Why does the northern host invade Israel? Since the scriptures are relatively silent as to the motivational factors involved, Bible students have become fascinated with analyzing all possible circumstances in the hope that they may witness firsthand the invasion of the Holy Land. We are unsure whether the motivation is one of financial chaos, strategic military expansion, political arrogance, internal political upheaval or anti-Semitism. What we see before us, however, are continuing developments in the Russian political scene which demand our attention.
Yelstin’s overwhelming problems
On February 2, 1995, the murdered body of a Russian parliamentarian was discovered in Moscow. The body of Sergei Skorochkin, a 33-year-old member of the lower house of parliament, was found in a forest near a village south of Moscow. He had been abducted, handcuffed and shot in the back of the head.
This was not an isolated incident, as two other deputies have been murdered and several others attacked in the past 10 months. One of the other deputies, Andre Aizderdzis, was shot and killed in April, 1994 on the doorstep of his apartment in a Moscow suburb.
Attempting to combat an alarming increase in crime and particularly the murder of his parliament colleagues, “Mr. Yelstin issued a decree giving sweeping new powers to the police, including the right to detain suspects for up to 30 days without charges” (Toronto Globe and Mail, February 3, 1995). Unfortunately, the campaign has shown little signs of success. In addition to the parliamentarian murders, over 160 police officers were killed in Moscow last year.
Crime is one problem among many. The Chechnyan conflict is decimating the morale of the Russian military and the Russian people. The economic situation only worsens. While the International Monetary Fund is demanding that inflation be reduced to 1% a month, January inflation was 18%. To make matters worse, the lower house voted to increase the minimum wage from 20,500 rubles to 54,100 rubles. If passed into law, this would add more than 30 trillion rubles to government spending this year because welfare payments are calculated as a multiple of the minimum wage.
The new players
Waiting in the wings for Yelstin’s demise are several different, yet strikingly similar, political forces.
The Pamyat, the Communist and the Russian National Unity are the three main parties that control major sections of the electoral base. Although diverse in makeup and beliefs, there is a common element running through all three parties — hatred of the Jews.
“In 1986, Mr. Vasiliev, the man who calls Mr. Yelstin’s Russia a madhouse, was allowed to form the political party Pamyat. Pamyat stands for a return to tsarism and submission to the authority of the Russian Orthodox church” (Economist, 1/28/95). During the magazine interview, Vasiliev explained the views of his political party, “It is not necessary to be Jewish to be a Jew. Anyone who helps Jews encroach on other’s traditions is a Jew. Everybody in power is a Jew, or their wives are.” What would Vasiliev do about this? “Jews have inflicted humiliation after humiliation on Russians. You must kill them, it’s the only solution. It’s a filthy business.”
The leader of the Russian National Unity (RNU) party is 41-year-old Alexander Barkashov. The RNU, founded in 1991, has a rigid hierarchy. At the bottom are sympathizers who include many officers of the Army and the former KGB. The Economist article elaborates on the views of the RNU: “Mr. Barkashov, while denying that he is a fascist, is an admirer of Hitler.”
How can a nationalist from a country invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941 admire the Nazis’ leader?
An article published by the RNU provides the answer. “The Second World War was the result of a plot by Jews, Freemasons and the Vatican to drive a wedge between the two great Aryan races, the Russians and the Germans. The Holocaust against the Jews was created artificially to conceal a Jewish-inspired genocide which killed 100 million Russians. For good measure, the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was a plot financed by Jewish bankers in New York in order to gain control of Russia’s wealth.”
Finally the third group, and by far the most stable, are the neo-communists. “Although they are not monarchists, they too are fiercely anti-Semitic. They call for the overthrow of the present government and the restoration of the Soviet Union, by violence if necessary.”
Bible prophecy
Bible students tend to focus on the key passages concerning the latter days and as a result ignore some significant passages dealing with God’s chosen people. For example, through Ezekiel the Lord states, “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the LORD have spoken” (Ezk. 5:14- 15 NIV).
These words speak of traditional anti-Semitic sentiments, the very feelings being expressed so strongly by many in Russia today. Should the current government be replaced either through force or electoral process, sweeping changes will surely happen. Among them may be hostility against the Jewish people.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One