The Antichrist wanted Jerusalem intact. He also wanted the Jews of Jerusalem to be alive when he entered the holy city. He had no desire to kill them. He wanted them to bow down before him, to beg him for mercy, to acknowledge that he—not Jehovah—was the one true god. Over and over he savored the sweet victory that lay ahead of his forces.

When Haifa had been cleared of radiation, convoys of vessels from Marseilles, Naples, Trieste, Constanza, Odessa, and Istanbul began crowding the limited port facilities of Haifa to unload their cargo of tens of thousands of troops, armor, and supplies belonging to the Union for Peace.

The high command in Babylon had coordinated the troop movements so that the huge force from the east would enter Israel from Syria through the Golan Heights. The troops from Turkey and Europe would enter at Haifa, then move southeast through the mountain pass inland from the coast.

The forces would join at the broad and fertile plain of Jezreel.

On the west of the Jezreel plain was the silent sentry that for centuries had guarded the Via Maris north from Egypt and south into Israel and Egypt from ancient Assyria. At this place, the Via Maris was intersected by the road south from the harbor at Haifa. This military outpost had been built and demolished no less than twenty times, and was now nothing but a ruin, a “tell” or mound, bearing witness to its four-thousand-year history. Its name was Megiddo. By virtue of being rebuilt so many times, they called it a hill or “mountain.” Hence, the name Mount Megiddo. The name in Hebrew is Har Megiddo, and in Greek, Armageddon.

As the invading ground forces were gathering, the sky over northern Israel was filled with airplanes. The kill ratio was decidedly in Israel’s favor, but that was not enough. There was no way that a tiny nation could send into battle enough fresh missiles, replacement aircraft, and replacement pilots to match the combined air power of the military forces of the world. The Israeli pilots fought like supermen, but that was not enough. Soon, the Antichrist controlled the skies. From a military perspective, the battle was now his.

On the ground it seemed that the skies and, consequently, the battle belonged to the might of the Antichrist. But, in the skies above the skies, another battle was being waged with much greater intensity.

Although Satan had remained in Babylon, he had ordered his lieutenants to maintain control of the heavens at all costs. But this was fast becoming an impossibility for them. The Archangel Michael had been sent by Almighty God with the largest contingent of angelic powers ever known in the history of the world. As Israeli planes were seemingly losing control of the lower atmosphere, their allies above were winning the fight.