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Hi, Jay —
I need to add a few thoughts.
Trying to read in to specific prophecies and connecting them to specific events is to misunderstand what prophesy is.
Prophesy is not just a prediction. It is God's Word being spoken by the prophet . . . and therefore it happens, so it is causative not just a prediction.
That said, the current turmoil in Middle East, actually the ongoing turmoil, certainly falls in to what Jesus said: There will be wars and rumors of wars. (Matthew 24:6) While Jesus said, no man knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36), He and St. Paul admonished us to see the sign of times and to always be alert and ready and they both gave us signs.
That said, we must understand that much of what Protestants think are End Times Scriptures, were related to the then imminent destruction of Temple which took place in 70 A.D.
Case in point: Armageddon already happened. My colleague Eric is wrong on this point. Allow me to explain.
Revelation speaks of Armageddon followed by a millennium (or millennial age of Grace) followed by the last battle of Gog and Magog in that order. Evangelicals believe in a literal 1,000 year physical reign of Christ on earth to come . . . so they await Armageddon. They also don't know history or they would know this was fulfilled prior to 70 A.D.
Now the Church believes that this millennium is metaphor for the Church Age. The 1,000 years is a figure of speech for an epoch, an age in which Christ is present through the sacrament of salvation known as the Church, hence if we are in the millennium, Armageddon has already happened.
John
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