Middle-Eastern oil reserves look increasingly to be the chief bait for the “hooks” that will draw the Gog coalition force toward Jerusalem. The Scripture is coming more into focus almost daily, so far as its likely meaning.

“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords…” (Ezek. 38:1-4).

Global economy intricacies are far too convoluted–too complex—to make the leap of speculation that petroleum alone will bring all people to the Valley of Jezreel for Armageddon. The same applies to the Gog-Magog assault outlined in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. However, all evidence that continues to mount points to Mid-East oil as a primary factor in building toward war in that already volatile part of the world.

The new dynamic I see developing in the Gog-Magog build up and to the trends that is moving that region and the world toward Armageddon is the matter of Russia’s increasing hegemony in natural gas leverage. Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens his neighbors consistently with warnings of withdrawing natural gas supply from his immediate neighbors and from Europe. He seeks to exert power not only over Ukraine with military threats to invade, but threatens to freeze all of those who would disagree with his meddling in the affairs of that sovereign nation. His ability to carry out his threats can be seen in Europe’s shyness in supporting any sanctions against Russia. Putin, they fear, will turn off the spigot of natural gas to them. Europe would be in the cold this winter, and industry would suffer greatly if the Russian leader did so.

Europe gives lip service to the sanctions proposed –weakly, I might add—by the Obama Administration. They don’t seem serious in trying to make Putin stop bullying Ukraine, however.

Enter into the picture Israel. They have discovered tremendous gas reserves within their own territory –enough natural gas to supply all of Europe for decades to come. Problem is, they haven’t yet the technology to extract that natural gas and thus transport it to Europe and other places. Their natural gas reserves lie beneath the Mediterranean, within Israel’s territorial boundaries.

If and when Israel develops the technology to begin supplying Europe and other areas with natural gas for the energy needed to sustain life and industry, there will develop a real crisis, I’m thinking. Putin will be furious that his leverage is diminished, even negated, at that point. This could be the “hook in the jaw” that God will use to bring Gog-Magog against Israel, in my view. I think there can be little doubt that Israel, the most innovative people to ever do business on earth, and among the most technologically creative, will indeed soon develop that capability.

Where does this leave the United States, in regard to interaction with the oil-producing nations of the Middle East?

The root of all evil—love of money—can be blamed in part for the lowered opinion of America in dealing with matters vital to oil supply and demand. The blame must be placed on all parties, not just upon the American administration. However, much can be directed toward  Mr. Obama for refusing to do what is necessary to get the oil and gas flowing from Canada, and for not supporting with vigor the innovative new oil production technologies and techniques in the great northwest of the nation.

The oil cartel sheiks quickly turn their favorable opinions away from American dollars and toward the euro and other currencies as the U.S. prime means of exchange continues to weaken. Like in so-called friendships in all walks of life, the friendship too often ends when there’s nothing in it for one party or the other. As a line in one Tom T. Hall song goes, “Friends are hard to find, when they discover that you’re down.” Cynical, but true.

America’s power to influence the world‘s economic trends is still considerable. But, that influence is swiftly lessening. The question of the greatest concern to those who watch these developments from the biblically prophetic perspective is whether future American leaders will continue to be Israel’s chief friend.

Israel’s enemies hold the oil card. How long will the once-mighty dollar continue to buy influence with the cartel “friends,” most of whom want every Jew removed from the Middle East? Will America drop Israel as a friend, to better position the U.S. within the world users of petroleum, which–we are told—is a diminishing resource?

We will keep watch on these things as this generation moves nearer to the time when God himself will put the “hooks” in Gog’s jaw. Since it is perhaps likely that the rapture will occur before the Gog invasion into the Middle East, observing these developments are even more crucial.