(Published on 26.10.2023)
“Talking Turkey”
(Daniel 8:23-26) “In the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people. “And through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency. ”The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future.”
“Talking Turkey” about its Timetable
On October 17 2023 in the online publication of the Nordic Monitor a headline read; “Turkey’s paramilitary contractor SADAT calls for army of Islamic countries to intervene in Israel.” According to a statement in the report it said;
“In a press release in Turkish and Arabic on October 13, the Association of Justice Defenders Strategic Studies Center (ASSAM), a front organization run by private military contractor SADAT, which many believe is a de facto paramilitary force loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, praised the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, making a series of contentious claims regarding the Israeli response. SADAT proposed the deployment of an army comprising Islamic countries in the region to put an end to Israel’s occupation (as they call it).”
Also in the same report it mentioned the founding of SADAT, an organization loyal to the Turkish President. It stated…
“SADAT was established by Adnan Tanrıverdi and his associates on February 22, 2012. Tanrıverdi is a former military officer who served as a chief advisor to Erdogan for years. He had to leave his position following a Nordic Monitor report that he had been working to pave the way for the long-awaited Mahdi (prophesied redeemer of Islam), for whom the entire Muslim world is waiting. The implication was that President Erdogan was the expected leader and Mahdi.” “SADAT described the Hamas attacks as a natural response to Israel’s years of isolation, oppression and torture in Palestine. The organization emphasized that it was a manifestation of the Palestinian people’s rebellion against their confinement in an open-air prison, where they have been denied their homeland for decades. SADAT characterizes Israel as a “state of terror, while Hamas, which is labelled as a terrorist organization by the West, is referred to as the “Gaza government.”
“Talking Turkey” about Peace?
In light of the conflict between Israel and Gaza Erdogan is seeking to be the one to mediate between the two opposing armed forces. He is seeking to position himself as one who wants to promote peace in the region. Of course he has made it quite clear publically that he supports Hamas and the idea of a so called ‘Palestinian State.’ He favours more the ‘Palestinian Arabs’ and their humanitarian plight than he does for the Jewish people, especially those slaughtered by the demonically inspired terrorist organization Hamas on October 7th.
“Talking Turkey” about Terror
While somewhat reluctant in publically acknowledging the deaths of men, women, children, young adults and beheaded babies and grandparents and holocaust survivors murdered by Hamas and Gaza citizens accompanying them in their massacre of innocent Jews, Erdogan also exonerates more so the cause of Hamas. This seems to be clear in a video of him speaking to the Turkish Parliament yesterday after the tragic events of October 7th where he clearly revealed his view of Hamas. He said; “Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a liberation group, a group of Mujahedeen that is fighting to protect its citizens.” He is also an adherent to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood which has as its goal the Islamization of the world. The desire for A Turkish Ottoman Islamic caliphate is always on Erdogan’s agenda.
“Talking Turkey” about Jerusalem
There is no doubt that Erdogan would love to take Jerusalem for Islam as this would make him the No1 contender for the global Caliphate. Some time ago earlier this year he called for all Muslims in Israel to storm the Temple Mount for Islam. Turkey, being a NATO member may well be given this role as a mediator for peace between Israel and Gaza by NATO and endorsed by the UN and possibly even by the EU even though the UN does label Hamas as a terrorist organization. Turkey is close to Israel and earlier this year made overtures of wanting to rectify past differences they had with Israel.
“Talking Turkey” about Hamas
Turkey, which has backed Palestinian Arabs in the past and hosted members of Hamas while supporting a two-state solution, has been working to mend ties with Israel after years of acrimony. Unlike the European Union and United States, Ankara does not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation as he has clearly stated in the Turkish parliament yesterday. HUDAPAR, the Free Cause Party, is an Islamist political party allied with Erdogan’s AK Party who met with senior Hamas official Bassem Naim and held a news conference in the Turkish parliament alongside him. While not openly blaming Israel, Erdogan has also said that “the latest fighting is due to years of injustices against Palestinians and that the only path to peace is the formation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state” which of course raises the matter of the two-state solution from hell, a so called ‘solution’ endorsed by both the western and Arabic nations globally!
