2022 年的 20 个最大故事 回顾世界的变化 乔尔·希利克( JOEL HILLIKER ) • 2022 年 12 月 28 日 吨小号通过它们如何实现圣经预言来评估世界事件，而在 2022 年，许多事件推动了末世预言向前发展。我们回顾了头条新闻，并进行了分析，以确定过去一年中世界各地最重要的事件。这是 2022 年 20 大故事的倒计时。 20. 支持恐怖主义的卡塔尔成为主流：今年在卡塔尔举办的国际足联世界杯将世界的焦点放在了这个海湾小国身上，并得到了很多积极的评价。对于一个赞助半岛电视台、穆斯林兄弟会和一些世界上最激进的伊斯兰恐怖组织等组织的国家来说，这项赛事的成功为这一年的伟大公关画上了句号。2月，美国拜登政府将卡塔尔升级为非北约大国盟友，授予卡塔尔重要的政治和军事特权的名称。在世界杯期间，我们看到了这意味着什么：美国宣布向卡塔尔出售价值 10 亿美元的反无人机防御设备。在伊朗之外，没有其他国家像卡塔尔那样支持恐怖主义——然而本届美国政府正在用武器支持他们。这是中东联盟关系转变的另一个迹象，美国正在帮助恐怖主义国家而不是传统盟友（了解更多）。 19. 荷兰愚蠢的农场关闭：这可能会赢得 2022 年最愚蠢的故事奖：荷兰决定通过关闭其三分之一的农业来拯救地球。毕竟，谁需要农场？它们会造成污染，占用空间，而您可以从超市购买所有食物有什么意义呢？ 荷兰农民和许多其他人对此感到愤怒，并发起了大规模抗议。当然，只有欧盟指令才能支持如此愚蠢的事情；在这种情况下，它是 1992 年的欧洲栖息地指令。但如此愚蠢的事情背后的真正原因是什么？除非你看到对我们国家的攻击的精神现实，否则这毫无意义。环保运动正在成为推翻英国、美国、荷兰和其他在圣经预言中被称为现代以色列的国家的主要工具（了解更多）。 18. 中国与沙特的“战略伙伴关系”：中国总书记习近平这些天很少离开中国，但在 12 月，他在沙特阿拉伯逗留了三天，在那里他签署了一系列价值超过 500 亿美元的贸易协议。其中一项是沙特领导人达成的价值 100 亿美元的协议，将在中国建立沙特阿美炼油厂。双方还致力于将中国从以美元计价的沙特石油采购转变为以人民币计价的销售。中国——世界上最大的石油进口国——和沙特阿拉伯——最大的石油出口国——的这一举动将对美元的全球影响力造成重大打击。 在同一访问期间，习近平还会见了海湾合作委员会的领导人——巴林、科威特、阿曼、卡塔尔和阿拉伯联合酋长国。他的信息是，中国的目标是促进商业发展并支撑其能源供应，而且是以一种摆脱美元的方式。 这些巨额交易凸显了美国在中东的实力的脆弱性，尤其是与其长期盟友沙特阿拉伯的实力。它们还表明，中国对这些能源丰富国家的影响力正在迅速增长。这为中国领导一个庞大的全球贸易联盟奠定了基础，圣经预言说这将阻止美国和英国参与国际贸易（了解更多）。 17. 东欧对俄罗斯的强烈反应：俄罗斯入侵乌克兰产生了许多连锁反应。与俄罗斯相邻的东欧对此反应强烈。波兰正在将自己变成一个坦克超级大国，将其军事预算增加一倍，并订购了 1,000 多辆装甲车。波罗的海国家与波兰一起关闭了与俄罗斯的边界。瑞典和芬兰正在扭转多年的中立立场，并申请加入北约。 东欧的其他国家正在利用战争以不同的方式建立自己的权力。匈牙利的 Viktor Orbán 试图让欧洲和俄罗斯互相对抗，以增加他自己的行动自由。他正在迅速变得更加独裁，而他却侥幸逃脱，因为欧洲被普京分散了注意力。 了解世界历史的一个关键预言在但以理书第 2 章中找到。它描述了直到我们这个时代为止的一系列统治世界的帝国。伟大雕像的两条腿和脚描绘了复兴的神圣罗马帝国。这是一个预言，这个帝国将由两半组成，一个在东边，一个在西边。俄罗斯对乌克兰的入侵正在加速这个帝国东半部的形成（了解更多）。 16. 日本打破战后限制：日本政府于 12 月 2 日投票赋予该国军队“反击能力”，使日本军队能够在向日本发射导弹之前打击敌方导弹发射场。所以日本实际上已经授权其军队先发制人（了解更多）。 这显然违反了日本的和平宪法，该宪法是美国在现代历史上最臭名昭著的先发制人袭击之一：日本轰炸珍珠港美军而被迫进入第二次世界大战后强加的。该宪法禁止日本维持“陆海空力量，以及其他战争潜力”。但 75 年后，日本已经发展出极其强大的海陆空力量，包括第五代 F-35 隐形战机和能够发射它们的小型航空母舰（了解更多）。 日本还启动了一项购买数百枚美国制造的战斧巡航导弹的交易，并开始在国内开发至少 10 种新型导弹，包括高超音速型号。它还发射了 50 颗新卫星，以支持其新的先发制人打击授权。 所有这些计划都是在日本首相岸田文雄于 11 月 28 日宣布日本将国防开支增加一倍至国内生产总值的 2% 之后制定的。这将使日本成为仅次于美国和中国的世界第三大军费开支国，为亚洲和世界引发冲突。 15. 美国不可持续的经济危机：美国能否挺过另一场大萧条？消费者物价指数在 2022 财年上涨了 7.1%，这是近 40 年来的最高水平。百分之四十的美国人没有足够的钱来支付 1,000 美元的意外开支，而失控的通货膨胀正在使人们陷入更深的债务之中。作为回应，美联储将联邦基金利率上调至 4.25% 至 4.5% 之间。这将对美国政府产生重大影响。穆迪分析公司表示，较高的利率意味着政府很快将花费近 7370 亿美元的年化利息支付总额。金融历史学家尼尔弗格森警告说，当偿还债务的成本超过保卫边界的成本时，国家和帝国通常会分崩离析。了解更多）。 14. 伊朗政权与大规模的公众抗议：自 2011 年阿拉伯之春以来，中东独裁者一直担心公众抗议会导致他们的灭亡。然而，有一个国家继续逆势而行。无论伊朗的抗议活动有多大，伊斯兰独裁政权不会被推翻，也不会改变。 据称 Mhsa Amini 于 9 月 16 日被伊朗道德警察殴打致死后，伊朗爆发了抗议活动。自那时以来，已有约 15,000 人被捕，300 多名抗议者被杀。还会有更多：11 月 8 日，伊朗立法者以压倒性多数投票通过，使处死抗议者合法化。这凸显了仍然由阿亚图拉阿里哈梅内伊领导的伊朗的神职统治是多么强大。 For followers of the Trumpet, this is unsurprising. We have long warned that Iran is the biblical “king of the south,” an aggressive power that will soon push, or strike, at Europe. The fanatical religious regime led by the ayatollah fits the biblical description. Indeed, Iran is prepared to brutally put these kinds of protests down for as long as necessary. The Iranian people’s courage in the face of this iron first is astounding. But the fact that the Iranian regime remains, despite massive protests, should bolster your faith in biblical prophecy (learn more). 13. Victories for same-sex “marriage” and transgenderism: Marriage has been a pillar institution for all of human history. Yet governments and companies are redefining marriage by indoctrinating children and rewriting laws. In a year with many steps advancing this immoral trend, one of the most widely reported came from a “pro-family” company. In April, Disney executives organized a meeting to mobilize the entire corporation in service of the “lgbtqia+ community.” The featured presenter said her team was implementing a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” by regularly “adding queerness” to Disney programming. The corporate president pledged to make at least half of Disney on-screen characters sexual or racial minorities, and Disney eliminated all mentions of “ladies,” “gentlemen,” “boys” and “girls” at its theme parks. Many parents are now boycotting the company, but the radicalized company