The Pursuit of War: The 48 Hour Countdown

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Bill Koenig

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 3/23/26. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this Monday edition of Stand in the Gap today. Now, according to Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, we are in the closing hours of the 48 hour warning to Iran that unless they submit and reopen the strait of Hormuz unconditionally that the US and Israel will destroy their power plants and put 93 million Iranians into the dark for months. Iran has responded that, no, we will not comply with your dictates because you attacked us. If you attack our power plants, we will destroy all of the power plants and water desalination plants in every Middle East Arab nation that is assisting America. So the lines have been further hardened and frankly, the ripples are already being felt. Now, if you feel like this world is careening toward catastrophe while being told that a new golden age is just dawning, and if you feel like you’re living in some parallel universe, you’re not alone.

But if you observe all that’s going on and through the pages of scripture, come to the conclusion that we are living in the prophetical days of the latter years, the scripture talks about you are the exception. The fact that Jesus warned us that deception increased lawlessness as in the days of Noah and immorality as in the days of Lot should not be overlooked. And the fact that Jesus gave specific signs of wars, rumors of wars, pestilences, famines, indications of a groaning earth speaking through earthquakes and volcanoes and destructive weather anomalies as the filters through which those of us who fear God can find peace in the middle of all this way can and contentedness in the midst of this confusion, that also should not be overlooked because we’re in those days and I think we’re having the opportunity to put the test that which we believe.

Now today, I’m glad to have back with me returning guest Bill Koenig. He is White House correspondent and he’s a student of biblical prophecy and he also president and founder of World Watch Daily with a website at watch.org. And he’s also the author of the extraordinarily insightful book. We’ve talked about much in the past on this called Eye to Eye facing the consequences of Dividing Israel. The title I’ve chosen to frame our conversation today is this, The Pursuit of War, the 48 Hour Countdown. All right. And with that, Bill, thanks for being back with me today. You maintain a very, very busy schedule. You do a lot of interviewing. Thank you for being with our listeners today.

Bill Koenig:

Thank you, Sam. And it always seems to be very timely when I’m with you. So thank you, brother.

Sam Rohrer:

You are correct. You and I are talking about the beginning of the program. Seems like every time we do get together, something momentous is happening, and that certainly is the case today. So let’s get right in. We have a lot to discuss, way too much to get done in this hour. But let’s start here. Boiling pot, Middle East. We all know Is are there. The president on Friday or Saturday gave a 48 hour deadline to Iran. I’ve mentioned that just a bit ago. So let’s get right into that. Because we’re now well into the third week in the US, Israel Ward. I put US, Israel, because we’re together and people know that against Iran. The war which the president said would be quick appears to be anything but quick, despite the incessant bombing by Iran and the United States in Iran. And the president’s saying that Iran is effectively destroyed.

Somehow the Iranian missiles keep flying. With new long range advanced ones, seemingly unknown to Western intelligence. We’re just fired at the US Island military base of Diego Garcia as an example. It makes it clear to me, Bill, that this war’s end is most likely not imminent. But into this comes the president’s 48 hour deadline. Some changes have been made to that. We’ll talk about that a little bit, but here’s the point. What is your response to the president’s warning and a drawing of the line in this fashion? Will he back off as he often does or will we witness a marked escalation? And if so, what might that look like?

Bill Koenig:

I think the Trump strategy, Sam, has come in with something that is so hard to comprehend or so enormous. And it’s like an art of the deal process that he does. Coming in with something that’s so conceptually impossible outlandish to start a negotiating point. I mean, he said that Iran had 48 hours to open the Strait of Hermus or the United States would hit their energy facilities starting with the biggest one first. And this was with a lot of bravado. So in that process, after he stated that, Sam, the cost of something like that, whether it was to the United States or Israel or the international community, what would happen with Iran, what will they do? How will they respond? All became part of the negotiation or the narrative of what’s next if Iran doesn’t cooperate.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. And so that has fueled a lot. Now in the next segment, Bill, you’re not going to talk about some of the consequences of what is taking place as a result of this war, but let’s just deal with it right now because in fact, the president has made a change on that 48 hour deadline. Can you speak to that at all?