Of course the Hamas hierarchy and its remorseless killers for Allah know full well that Erdogan is their supporter and committed to a global Islamic caliphate and that he wants the whole of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel back under the control of a resurrected Turkish Ottoman Empire, as was the case with his Turkish Ottoman forebears in the past. This idea of a global caliphate is common knowledge throughout the whole Muslim world waiting for the coming of the Mahdi to redeem and establish Islamic rule on a global scale. No doubt the man from Turkey would not turn down the offer to become the first caliph of this resurrected Turkish Ottoman beast empire of global proportions he deeply desires.
“Talking Turkey” about Pergamum
Now ancient Pergamum was located in modern day Turkey and one of the letters the Lord Jesus wrote to the seven assemblies in the Book of Revelation was to the assembly at Pergamum. Prophetically, the seven assemblies located in what is today modern Turkey, were not only seven literal assemblies that existed in the first century but can also prophetically represent the Body of Messiah as a whole down through history, but especially in these last days in which we are now living. It was at Pergamum that Emperor worship really kicked in by Augustus Caesar who had himself deified, a character trait of the final antichrist to come (Daniel 11:36-37) (2 Thessalonians 2:4). It was at Pergamum that you had the huge Pergamum Altar, a large temple that had been built to honour the ‘god’ Zeus, the chief of all the Greco-Roman ‘gods.’ When writing His letter through His servant John to this assembly the Lord Jesus said that Pergamum was the city where “Satan had his throne” and “the city where Satan lives.” Also it mentions that Antipas the faithful witness to Jesus was killed there. The coming beast empire of the Antichrist will go after Jews but also the faithful Body of Messiah.
“Talking Turkey” about the Antichrist
In these last days it seems prophetically that the Holy Spirit is telling us that the final faithful Body of the Messiah will have to face the beast empire of the Turkish Antichrist before the Lord Jesus comes back. In In the book of Daniel prophetically we see that the end-time Body of the Messiah will be persecuted by the Antichrist (Daniel 7:21-21, 25-27). We also see that after this time of severe persecution, lasting three and a half years in duration, the Lord Jesus comes back and rescues His saints, delivers Israel, and destroys the Antichrist and his beast empire, and after that the saints of the Most High God will possess the Kingdom of God on earth (Daniel 7:18, 22, 26-27). See also: (Revelation 12:17; 13:5-7).
Now we know from the Word of God that the Antichrist’s ultimate goal will be to set up his headquarters at Jerusalem where he will also meet his demise and not by human hands but by the Messiah Himself when He returns (Daniel 11:45). The Antichrist and all of the nations that have been a part of His Empire will be smashed and ground all together at once into fine dust and swept away without a trace left in the mighty wind of God’s spiritual tornedo! (Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45). With these things in view let’s very briefly look at our text in Daniel 8:23-26 and apply it prophetically.
Daniel Chapter 8:23-28 : Exposition
“In the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course”
When Alexander the Great died his empire was parcelled out to his four major generals Cassander who ruled the Macedonian Empire, Ptolemy who reigned in Egypt, Antigonus, who ruled in what is now modern day Turkey and Seleucus, who ultimately ruled over the entire eastern part of Alexander’s empire. Out of the Seleucid Empire came Antiochus Epiphanes, who coming out of Syria invaded Israel. At first he seemed to be coming in peace but suddenly turned on the Jews and started to murder them, forbidding the reading of the Torah, introducing Greek customs and regulations and introducing cult prostitution connected to the worship of their Greek ‘gods.’
He also stopped the sacrifices in the Temple and also erected an image to Zeus in the Jewish temple and slaughtered a pig on the altar in the temple at Jerusalem. Many Jewish leaders also compromised with Antiochus’ policies and engaged in the prostitution and also betrayed their fellow Jews who were fighting as a resistance movement against Antiochus. This went on as the Maccabee guerrilla fighters and patriots continued to fight the Seleucid Greeks and eventually winning over them, driving them out of Israel and reconsecrating the Temple, an event on the Jewish calendar which the Jews celebrate on Hanukah to this day! (Daniel 8:9-12).
