have a big trophy to hold high which outshines this shortcoming.

The political pressure on him is being felt more now than before, and the shock surrounding Israel’s Rafah operation is starting to wear off. Netanyahu’s role has recently been placed in danger once again:

Gantz's party pushes to dissolve Knesset, force snap elections – World Israel News

Israel has a very interesting government. It seems that it does not take much for elections to become necessary. If Netanyahu loses the majority support of his government, he could be voted out. We’ll see what happens!

Anti-Semitism and a “Palestinian” State

One of the most dramatic and important developments in the past few weeks has been the horrible resurfacing of antisemitism amongst a startling number of nations. Instead of viewing Hamas as the bad guy (you know, because they invaded Israel and murdered the greatest number of Jews since the Holocaust), the world is now viewing Israel as the bad guy. What’s worse than this is that Hamas is being handsomely rewarded for their attack on Israel, for now many nations are trying to force a Palestinian state. In the last Prophecy Letter, we mentioned that a few countries stated their intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. They have now made this official, and more nations appear to be following suit:

Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognize ‘Palestinian State’ – All Israel News

France 'ready to recognize Palestine'- at the right time – World Israel News

Slovenia mulling recognition of Palestinian state – World Israel News

Saudi Arabia: 'Israel doesn't get to decide' on Palestinian statehood – World Israel News

If that’s not enough good news for Hamas, the US is trying to push through a peace deal that Hamas is anxious to accept:

Hamas: We view Biden's proposal positively | Israel National News – Israel National News

Let it be recognized that every deal has been rejected by Hamas up until this point. The history of the Arab-Israeli conflicts is a history of the Arabs rejecting every peace offer that’s been handed to them, or if they are accepted, they are broken (this is not an exaggeration). Yet now, Hamas is very positive about a deal proposed by the US, which can only mean that it works only in favor of Hamas, not Israel. This deal appears to do just that. In short, it calls for a cease-fire, the return of hostages, and the full evacuation of Israeli forces. It then calls for a major restructuring of Gaza, and while the US will be sure to claim that Hamas will not be allowed to exercise control in Gaza in the aftermath, all know that this will not (or cannot) be enforced unless a permanent Israeli or US presence is kept, and that will not be allowed. In essence, it’s a return to how things were right before October 7th.

What would this mean for Hamas and Israel? It means that Hamas will have won an unprecedented victory. Not only do they still exist, their borders are unchanged, and they now have the emboldening ego boost of having “defeated” Israel, but now the world is far more sympathetic to their cause as some nations have recognized a Palestinian state. The Arabs will not be able to smile any bigger. For Israel, it would mean humiliation and a war fought for basically nothing. It’s difficult to see what Israel will have positively gained if the proposed deal goes through. Unless they possess Gaza and eradicate Hamas, much is to be lost.

Some might be thinking that the amount of foolishness needed to conclude that recognizing a state of Palestine as a result of terror is the right choice seems to only come from the Divine, and I would agree. For nations to award Hamas for October 7th is beyond reason, but the Lord is gathering the nations of the world against Jerusalem, and it’s abundantly clear how this is being worked out before our eyes. Just a few days ago, the US observed memorial day, a day in which those who have fought and fallen for the nation are to be remembered and honored. In a show of the great shift amongst young generations in relation to Israel, many young Americans were also honoring Hamas terrorists on this day (World Israel News). As we have been expecting,

Israel Standing Alone Among the Nations of the World – Israel365 News

This is unquestionably the work of the Lord as He prepares Israel to call upon His name.

As of this writing, Netanyahu seems to have quietly rejected Biden’s plan, stating that Hamas must be destroyed and all objectives be met before any ceasefire takes place (All Israel News). The US said that Israel accepted the deal, but Israel was quick to clarify that they were wrong (World Israel News).

Before passing from the subject of antisemitism, we must be careful to ensure that such sentiments are not found amongst us or our ecclesias. As in the days of Christ, the Jews were in blindness, but they were still God’s people. We are specifically told “that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25), meaning that until Christ returns and reveals himself to them. Then their eyes shall be opened, their sins recognized, and their spirits humbled as they mourn for Christ “as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10). Similar to Christ’s prayer from the cross that God might “forgive them; for they know not what they do”, our position ought to be that of Paul who wrote to the Romans, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Luke 23:34, Romans 10:1).

