Alarming  parallels  in  two  regional conflicts.
Are the latest Developments setting the stage for Armageddon ?
May 1999.

NATO's invasion of Yugoslavia had occupied news headlines. The crisis centered on the region of Kosovo. Most Americans know very little about the issues surrounding the war in Kosovo. It is impossible to understand the significance of those events without comprehending some important historical facts about that region.

HISTORY OF THE KOSOVAR REGION
Kosovo Yugoslavia was, in ancient times, first inhabited sparsely by Latins of the Roman empire, and Slavic people (Indo-European). The religion of the people was mostly pagan.

THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH
Serbs began to settle in and dominate the region of Kosovo in the sixth and seventh centuries. From the ninth century, it was proselytized by two "Holy Brothers" Cytil and Methodius, followed by five of their disciples in the tenth century. Eastern Europe soon became a strong-hold for the Orthodox Eastern Church, which had broken away from Rome as early as the fifth century. The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the strongest local churches of all Eastern Orthodoxy. A Serbian Kingdom was finally born in the mid-thirteenth century and it was the strongest of the Balkan states.
Kosovo is a holy region for Serbians. Hundreds of impressive churches and monasteries were built all over Kosovo over a period of about eight hundred years. Orthodoxy was the heart and soul of the Serbian people. One historian declares, "For Serbs, Kosovo is holy ground. It is the cradle of our nation. It was the center of Serbia's empire of the Middle Ages, at one time the strongest empire in the Balkans."

OTTOMAN MUSLIMS
Then, in 1389, the MUSLIM Ottoman Sultan Murad 1 defeated a European coalition of Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Wallachian armies. The Orthodox Eastern Church began to be attacked and persecuted by its new Muslim oppressors.
Muslims ruled Serbia from 1389 until 1829, when it regained its autonomy and its religious freedoms. Later in the century, the Ottoman Empire was dismembered, and the Balkan states experienced continual upheavals as various rulers struggled for power in the newly independent states.
In spite of political changes, however, the Muslim element was never fully displaced. The entire region entered into more than a century of violent upheavals between Orthodox and Muslim warring factions. It has all culminated in the modern conflicts we read and hear about in our daily news.

ORTHODOX VS MUSLIM
The current crisis in Kosovo is merely the continuation of hundreds of years of strife between Orthodoxy and Muslim forces. The Serbian culture viciously defends its native heritage and never ceases to attempt to remove all Muslim and non-Serbian influence from its region. Many believe that the  Kosovo Liberation Army is strongly supported by Iranian-backed terrorist organizations. It is because of the relentless feuds between Serbians and Moslems that international intervention (including the United Nations and NATO) has become a reality.

UN TAKES OVER & INTERNATIONALIZES REGION
A frightening precedent is being made in the NATO attacks of Kosovo. Yugoslavia wants to remove all (mostly Muslim) Albanians from Kosovo, but NATO wants to force President Milosovich to allow an International Peace-Keeping Force (under the auspices of the United Nations) to be established in Kosovo, to assure that additional civil wars and strife can be averted. In the end, Yugoslavia will effectively forfeit its sovereignty over Kosovo.
NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was founded after World War II for the DEFENSIVE purpose of protecting Eastern Europe from any possible Communist Soviet aggressions. NATO has NEVER engaged in a military OFFENSIVE prior to the war in Kosovo. The news reports tell us that Yugoslavia has been reduced to shambles by NATO aggressions.

PARALLELS BETWEEN KOSOVO AND JERUSALEM
In many ways, Kosovo is to the Serbians what Jerusalem is to the Jews. The parallels between these two regional conflicts is disturbing at the least. In both cases, a region with ancient Judeo-Christian roots had been invaded by Muslim forces in the middle ages. In both cases, the Judeo-Christian forces went to war to take back their ancient homelands. In both cases, the United Nations (predominately Muslim) is acting to intervene in behalf of the Muslim factions to prevent the retaking of these regions by Judeo-Christians.
There are countless political dynamics at work in this international conflict which cannot be addressed here. One particular issue, however, seems to be noteworthy.
Regardless of the atrocities that Yugoslav President Slobadon Milosovich has committed against Kosovar Albanians (which no decent person should approve of), we are observing a frightening precedent being set as NATO has taken upon itself the power and authority to impose its will upon the sovereign nation of Yugoslavia.

NATO IS EXPANDING ITS MILITARY INFLUENCE
We now have a European aggressor (NATO and its allies) who will more than likely continue to expand its authority and military jurisdiction again and again in future conflicts within that particular region of the world.

