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THE CUTTING EDGE

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Three years ago, Cutting Edge posted an article which examined the final days' prophecy against Ancient Babylon (Iraq). We stated that certain events would most certainly occur IF the Coalition Forces invasion of Iraq represented God 's final annihilating judgment against Iraq.

You will even discover why American forces have been so brutal to Iraqi civilians and why our military is so intently spreading the deadly, fatal Depleted Uranium poisoning in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the Middle East.

But, today, our emphasis is upon the Kurds of northern Iraq, which are the ancient Medes of the "Medo-Persian Empire" which ruled with Persia (Iran) during the days of Daniel and beyond.

Once again, this verse contains the End of the Age language used so commonly for this period of time, to describe God's furious judgments pouring down upon a wicked world.

This verse may also apply to the last judgment upon this poor land, when God brings the Medes against the land of Babylon. The modern day descendants of the Medes may be the Kurds, who are right now caught in the middle of this conflict, but who are very eager to destroy Iraq in revenge for the terrible atrocities inflicted upon them by Saddam Hussein. Easton's Illustrated Dictionary lists the Medes as part of the Assyrian Empire, which covers the area of today's Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. This area borders on the mountainous border of Iran (Persia). NOTE: Take a look at the map we print, below, which shows the population dispersion in this very area.

Remember, the army that destroyed Babylon in Daniel 5 was a combined army from Medo-Persia (Kurds-Iran).

If the Kurds are going to be turned at the very end of the age against the now hapless Iraqi citizens after their destruction by American-led forces, then the description of this destruction in the following verses makes a lot of sense.

As the world enters into the Tribulation period, the emphasis will be on Israel and Antichrist. Little attention will be paid to the annihilation of the few survivors of Iraq, as the Kurds may finish God's judgment. However, for this type of judgment to occur in Iraq today, at the hands of the Kurds (Medes), that people will have to split from the current nation of Iraq and form their own country, with their own military.

Now that we have the proper prophecy in mind, let us turn to current news which startlingly details how the Kurds may be in the process of forming their own country.

NEWS BRIEF: "Gone to pieces", by Peter Galbraith, New York Daily News, August 21, 2006

"Yesterday, President Bush told reporters that, though he is 'concerned' about talk of civil war in Iraq, 'We're not going to leave before the mission is complete' - meaning, until a stable and unified Iraq can defend itself. But it is time for the administration to face an uncomfortable reality: There is no longer any such thing as a single nation called Iraq. In the north, Kurdistan has its own government, army and flag, and it does not allow the Iraqi flag or army on its territory. The Shiite south is ruled by religious parties and militias. The Sunni Arab center is a battleground between Sunni insurgents and the U.S. military operating in alliance with mostly Shiite Iraqi troops. In Baghdad, Al Qaeda offshoots dominate many of the Sunni neighborhoods in the city's west while the pro-Hezbollah Mahdi Army controls the Shiite east. Iraq's supposed "government of national unity" is not very united, and governs almost nothing."

Did you catch that incredibly important news? Listen again:

"In the north, Kurdistan has its own government, army and flag, and it does not allow the Iraqi flag or army on its territory."

By definition, then, the Kurds have formed their own nation! They now possess the four most important elements which comprise any legitimate nation on earth:

1) A ruling government

2) An army

3) Own flag

To exercise that authority, the Kurdish Army does not allow the Iraqi Army on its soil. Therefore, even though we cannot see it, this new Kurdish nation must have a defined border, which the Kurdish Army defends against at least one enemy, the Iraqi Army. Thus, we are correct in adding this fourth prerequisite element of any government:

4) Recognizable borders

Kurds Slaughtered By Saddam

To recognize how thoroughly the Kurds do not want to be ruled over by Iraq, we only have to turn to the current news stories about Saddam's on-going trial, where he is charged with committing genocide against the Kurds. Let us pick up that story.

NEWS BRIEF: "Kurds are riveted by new Saddam trial", International Herald Tribune (IHT), August 22, 2006

"SULAIMANIYA, Iraq -- Facing a charge of genocide for trying to annihilate Iraq's Kurdish minority, Saddam Hussein defiantly refused to enter a plea as his second trial began Monday, and insisted that he was still president of the country. Hussein sat stone-faced in a courtroom in the fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, listening as prosecutors gave a detailed account of how Hussein and six co-defendants embarked on an eight-stage military campaign in 1988 to eliminate the Kurds from swaths of their mountainous homeland in northern Iraq. Prosecutors said the campaign, called Anfal, killed at least 50,000 Kurds and resulted in the destruction of 2,000 villages."

That kind of destruction of a people is incredible! Can you imagine systematically slaughtering 50,000 civilians and destroying 2,000 of their villages? Revenge must truly be on their minds these days.

"Here in Iraqi Kurdistan, people sat in cafes, homes and offices fixated to the television screen, watching as the former dictator and some of his most feared aides underwent questioning before black-robed judges. On a main thoroughfare in downtown Sulaimaniya, young men hung up a black banner bearing Hussein's face and slogans saying that the voices of the dead would finally be heard ... Most of the other defendants, accused of crimes against humanity, entered not-guilty pleas. Like Hussein, they mostly sat in silence, sometimes jotting notes, sometimes staring at the judges. Four of them wore traditional robes and headscarves."

When Hussein and his henchmen show this total lack of remorse, the anger of the Kurds would be much greater kindled. Remember that fact, for it will have great prophetic significance as we get toward the end of this article. This next segment gives us even greater detail as to the scope of the Iraqi crimes against the Kurds.

"Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali', commander of the north at that time, are each charged with genocide for attempting to eliminate in whole or in part the Kurds, who make up a fifth of the Iraqi population. Prosecutors say the policy was carried out through mass murder, the razing of villages and the forced relocation of people to urban areas from the countryside ... (but) genocide is an extremely difficult charge to prove, legal experts say. Prosecutors must show not only that Hussein and Majid had command responsibility for the campaign, but also that the victims were killed specifically because of their ethnicity. The Iraqi military's use of chemical weapons in the campaign is expected to figure prominently in the prosecution's arguments. Some 20 to 25 Kurdish villages were hit with chemical weapons in 1988, according to Kamaran Sabir, a Kurdish investigator who helped collect evidence for the trial. The weapons included mustard gas and nerve agents, and were usually dropped from fighter jets." (Ibid.)

Given this kind of genocidal campaign which Saddam and his leaders launched against the Kurds, can you imagine what would happen in the newly-formed nation of the Kurds if this military tribunal fails to bring Saddam to justice? Why, that might even spark the kind of hateful anger which could prompt the slaughter prophesied in Isaiah 13, as we have reported above.

Turkey - Iran Showing Their Concern

As you can see from this map, the Kurdish population extends over a significant portion of the Middle East. Their population is fairly concentrated in the Middle East, but does extend outside the northern Iraq area. In fact, you can see that Turkey has the greatest concentration of Kurds, even though Iran has some spill-over of Kurds into its territory. For some reason, the peoples of the Middle East have uniformly feared and hated the Kurds. Saddam just acted the most vehemently of anyone in the modern era.

Turkey and Iran must be fearful of the Kurds in northern Iraq getting their own nation, which is one reason why they are taking military action.

NEWS BRIEF: "The Return of Turkey's Kurdish Problem: The U.S. might still be able to head off a Turkish attack on Iraqi's Kurds", L.A. Times, July 30, 2006

"IF IRAN'S NUCLEAR ambitions, Iraq's low-level civil war and the Israeli-Hezbollah war were not enough, President Bush may face a new dilemma. The Turkish government has ordered its military to prepare for an attack on 3,000 Kurdistan Workers Party insurgents living in Kurdish-dominated northern Iraq. Although the incursion by Turkey, a U.S. ally of 50 years, would be mostly for show, it would severely embarrass the Bush administration. No wonder the president twice talked to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week. But Erdogan's moderately Islamist government is cornered. This month, two insurgent attacks inside Turkey killed 15 Turkish soldiers, and the prime minister vowed to fight back. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq has intensified Ankara's biggest problem: the country's restless minority Kurds."

Not only is Turkey concerned that a Kurdish nation is rising out of the ashes in northern Iraq, but Kurdish insurgents are making matters worse by attacking Turkish army positions! The reason for this is obvious when you look at this map, for so many Kurds live in Turkey. After establishing a nation in northern Iraq, many Kurds will naturally look at their brethren across the Turkish border and think about expanding their nation by annexing Turkish territory.

No wonder Turkey is so angry.

Iran Firing Into Kurdish State

Now, let us look at Iran, which has a less severe problems with the Kurds inside their territory, but whose government is obviously concerned about this new Kurdish nation in Iraq.

NEWS BRIEF: "Iranian shells kill 2 in Kurdish villages in northern Iraq", International Herald Tribune, August 20. 2006

"Artillery shells fired from Iran have landed in remote northern villages of Iraqi Kurdistan in the past four days and have killed at least two civilians and wounded four others, a senior Kurdish official said Saturday. Dozens of families have fled the region. The shells have been aimed at an area around Qandil Mountain, known as a base for militant Kurdish opposition groups seeking independence from Turkey and Iran, said the official, Mustafa Sayed Qadir, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs the eastern half of Iraqi Kurdistan ... The government of Iraq is aware of the shelling, which has taken place occasionally in recent months, but has not taken an official position ... The president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, is the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He has at times had a close relationship with Iran, especially when he sought Iranian support in the 1990's against rival Kurdish leaders and Saddam Hussein. But Mr. Talabani is also aware of the Iranian government's poor treatment of its Kurdish minority."

This next segment takes note of the geographical spread of the Kurdish populations in Iran and Turkey, which supports the map we show, above.

"Iran and Turkey have sizeable Kurdish populations that live in mountainous areas bordering Iraqi Kurdistan. In recent weeks, the two countries have stepped up warnings to Kurdish militant groups, perhaps fearing that they might have enough of a haven in Iraqi Kurdistan to inject new vigor into independence movements in Iran and Turkey. Iraqi Kurdistan is autonomous from the rest of Iraq and is home to most of this country's five million Kurds. It is unclear what weaponry or troops Iran has amassed along its border with Iraqi Kurdistan." (Ibid.)

Therefore, the new Kurdish state in northern Iraq not only has its own government, army, and flag, but is beginning to act like an independent nation, even to the point of picking a fight with her neighbors. Note that this IHT article also states that this northern Kurd area is acting like a state: "Iraqi Kurdistan is autonomous from the rest of Iraq".

Conclusion

In light of this Bible prophecy in Isaiah 13, noted above, that at the End of the Age, the Medes (Kurds) would wreak God's final judgment upon the people of Babylon (Iraq), I find it very interesting that a Kurdish state has arisen in Iraq -- not in Iran or Turkey -- but in Iraq (Ancient Babylon). Now that they are an independent state, they can begin to gain power and be in a position where they could strike southward, exacting the kind of disastrous annihilating judgment which God pronounces in Isaiah 13:17-22.

If the Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq exhaust each other in sectarian warfare, the Kurds might find themselves in position to take revenge against Saddam's attempted genocide against them, and the many other attempted genocides carried out against the Kurds by Sunnis and Shi'ites in centuries past.

Once again, we see another instance in which a prophecy about 2,500 years old is uniquely coming true today, in a fashion one can only call "divinely miraculous". The End of the Age is truly drawing near.

Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference.

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