is not backing down (learn more). December brought a colossal defeat for conservatives at the hands of Republicans, when Congress passed a bill to enshrine same-sex “marriage” into law. The act repeals the unenforced Defense of Marriage Act, which recognized marriage as a union of one man and one woman. It requires the federal government and all 50 states to recognize homosexual “marriages” lawfully performed in any state. So now the children whom Disney is trying to indoctrinate with queer values will grow up in a nation where homosexual “marriage” is protected by federal law (learn more). Jude 7 is the strongest warning in the Bible against same-sex “marriage.” It warns that nations that live like Sodom and Gomorrah will suffer “the vengeance of eternal fire.” 12. Olaf Scholz’s underwhelming year: It has been the year of Olaf Scholz. Since the German chancellor took office on Dec. 8, 2021, Germany has had a good look at him. And it’s not been impressed. Scholz had one big moment to shine, when he announced a German military transformation in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But he followed that up with little action, and he has faced a flood of criticism that he’s not up to the job. Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion has caused many economic woes. Germany now has more children and elderly living in poverty than ever in its history. You could level many criticisms at Angela Merkel, but at least she was there, making decisions and visibly leading Europe. In March, Der Spiegel published this headline: “Where’s Olaf? Germany’s Chancellor Opts for a Low Profile at a Moment of Crisis.” It wrote that “after four months in office, Scholz remains an invisible chancellor to many, a political hermit crab who only rarely emerges from his shell.” The rise of a strong leader in Germany is a key prophecy to watch (learn more). The appetite for such a leader is already there—but if winter gets cold and economic conditions worsen, watch for Germans to grow truly desperate for leadership. 11. The Queen’s world-uniting funeral: Some 4 billion people tuned in to the biggest live-tv event in history on September 19: the funeral of Queen Elizabeth ii. Up to 2 million lined London’s streets to view the funeral procession. From Washington to Westphalia, flags flew at half-mast in her honor. Westminster Abbey hosted one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in history, with over 500 foreign heads of state, monarchs and dignitaries from 175 countries. The line to file past her coffin as she lay in state reached its maximum allotted length of 10 miles. Some people waited more than 24 hours in line just to have a minute to pay their last respects. How could the Queen move people worldwide so deeply? Whether they realize it or not, the royal family traces back to King David. Elizabeth’s great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria knew the throne of Britain began with David, but few have any interest in this today. The admiration and respect for the British throne shown by many millions of people at the funeral give a glimpse at the power of a God-ordained throne. What power that throne has to change people’s lives when wielded by someone righteous. When you see 4 billion people all watching one throne, you see a prophecy of the way Jesus Christ will unite the world (learn more). 10. Fascist déjà-vu in Italy: Considering how incessantly the radical left talks about fascists, they were surprisingly mute about the return of actual, literal fascism in Italy. In October, Italy gained a new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. She leads the Brothers of Italy, the direct successor party to Benito Mussolini’s fascists. Italy has been awash with pro-Mussolini celebrations and nostalgia for the old dictator. Meloni copied Mussolini in bringing religion into her politics. With a different pope, maybe in the new year, she could lead Europe back to a religious revival, giving the church far more say in how the state is run. This is what Mussolini did, and it is what the Bible says is about to happen. Revelation 17 talks about an empire, led by a church, that rises and falls repeatedly. It talks about it going into the “abyss,” or underground. It disappears, and the world thinks it is gone—only for it to reemerge. The same spirit the world thought was dead after World War ii is returning (learn more). 