Bill Koenig:

Well, he’s now given Iran five more days or five days. He said the United States is currently negotiating with Iran where what we’re hearing out of Iran, that’s not true. That’s what their media is saying. They’re denying that there’s been any discussion, but supposedly Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff did have some discussions yesterday with some Iranian leadership. We don’t know who it is because that seems to be pretty fluid with Iran’s leadership continually being taken out. But so you have two narratives here. One, we’re negotiating with Iran. Trump administration is saying, President Trump said, and Iran’s denying it. So that’s kind of where things are at this point, but Trump has given them another five days or pay the price. So we’ll see what happens, Sam. But the 48 hours is off and they’ve been given a five day extension.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. And see, that’s interesting because I wonder what Iran will do because before there was a 12 day effort, the war preceding one, there was agreements made. We said what certain things were going to happen and then we didn’t follow them. I wonder, Bill, and you won’t have time to answer it here, but I just wonder if Iran says, “You know what? We’ve been through that before. We’ve heard deadlines given. We’ve heard promises made and then we’ve heard promises broken and just like they would refer to it three weeks ago when the attack happened and say, well, you know what? I don’t think we can trust you this time. So you said what you’re going to do. You often do what you say. Maybe we’ll respond before you this time and catch you by surprise.” I don’t know. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the kind of scenario and climate in which we are that puts really everything that we’re watching up in the air.

So anyways, stay with us. Theme today is the Pursuit of War, the 48 Hour Countdown. And when we come back, we’re going to look at this ongoing war. Why really is it happening and what’s at stake? Well, if you’re just joining us today, Bill Koenig is my guest today. He is currently, has been for a long time, but White House correspondent. And he’s also the president and the founder of World Watch Daily. They have a website at watch.org. And if you go there, you will find that it is populated by very current links to articles, not exclusively, but mostly related to Israel and the Middle East. You’ll find a few other things there, but that’s really the go- to place I would encourage you to go to for articles that are reliable and true that pertain to that part of the worldwatch.org. Theme today is this, The Pursuit of War, the 48-hour countdown.

And we just talked about that in the last segment. The president over the weekend gave Iran 48 hours. Now he’s now modified that, but what happens? Well, we’ll find out, but let’s get into it because this war’s having an impact. And as I’ve shared on earlier programs, the current Israel-US-Iran war is a dangerous war. And I say that not just because all wars are by nature dangerous, but because in this war, there is no consistent official narrative as to exactly why it was started or the agreed to objective that can determine its end. In that part, or in part, I would say this is because Israel’s objectives, I talked about last Wednesday on this program with Chris Katalka from Friends of Israel, we mentioned the fact, and he did as well, we talked about the fact that Israel’s objectives in this war happen not to be the same as the US military objectives and US military objectives are not necessarily the same as Donald Trump’s objectives.

So as to the war’s ends, there is also no firm agreement since the president stated on Fox News 10 days ago, March 13th, that this war with Iran would end, he said, “When I feel it, feel it in my bones.” That’s the exact quote that was made, and of course that has been repeated many, many times. So with that being said, under such ever changing objectives, danger explodes because of either intended by unstated strategies and consequences or because of unintended consequences, such as what we’re now witnessing due to a complete shutdown of oil from the Gulf crude at $100, up and down a little bit, but with estimates, if this drags on any length of time going to 150, Iran says it’s going to go to 200, it may. But when that happens, economies, not just here in the United States begin to feel it, but it’s felt worldwide.

