Time To Prepare: Enoch As Our Model

As we continue in our obedience of watching for the signs of Christ's return for His Church Saints, the nearness of the hour dictates that we stay prepared - after all, we know that we are the bride of Christ and we know that His coming is upon us. 

For the sake of this discussion, we don't need to repeat all of the signs that we have been tracking - anyone following the current news in the context of biblical prophecy knows this already. We know just how close we are. But while we watch the various signs of this generation, we also have to remember to "take it up a notch" in our relationship with Christ Jesus. 

We have been given our knowledge of the prophetic scriptures for a variety of reasons - to warn others, to witness to others in the context of prophetic fulfillment, recognition that God is in control and has a plan for mankind that is being carried out, to give us peace in these difficult times, etc. But one of the most important reasons for biblical prophecy is so we can be spiritually prepared for what awaits us - ascending "in the twinkling of an eye" to Heaven and facing Jesus in person - Jesus, our bridegroom.

What bride doesn't prepare for her wedding date? What bride isn't consumed with wedding preparations as that date approaches? What bride doesn't get more and more excited as that day approaches? 

We can look at Enoch - arguably the first person "gathered up" as a model for the Church Saints and from this we can find our pathway:

Genesis 5:24

Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Hebrews 11:5

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: "He could not be found, because God had taken him away." For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Short and simple. 

This one doesn't require a lot of great insight or complicated interpretation. It's right there. Enoch "walked faithfully with God", "pleased God" and "was taken from this life so he did not experience death". Sounds like a picture of the "gathering up" of the Church Saints doesn't it? 

So, how do we prepare for meeting with our bridegroom, Christ?

We can do as Enoch did. We can walk with God, which suggests a minute to minute, second to second connection with God. How is this accomplished?

The apostle Paul covered this topic, as he discussed the "gathering up" in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"

The key part of this passage seems to be continual prayer. 

This may seem obvious, but maybe not. We can become so consumed with tracking the news, discussing context, discussing world events, the Middle East, approaching totalitarianism, etc., that often the central focus and most important point (our connection to Jesus and our imminent meeting with Him) can get lost in the shuffle. 

Perhaps this is why we are given this directive:

Luke 21:28

"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near"

By the term "lifting our heads", we can gain important insight. That strongly implies a solitary focus on Jesus as we watch for His return. It also implies a situation of focusing less and less on the events of this world (while continuing our diligent watch, of course) - and in the midst of our continual watching, our focus needs to be on Jesus and His coming, and everything that this fact implies. 

How do we want Jesus to find us when He returns? 

Any Christian knows that our faith is a series of ups and downs. Over the years we have periods where we feel closer to God and we have periods where we become distracted and lose that focus, as the events of life interfere with this "walk". It's an easy trap to fall in. There are so many life's distractions - school, jobs, bills, projects, sports, vacations, trips to the mall, etc. None of which are sinful, but all of which can separate us from God and interrupt the process of "walking with God". 

As the return of Jesus approaches, we have to shift our focus to what really matters and none of these distractions really matter. 

I believe in these last hours, we want to stay connected with God 24/7 and see Enoch as our model. We need to continually "walk with God" and we need to be looking up - at all times. 

From the minute we wake up in the morning until the minute our heads hit the pillow, we need to be walking with God - and preparing to meet Jesus. We need to attempt to be as pure as possible and avoid sin as much as humanly possible. We need to be consumed with Jesus and what He did on the cross. 

I'll never forget reading some advice given by Hal Lindsey in one of his many books. I wish I had the direct quote, but the essence of his quote can be conveyed. Basically, brother Hal said the following:

We need to immerse ourselves as much as possible, throughout every day - every waking moment - on the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us, and the magnitude and significance of that event.

Jesus is coming, and we know He is coming quite soon. We should be excited as we anticipate this coming date and we need to be spiritually "peaking" in our love for Christ and our attempts to live as He would have us live. 

Or more simply put, we need to be like Enoch and walk with God.

Maranatha!

Our Lord Comes!

Persecution Has Officially Arrived In The U.S.

Persecution was one of the noteworthy signs of this generation, and like the other birth pains, we should expect to see this continually increasing as we approach the Tribulation. 

We already know that the number of Christians killed annually, just for their faith exceeds six figures, which represent numbers never before seen in human history - far more than the infamous killings which took place during the Roman Empire. 

