LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: California pastor and the head of the church Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie, has claimed in a sermon that Hamas' attack on Israel was predicted in the scriptures 2,500 years ago.
The evangelist, who has previously been connected with former President Donald Trump, said in a sermon on Sunday, October 8, that ‘End Times’ events were foreshadowed to take place around Jerusalem.
'Interesting how it always comes back to Jerusalem’
In the sermon, pastor Laurie said, “Interesting how it always comes back to Jerusalem.”
He explained, “The Bible predicted, thousands of years ago, that the End Time events would revolve around Jerusalem,” before adding, “Not San Francisco. Not Los Angeles. Not Moscow. Not Paris.”
Laurie highlighted, “But Jerusalem, this tiny little city, in this tiny sliver of land, will play a key role in the events of the last days. It's the focal point of End Times events", per Daily Mail.
He quoted Zechariah 12:3 to substantiate his claim, “On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.”
'Prophetic clock ticking is the re-gathering of the nation Israel into their homeland’
Pastor Laurie also slammed President Joe Biden for his decision to unfreeze $6 billion to Iran in prisoner exchange and said, “What a bad move that is.”
He also said that it was a sign that “prophetic clock ticking is the re-gathering of the nation Israel into their homeland.”
Laurie added, “On the heels of the Holocaust, who would have ever thought that these Jewish people who lost 6 million of their people to the Nazis would somehow re-gather in their homeland?”
He continued, “But it happened against all odds. And on May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation. I'm proud to say the United States was the first nation to acknowledge that.”
The pastor then went on to cite Chapters 37 and 38 of Ezekiel, which deals with ‘Magog’ invading Israel.
Magog has always been thought of as Russia by evangelical scholars.
He continued to ask, “Why would Russia ever want to invade Israel? Well, there's another thing the Bible says about Magog, if she is indeed Russia, and that one of her allies that will march with her is Persia.”
Persia, on the other hand, is the ancient name of Iran.
He added, “So the Bible predicted hundreds of years ago that this large force from the north of Israel would attack her after she was regathered, and one of the allies that would attack Israel with mother Russia or Magog, whoever it is, would be Iran, or Persia.”
While he said that he is not claiming that will happen, but is it is “very interesting” to witness “Bible prophecy fulfilled in your lifetime, in real-time before your very eyes.”
Pastor Laurie, however, ended on a positive note by quoting the Son of God, “Jesus said, 'Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near' (Luke 21:28 NKJV).”
He also asked his followers to look forward to the return of Jesus, “That’s what we need to be doing, looking for the soon return of Jesus Christ.”
He also conceded that people need to pray, “But we also need to pray. The Bible tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).”
He added, “We want to pray that they arrive at some kind of peace,” before continuing, “And we want to pray that God places His hand of protection on the nation of Israel during this unprecedented war,” per Harvest.
Latest update on Hamas-Israel war
After the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, October 7, Israel has hit back.
Per CNN, on Monday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant called for a “complete siege” of Gaza, prompting a halt in supply of electricity, food, water and fuel to the enclave.
While around 1200 people died in Israel since Saturday, including 14 Americans, around 950 people died in the Gaza strip after Israel's airstrike.
