Boykin and Furnish: be sober, be vigilant
[ by Charles Cameron — some good advice from Tim Furnish, which Jerry Boykin doesn’t appear to have heard… ]
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Gen. Jerry Boykin (upper panel, below), speaking with his visionary preacher friend, Rick Joyner, naturally has the right to voice his views, including those that see Middle Eastern geopolitics through the lens of Isaiah 17:1-3…
… but he might want to listen to blog-friend Dr Timothy Furnish (lower panel, above) — a fellow Christian and conservative — first.
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I fear that at the moment, Boykin sounds more vigilant than sober, though both are jointly scripturally mandated at 1 Peter 5:8.
Here Boykin & Joyner discuss Syria, Biblical Prophecy, And The End Times:
Rick JOYNER: And we’re seeing Biblical prophecy unfold.
Jerry BOYKIN: We are.
JOYNER: These are times in which things are unfolding in scripture, and one of the Scriptures that has never been fulfilled…
BOYKIN: Unhuh…
JOYNER: …and has to be fulfilled before this age can end, is that Damascus will be destroyed, never inhabited again.
BOYKIN: I share your concern, Rick, and as you say, certainly, and I’ve said this for a long time, one of the ways that Damascus could be destroyed, never to be reoccupied, would be through a chemical attack. So let’s just take a scenario…
Interested? You can hear Boykin’s scenario of Assad’s final gesture in utter defeat, here.
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Sources:
Boykin Furnish
I hope to discuss Boykin’s friendship with Joyner [“our only hope is a military takeover; martial law“] and what it may portend, in a subsequent post.
January 3rd, 2014 at 4:52 pm
I agree that Syrian combatants are not taking their cues from end time prophecies.
However, that doesn’t mean these biblical verses have no relevance. Regardless of what you believe or don’t believe there are still lessons to be learned.
For example, aside from the theological significance of the rage, the woe, terror, etc, it makes perfect sense that Damascus will be destroyed before Armageddon.
It’s located in relatively fertile valley bracketed by desert to the east & mountains to the west. Any invasion originating from the east is going to naturally funnel through it on the way to the sea both because of terrain and pillaging & foraging since it was a major caravan city.
From there it’s only a short march over the Golan to the “mouth of the beast” at Tel Meggido.
January 3rd, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Hi Grurray:
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You’re assuming that there will be an Armageddon at Tel Megiddo, no? That’s a religious belief, based on an interpretation of a series of scriptures which have been interpreted as applying imminently on many previous occasions… so it’s at least possible that we’ll look back in fifty years and see that Damascus survived Assad and maybe a dictator or two after him, and is still a city…
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Saying “given the terrain, Damascus might easily get wiped out” is one thing. Applying a particular scriptural interpretation — at a time when “dispensational premillennialists” are expecting a “soon coming” while “post-millennialists” don’t expect the Second Coming before the completion of the millennium — is quite another. And using a particular scriptural interpretation as a geopolitical roadmap to be applied in policy circles is understandable but hazardous. What if the eschatological reading is wrong, as has been the case in the past?
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And as a matter of fact, there is an Islamic eschatological variant that makes Syria (Shams) and Jeruslaem (al-Quds) central to the end times war, and it’s promoted by Syrian jihad theorist abu Mus’ab al-Suri…
January 3rd, 2014 at 7:34 pm
“You’re assuming that there will be an Armageddon at Tel Megiddo, no?”
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Well actually I was thinking of the Assyrian invasion in the 8th century BC, which also may or not be what Isaiah was thinking about when he wrote that chapter. So I agree that to use it as a guiding principle for current policy may not be the best idea. I just don’t want to dismiss it outright without gleaning all the historical and strategical value (and I suppose an evangelical value if anyone is so inclined).
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You’ll have to help me with the Islamic eschatology. From what I understand some also believe in the second coming of Jesus, only this belief corresponds with the Pre-Millennialist viewpoint?
Can you give us more on the Syrian jihad theory?
January 3rd, 2014 at 7:41 pm
LOL, my apologies!
Yup. I don’t mind informed speculation, and even a poor suggestion may trigger better ideas in response — it’s policy driven by fervent belief (here, in Afghanistan, Iran, wherever) that I’d like to avoid, all the while hoping to respect the sincerity of those who sincerely believe…
January 3rd, 2014 at 10:25 pm
So, of the two windows you are looking into one can be labeled structure and the other culture? It is a pretty old problem, I am not sure your game is up to it. On the other hand, the person saying that the world will end in his lifetime is called a General, not Prophet. So with structure at least you are getting what you paid for. I especially liked the part where the general says that Damascus would be uninhabited for a very long time. That’s right General? It seems to me the number 2 game on the WH site would have to do with killing zombies. They seem pretty popular 🙂