9. Britain’s prime-minister-go-round: Has there been a more farcical period of British history? This summer, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was booted for holding boozy parties at Downing Street after he’d put the entire country under house arrest. The ruling Conservative Party spent 62 days choosing a new leader. But their choice, Liz Truss, lasted only 44 days, smashing the record for the UK’s shortest-running prime minister. On October 25, Rishi Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister in 2022. There’s a real sense of chaos in the United Kingdom. Inflation is at a 40-year high, at over 10 percent. Rising interest rates risk making housing unaffordable for the 1 million on variable rate mortgages. Fuel prices are soaring: The average petrol price is $7.77 per gallon. And the government is borrowing untold billions to help families and businesses afford to keep the lights on and buildings warm this winter. Huge numbers of Albanian migrants are flooding in; the government is spending $2.9 billion a year to put them up in hotels, while police fear a crime wave fueled by Albanian drug gangs. To add insult to injury, a half dozen radical protesters are shutting down major highways, causing disruption to tens of thousands, and police are too timid to stop them. Britain faces a future of rising taxes, escalating costs, rising crime and falling opportunities. This stunning leadership crisis fulfills Isaiah 3, where God says He will remove the capable leaders—military generals, skilled politicians, cunning artificers—and “give children to be their princes.” God is allowing this void to cause ever worsening problems. It is the only way He can get us to stop looking for some new human leader to solve our problems and instead to look to Him (learn more). 8. Russia’s war: A-OK with China and India: In early February, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met in Beijing and declared a “no limits” partnership. It was a major step in Russia-China ties. But just a few weeks later, Putin launched his war against Ukraine and failed to secure the speedy victory that everyone had expected. Xi started to act as if there were perhaps some limits to his support for Russia. Though Xi did help Putin’s war by spreading disinformation and refusing to condemn it in the United Nations, he refrained from giving Russia overt military support and even withheld sales of certain items Putin needed to keep his armed forces humming. Meanwhile, Xi and Putin held no known talks with each other for months. Western analysts took note; some grew hopeful that Chinese and Russian interests were diverging. But then on June 15, Xi and Putin held a landmark call—their first in nearly four months. Xi told Putin that despite the “global turbulence,” China’s support for Russia on “sovereignty and security” remained steadfast. By the end of July, as most nations were working to reduce their purchases of Russia’s energy, China had doubled its purchase share of Russian crude over the previous year. In August, China said forces from its military would travel to Russia for large-scale war games under Russian leadership. Clearly, if Xi had any misgivings earlier, he worked through them. He now affirms China’s commitment to that “no limits” partnership with Russia (learn more). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a similar path. During one visit midyear, he told Putin that “today’s era isn’t the era for war.” But then he went right on trading with Russia, at growing levels, throwing Russia a major economic lifeline. India also refused to condemn the war in the UN, and it sent troops to that same set of Russian-led war games. These allegiances stunned much of the world. But the Trumpet expects such solidarity. In our May-June issue, Gerald Flurry wrote: “The Trumpet has been expecting China and India to ally with Russia. We and the Plain Truth before us have been anticipating it for more than 60 years.” The reason is because specific Bible prophecies say Russia, China and India will ally in the end-time. Since it is now happening, Mr. Flurry called the support by China and India for Russia’s war a “stunning fulfillment of a biblical prophecy!” (learn more). 7. Germany’s military turnaround: On February 24, the very day Russia invaded Ukraine, Gerald Flurry wrote, “The most important nation to watch right now is Germany. How will it respond to Putin’s war on Ukraine? This Ukraine war is going to speed up the rise of the prophesied German-led Holy Roman Empire!” Just three days later, Olaf Scholz came out and announced the return of a strong, militaristic Germany and received a standing ovation. “February 27 was a momentous day in world history,” Mr. Flurry wrote. Scholz announced that Germany was “living through a watershed era.” He said Germany would create a new €100 billion fund for the German military and a near doubling of military spending. He has not lived up to Germans’ expectations after that dramatic speech, but the money is coming in, and the German military is starting to turn around. One big-ticket item Germany’s bought is a fleet of F-35 stealth, fighter-bombers, capable of carrying the nuclear bombs Germany has on loan from America. Herbert W. Armstrong long warned that fear of Russia would prompt Europe to unite as a new military power led by Germany. We saw a dramatic step toward the fulfillment of that biblical prophecy this year (learn more here, here and here). 6. Netanyahu’s miraculous return: It’s not every day that a politician in a Western democracy returns from major political defeat to regain power. When it happens twice, it could be called a political miracle. Yet that is what former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did in Israel’s November 2 election. Though he will likely resume the prime-ministership next month, he has already regained Knesset supremacy with his coalition of right-wing, traditional and religious parties; with an outright majority, he can enact major reforms. This will include curtailing the power of Israel’s rogue Supreme Court, which frequently overrides legislation based on its own radical whims. Famed U.S. Judge Robert Bork called it the most activist court on the planet. The antidemocratic mainstream Israeli press would have you believe democracy is now dead in Israel. And as Netanyahu moves to reform the courts, Israel’s leftist political elites will likely urge people not to comply with governmental orders. Netanyahu will also seek to restore a relationship with America based on Israel’s interests, rather than kowtowing to a hostile Biden administration. With Bibi back at the helm, this relationship will likely get rocky. This could intensify if or when Israel acts against Palestinian terrorism and Iran’s nuclear program without first clearing the action with the U.S. Despite the noise from the radical left, most Israelis are happy to see Bibi back at Balfour Street in Jerusalem. They expect a period of stabilization in Israel. We, too, expect Israel to experience a resurgence of sorts. And soon, we expect the relationship between Israel and the U.S. to take a turn for the better once Donald Trump also returns to office (learn more). 