Brief Thoughts on the Role of Egypt

One other interesting thing to point out about the Rafah operation is that it recently involved a skirmish between Israel and Egypt, resulting in exchange of fire and the death of an Egyptian soldier (The Jerusalem Post). The role of Egypt in the latter-day conflicts is often a subject for debate. The difficulty surrounding Egypt’s involvement has many facets. If we take all of the things we’re told about Egypt in the latter-days, we find an interesting picture which I have yet had the opportunity to sort through due to time. In brief, here are some of the pieces of the puzzle which must be fit together:

1.      Egypt is not named among the Psalm 83 nations. Although some claim that they are by the name “Hagarenes”, I know of no convincing evidence for this, and the claim seems to based simply on the fact that Hagar was an Egyptian (Genesis 16:1-3). Yet the Hagarenes (also called Hagrites) were a people of their own which inhabited what is now northern Jordan and southern Syria. I believe these are “the Hagarenes” of Psalm 83:6. I therefore find no direct evidence (as of yet) that Egypt will be part of the Arab confederacy that comes against Israel, something which is incredibly interesting.

2.     Egypt continues to exist as a nation after the Psalm 83 conflict, for once the “heathen round about” are destroyed and their goods acquired by Christ and the saints, Egypt is specifically named as one of the nations which will come up to worship the Lord and observe the feast of tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16-19).

3.     The Lord will smite Egypt in some way, but the result is that they will be healed and there will be a highway established which will run from Egypt to Assyria (Iraq) to gather the remainder of Jews throughout the earth (Isaiah 11:15-16, 19:22). I believe this highway will also be the one used by nations as they travel from year to year to keep the feast of tabernacles. We’d think that this “smiting” might be due to their inclusion in Psalm 83, yet again, we do not find them there. Regardless, Egypt will enjoy a state of blessedness which they have never known in many ways, for the Egyptians will recognize the Lord, and the Lord will say, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” (Isaiah 19:25. Read 19:16-25).

4.     Egypt will be delivered into the hand of “cruel lords” and “cruel kings” (plural in the Septuagint of Isaiah 19:4), but the Lord will cleanse and save them from “oppressors” as mentioned above (Isaiah 19:20). It must be said that some questions exist as to when Egypt is delivered into the hand of cruel kings began or will begin. There is a good argument that the cruel kings and lords took over Egypt long ago and that they may not be the oppressors of verse 20, and therefore the first few verses of the chapter are not relevant to the latter-days. But in regard to the “oppressors” of verse 20, it says that “a saviour, and a great one” shall deliver Egypt, and this basic reading of the chapter certainly seems to indicate that Christ is the one who will ultimately save Egypt. This subject remains to be examined in depth but is worth mentioning at this stage as it may have a bearing on the latter day conflicts.

5.     Egypt is also not named among the nations of Ezekiel 38. What’s even more interesting about this one is that the nations of Libya and Sudan (Cush, called “Ethiopia” in the chapter) are mentioned (Ezekiel 38:5). From the point of Israel, these nations are beyond Egypt, so this places Egypt between Israel and her Gogian allied enemies, yet we don’t know of Egypt’s role in this. Yet it seems to further indicate that Egypt is not a combatant in this conflict either. Some suggest that Russia and her allies are the “cruel lords” of Isaiah 19. While I see this as a possibility, I have not concluded that it must be them.

6.     One last thing that we’ll mention is the subject of the borders of the Kingdom proper. Some believe that all of Egypt east of the Nile is part of the Abrahamic lot and therefore part of the Kingdom territory, but I disagree with this interpretation for many reasons and find that “the river (Hebrew nahar) of Egypt” mentioned in Genesis 15:18 relates to the Wadi El-Arish (or the Brook of Egypt) which formed the southwestern border of ancient Israel and approximately that of today. One simple reason for this is that the word nahar is never applied to the Nile even though Strong’s says that it could be. The only Hebrew word which is explicitly and undeniably used for the Nile is yeor, a completely different word.

