In 1453 AD the Eastern leg of the Ancient Roman Empire fell to the Turkish Ottoman Empire thus ending 2,000 years of Roman domination. Eastern Christendom had been “gutted” by Islam. Countries like Syria, Iraq and other Middle-Eastern regions where Christianity had flourished were soon overrun by Islam. Last month on May 29th the annual ceremony of the fall of Constantinople was celebrated at the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul (formerly Byzantium), built in the sixth century Byzantine Empire as the centrepiece of its capital. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally commemorated the conquest with Islamic prayers at the Hagia Sophia. He used the term “conquest” rather than the word “invasion.” When President Erdoğan wished God to grant Turks “many more happy conquests” it poses the question; “which non-Turkish lands is he hoping to “conquer”? At this ‘celebration’ he recited from the Quran.
Before the City of Byzantium fell to the Ottoman Turks the Hagia Sofia Cathedral was to Eastern Christendom what the Vatican was and still is to Western Christendom. When Constantinople (Istanbul today) fell to the Ottoman Turks it was seen by Islam as a major conquest over Christendom and that Islam was more powerful than Christianity. In the centuries following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Islamic forces attempted to sack and conquer Rome itself, the home of the Vatican, but were never successful. No doubt when President Erdoğan speaks of “conquest” he also has in mind the fall of western Christendom which is symbolised by the Vatican.
President Erdoğan, an advocate for the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, agrees with their agenda to establish a global Islamic empire ruled by Sharia Law and the teachings of the Koran. It is very clear he intends to see the Turkish Ottoman caliphate resurrected to become a global power. Of course there is no guess as to whom he has in mind to be the supreme Caliph of the Islamic world? The main agenda for Islam is the conquest of Israel and Rome and then the world. If they can get the Temple Mount and the Vatican then to the Islamic mindset it would signify that the “god” of Islam is greater than the God of the Jews and the Christians.
Many western Bible prophecy teachers today, mostly in America, see the future Antichrist as a European who presides and rules over a revived Roman Empire. However, scripture clearly reveals that the final antichrist or the man of sin will come out of the Middle-East and that his empire will spread across the Middle-East and sweep down into Africa and Egypt and into Israel and also reach into much of Europe even to the possibility of sacking Rome itself. According to Islamic thinking turning Vatican City with its Basilica into an Islamic enclave and Mosque would supposedly show to the whole Islamic world that Islam is right and Christianity is false. The Hagia Sofia itself was converted into a mosque after the fall of Constantinople. At present the Hagia Sofia is a Museum which was ratified when Turkey became a secular nation under Kemal Ataturk.
However, in Turkey secularism is most definitely on the way out and Koranic Islamic law is on the way in and has been established there for years since Turkey returned to its Turkish Ottoman roots. Now President Erdoğan wants to re-convert the Basilica to a Mosque once again. The overall mindset of Islamic ideology is to see the Hagia Sofia, the Vatican and the Temple Mount all under Islamic sovereignty. The man of sin (antichrist) will not be a man of peace but a man of war and one who persecutes the people of God both Jews and Christians. Scripture confirms this. (Daniel 2:40; 7:7,19-23, 25; 8:9-12, 23-25; 11:36-40; 12:7) (Revelation chapters 12 & 13) Islam itself has the emblem of the crossed swords and they are pointed upwards, signifying conquest by the sword. The word “conquest” sits well with Islamic ideology and proven by its long and bloody history especially perpetrated against Jews and Christians. Nothing has changed today and we see this bloodshed being spread all over the globe today.
The whole western democratic nations are at war with Islam. If anything 9/11 clearly showed this to be true. Why previous men like Obama and the leaders in Europe would even consider a nuclear deal with the likes of Iranian regime leaves one wondering what makes these politicians tick? At least President Trump had the fortitude to stop the Iranian nuclear deal in its tracks! I guess for the most part money and power is the name of the game in political circles. The whole western world including Israel and Western Christendom is on a collision course with Islam. Right at the end of this age a war is coming like no other war that has ever occurred in past history and one that will eclipse WW1 and WW2 in severity and scope. (Revelation 9:13-19) The Book of Revelation tells it as it is!
Brothers and sisters the faithful Church on a global scale is going to pass through a time of Great Tribulation unlike anything else that has ever occurred in the past or will occur in the future but for the sake of His elect saints and for the survival of the world God will cut those days short. (Matthew 24:21-22) In the Western democracies we have so far been free of the terrible persecution we are seeing happening to our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus in Islamic nations as well as in countries such as China, North Korea and in Russia. However, things are rapidly changing in the western democracies as we are now living in a post Christian world. COVID-19 is just the beginning of the ‘signs’ of the Lord’s return and I dare say things more than likely will never be the same again. The freedoms we have taken for granted over the years are being eroded and men committed to secularism are coming into power that are seeking to control and manipulate the masses.
Communist China is showing its true nature as it sits on a possible war front on its border with India, not to mention China’s expansionist policies in the South China Sea and incursions into the South Pacific Region. America is weighed down with the Coronavirus, with race riots and violence, with pornography, sodomy, hedonistic and materialistic lifestyles, non-therapeutic abortion and by and large a spiritually backslidden Church. Europe itself is post Christian by and large and divided and subject to Islamic migration. The whole of the Middle-east, apart from Israel, has been overrun by Islam. The world is in a crisis like never before with the ‘signs’ the Lord Jesus mentions happening in frequency and intensity just before He returns. (Matthew 24) (Mark 13) (Luke 21)
Nations are now in anguish and perplexity and the tossing conditions in the nations of the world and leaders not knowing the way out. Men are fainting from terror and apprehensive of what is coming on the world. (Luke 21:25-28) These are the last of the last days we are living in. The climax of the ages is fast approaching, how far away the Lord Jesus’ Second Coming is we cannot tell but the signs of it are very conspicuous today. When we see the rise of the Caliphate in Turkey and places of worship being turned into mosques and Islam spreading its tentacles throughout the nations we see the resurrected beast empire immerging, the one that people will say of it; “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?” (Revelation 13:4b)
Having said all of these things the day is coming when the saints will be raptured and rescued and Israel will be delivered. This will also see the man of sin and his forces destroyed on the mountains of Israel and the nations subdued by the Rider on the White Horse accompanied by the armies of heaven, the saints and the remnant of Israel. It will be a fiery judgement! (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10) (Revelation 19:11-16) (Jude 1:14) (Zechariah 14:14) The world and its overlord Satan, his man of sin and all of their evil forces will be defeated when they make war with the Lamb of God. As John writes; “They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings-and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation 17:14)
In this life as believers in the Lord Jesus even though we will experience tribulation and persecution and possibly even die for the Lord Jesus, we will be raptured and resurrected at the Second Coming of the Messiah, to fight at His side and ultimately to co-reign with Him in the Messianic Kingdom over the surviving nations. (Revelation 2:26-27; 5:10) So then it is clear that the man from Turkey has an agenda to see a resurrected Turkish Ottoman Empire that will see “many more happy conquests” but what he does not recon on is that in the final analysis “The lamb Wins!!!” and so do we!!!