5. America’s midterms—the “red ripple” and “dump Trump”: Before Election Day, the narrative for Democrats was dire. Historically, the opposition party wins big during midterms, especially when the economy is bad, as it is now. So analysts were all predicting a “red wave.” Yet after a gust of campaigning by Barack Obama before the election and several days of slow-count voter fraud afterward, the wave turned out to be a ripple. On November 8, Republicans didn’t make major gains in state governorships, failed to gain the Senate, and only won the House by a razor-thin margin. Rather than focusing on election integrity problems, Republicans chose to “dump Trump.” The biggest takeaway from the midterms is probably that the real battle was not Democrats versus Republicans, but rather “Republicans in name only” versus Donald Trump. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch (who owns the New York Post, Wall Street Journal and Fox News) is doubling down on the narrative that Republican losses are Trump’s fault and that the party needs a new leader. The Post reported that “Trumpty Dumpty” couldn’t build a wall, so he had a great fall. The Journal headlined, “Trump Is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.” Fox still conspicuously refuses to cover stories about voter fraud. It seems the rino strategy was never to win the election but rather to deliberately lose in order to destroy Trump. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s high-spending super-pac spent big money supporting anti-Trump Republicans like liberal Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, but next to nothing supporting pro-Trump Republicans like Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters. It is as if establishment Republicans wanted their party to lose Arizona to spite pro-Trump Republicans. It is crystal-clear where everyone stands. The battle lines are drawn. The stage is set for one of the most dramatic fulfillments of biblical prophecy we have yet seen in our lifetimes. 2 Kings 14:26-28 prophesy that end-time Israel (America and Britain primarily) will be bitterly afflicted with no helper. Therefore, God has to raise up an end-time corollary to King Jeroboam ii to save them. For more than six years, Gerald Flurry has taught that this end-time Jeroboam is Donald Trump. The midterms show how bitter America’s affliction is and how little help Trump has. Though Barack Obama’s administrative state has attacked him from the beginning, now even Trump’s own party is turning against him. Despite almost all evidence to the contrary, Donald Trump isn’t finished. The stage is set for stunning intervention by God (learn more). 4. Iran’s advancing nuclear program: This may be the most underreported story of this list. It has appeared on our top stories lists in previous years, yet it must feature again this year because of the dire consequences of ignoring the issue. In 2022, Iran’s nuclear program surged forward. Formerly the goal of Western powers was to prevent Iran from gaining enough highly enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon. But in 2022, Iran did exactly that: It became a threshold nuclear state. Nuclear watchdogs say Iran has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity, just a short technical step from weapons-grade uranium. Its current stockpile could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for five nuclear weapons in mere months. Critically, some of this enrichment is now being conducted at the massive underground fortress site of Fordow. In November, Iran announced it was indeed using its underground site—likely impossible to destroy by airstrikes—to spin its highly sophisticated centrifuges to produce more highly enriched uranium. Many commentators have now moved the goalposts on Iran: Now the goal is to stop it from getting the delivery system. However, Iran claims it already has an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering it. It wouldn’t be surprising if one day soon we wake up to the news that Iran has successfully tested a nuclear weapon. 2022 will likely prove to be the year that international inaction allowed it. This world has never seen nuclear weapons in the hands of a fanatical religious zealot. But we are close to seeing it happen (learn more). 