The growing investigation into the IRS is taking some interesting twists, as not only constitutional Tea Party activists were targeted, but Christian and Jewish groups as well. It's one thing to read about persecution, but this time it comes to the doorsteps of every Christian in America. 

This growing abuse of Christians by the U.S. government is chilling. Sure, we have seen persecution growing in school systems and local government officials over the years - but never to this degree, in a systematic manner including top levels of government. 

Is this really happening in America?

Understandably, this is part of end times prophecy and we should expect as much - but consider the extreme supernatural component of this whole episode. What is to fear regarding Christians? Are Christians beheading people in the streets? Are Christians advocating violence? What is it about following Jesus that makes us that concerning to the current U.S. administration?

Just some food for thought. 

IRS's Lerner Had History Of Harassment, Inappropriate Religious Inquiries At FEC

Perhaps no other IRS official is more intimately associated with the tax agency's growing scandal than Lois Lerner, director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division. Since admitting the IRS harassed hundreds of conservative and Tea Party groups for over two years, Lerner has been criticized for a number of untruths—including the revelation that she apparently lied about planting a question at an American Bar Association conference where she first publicly acknowledged IRS misconduct.

Lerner was appointed head of the FEC's enforcement division in 1986 and stayed in that position until 2001. In the late 1990s, the FEC launched an onerous investigation of the Christian Coalition, ultimately costing the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours in lost work. The investigation was notable because the FEC alleged that the Christian Coalition was coordinating issue advocacy expenditures with a number of candidates for office. Aside from lacking proof this was happening, it was an open question whether the FEC had the authority to bring these charges. 

One of the most shocking things about the current IRS scandal is the revelation that the agency asked one religious pro-life group to detail the content of their prayers and asked clearly inappropriate questions about private religious activity. But under Lerner's watch, inappropriate religious inquiries were a hallmark of the FEC's interrogation of the Christian Coalition. According to Bopp's testimony:

FEC attorneys continued their intrusion into religious activities by prying into what occurs at Coalition staff prayer meetings, and even who attends the prayer meetings held at the Coalition. This line of questioning was pursued several times. Deponents were also asked to explain what the positions of “intercessory prayer” and “prayer warrior” entailed, what churches specific people belonged, and the church and its location at which a deponent met Dr. Reed.

One of the most shocking and startling examples of this irrelevant and intrusive questioning by F EC attorneys into private political associations of citizens occurred during the administrative depositions of three pastors from South Carolina. Each pastor, only one of whom had only the slightest connection with the Coalition, was asked not only about their federal, state and local political activities, including party affiliations, but about political activities that, as one FEC attorney described as “personal,” and outside of the jurisdiction of the FECA [Federal Election Campaign Act]. They were also continually asked about the associations and activities of the members of their congregations, and even other pastors.

The Christian Coalition was ultimately absolved of any FEC wrongdoing in 1999, and Lerner was promoted to acting General Counsel at the FEC in 2001 before eventually moving on to the IRS.  Bopp, who's all too familiar with the aggressive and inappropriate tenor she set leading the FEC's Enforcement Division, says he became concerned about what would happen as soon as Lerner joined the IRS. "When she left the FEC, I thought, 'Wow, this means the not for profit division is gearing up politically,'" he said. "It didn't bode well, because of the way [the FEC] approached cases."

Content Of Prayers? Congress Receives Irrefutable Evidence Of IRS Harassment Of Pro-Life Organizations

Today, the Thomas More Society offered over 150 pages of analysis and evidence to the House Ways and Means Committee about repeated IRS harassment of pro-life organizations.

At the request of Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL), Thomas More Society President Thomas Brejcha, Executive Director Peter Breen, and Special Counsel Sally Wagenmaker, prepared the legal memorandum with solid evidence of IRS harassment of pro-life organizations dating back to 2009.

The memo details the history of IRS misconduct in the cases of three organizations represented by the Thomas More Society. The abuse dates back further than the now publicized 2010 complaints and extends beyond the IRS’s recently exposed Cincinnati office to also include the tax agency’s California operations in the charges of blatant bias.

IRS Asks Pro-Life Group About The Content Of Their Prayers

More Christian And Jewish Persecution

According to TMS, in 2011, the El Monte, California, office of the IRS began harassing Christian Voices for Life of Fort Bend County, Texas. In a statement, TMS wrote: “In a series of questions penned by Exempt Organization Specialist Tyrone Thomas from the California office, the IRS asked a series of unwarranted questions ordering Christian Voices for Life without any foundation, to explain its content, message, and prayers as if they were engaging in highly offensive or criminal behavior.”

