Recently we posted about a developing Turkey-Syria-Iran Axis of Islamic power. Now here’s an article by Joel Richardson that continues this discussion and fills in a few more blanks: “Will Turkey lead a revived Islamic empire?”
In the article, Joel provides this chilling quote from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan:
“[The] Mosques are our barracks, [the] domes our helmets, [the] minarets our bayonets, [the] believers our soldiers. This holy army guards my religion. Almighty our journey is our destiny, the end is martyrdom.”
Meanwhile, the Obama administration and many leaders in Europe and the United Nations are hoping that Erdogan will be a mediator between the Israelis and the Palestinians and be able to finally negotiate and broker a resolution and a lasting peace.
According to Richardson, President Ahmadinejad of Iran recently visited Turkey and made a symbolic gesture that has the entire Islamic world talking, but the significance was totally missed by the Western leaders and media:
“During a visit to Istanbul, Iranian President Ahmadinejad stood inside the Sultanahmet Mosque and prayed behind a Turkish Sunni imam. Ahmadinejad then stated, “The political meaning of this act is immense.” Many within Turkey and the broader Islamic world took notice. According to Oktar, this was a sign that Ahmadinejad and the Iranian government are supporting the emerging Turkish-led Islamic Union. In an interview with the Iranian Press, Mr. Oktar said:
This act of Mr. Ahmadinejad, performing his prayers behind a Sunni imam, is very, very meaningful. Above all it means “if a Turkish-Islamic Union is to be formed, I will abide a Sunni imam, I will accept him as an imam.” … This is what it means. … I mean it has a highly important significance.
So, has Iran truly expressed its support of Turkey’s emerging regional power? Will more gullible Israelis believe as Rabbi Fromen does, that Turkey and Prime Minister Erdogan represent the only hope for the Middle East? Will STRATFOR and the NIC’s vision of a revived Turkish Empire come to pass? Again, only time will tell.”
Joel Richardson also notes at the end of his article that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be visiting Washington next month (December 7) and meeting up with President Obama to discuss the Middle East. It should be interesting to see what comes out of the meeting.
Response: There are a lot of Christian Bible scholars which are all of a sudden interested in watching what may come of a Turkish led union. Joel Richardson in his recent book: “The Islamic Antichrist” proposes that the rise of a new Islamic union could fulfill some of the Biblical prophecies concerning the rise of the ‘Antichrist’ and a new world empire based in Turkey and former territories that used to make up the Roman Empire.
Typically Christian students of Eschatology and the ‘end-times’ in the past have looked towards Rome and Western Europe as the basis for a revived ‘last days Roman Empire’.
However, some Bible students including myself are now looking at the rise of Islam and the possibility that the ‘revived empire’ could be based in the Middle East and North Africa which were also part of the old Roman Empire but also features countries which are named in the Bible as part of the coalition that attacks Israel in a last days Ezekiel 38-39 scenario.
Only time will tell, but a revived Islamic empire one way or another is a chilling prospect to say the least.