What Antiochus Epiphanes did (His name actually means ‘god manifest’) teaches us about what the Antichrist will do in relation to Israel in these last days. When rebellion against God is at its height in the world the Antichrist will come. The sinful and rebellious nations of the world and apostate Christendom with its counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders controlled by the spirit of antichrist and many in Israel, will pave the way for this man of sin called the Antichrist to be revealed, who will rule over his vast empire of global proportions by sitting in God’s Temple at Jerusalem which has always been Satan’s goal and he will be personally indwelling this man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
As we see the whole world turning away from God and the apostasy within wider Christendom now in full-swing we can see the stage being set for the coming of this man of sin. He will come out of Syria as Antiochus did. Today Turkey, Iran and Russia all has military forces in Syria and if the truth be known their missile sights are facing Israel. Now you have the naval forces of China and America in the Middle- Eastern region as things are becoming very serious as the war between Israel and Hamas broadens in its scope with the possibility of a Hamas offensive from the north over the Golan Heights bordering on Syria. Erdogan of Turkey may well be the empire that actually kick starts the Ezekiel Chapter 38 offensive against Israel. Out of the eight nations mentioned in Ezekiel Chapter 38:1-5, five of them are located in modern day Turkey as you can see indicated on ancient maps of the Middle-East. What then will this man of sin be like? Let’s look at this…
“A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power”
In the KJV Bible he is described as “a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences.” He will be one who is “strong, vehement, harsh, ruthless, fierce, and greedy for power.” He will be a master of secret and dark riddles only he will know and spiritual deception, a master of obscure utterances, intrigue and a past master in practicing Taqyyia, the Islamic art of giving disinformation, lying and deception and even denying Islamic ideology in a time of Jihad. The fact that he is one who understands “dark sentences” shows us that he is under the power of the occult, being indwelt by Satan himself the master of all lies, the father of lies and of spiritual deception, a murderer and one in who truth does not dwell. As the Lord Jesus said to the religious leaders who wanted to kill him for speaking the truth; “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
In the Quran it actually calls Allah “the greatest of all deceivers.” Of course we know from God’s Word that God never lies or deceives and that in Him is light and no darkness dwells in Him at all (Numbers 23:19) (1 John 1:5). The Antichrist’s power will be supernatural and directly from Satan. Erdogan has this persona the same as Adolph Hitler who wrote Mein Kampf which is widely read in Turkey today. The man of sin, the son of perdition, will have the supernatural power to sway the masses and the clout to back up his antichrist agenda for his empire. Adolph Hitler was possessed by a very powerful principality. Hitler’s prowess as a speaker came from that demonic principality living on the inside of him.
If Erdogan is the prophesied man of sin, then a time will come when Satan will enter him personally and take possession of him as he did with Judas Iscariot who was the only other man mentioned in the Bible called the son of perdition! (John 17:12b) Israel may well receive Erdogan and his so called peace-keeping force without realising his true intentions so great will his deceptive power be. Also when the man of sin is worshipped in Israel he will in some way be worshipped at the same time within apostate Christendom. With the rapid advance in Artificial Intelligence, tracking technology and virtual reality technology we can see how this would work in the hands of fallen man, a subject in itself. Now let’s read on…
“…and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952, has its second largest army and is the host of the Allied Land Command headquarters. If Erdogan becomes the supreme caliph of Islam then he may well be heralded and hailed by the whole Muslim world as the final Mahdi of Islam and rally to his cause the Muslims in every nation. In Revelation chapter 9 we see a 200 million mobile armoured force coming over the dried up Euphrates River and a third of mankind will be killed by their massive fire power (Revelation 9:13-19). This army will be a permitted by God to judge a world that rejects His salvation and refuses to repent of their sins (20-21). The armies of the Antichrist will especially target and persecute and seek to destroy Jews and faithful Christians, the two people groups Satan hates the most (Revelation 13:5-7).