The Coalition for Life found itself under IRS scrutiny when it applied for nonprofit status in October 2008, during the closing months of the Bush Administration. Nearly a year of interrogation included an illegal demand from the IRS’s Cincinnati office that coalition board members sign a pledge not to picket Planned Parenthood. Other demands of the group included information about the “content of the group’s prayer meetings, educational seminars, and signs their members hold outside Planned Parenthood.”

Daniel and Angela Michael of Small Victories, a pro-life organization, were singled out by an IRS agent in Chicago who called them every two to three weeks with demands for a year.

During the testimony and numerous stories that have come out this week, it was also revealed that the IRS has been targeting conservative Jewish groups for similar treatment, especially pressuring them about support for Israel, while groups perceived as supporting liberal causes and the Administration have sailed through the IRS review process.

The Thomas More Society also represents clients who are suing the Department of Health and Human Services over the Obama Administration’s demand that religious groups provide health insurance to employees that funds contraception and abortions in violation of religious conscience.

Almost since Day One of the Obama Administration, the Department of HomelandSecurity has issued reports warning of the dangers posed by conservative groups and military veterans, conflating Christians and Orthodox Jews with Left-wing-inspired groups such as the KKK and neo-Nazis.

More recently, the Air Force and Pentagon have moved toward a policy of cracking down on Christians who evangelize by sharing their faith with other enlisted personnel. The planned policy change has raised alarm among conservative groups because it seems to be driven by the zealously anti-Christian Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Taken altogether, and viewed against President Obama’s self-professed preference for Muslims, the Administration’s targeting of Christians and Jews is chilling. Still the Administration pretends as if nothing unusual has gone on.

These are the roots of tyranny, which we are watching grow deeper before our very eyes.

Rise Of Islam Fuels Christian Persecution

In the wake of the “Arab Spring” across northern Africa, Islam has been on the rise throughout the continent, and with it, violent persecution against Christians.

Christians in Tanzania, for example, are on alert after an Assemblies of God pastor was killed while attempting to stop Muslim youth from killing two Christian meat cutters. Pastor Mathayo Kachili died on the scene from injuries sustained during the brutal beating by the Muslim teenagers.

International Christian Concern says that this attack set off a two-week string of violent anti-Christian attacks in Tanzania’s northwestern Geita region.

Only days after the pastor was killed, Muslim militants on the island of Zanzibar killed a Father Evarist Mushi, a Catholic priest.

International Christian Concern’s Africa analyst William Stark told WND in an interview that the priest’s murder links violence in Africa to terrorist activity throughout the region.

“After a Catholic priest was shot and killed, a text message was sent out tying the attackers to Somalia, thus proving the link of radicalization between Zanzibar and Somalia. It is likely that many of the attackers have been trained in Somalia by al-Shabaab, but that is pretty hard to prove,” Stark said.

Christian Persecution In The Middle East Is As Bad As It Was Before The Edict Of Milan

In The News:

Israel's Dithering Over Golan Strikes Gives Assad Go-Ahead For War Of Attrition

The Syrian army in more than two years of fighting a civil war has proved to be highly professional, steadfast under pressure and above all disciplined. Not once in this brutal conflict were there instances of lone initiatives by a local unit or commander. Every move was directed by the presidential palace via the general staff in Damascus. Even when Syrian troops faced setbacks, they retreated in orderly fashion. For some months, nothing more has been heard of mass desertions, whose scale turned out to be highly inflated by the opposition.

Therefore, the proposition, which unnamed Israeli defense quarters fed military correspondents Wednesday, May 22, that more time was needed to tell whether Monday’s Syrian shooting attack on the Golan was ordered by Assad or a local initiative was not just way off track but harmful: It conveyed the impression of dithering among Israel’s decision-makers in the face of the Syrian ruler’s firm resolve, backed by Iran and Hizballah, to turn the divided Golan into the next “resistance front” against Israel.

Ignored was the Syrian government’s first direct claim of responsibility for the latest Golan attack. In fact, Assad has made his intentions plain more than once in the two weeks since Israel’s air strike over Damascus - and so has Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah, Tehran’s proxy.

Their plan is to begin with a trickle of small-scale military strikes against Israeli military and civilian targets starting from the Golan - and expanding to other fronts, the Lebanese-Israeli border, in particular. Hizballah, whose troops are deeply committed to the Syrian conflict, will at the same time extend its military effort to the war of “resistance” against Israel.