All right. Now, Bill, there are already numerous consequences from this war. Some of them were just mentioned there that even if it were to stop completely and immediately today, which we know it will not, in reality, there’s a military war going on, but there’s now a metastasizing energy war that’s spreading into a global economic war. And it’s also manifesting itself in a food war, potentially, and talk is of that nature because when you stop oil out of the Middle East, you stop fertilizers from the Middle East and the Northern Hemisphere is approaching planting season. It’s not a good time for that to stop. So there’s a lot of different aspects. So what are your thoughts on the primary war that we’re witnessing and the primary consequence, if you want to broaden that, the consequence of top one or two or whatever that you’re witnessing as a result?

I just want to get your perspective on how you’re looking at this.

Bill Koenig:

Stand so interesting is, and we talked about this many times in your program, is the significance of US president’s biblical and prophetic role of bringing things to completion as spoken of in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and the Lord’s return. And you can look all the way back to George Bush starting the land for peace process, then you can look at Bill Clinton and his efforts, and then George W. Bush who coined the two state name and the two state plan and initiated that. Then you had Obama with his Iran nuclear deal that gave them hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen assets and other. Then you look at Trump getting out of the nuclear deal, and then you look at Biden getting back in the deal, providing them … They say over a hundred billion dollars in new revenue, and now Trump, who’s hardline, very supportive of Israel, he sees it for what it is.

He knew that the negotiations wouldn’t deliver anything. He approved Israel’s 12 day war in June, finished it off with our B2 bombers and B-25s and 125 jets. So you look at that, Sam. I mean, I look at President Trump’s decision today as anything else is whether he knows it or not, biblically and prophetically significant because he’s showing the world two things. Number one is how dangerous Iran is, the duplicitous and attitude of allowing Iran, a voice at the UN, despite what they say about Israel and the United States, great Satan, little Satan, and all the things that they’ve done at the other time, and it really, really exposes just how important that Strait of Hermus is. You mentioned fertilizer, helium, excuse me, gas, oil. 20% of the world’s energy flows through that strait of Ramus. It’s just incredible. And we’re really just seeing the level of biblical significance of that Strait of Ramus and the impact that could have not only on the world economies, but world peace, possibly even leading to World War III.

Don’t think it’s going to be there this time, but it has that potential as a catalyst long term. We look at Ezekiel 38 and 39, Jeremiah 49, 35 through 39, and this is just a very biblically significant time, whether our president knows it or not, Sam, but for us, what follows prophecy, this is really an interesting time. And it’s

Sam Rohrer:

Exposing

Bill Koenig:

Just who Iran is and the danger that they have to not only the Middle East, but the entire world economy.

Sam Rohrer:

And it does, Bill, and you’re right. We’ve talked about many times about it. We’re going to conclude, ladies and gentlemen, talking about the actual prophetical pieces and considerations more so in the last segment. But Bill, here it is. The Iranians, they know they cannot beat the United States when it comes to the number of planes and ships and all that kind of thing, obviously, but they have been also quite shrewd, and I’ve been saying they’ve been planning for this encounter for 25 years at least. They’ve buried much of their missile capacity, and even though the president basically eliminated it, somehow they just keep showing up, which says that they have not been eliminated. And even in their response, they are fighting an asymmetrical approach where you shut the Gulf, you stop the oil, you impact the US dollar because we depend on that money, and it’s costing the United States about $2 billion a day for this war.

We can’t continue to do this because we’re already approaching 40 trillion in debt. So Bill, there’s some real conflicts coming here. Do you think that the Iranian response, which has been quite successful, frankly, in my opinion, has been truly considered by Western intelligence?

Bill Koenig:

You mentioned the word shrewd, Sam, and I was thinking the exact same word when you brought that up. Shrewd, there are three dimensional chess players. They had a plan, like you said, they’ve had the plan for 25 plus years. I think what I’ve heard from intelligence circles, they’re surprised that Iran didn’t fold quicker. I mean, the top generals were taken out, the leadership was taking out, Camini was taking out as unlikely as possibly in a coma. Then we go back to the 12 day war of last June. I mean, they have been decimated. The country’s been decimated. The IRGC has been decimated. It’s just amazing, but they have missiles that are buried in those mountains that I understand are even hard to get to with our 5,000 pound bunker busting bombs. They just fired a 4,000 kilometer distance missile that was going towards Diego Garcia.