NATO MAY BE THE UNITED NATIONS & DE FACTO MILITARY ARM
Additionally, there is a virtually silent partner in the United Nations who mysteriously has done precious little to prevent NATO from operating unilaterally against Yugoslavia. One might have plenty of reason to believe that NATO is actually exercising its military muscle with the United Nations' tacit approval. If that is correct, then one might further conclude that NATO is now functioning as the de facto army/ navy/ air force of the UN! There are many observers who have already reached that conclusion.
Palestinian Authority Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman told reporters in early March that "the war in Yugoslavia is a sign of a new development in international relations, by which the international community uses force to impose international agreements."

NATO CONSIDERS JERUSALEM?
The significance of this operation in the light of Bible prophecy is that NATO might soon be called into another conflict of very similar proportions. THE MIDDLE EAST. According to Bradley Antolovich, author of "Report from Jerusalem", a weekly news and commentary from Israel, Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, do not rule out the possibility  that the West would intervene against Israel as it is now doing in Yugoslavia. Antolovich stated that Italy's ambassador to Israel, Gian Paolo Cavarai, raised such a possibility during a meeting of diplomats in March. with Mr. Sharon. Sharon admitted that Israel's Arab minority might call for autonomy in the future, and, as a senior government source put it, "the West would consider Yugoslavia a precedent to intervene in our part of the region."

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF JERUSALEM
The European Union recently released a statement, prepared by its German President, that the EU does NOT consider Jerusalem to be under Israel jurisdiction. The EU said that to them, Jerusalem is an "occupied territory". Yassar Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have received support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. But Arafat wants East Jerusalem, if not ALL of Jerusalem as its capitol.
In the final showdown between Israel and Palestine over the "Jerusalem issue", the world community is already on record as supporting the INTERNATIONALIZATION of Jerusalem. In other words, we have an international war in the makings. Neither Israel nor Palestine will be given authority over Jerusalem.
Much like the Kosovo crisis, where neither the Serbians nor the Albanians will ultimately win, Jerusalem is going to be embroiled in an international war, where either the UN or NATO will become the superpower in control.

PALESTINIANS CALL FOR NATO¹S  INTERVENTION
In my article, "Is Ezekiel¹s War Armageddon?", I stated on December 18, 1998 that I believed that Yassar Arafat may actually call on NATO to intervene in the Middle East crisis. Palestinian Authority Cabinet Secretary Abdul Rahman said recently that "we must make it clear that what is happening in Yugoslavia must serve as a lesson to Israel to withdraw from its current policies before something similar happens to it as is now taking place in Yugoslavia."
Rahman then added, "We will ask the international community to intervene to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and to expel the settlers from it." When the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia is over, Abdul Rahman said, the West will be confronted with the question: "What about the Palestinian people. What will you do for them?" (ICEJ) (From News from Jerusalem, 4/17/99, Bradley Antolovich). According to Israeli news Arutz 7, March 14, Prince Khaled Bin Sultan, commander of the Saudi Arabian army during the Gulf War, has called on Washington to take the same tough stance against Israel that it is taking against Serbia.
Barry Chamish, an Israeli author and commentator, observed that shortly before NATO began its attack on Kosovo, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was in Berlin meeting with members of the European Union. He was warned in that meeting not to stand in the way of a PLO state with East Jerusalem as its capital. So what will happen if Israel does stand in the way? Remember Kosovo.

BIBLICAL IMPLICATIONS
The Bible plainly describes the upcoming Battle of Armageddon. Revelation 19:19, "And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." Jesus Christ will return to defend Jerusalem when this stunning international military aggression takes place.
Joel 3:2 describes the gathering of armies: "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, [which runs through Jerusalem] and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land."
Friends, we are seeing the early stages of this very war taking place before our eyes. The United Nations and NATO will soon turn their attention to Jerusalem.
Additionally, Ezekiel prophesied that God would put a HOOK in Russia¹s jaw, and draw them into this battle as well. This is a strange development in modern times, because prior to the war in Kosovo, NATO existed to defend Eastern Europe against Russian aggression. But in the end game, Russia will play along beside NATO in establishing Palestinian intentions against Israel.
Russian Ambassador Vladimir Gougev in March told Egypt's Middle East News Agency "There is no choice but to declare a Palestinian state, Russia will strongly support the declaration of a Palestinian state at any time the PA chooses.'' (Associated Press)
Yassar Arafat and the PA appear to be the HOOK in Russia¹s jaw that will draw them down into the Battle of Armageddon.
Even now, Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin is negotiating with NATO to bring an end to the NATO-Serbia conflict. Could it be that NATO and Russia will soon conclude the Serbian crisis and move on to the NATO - Jerusalem crisis?

(International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, may 99)