Church head implies the Israel-Hamas war is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy – with Jerusalem as “End Times” focal point

The senior pastor of the megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship, with branches in Hawaii and California, has suggested that the terrorist attacks in Israel of the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas were predicted by scripture during the sermon he delivered on Oct. 8.

Pastor Greg Laurie made the claims that the ongoing manslaughter in Gaza, which killed more than 1,200 people, including 14 Americans, is a fulfillment of a Bible prophecy.

“Interesting how it always comes back to Jerusalem. The Bible predicted, thousands of years ago, that the End Time events would revolve around Jerusalem, not San Francisco, not Los Angeles, not Moscow and not Paris,” he said. “But Jerusalem, this tiny little city, in this tiny sliver of land, will play a key role in the events of the last days. It’s the focal point of End Times events.”

He elaborated that roughly 2,500 years ago, prophet Zechariah foretold how God would use the city of Jerusalem to bring His judgment upon the world. He proceeded to cite Zechariah 12:3, which stated: “On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.”

Is this attack on Israel by the terrorist organization, Hamas, which is funded by Iran a fulfillment of Bible Prophecy? I answer that here. We also “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” as Scripture tells us to. (Ps. 122:6) Join me. pic.twitter.com/c6ONMomWi4

— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) October 9, 2023

The church head further noted that the latest attack came exactly 50 years to the day of the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when Egypt, Syria and other nations also attacked Israel. However, for him, this war is very different. The current conflict, he further pointed out, was a “super-sign” that the prophetic clock ticking is the re-gathering of the nation Israel into their homeland. “On the heels of the Holocaust, who would have ever thought that these Jewish people who lost six million of their people to the Nazis would somehow re-gather in their homeland? But it happened against all odds. And on May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation,” he added.

Citing chapters 37 and 38 of Ezekiel, he highlighted how it has been thought by Bible scholars to be about Russia invading Israel, the Christian Post reported. “Why would Russia ever want to invade Israel? Well, there’s another thing the Bible says about Magog, if she is indeed Russia, and that one of the allies that will march with her is Persia,” he explained, noting that Persia is an ancient name for Iran. “So, the Bible predicted hundreds of years ago that this large force from the north of Israel would attack her after she was regathered, and one of the allies that would attack Israel with mother Russia or Magog, whoever it is, would be Iran, or Persia.”

But toward the end of his sermon, he somewhat retreated, disclaiming that the scenario may or may not happen, but that it’s “very interesting that we are seeing Bible prophecy fulfilled in our lifetime, in real-time before our very eyes.”

Laurie reportedly has ties to former POTUS Donald Trump and attended the Rose Garden ceremony to nominate eventual Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

‘A bad move’: Laurie slams Biden for unfreezing $6B Palestine aid

During the service, he also criticized current President Joe Biden for unfreezing $6 billion in funds to Iran. “Now the irony of this is the Biden administration and the United States of America just gave $6 billion to Iran,” he said. “What a bad move that is.”

According to Forbes, U.S. taxpayers have sent over $6.3 billion through the United Nations to subsidize Palestinian refugees living in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon since 1950. But in 2018, then-President Trump stopped sending aid to Palestine, a move that cut the 71-year history of funding the region. Fast forward to April 2021, Biden reversed the “freeze” and sent $235 million in aid to the Palestinians, including $150 million in humanitarian assistance for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and $75 million in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza. Just weeks after the aid reinstatement, rockets were again landing on Israelis and the region was at war.

Meanwhile, Biden addressed the nation after holding his third phone call in four days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I told him, ‘If the United States experienced what you’re experiencing, our response would be swift, decisive, and overwhelming,'” the POTUS said on Tuesday afternoon. He also stated that he and Netanyahu discussed how democracies worldwide were “more secure when we act according to the rule of law.”

At the start of the week, the White House said it expected to fulfill additional security requests from Israel as quickly as possible. The regime took a stand that Israel has the “right to respond, indeed has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks,” adding that America is already assisting the nation by providing Iron Dome interceptors and ammunition. Biden assured that the U.S. has enhanced its military force posture in the region to strengthen deterrence. “The Department of Defense has moved the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean and bolstered our fighter aircraft presence. And we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed,” the president claimed.

Critics noticed that during his speech, Biden notably skipped explicitly mentioning Iran but he warned hostile actors of taking “advantage” of the situation. “Let me say again, any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation? I have one word, don’t,” he alerted. His administration has also been obviously cautious about directly blaming Iran for the catastrophic attacks. (Related: WSJ says Iran helped Hamas plot attack on Israel “over several weeks;” Israel eager to start BOMBING Iran.)

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Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

ChristianPost.com

Forbes.com