In case their message was missed, on Monday, May 20, Assad and Nasrallah told their henchman Ibrahim al-Amin, senior editor of the Hizballah publication Al Akhbar, to write the following: “The rope is taut to the limit… If anyone at either end flexes a finger, the big confrontation will start… This is the situation on the enemy’s northern front. Now means today; it means this hour.”

And indeed, the next day, Syria flexed its military finger three times by firing three shots at an IDF military patrol jeep on the Golan - and then got in first to the UN Security Council Wednesday morning with an accusation that an Israeli military jeep had trespassed Syrian territory and was destroyed.
Israel’s defense minister and chief of staff firmly denied that any IDF vehicle had been destroyed. But when the attack occurred, they ordered the Israel position to fire back with a Tamuz rocket and destroy the Syrian position, only after the third round of Syrian fire.

Caution and a measured response are undoubtedly prudent in the face of the war of attrition Assad has declared. But hiding their heads in the sand is not - and this is exactly what members of the Israeli defense establishment have been doing in the last few hours.

By trying to toss off the Golan attack as a local initiative, for which it was unnecessary to rethink the approach to border security at the end of 29 years of unbroken ceasefire, those officials were also contradicting the grave warnings issued to Damascus Tuesday by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz. Someone here was trying to backtrack on their firm statements.

Because of this mixed message, the Israeli government sounded as though it was stammering in the face of am unequivocal menace issuing from Damascus.

This uncertain, divided posture let the Palestinians fire rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip for a decade. Today, it emboldens Israel’s enemies, Syria and Hizballah, to launch an escalating campaign of aggression across its borders.

Some of Israel’s leading strategists have erred in the first place by refusing to accept Syrian President Assad’s durability in defiance of their predictions of his imminent fall. Most of all, they are still turning their eyes away from the unfolding reality that Assad, Nasrallah and Iran’s Khamenei are coming out of the Syrian civil war as victors, contrary to Israeli hopes that defeat would snap the bonds of their implacably hostile alliance.

The Syrian ruler, conscious that he is riding high in the ferocious campaign against is own people, feels he can safely move on to a war of attrition against Israel.
By holding back and wavering in their responses, the Israeli defense establishment, possibly under the guidance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is making Assad and Nasrallah the gift of the initiative, a major advantage in any conflict.
 

Benghazi Exclusive: State Department Denies Libya Weapons Buyback Program

We are a hair trigger away from World War III. Reportedly Assad is preparing missile strikes against Tel Aviv if Syria is attacked again.

Why is getting the status and inventory of Libya’s weapons recovery program so critical? Because arms from Libya have shown up in Syria. As the Wall Street Journal reported: “The U.S. effort in Benghazi was at its heart a CIA operation,” and the State Department presence in Benghazi “provided diplomatic cover” to conceal weapon transfers from Libya to Syria.
Is that why all my Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests regarding Ambassador Christopher Stevens meeting with Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin before he was murdered have been denied?

Gunrunning from Libya into Syria is a violation of international law. Furthermore, one has to ask how arming rebels in Syria would serve America’s interests because it doesn’t. Just like it didn’t serve America’s interest in Egypt or Libya where the Muslim Brotherhood has steadily gotten or is gaining power. Arms running would also explain why the Obama-Clinton regime gave “stand-down” orders and denied providing any help to Americans in peril. Do not be deceived by the administration’s cover story, parroted by the mainstream press, that there was no time to send help to Benghazi, instead, as reported here, by not providing help or options—the Obama-Clinton regime guaranteed a bad outcome that could have spread throughout the region.

Stay tuned, the hunt for the truth in Benghazi continues.

CIA Source: 4th Shoe Is About To Drop

But in spite of the fact that the mainstream media totally ignores Fast and Furious, which would make four scandals if the truth were important to elected officials and the mainstream media, a CIA official has told a Drudge Report editor that a fourth shoe is about to drop, make that the 5th shoe in the correct count, that has Obama political operatives at the White House literally shaking in their boots.

Weasel Zippers reported that Drudge Editor Joseph Curl stated that the source at CIA says that this is the one scandal that truly has the White House in a state of fear and panic. But as of yet no one has been told what the scandal entails.

