Knowing that many prophecy aficionados believe that Gog and Magog in the Bible, whose war on Israel heralds in the end times, is in southern Russia, I’ve been keeping an eye on the prophecy forums today to see how the wind is blowing. From what I can gather (here<\/a> and here<\/a>, for example), the prophecy community is concerned but cautious. They are waiting to see. The Rapture Index<\/a> still hasn’t been updated since the invasion, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.<\/p>\n The Israel connection is of special concern. “If Russia does occupy Georgia and garrisons a large force,” writes green-agenda on the Rapture Ready forum, “there they will be less than 700 miles, two days drive, from Israel with only eastern Turkey and Syria between them.” Rapture Ready news today<\/a> includes a story about Russia’s warnings against Israeli settlement-building. I saw one notice elsewhere pointing to the growing tension between Israel and Russia-backed Iran. HisdaughterJen writes, “Maybe the invasion by Russia of Georgia (magog) is going to spill into Israel…maybe it’s a ruse of some kind…the world thinks they are retaking Georgia but will wake up to an Islamic Horde and Russia moving into Israel quite suddenly and unexpectedly.\u00a0…just a thought…”<\/p>\n Why do I bring up Biblical prophecy? It is true, there is real significance to this stuff; the considerable political support of American fundamentalists for Israel depends on it. But more, it is an extreme example of what we all do when we read the paper, when we see that a thousand and a half civilians have been killed and apartment buildings bombed. An abstraction, a translation into a transcendent narrative, a story that transforms a crisis of the present into only a sign of things to come. It can be prophecy, or it can be simple geopolitical strategizing. It can be turning geopolitics into a game that can be won, like an Olympic event, or that we should try to win. The reality of a bombed city is none of these things: only horrible, sad destructiveness.<\/p>\n The best explanation I’ve ever heard for the value of prophecy to Christians, in the opening remarks of a prophecy conference in Santa Barbara, CA, was that prophecy offers assurance. It tells us that God is in control of history, and that the things that happen, horrible as they may seem, fit into a plan.<\/p>\n Assurance is fine, but it must not cloud the insanity of events or the suffering of people. They are not pieces on a game, or athletes in an event on television. They are bloody, dead, and destroyed. Whatever a God might have in mind, God does not need our second-guessing. God needs our caring for each other. Let the war end and the games go on, and may there be no confusing the two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Georgian](\"http:\/\/www.therowboat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/woman-300x231.jpg\" "\\"Georgian")
There was a time when the Olympics meant a cessation of hostilities. A glimpse of the eschaton\u2014as William Stringfellow would have put it\u2014when our desires to dominate over each other get translated into harmless athleticism. This year, not so. The start of the Olympics (which China made sure would happen on the auspicious day of 8\/8\/08) marked the start of a regional war.<\/p>\n