They are very sophisticated. I remember talking to a lady that used to be with the CIA that I knew. She says it’s not by chance that the Chinese, the Persians and the Jews have survived the centuries because they’re just that bright. So the Persians, the Iranians, despite the decimation of their country and the elimination of a lot of their top leadership, they continue to fight and also Sam, they know more than anybody else how significant and important that Strait of Imus is. They literally can hold the world hostage with that Persian Gulf and Strait of Ramus, and they’re doing it quite effectively. So long answer to your question, I think the United States and Israel was surprised that Iran has continued to do this fight despite what’s happened to them.

Sam Rohrer:

And when Iran has said, look, since this has started, they’re not going to stop unless it stops on their terms. Well, what does that say to you?

Bill Koenig:

That’s right. And it can. It absolutely can. Their terms are called the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Ramus and 20% of the world’s oil and all those other chemicals that come out of that Persian Gulf and straight of Ramus.

Sam Rohrer:

Yep.

Bill Koenig:

Incredible leverage, Sam.

Sam Rohrer:

Ladies and gentlemen, and understand that for us to really win, we need to accomplish all of those nine objectives that the president laid out. They are very, very tough, but Iran to somewhat win, they just have to survive. Well, will they survive? Well, are they getting any help? We’re going to talk about Russia and China in the next segment and what help they may be giving. And then the last thing we’ll talk about the prophetical aspect of Iran. Well, we’re midpoint on our program today and we’re continuing in our discussion here, the pursuit of war, the 48 hour countdown. So as we do this program here on Monday of this week, and if you’re listening to this, you’re probably aware of other news also, that the world’s attention remains riveted around the Middle East. It is being driven there in consideration of the president’s 48 hour deadline to Iran to reopen the straits of hormones, or we, well, the United States will go in and eliminate their power plants.

Now, that has been extended to maybe four or five days. The president is saying that he’s having some discussion with Iran. Iran has repeatedly been saying, “We’re not talking to anybody. We don’t know who he’s talking to. ” So you don’t know whether anything’s actually being talked to. But nonetheless, while all of this happens, the oil is not flowing. The price of oil continues to rise. And as we just talked about, it’s having consequences that are impacting global economies around the world because of the fact that oil has stopped flowing. And as Iran has attacked the oil producing facilities, liquefied natural gas of the Middle Eastern Arab countries that have been working with the United States, a lot of what they have done will make it so that even if the war stops right now, full output cannot resume in some cases for a long time.

So there are already impacts that have gone beyond. So all of that being said, we talked about Iran. Iran though is not operating only all on its own because from well before, well before the United States decided to launch an attack against Iran followed by Israel, and that was the order of how it happened, the alignment of Iran with other nations, Russia, China in particular, was already strengthened and already strengthening with both of those nations having been already in the process of providing assistance since the last 12 day war with them. That’s been out there and that’s general knowledge. Exactly what? Not sure, but they weren’t just sending them roses, that’s for sure. For Russia and China and North Korea in particular, their alignment with Iran goes beyond oil and the degree of linkage has been very clear for a long time. So that being the case, Bill, there’s already confirmed assistance, as I mentioned in the past with China and Russia, with Iran.

They have agreements, treaty agreements, defense agreements with Iran. So unless there is some larger global elite agreement behind the scenes in order to bring the world to a point of complete and total reset, which is exactly, by the way, what the World Economic Forum people have said, and the global elite, the same elite of, not necessarily political leaders, but economic leaders have repeatedly stated, and what we’re witnessing is a staged theater, well, then the 48 hour deadline by the president may well trigger a greater Russian and Chinese role with Iran. So on that aspect, what do you say about this alignment with Russia and China and about further involvements that we may see from them?