The comment section at Weasel Zippers went wild with speculation. One reader wondered if the new scandal involves proof of massive voter fraud. Another speculated that the scandal revolves around the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in the Benghazi debacle, that Stevens was perhaps sent to an outpost at Benghazi rather than to remain at his post at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. Had Stevens and his security detail remained in Tripoli, they would be alive today.

The Administration's War On Fox News Reporters

The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald explains the implications of targeting Rosen. “Under US law, it is not illegal to publish classified information,” he explains. “That fact, along with the First Amendment’s guarantee of press freedoms, is what has prevented the US government from ever prosecuting journalists for reporting on what the US government does in secret. This newfound theory of the Obama DOJ—that a journalist can be guilty of crimes for ‘soliciting’ the disclosure of classified information—is a means for circumventing those safeguards and criminalizing the act of investigative journalism itself.”

Fox News’ Brit Hume echoed that assessment. “The Obama-Holder Justice Department is now prepared to treat the ordinary newsgathering actives of reporters to seek information from government officials as a possible crime,” he warned.

Adding insult to injury, the IG’s Fast and Furious report reveals even more abuse by the DOJ: it confirms that U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke intentionally leaked a document aimed at smearing Fast and Furious whistleblower John Dodson. Furthermore, additional emails uncovered by the IG reveal other DOJ officials also discussed smearing Dodson, one of whom was Tracy Schmaler, the former Director of the Department’s Office of Public Affairs. She was forced to resign after it was discovered she was colluding with the radical leftist advocacy group Media Matters to smear those attempting to cover DOJ scandals.

Fox News’ executive vice president of news, Michael Clemente, made it clear the network would not be intimidated by the DOJ. “We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter,” Clemente said statement. “In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

Last week, in an interview with Democracy Now, James Goodale, former general council for the New York Times, revealed the likely motive for the administration’s determination to criminalize reporting of classified information. “Obama has classified, I think, seven million‚Äìin one year, classified seven million documents,” he explained. “Everything is classified. So that would give the government the ability to control all its information on the theory that it’s classified. And if anybody asks for it and gets it, they’re complicit, and they’re going to go to jail. So that criminalizes the process, and it means that the dissemination of information, which is inevitable, out of the classified sources of that information will be stopped.”

That reality raises an extremely important question: who’s going to stop the Obama administration.

Top Official To Plead Fifth Amendment Protections After Targeting Constitutional Groups That Taught Bill Of Rights

IRS official Lois Lerner who heads the tax exempt division of the IRS will be invoking Fifth Amendment protections under the Bill of Rights to avoid incriminating herself in federal testimony, reports the LA Times. What makes this such a hilarious example of hypocrisy, of course, is the fact that her office specifically targeted non-profits that were teaching the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

As has now emerged across mainstream news, the IRS targeted these groups for "extra scrutiny" by demanding answers to questions like: What are the contents of your prayers? What books do you read? What are the names of the students you've instructed? Applications for tax exempt status were also denied tax exempt status for three years even while pro-Obama non-profits were quickly approved, no questions asked.

By invoking the Fifth Amendment, Lois Lerner is flat out admitting that her campaign of targeting pro-Constitution groups was a traitorous, criminal betrayal of America. She also apparently believes that Bill of Rights protections only apply to her, not the People of America. This elitist attitude runs like a festering case of cancer throughout the Obama administration, where a culture of intimidationpersists.

Across the board, Obama officials are either taking the Fifth Amendment or declaring they "know nothing" about anything that happened. Check out this amazingly annoying video of Eric Holder, the top law enforcement "official" in the U.S. government, claiming just how little he knows!

Lois Lerner of the IRS knows nothing, too. In fact, she knows so much nothing that she's going to plead the Fifth Amendment in order to make sure she doesn't actually say exactly how much she doesn't know.

In reality, this pleading of the Fifth Amendment by a key lawbreaking operative in the Obama administration is a tactic to make sure she doesn't either spill the truth or perjure herself by lying under oath.

Because, you see, a whole los of people like Lois Lerner are ultimately going to prison once the true criminality of the entire Obama network of government operatives implodes.