3: James Webb Space Telescope takes flight: One of the most inspiring events of 2022 actually started just a few days before the new calendar rang in—December 25 of last year—when the James Webb Space Telescope launched. This $10 billion device, the most elaborate scientific instrument in history, traveled for 30 days to a point in space a million miles from Earth, during which time it unfolded its solar panel, antenna, tennis-court-size sunshield, secondary mirror and enormous 21-foot beryllium primary mirror. Dozens of complex operations—any one of which, had it failed, would have doomed the project—executed flawlessly. The first image from James Webb was released on July 11. It was composed of different infrared wavelengths captured over 12.5 hours and showed a spectacular deep field image of a galaxy cluster 4.6 billion light-years from Earth. This spectacular cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying galaxies that are far more distant behind it. So after further analyzing it, nasa scientists released four more images of galaxies as they appeared up to 13 billion years in the past. Almost immediately, these images shattered scientists’ predictions about what they would see based on their theories of the origin of the universe. They’re seeing fully formed galaxies far earlier than they expected—more uniform and composed of more complex elements. Just a couple weeks ago they collected light from four of the oldest-known galaxies to date—when the universe is thought to be only 330 million years old. What they are learning is challenging their notions of galaxies slowly evolving over a billion years or more. There are plenty of scientists who are working diligently to explain every image and data set that Webb sends as proof that there is no Creator. But as this telescope provides an ever clearer picture, many scientists are facing reality and acknowledging what we are actually seeing: more and more evidence that the universe has design and intent. This instrument is showing us ever more dazzling proof of the great God who made the universe and who made us. There is absolutely no other way that all of this could have come together. Scientific knowledge is increasingly aligning with the descriptions of creation contained in the Bible (learn more). 2. TwitterGate exposes the “deep state”: The radical left in America has amassed extraordinary power. They control elementary education, higher education, journalism, technology, sports, entertainment and the executive branch of the federal government. They have used their power to transform American society, largely by hiding the sources of their power and their intentions for using it. They have buried the truth deep under layers of bias, editing, censoring, secrecy, classification, denials, misrepresentation and lies. These lies are being exposed. When Elon Musk bought Twitter this year, conservative commentator Jack Posobiec said, “Elon Musk didn’t just buy a company … he purchased a crime scene.” In December, Musk published the first pieces of criminal evidence. Twitter Files 1.0 exposed Twitter’s censorship of news on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Twitter Files 2.0 revealed Twitter’s blacklisting of conservatives. Twitter Files 3.0 showed Twitter’s collusion with the fbi. Twitter Files 4.0 exposed Twitter’s collusion with Michelle Obama. Twitter Files 5.0 revealed the decision-making behind banning the sitting president of the United States, Donald Trump, from the platform. Twitter Files 6.0 published more than 150 e-mails between the head of Twitter’s Trust and Safety department and the fbi. Twitter Files 7.0 revealed how the intelligence community “discredited factual information about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.” Twitter Files 8.0 outlined how the Pentagon colluded with Twitter to run psychological operations in foreign nations. Twitter Files 9.0 proved that the fbi was just the “doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government.” Twitter Files 10.0 showed that “deep state” agents suppressed “misinformation” about the covid-19 pandemic. Astonishingly, none of the files reveal anything that happened before Jan. 20, 2017. Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams founded Twitter in 2006 as a private company. Eleven years later, it was being controlled by a web of government agencies. This transformation took place during Obama’s eight years in office, yet none of the “Twitter Files” address this time period. Why? Lee Fang said the files he released in Twitter Files 8.0 were obtained for him by a Twitter attorney, who could have filtered out information before he saw it. So it looks like someone at Twitter wants us to think collusion between Big Tech and the “deep state” started after Barack Obama left office. Hopefully, Elon Musk will find and fire whoever is filtering out “Twitter Files” from the Obama years. Until then, Gerald Flurry’s book America Under Attack explains the unseen spiritual dimension the corruption being exposed by the “Twitter Files” (learn more). 1. Russia wages full-scale war on Ukraine: On February 24, the world changed. In the bitter winter chill of that morning 10 months ago, Russian artillery and air strikes began pummeling Ukrainian cities. And Russian soldiers—more than 100,000 of them—began pouring across the border into Ukraine. This conflict had actually already been underway since 2014. That’s when Russia first invaded Ukraine and took Crimea and occupied much of the nation’s east. So for eight years there was simmering conflict that claimed about 12,000 lives. During those years, most Ukrainians were pulling away from Russia because they saw that Russia and its model of governance had mired their country in corruption and poverty. Most Ukrainians recognized that the Western model functioned better for more people. Greater numbers were seeking to join the European Union and nato, which would make Ukraine a treaty ally to America and dozens of other democracies. They thought that, as an independent nation, they had the sovereign right to try to join these or any other organizations they wished. 对于弗拉基米尔·普京 (Vladimir Putin)，北约中乌克兰的想法 and the EU was anathema. Ukraine is the lynchpin in his plans for Russian resurgence, and the notion of nato forces being deployed there—close to key Russian cities—was unthinkable. By the end of 2021, he had reached a breaking point. He started amassing Russian forces near Ukraine’s borders, and he issued a list of demands for America and nato: that Ukraine must never join nato, that nato drills must never take place in certain areas without Russian approval, that no new nato forces can be deployed in Eastern Europe. It was a stunning list that would have neutered nato. The U.S. and other nato nations rejected these demands. A few weeks later, Putin attacked. The war hasn’t gone as well for Russia as was expected. Ukraine is fighting with remarkable tenacity and is receiving huge amounts of aid and training from the U.S., the UK, and other Western nations. But Russia is far from defeated and still has other cards to play, including weapons of mass destruction—chemical and even nuclear, greater assistance from China, and, most likely, Putin declaring full-scale war. Until now, he has operated mainly within the legal framework of a “limited military operation.” A declaration of war would authorize a national draft and mass mobilization of potentially millions of additional soldiers. And it would place Russia’s economy on a wartime footing, channeling more Russian industry toward the effort. We can’t say for sure how it will turn out. But Gerald Flurry wrote an article in February, when the war broke out, reminding readers, “I have been warning for years that Vladimir Putin would be responsible for violent conquests and would set in motion some astonishing and historic events.” 那篇文章解释说，这些警告是以圣经预言为基础的。《以西结书》第 38 章讲述了一个“被称为罗什王子”的人，Flurry 先生说他指的是普京。俄罗斯对乌克兰的战争是一个极具戏剧性的事件。这是一场改变历史的冲突，正在以多种方式改变世界。我们应该期待它继续改变世界，普京会取得胜利（了解更多）。 发送电子邮件至 JOEL HILLIKER 或 在 TWITTER 上关注 JOEL HILLIKER ABOUT US CONTACT US 经常问的问题 隐私政策 使用条款 版权所有 © 2023 费城上帝的教会，保留所有权利