Going Cold Turkey

www.lamblion.com

Breaking developments in Middle East politics this past week will have huge prophetic consequences!

A new chill has descended into the otherwise hot Middle Eastern air as the nation of Turkey has gone cold on its once-friendly relations with the nation of Israel. After two decades of friendship between Turkey and Israel, an end of an era has been reached.

What has happened to cut ties between Turkey and Israel?

Turkey has taken a radical turn in their international policies:

1) Shifting from West to East

Turkey has long been moving towards partnerships with the Middle East after their difficulty in being accepted by Europe. The natural result has been for the Turkish government to recoil eastwards.

2) Following the fundamental voices of Islam

The resulting membership dues for joining the brotherhood of Muslim nations is to condemn everything Israel. Turkey is particularly wishing to punish Israel for the three-week Operation Cast Lead counter-terrorist war against Gaza that concluded in mid-January 2009.

3) Taking the lead in condemning Israel

Acting on this new direction, Turkey's Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan has become very vocal in his disdain for Israel. Israel National News (INN) reports Erdogan as "being in the forefront of criticizing the United Nations decision last month not to discuss the Goldstone Report that accused Israel of war crimes in the Gaza operation." Along with a number of Muslim and dictator-controlled third world countries, Erdogan has convinced the U.N. to consider the report seriously. Erdogan also stormed out of a panel discussion with President Shimon Peres about the war with Hamas earlier in the year.

4) Signing a treaty with Syria

On Tuesday, October 13, 2009, Turkey and Syria signed a Turkish-Syrian treaty that includes plans to strengthen military ties and to end visa requirements for each country. Syria is one of Israel's most aggressively hostile border enemies.

5) Engaging in joint military drills with Syria and Iran

Turkey has dropped military exercises with Western nations and instead has joined in joint military drills with Syria and Iran, the nation’s most vocally hostile towards Israel's existence. "The Syrian-Turkish military exercises were apparently being held at the same time that Turkey was informing Jerusalem that it would ban the IAF [Israeli Air Force] from participating in the joint Anatolian Eagle exercise, a move that was not made public by Israel until Sunday. The war games, scheduled to be held together with Turkey, the U.S. and Italy, reportedly were to include mock bombing raids in air space near the borders of Iran, Iraq and Syria."

How does the loss of Turkish-Israeli relations affect Israel?

1) An isolated Israel

Israel's loss of an ally in a Middle East full of millions of Muslim aggressors leaves it decidedly more isolated. As former Israeli Air Force Commander Eitan Ben-Eliyahu told an interviewer on Israeli television, "This is a seriously worrying development. Turkey is critically essential in the training of our air force over wide spaces, particularly given Turkey's strategic location adjacent to both Iran and Syria." Turkey was essential in allowing Israeli planes to attack a Syrian nuclear facility under construction two years ago by allowing the planes through their airspace.

2) An anti-Israel axis north of their border

A hostile Turkey leaves Israel without any friendly nation anywhere close to its northern border.

3) Emboldened enemies

Iran and other openly anti-Semetic nations are feeling emboldened by their newest ally in their desire to "wipe Israel off the map," as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has so enthusiastically threatened.

4) An even larger build-up against Israel

The influx of Turkish support into a coalition against Israel makes the threat of invasion against Israel loom even closer as more funds and troops are added to the build-up.


Can this shift in Turkey's alliances be found in Bible prophecy?

What we are witnessing today is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, particularly the solidifying of the alignment of nations that will compromise the Gog-Magog alliance described in Ezekiel 38-39.

A long 2,600 years ago the great Hebrew nabi Ezekiel unveiled the prophecy the Lord God had divulged to him concerning the future of the nation of Israel. An aggressive coalition of nations from the territories of ancient Rosh, Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Gomer and Beth-togarmah and led by a leader called "Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" (Ezek. 38:2-3) would gather to invade Israel. The battlefield would be on the "mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate" (Ezek. 38:. The purpose of the invasion will be to "plunder and loot" and destroy the people of Israel (Ezek. 38:12, 16).

Turkey now covers the former lands of Tubal, Gomer and Beth-togarmah. According to Ezekiel, Turkey will join in an alliance with the lands formerly known as Magog (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and possibly Afghanistan), Sudan (now the Sudan and Ethiopia), Put (now Libya and possibly Algeria and Tunisia), Persia (now Iran), quite possibly Azerbaijan and Armenia, and be led by a ruler called "Gog" from Rosh (now Russia). This very day, Turkey is solidifying its stand with these nations.

Before Turkey can join in the invasion of Israel, some of its alliances have to first be cut off. Noticeably absent from Ezekiel's list of Middle Eastern nations are those surrounding modern-day Israel, such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Gaza, Iraq and the Arab peninsula nations. Ezekiel 38:13 describes these nations as just observing the Gog-Magog Battle. A Psalm 83 scenario where Israel has to subjugate its surrounding neighbors would be the most logical forerunning to the Gog-Magog event. Turkey would then lose the alliance it just made with Syria when Syria is conquered by Israel and its capital Damascus is destroyed by a nuclear attack (Isa. 17:1-14; Jer. 49:23-27).

Has Turkey made a wise move?

The end result of an invasion by such a seemingly invincible coalition on a seemingly unprotected Israel will surprise Turkey and its allies and shock the world.

The invading nations are in truth being manipulated by God, pulled out of their lands as with "hooks in [their] jaws" (Ezek. 38:4), so that those nations can feel the "hot anger... [of] the Sovereign LORD" (Ezek. 38:18). God will drag Turkey and its allies to the "mountains of Israel" to "execute judgment upon him [Gog] with plague and bloodshed... torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him" (Ezek. 38:22).

God uses this battle for three purposes:

1) Israel becomes a super power.

The hostile Muslim nations will have their collective backs broken, thrusting Israel into control of the Middle East, becoming the newest world power.

2) Islam comes to an end.

The religion of Islam will be so greatly demoralized that it should see a mass exodus of its acolytes joining a coming one-world religion.

3) God reveals Himself to the world.

The most important purpose, God personally and supernaturally getting involved in destroying Turkey and its allies will "show my [God's] greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD" (Ezek. 38:23). By His supernatural victory in the Gog-Magog Battle, God reintroduces Himself to the world and declares in no uncertain terms that He is personally defending Israel.

God will turn Turkey's new hostilities towards Israel and its subsequent defeat into good for Israel and the world. All will know there is a God!

Wow, that's alot to take in, and process.