America's Bubble Economy Is Going To Become An Economic Black Hole

What is going to happen when the greatest economic bubble in the history of the world pops?  Themainstream media never talks about that.  They are much too busy covering the latest dogfights in Washington and what Justin Bieber has been up to.  And most Americans seem to think that if the Dow keeps setting new all-time highs that everything must be okay.  Sadly, that is not the case at all.  Right now, the U.S. economy is exhibiting all of the classic symptoms of a 

Rather, the reckless euphoria that we are seeing in the financial markets right now reminds me very much of 1929.  Margin debt is absolutely soaring, and every time that happens a crash rapidly follows.  But this time when a crash happens it could very well be unlike anything that we have ever seen before.  The top 25 U.S. banks have more than 212 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives combined, and when that house of cards comes crashing down there is no way that anyone will be able to prop it back up.  After all, U.S. GDP for an entire year is only a bit more than 15 trillion dollars.

What we are witnessing right now is the calm before the storm.  Let us hope that it lasts for as long as possible so that we can have more time to prepare.

Unfortunately, this bubble of false hope will not last forever.  At some point it will end, and then the pain will begin.

Also see:

Obama's Communist/Soviet Ties

Inside Every Liberal Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out

Israel Issues Strong Warning To Syria As Border Region Escalates

I believe we may be on the front end of a dramatic escalation in tension between Israel and Syria. This facts presented in this article are very ominous and war appears imminent:

IDF Chief Issues Stern Warning To Assad Over Rapidly Heating Border

Israel’s military chief issued a severe warning to Bashar Assad on Tuesday, saying the Syrian leader would “bear the consequences” of any more attacks on Israeli forces near the Syrian border.

Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz issued his threat hours after an Israeli jeep came under fire during a patrol in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The IDF said the vehicle, which had not entered Syrian territory, suffered light damage. It said that the Israeli troops reported a “direct hit” from their return fire — a Tamuz missile, fired seven minutes after the Syrian fire.

Gantz said there was no doubt whatsoever that the routine IDF patrol was inside Israeli territory, and no doubt either that it was deliberately fired upon by Assad’s forces — “from a clearly marked Syrian position… not once, not twice, but three times.” Israel, he said, “cannot allow the Golan Heights area to become a comfortable space for Assad to operate from. If he causes [the situation on] the Golan Heights to deteriorate, he will have to bear the consequences.”

Ehud Ya’ari, a leading Arab affairs analyst, told Channel 2 news on Tuesday night that the situation between Israel and Syria was now “several times more explosive than it was this morning.”

He noted that a Syrian member of parliament, Sharif Shehadeh, warned after the Golan exchange of fire that Syria would respond to any future Israeli attacks; Shehadeh also spoke of “other regional forces” allied with Syria — in reference to Iran and Hezbollah.

Tensions have been rising between Israel and Syria in recent weeks, particularly following two airstrikes executed by Israel earlier this month that targeted Iranian arms shipments bound for Hezbollah via Syria. Israel has not confirmed carrying out the attacks.

The strikes marked a sharp escalation of Israel’s involvement in the Syrian civil war and raised fears that the conflict could turn into a full-fledged regional war.

Later in the day, meanwhile, Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan warned that rockets raining down on densely populated areas in Israel “are only a matter of time” and could happen at any moment.

“The question is no longer will rockets be fired at the large populated areas in Israel, the question is when it’ll happen,” Erdan told reporters during a briefing ahead of a large drill scheduled for southern Israel Wednesday. He said the battles being fought no longer distinguish between the front line and the home front, as missiles and rockets allow strikes far from the battlefield.

“it could happen tonight, it could happen next week,” Erdan said of the next escalation. “Flare-ups along our borders aren’t something dependent only on the IDF or its will.”

Officials Warn Of Syria Conflict Quickly Spiraling Out Of Control

IDF Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz toured the Golan near the border with Syria Tuesday, and told lawmakers that tensions in the north could quickly devolve into war.

Other senior officials echoed his worries, with Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan warning that it was only a matter of time before major Israeli cities started getting pounded by rockets.

The statements were made the day before a large Home Front Command drill scheduled for the Ashkelon region in the south of the country, which comes against the backdrop of increasingly harsh rhetoric on both sides of the border.

Gantz Warns Assad: Don't Escalate The Situation

The IDF will not allow Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to escalate the situation along Israel’s northern border, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Tuesday.

"If Assad will cause the situation in the Golan Heights to deteriorate, he will pay the price," Gantz said during aconference at Haifa University.

"We will not allow the Golan Heights to become a comfort space for Assad," he stressed. "If he causes a deterioration he will have to bear the consequences. I'm not a litigious person, but he must know that we will know how to protect and also how to respond if necessary."

The remarks were made hours after an incident in which Israel destroyed an unspecified Syrian target, after fire from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights border damaged an IDF vehicle.