For three and a half years the Beast empire of the man of sin will prosper under Satanic power and many nations will fall to this power as his armed forces also fights opposing nations at the same time (Daniel 11:40-43).His final throne of power will be at Jerusalem where he will meet his demise with no one to help him (Daniel 11:45). That’s the good news! And even better news than that, after the Messiah our Lord Jesus has returned and has completely destroyed the Antichrist and his kingdom, the Messiah Himself will co-reign from Jerusalem with the redeemed Israel of God over the nations of the whole world that have survived His Second Coming (Isaiah 2:1-5) (Micah 4:1-5). Now let’s read on…
“And through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease.
Spiritual deception and subterfuge will prosper for a time under his hand. His Satanically empowered personality will cause multitudes within the whole realm of his empire to worship him as God and as a Messiah. Adulation and adoration will be the hallmarks of the people who worship this man who in his heart deifies himself. He will be one who does this as a crafty and cunning deceiver. He will magnify himself on the inside and accept accolades as God (Daniel 11:36) (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
If Turkey ends up mediating between Israel and the Muslim Arab world, which would be something of a supernatural nature, it will be a deception in itself. If Erdogan brings in Turkish armed forces to Israel to keep the peace as it were, then he will have the means to turn suddenly on the Jewish people without warning once he has established his rule. Already within Israel you have an Islamic Trojan Horse. Islam is the second-largest religion in Israel, constituting 1.707 million and around 18.1% of the country’s population as of 2022. While many Israelis and Jews live and work side by side in Israel the Gaza war may well see many of the Arabs in Israel turn against their Jewish neighbours if a call goes out for a global Jihad.
Erdogan knows this, and his desire to take back Jerusalem for the Muslims would be realised with a UN peace keeping force, something that America or other western nations would be unable to do or if the truth be known are not willing to do. Of course Turkey may be a UN member nation but by Erdogan’s rhetoric and anti-Semitic leanings he is increasingly distancing himself and Turkey from the UN. At present it would be to his advantage to keep currying favour with the UN while at the same time going under the UN radar he plans and plots the best way for Turkey to gain the advantage over the UN to position Turkey as the major peace keeping force in the Middle-East. Even though he manages to achieve this Hams and Hezbollah and Iran and their proxies in the Middle-East know that he is onside anyway. Even in a time of Jihad Islamic leaders can show submission to those they intend to conquer by the sword until they have the advantage and then strike with the deadly speed of a piousness Adder.
The man from Turkey, if he has his way, would do what Antiochus did to the Jewish people. At present the war continues between Israel and Hamas, and Hezbollah are not going away anytime soon. The Houthis are stirring in Yemen and starting to launch missiles towards Israel. Hamas is launching hundreds of rockets into Israel while Hezbollah are upping the ante on their fighting with Israeli forces in the north and Iran is fuelling the fire. It may well be that if Erdogan does bring about a peace treaty of sorts between Israel and its Islamic neighbours that the Middle-East region will have a reprieve of sorts from war much to the relief of the nations. However it will not last! Now let’s continue…
“He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency. ”The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future.”
The man of sin in setting up his empire and sitting in the Temple of God proclaiming to be God will in fact be opposing the Prince of princes, the Messiah Himself our Lord Jesus. When He comes back the power of the Antichrist will be broken by God’s power. The heavenly thrones will be set in place and the sentence of God’s judgement passed and executed accordingly (Daniel 7:8-14). Ezekiel actually describes the decent of the Antichrist into hell to meet all of the antichrists that have preceded him and the armies of the Islamic nations that have sought Israel’s destruction will also join them there as well (Isaiah 14:9-12) (Ezekiel 32:18-32).
Will the man from Turkey be the Mahdi of Islam and the Antichrist prophesied to come in God’s Word, the Bible? Time will tell, however, one must consider this question. Why did the Lord Jesus write His seven letters to seven assemblies all located in Turkey? Is the Holy Spirit warning the Body of Messiah corporately in these last days in every nation that the man of sin will come from Turkey? Already millions of faithful New Covenant believers are suffering imprisonment, oppression and martyrdom and most of it by Islam hunting down the offspring of the woman Israel, whose offspring are those who obey God’s commandments and hold fast to their testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17). While Satan will for three and a half years persecute Israel and the Body of Messiah spiritually grafted into Israel as a nation, Satan will not win! He met his first defeat at Jerusalem and will meet his last defeat at Jerusalem as well.