Bill Koenig:

Sam, you made an interesting comment there before jumping into the Russia and China, because these are definitely too connected. Kanye and I, my wife, we also write weekly commentary and news reporter williamkoenig.com. And we have really focused a lot on these two areas. Number one is the economic repercussion to Europe, Asia, and the nations of the world, including the United States, where we’ve already seen diesel, we’ve already seen gas prices, skyrocket, we’ve seen jet fuel prices, skyrocket, we’ve seen airline affairs skyrocketing, we’ve seen commodities increasing. So the leverage that they have with LMG and oil through the straight over moves, Persian Gulf and straight very much is enormous. And then at the same time, we’ve been watching very carefully Russia and Iran’s Russia and China’s involvement with Iran. I know they’ve been very careful what they do, but what’s interesting, Putin said the other day that, okay, we’ll quit giving intelligence to China if the United States quits helping the Ukraine.

That was very

Sam Rohrer:

Significant.You said helped to China, you meant helped Iran?

Bill Koenig:

Yeah, I’m sorry. Yeah,

Sam Rohrer:

Exactly. Okay.

Bill Koenig:

Exactly. So, because we’re hearing a lot of intel that’s coming out of Russia to Iran that’s helping Iran and that’s exactly what Putin’s point was. US stop helping Ukraine, then we’re going to do the same. Then we’ll do the same and stop helping Iran. Secondly, China is 90% of their oil comes from the Middle East and that Persian Gulf straight over moves by stopping that could have devastation on their economy, as well as Japan’s economy. And so consequently, they have a tremendous amount of concern about the future of their relationships with Iran, who has been a major contributor and supporter of theirs for many, many years. And so the Russia and China has been very clever and not actively getting involved. China has the Sun Sue art of war strategy. They’re very patient, they’ve got a plan and they’re very strategic. So with all that said, they have not actively been involved, but there’s been concerns that some of the sophisticated missiles that China does have, I mean, has been going to Iran.

So, and also North Korea has also used some of their sophistication to help improve the ability of Iran’s missiles as well.

So that’s very significant. So Sam, I think Russia and Iran know this is not the time to debate and this is not the time for them to participate and they’re going to wait Trump out. They’ve watched him, they’ve studied him, they know him, but more than anything else, they understand once again that Iran has a lot of leverage because of Strait of Hermes and the Persian Gulf.

Sam Rohrer:

And that’s interesting as well because as you say, the Russians, and that’s pretty much confirmed that they were providing the satellite and actually China providing satellite direction for GPS coordinates for some of the Iranian missiles, which is why it surprised a lot of people that they have been actually quite accurate in their targeting. All right, so that’s some of that. I saw just the other day that China has what nobody’s actually seen it use, but they have what they call their aircraft killer missile that can go a thousand miles and take down an aircraft carrier that that was being talked about being delivered to Israel. So the communication and the involvement is increasing. So no one really knows, but it seems to me, Bill, that it’s hard to believe that either Russia or China would allow Iran to absolutely collapse. What do you think?

Bill Koenig:

Absolutely. There’s a real tight relationship with Iran and Russia and Iran has been providing sophisticated drones to Russia for their war with the Ukraine. There was rumors during the 12 day war last June that 32 cargo planes were bringing sophisticated missiles into Tehran from China. We’ve also heard once again, Sam, that they’re supplying some very sophisticated missiles to Iran and also there’s concern too that … Well, two things. Number one is if the United States controls the oil from the Persian Gulf and Venezuela, that’s a majority of the oil that China buys in the world, and they’re not going to sit back and let that happen. So they have very sophisticated missiles. And as you mentioned, they are developing aircraft carrier missiles that can make them vulnerable, and that’s where they’re spending their money. They’re not spending their money on high F-35s and big planes and things.