While this word yeor is sometimes applied to rivers plural, it most often refers to the Nile, and it’s likely that the plural usage simply includes all of the offshoots of the Nile delta. The context of these passages is what teaches us that the Nile is most often specifically meant. It was the yeor of Egypt that the child Moses was floated onto (Exodus 1:22, 2:5). It was the river most associated with Pharoah, and we know that he resided close to the Nile (Genesis 41:1-3). It was this river that the plagues were wrought through Moses which affected the entire land, showing that it could only be the Nile (Exodus 7:17-18, 8:3). Had Abram been told that the promised land would be from the yeor of Egypt to the Euphrates, I would conclude that the traditional view of the promised land put forth by Brother Sulley would be correct. My findings are that the borders of the land promised to Abraham are most like those attained in Solomon’s day.

At this point, I therefore conclude that at least most of Egypt is not part of the Kingdom territory in the sense of it being part of the land promised to Abraham. It will be part of the empire of Christ just as the rest of the planet will eventually be, but not the Kingdom proper. The Roman empire was enormous, but Rome itself was not and did not need to be. The bearing of this on the subject at hand is this: unlike the areas of Lebanon and Gaza which must be completely eliminated as they are intruding on the Abrahamic lot, Egypt does not have to disappear, and Scriptures show that they do not. This makes their involvement in the latter-day conflicts interesting and unique.

There are other things that should be considered which bear heavily on the borders of the kingdom and Egypt’s involvement in these conflicts, but these are some of the main ones. Fitting all of these pieces together is something I look forward to setting my mind to when I have the opportunity, and Lord willing that will be soon. In the meantime, perhaps other students who read these pieces of the puzzle can offer their thoughts and findings (shoot me an email! – editor@thegospelproclamation.com).

Iran’s President Killed

This news was too big not to mention, although I’m not convinced it will change Iran’s position in any significant way. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, nicknamed “the Butcher of Iran”, was recently killed in a helicopter crash. The helicopter was missing for a few days, but the wreckage was finally found and bodies confirmed. It was first thought that a thick fog caused the crash, but Iranian officials ruled this out as the fog was low to the ground and posed no hindrance (World Israel News). Israel also had nothing to do with the crash (so far as anyone knows). A man named Mohammad Mokhber is now acting President.

While Raisi was certainly a large figure in the constant terror against Jerusalem, the rest of the administration shares his same goals, so his absence is not likely to make any significant changes. The Supreme Leader Khamenei vowed at Raisi’s funeral that the “Promise to eliminate Israel will be kept” (All Israel News). Yet we must wonder why he was removed from the scene. The Lord has His purposes, and we can only reason that his role in the Lord’s purpose was fulfilled.

Fears of World War III

We will mention this quickly to avoid a long discussion. Much attention has been given to Israel for obvious reasons, but tensions between Russia and the Western powers are growing to heights unseen, and the prospect for a third World War is apparently higher than it has ever been. Much of this stems from the Ukraine war:

WW3 fears on the rise as US makes major policy change over Russia Ukraine war – Mirror

WW3 fears explode as UK Army chief sends horror warning about three huge threats – Daily Express

10 ways world could spiral into nuke war as summer of Putin victories would mark first steps to WW3, army bosses warn – The Sun

The world trembles over these things, and for good cause. But while the servants of the Lord may feel some discomfort, our feelings are overwhelmingly positive. It is not because we love war, but completely the other way. It is because these signs indicate that the time when war will be no more is fast approaching (Isaiah 2:4), for these troublous signs tell us that our loving Master is soon to arise and plant his Kingdom in Jerusalem; a Kingdom which will expand from the point of Jerusalem until it encapsulates the entire planet, at which time the glad voices of the new political heavens will cry out, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Seeing so many signs of Christ’s coming is a privilege which many (including myself) often underappreciate, but let us lay them to heart and REJOICE, for our “redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

In the Hope of Israel,

Tanner Hawkins