Hearts Bent on Evil?

“The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time.” (Daniel 11:27)

        Turkey and Russia have come to an agreement concerning Northern Syria. After a meeting between President Erdogan of Turkey and President Putin of Russia earlier this week the two leaders have agreed to have joint Turkish and Russian forces patrol the border region between Turkey and Syria. President Assad speaking to Syrian troops called President Erdogan “a thief” in that in reality as far as Assad was concerned the man from Turkey had in fact invaded Syria.

        While the Assad regime is backed by Russia President Erdogan must continue to ‘play politics.’ While Presidents’ Erdogan and Putin have been ‘sitting at the same table’ it may well be that they are lying to each other because their hearts are bent on evil against each other. In other words both Turkey and Russia are expansionist nations where the economic interests of their countries comes first but can either of them be trusted? Does each one trust the other?

        We do know that the Antichrist “by peace will destroy many!” It has also been reported in the media that Turkey has been using chemical weapons against the Kurdish civilians and even though there is evidence confirming it President Erdogan is saying that the YPG are deliberately doing this to their own people to gain public sympathy. Of course everyone knows that this is not the case with the Kurds themselves. The Kurds are a unified people especially concerning their families. In light of the past history of Turkish Ottoman power innocent civilians have always been targeted and even slaughtered by Turkish soldiers.

      The Armenian genocide perpetrated by Turkey saw the physical annihilation of ethnic Armenian Christian people living in the Ottoman Empire from spring 1915 through autumn 1916. There were approximately 1.5 million Armenians living in the Empire. At least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million died during the genocide.

        Last month at the 74th session of the UN while holding up a map of Israel President Erdogan said; “Do not take the Jews and Christians as allies!” It was a quote from chapter 5 vs 51 from the Quran, the verse goes on to say; “They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”

        President Erdogan has his religious roots in Islam while President Putin has his religious roots in Russian Orthodox Christianity and they are poles apart theologically. Historically Turkey and Russia were at war with each other for at least three centuries. The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 17th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European history.

        Now you have the two leaders of Turkey and Russia sitting at the same table and talking about joining forces in Syria. Is the heart of these two leaders “bent on evil” towards each other as the King of the North and the South were bent on evil towards each other in past history when there was a temporary cessation of hostilities between them? What is the benefit for Turkey and Russia in such an alliance in Northern Syria?

       According to a report in the BBC two days ago the headline read “Russia, Turkey and Syrian government on the same page – but for how long?” Part of the article read; “Russian President Vladimir Putin meets his Turkish opposite number to underscore Moscow’s role as the would-be guarantor of stability in the region. Russia and Turkey will soon be mounting joint patrols to help delineate the boundary of the new, so-called security zone.

       Meanwhile, withdrawing US Special Forces vehicles are pelted with vegetables and rubbish as they leave their erstwhile Kurdish allies to their fate. The Turkish incursion into Syria and the US retreat have huge implications for both Syria itself and the region at large. Some of the impact is immediate and some potentially long-term.

       This is, in the first instance, a victory for the Turks, for Russia and for the Syrian government. Turkey has on the face of things got a large part of what it wanted. It keeps its troops and allied militias in those areas of Syria that it already controls. Russia and Syria appear to have agreed to ensure the departure of Kurdish forces from a broad swathe of territory running across almost the whole frontier zone…

      Turkey, Russia and Syria may be on the same page for now. But will this last? Is Turkey’s hold over Syrian territory going to become permanent? What say will the Kurds have? They are at a huge disadvantage but will they meekly succumb to the joint Russian-Turkish diktat? What, if any, alternative do they have?”

       Will Assad in the long term resist the Turkish presence in Syria? Turkey and Russia may be sitting at the same table but are the hearts of their leaders bent on evil planning towards each other? Will they end up fighting each other over territory and for economic advantage?

        In Daniel chapter 11 we are told that when this last King of the North is engaging in a war with the last king of the South that reports from the east and from the north will alarm the King of the North and it will enrage him to the point where he will eliminate many in his quest to spread Islam and the creed of the Muslim Brotherhood with the help of his foreign god. Of course his ultimate goal is to establish his headquarters in Jerusalem where he will meet his demise. (Daniel 11:38-45)

        To the north of Turkey is mainland Russia and to the east is Red China. Both of these nations have economic interests in Israel and may well become somewhat of a ‘thorn in the side’ of Turkey. The final invasion of Israel coming through the Golan Heights from the North will be spearheaded by Turkey, not Russia.

       The nations mentioned in the Ezekiel 38 invasion are all Islamic today. The only ‘Russians’ involved will be the Turkic speaking southern states of the former Soviet Union which are all Islamic enclaves today. President Erdogan of Turkey and President Putin of Russia may be shaking hands and smiling for the cameras but the question remains is it a mask for “the two kings with their hearts bent on evil?”