They have their Stealths, but nothing anywhere near our air superiority, but they’re using a different approach. And I think that, yeah, China and Russia is not going to forego or see that relationship that they’ve spent billions of dollars over the year diminish or have no impact or influence. And they both enjoy … Russia and China both enjoy being a thorn in the side of the US, especially President Trump.

Sam Rohrer:

And because of our difficulty with our dollar right now, and people are not wanting to buy our debt, and China, Russia, Iran, India, the BRICS nations wanting to move away from the dollars so it doesn’t have the ability to be weaponized like we have done for a long time, it goes to the heart of this matter. The dollar and the economics may be more driving and motivation than anything at this moment, isn’t it?

Bill Koenig:

Absolutely, absolutely. I think that America has to do everything it can to protect the dollar. Obviously, you and I discussed this previously, Sam, the importance of the midterm election. President Trump wants to see interest rates drop, but this recent boost in inflation is actually moving the Fed to increase interest rates in June, not drop them.

Sam Rohrer:

So

Bill Koenig:

This war has a lot of impact on President Trump midterm. The Republican Party control the house and Senate.

Sam Rohrer:

And ladies and gentlemen, as well, the entire world, because even as we speak, well, I’ll comment on this when we come back today with us. The next segment will conclude. We’re trying to pull some of these things together under the prophetical aspect. What do we know from scripture relative to where this all goes? Well, as we go into our final segment, thanks for being with us today. Before we conclude, I just want to give you the website again from my guest, Bill Koenig White House correspondent. And he’s the president and the founder of Worldwatch Daily, their website at watch.org. Very simple, watch.org. And you’ll find their articles primarily dealing with the Middle East and Israel, some tangential relationship there, I think. And you can find that it’s updated regularly and what is there is trustworthy. It’s a good sight to keep an eye on.

That being the case, we’ve talked about what’s been happening here now with the Middle East. All eyes are there. The Bible says all eyes would be on the Middle East increasingly, and it is. I don’t think that we’re going to see any kind of time in the days ahead where that will not be the case, because that’s just simply what scripture says. So increasingly, the world’s attention is drawn to the Middle East. And ultimately, Jerusalem, we are told becomes a stumbling stone, something too burdensome to handle. People can’t leave it alone. The leaders of the world can’t leave it alone, it seems, but when they try to do anything with it, they get crushed by it. Why is that? Well, because God’s ultimate plan of redemption is being fulfilled, and it will be fulfilled there physically in that land of the Middle East and on the soil of what is Israel and there in the city of Jerusalem.

So that’s where it all goes. But Bill, today we’ve considered the more essential elements. I’m going to put that way of this growing Mid-East and global war. A lot more we could say, but I think we’ve touched on the big bars on the chart. But how it ends, we know from scripture and the road between now and then when Christ returns and his second coming at the second coming to the Mount of Olives, physical return. That will happen. We know at the end of the tribulation, we know that because the Bible says that makes it clear. But let me ask you a couple of key questions that I think people have. And one of those is at the moment, Israel is seeking complete regime change in Iran. They’ve made that clear, and that’s why they call it their Mosaic Initiative, whatever it is, but they keep knocking off the leaders of Iran.

That’s a specific strategy that they’re doing, but they think that they want to see complete regime change. And I’ve heard them state it. I think even Israel Katz has stated in others where Iran will never be able to threaten Israel again. Now that is a really significant goal, but I look at that and I say, hmm, is that a human goal? Is that goal realistic from a prophetical perspective? So I asked you that. Is it a realistic goal? Is it a prophetical objective?

Bill Koenig:

Sam, great question. Really great question. My wife Tanya and I have been discussing this the last couple of weeks. And even this morning, Sam, again, we put our weekly news report and commentary on williamkoenig.com. I might share that with your listeners. And we’re writing quite a bit right now because we have the context. Obviously, we care a lot about America. We care about the midterms. We care about this president. We care about a lot of the positive things he’s doing. And he’s at a very difficult time right now because if he continues to go in and attempt to overthrow this leadership in Iran, and that leads to our Sunni allies, refineries getting hit, their desalinization plants getting hit, which is 75 to 95% of their drinking water, it could be devastating. Iran has so much leverage, and I think Israel in some ways is so close to really finishing the job.