Now concerning Gog mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel we need to understand some things about this man. Gog mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 38 we are told is from the land of Magog which on ancient Middle-Eastern maps is located in modern day Turkey. Gog is the Antichrist who leads the Ezekiel chapters 38 &39 offensive against Israel. Being Gog from the land of Magog tells us that he will be Turkish. We are also told that Gog is the chief prince or ruler over Meshech and Tubal, both of which are also shown on ancient Middle-Eastern maps located in modern day Turkey. In this whole matter we must stick to the Word of God in context and in light of its co-texts. As events prophesied in God’s Word get closer, things will become clearer to those who walk by faith and in step with the Spirit of God and seek to know the wisdom of God in these end-times.
Epilogue:
Both Israel and the faithful Body of Messiah are going to face their darkest hour in human history and we should be getting ourselves ready for these fierce and stressful times that are coming upon the world (2 Timothy 3:1). Daniel put it this way when he writes; “Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand” (Daniel 12:10). As blood-redeemed, blood sanctified, blood purchased, blood washed, blood protected and Spirit sealed children of the Living God we are destined for tribulation in this world but not for the wrath of God. At this time when the Body of Messiah, the blood redeemed, blood washed born again Spirit filled Children of God facing persecution, trials and oppression will know His wisdom and know it liberally as they seek, believe and ask for it in the troubled times they will be facing (James 1:2-7). As New Covenant believers we are also to keep in mind that while we are destined for these trials and for the time of tribulation we are not destined to experience God’s wrath.
As the apostle Paul writes; “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Messiah, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). As our Lord Jesus Himself said; “In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33). And again the apostle John tells us how we can overcome all that Satan throws our way in these last of the last days. John writes; “They (faithful believers) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony and did not love their lives (in this world) so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11).
Our best weapon against Satan and his cohorts from Hades is the blood of Jesus. When we confess verbally what the Bible says the blood of Jesus does in us, and for us, and we ask God to help us not to love our lives in this world or the things this world offers even if it means we must lay down our lives, we will overcome Satan every time he attacks us. Every morning we can ask by faith for God to cover and protect us by the blood of Jesus Messiah. We have been provided with the power of the Word of God, the power of the Spirit of God and with the power to pray continuously in the Holy Spirit, and to avail ourselves of the whole armour of God, putting it on piece by piece every morning 24/7, however, it is the blood of Jesus Messiah that will shake Satan and his cohorts from hades to the very core of their being and drive them out of our affairs. They cannot stand the blood of Jesus Messiah!
As we start to avail ourselves daily moment by moment through the confession of our faith in Jesus saving and keeping power in His blood, we will go from strength to strength and eventually by the Spirit’s power use be enabled by the Spirit of God to use the blood and its power against Satan in the same way a mechanic has been trained to use a wrench! The more we avail ourselves of the blood every day the stronger we will become spiritually and the weaker Satan’s power will be in keeping us from laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us so that we can run the race God has set before us for this life and to finish the course He has ordained and go to our eternal reward, having crossed the finishing line with flying colours died red!
Dear brothers and sisters in Messiah our Lord Jesus, beloved of God, the time is now short as we see the end of this present age coming to a close. There is still some time to go and the end is not just yet, however, prophetic events in the Middle-east are escalating even as I write this article and the ‘birth pains’ mentioned in Matthew Chapter 24 are becoming more frequent and more intense. When we see this happening we know that ‘the birth of the baby’, God’s Messianic kingdom on earth, is rapidly approaching and is even now “at the very gates of the city.” It is the blood of Jesus Messiah that will keep us clean and prepared as a beautiful and clean bride for her spouse and that same blood by which we have been justified before God our Heavenly Father will also protect us from the coming wrath of God! (Romans 5:9) As we have been “Talking Turkey” let us never forget that once ‘the baby’ arrives who remembers ‘the birth pains’ in the euphoria of ‘the birth!’ Selah.