They’ve been saying it another two weeks. Even President Trump has said two to four weeks one day, and then the next day it’s less than that. He kind of goes back, ebbs and flows. So Sam, this is such an interesting question that you brought up because we know the God of Israel will always be there for Israel. He does not sleep or slumber. He will be there for Israel. And will Israel ultimately be on their own? I give President Trump tremendous credit for the courage and how God used him and having selected an ambassador like Mike Huckabee who is so solid, biblically and prophetically, who probably had a significant role in President Trump going in for 72 hours in the 12 day war last June. It was very important. So there’s business to be done, but what will it cost the United States and the international community?

And Iran being the three dimensional chess players they are, they know the leverage they have. So we’re at a point right now, biblically and prophetically is what’s to happen, Sam. I mean, what do you think? I mean, we really had a very significant role. You and I are huge supporters of Israel. You and I are both at

The Christian Media Summit in November in Israel, and we’re great supporters, but what a position

Sam Rohrer:

For

Bill Koenig:

Israel will be in the United States to make it having a difficult and a tough decision for the Trump administration to make.

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah, it is tough. But I remember on this program, another one of my guests, Jeremy Gee and I were talking several years ago when Joe Biden was still in office and he was going to impose major economic sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine. And he made a statement there that was very, very bold and said, “I am going to impose these economic sanctions. I’m going to bring Russia to its knees and they will capitulate.” And we sat on the program right when that happened. I said, “No, they won’t.” No, he won’t. No, those sanctions will not. Russia will not disappear from the scene because biblically they lead the coalition that comes down against Israel now that we’re talking and Persia happens to be a part of them. So yeah, so I look at it and I say, “No, no. Somehow, some way there may be a change, but they’re not going to disappear and all of a sudden become a friend of Israel.” Not yet.

So that’s how I would look at that bill and say, “How do you know that? ” Well, Bible says that. So comment on that, but I wanted you to close and give some commentary on this. The other day, an Iranian missile landed about 1200 feet from the Temple Mount. I have envisioned, wow, wouldn’t that be something to see one go right into the dome of the rock and all of a sudden you’ve got a cleared space for the tribulation temple, the third temple to be built. There’s a lot going on on that. Can you fill in any detail relative to the move within Israel for the third temple and anything that is involved in all of this that you can give some comment about?

Bill Koenig:

Sam, I’ve thought the same thing over the years, that whether it was an earthquake or an errant missile that took out the dome of the rock, and literally it was pretty close to the dome of the rock of these at 1200 feet. Jerusalem seems to have a dome of protection over it, but that’s where the third temple’s going to be. I’ve talked to some people involved with the third temple that there is some land up there. They could go ahead and set things up, even an altar that’s close to the dome of the rock. It’s not where it is, or the Alaska mosque. There’s different perspectives. Some say, no, Israel has to have the entire top, but there are some people saying, “No, there is land up.” And I think it’s a northeast corner that Israel could start building something, even the altar, even due to the sacrifices.

So Sam, this is a big deal. Some of our friends in Israel and Israel 365 and others are talking about the third temple. Some of the Orthodox Jews are talking about the Messiah coming. They know these are biblically and prophetically time, prophetically significant times, and more and more people are talking about it. And as our good friend Randall Price used to say, “There is no more valuable land in the world than 34 acres there called the Temple.

Sam Rohrer:

That’s absolutely right. And Bill, we’re out of time. Thanks for being with us again. And what was it? Billkoenig.com? What was that site?

Bill Koenig:

Yeah, Williamkoenig.com.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. Williamkoenig.com. Ladies and gentlemen, go there for other things that they’re writing. Thanks for being with us today and keep looking up.