Turkey Has Eyes on Jerusalem

In this article we have two main prophecy players named...Turkey and Jerusalem.  It also explains more about the Hagia Sophia Cathedral that we blogged about earlier.

To understand just how dishonest the discussion about Jerusalem is when conducted in venues where Israel is regarded with hostility, like The New York Times, you need to start by discussing events in Istanbul, Turkey.

Last week, the regime of Turkish authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved to turn the clock back to 1453, when the Muslim Ottomans besieged the city then known as Constantinople. It was all that was left of the once-mighty Byzantine Empire, which ruled much of the region as the successor to ancient Rome in the eastern Mediterranean. When the city fell after a 53-day siege, the attacking forces engaged in an orgy of murder, rape, and destruction. 

But in the aftermath of the battle, the Ottoman Turks not only made the city the capital over which their empire would rule until the end of World War I; they also converted the city's largest church -- the Hagia Sophia, which was the center of Eastern Orthodox Christian worship -- into a mosque.

The action was typical of conquerors in that era, as well as in ancient times, and the symbolism of triumphant imperialistic Islam was obvious. But in the 20th century, when Turkey became a secular republic after the fall of the Ottomans, the Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum as part of secularist-leaning Kemal Atatürk's efforts to put Islamic extremism in the past.

A century later, Erdogan is determined to consign such enlightened attitudes to the dustbin of history. The Turkish leader's ambition to be the leader of the Islamic world is also motivating him to engage in the sort of gestures that will prop up notions about maintaining Islam's domination of the region.

In a statement, Erdogan said that the reimposition of Muslim worship at the Hagia Sophia is "the harbinger of the liberation of Masjid al-Aqsa [the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount]." That's a call for throwing Israel out of Jerusalem and the spot holiest in Judaism. That this incendiary comment came during the period when religious Jews begin the period of mourning for the destruction of the ancient Temple culminating on Tisha B'Av is probably coincidental but still chilling.

What happened in Constantinople was hardly unique. Invading Muslims did the same thing everywhere that they triumphed during the period when they spread their faith by force of arms from India to Europe. And, to be fair, Christian forces repaid the favor when they reconquered Spain and the Balkans by converting mosques into churches.

So when Erdogan echoes the Palestinian rhetoric of both the so-called moderates of Fatah and the extremists of Hamas about chasing the Jews from Jerusalem, he's not just signaling his hostility to the Jewish state. He's also making it clear that he wishes to claim the title of the guardian of Islam from Saudi leaders that many Muslims think are now tainted by their under-the-table relations with Israel.

Here;  https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4185

The Bible tells us that in the Last Days all eyes will be on Jerusalem.  This city is the "apple of God's eye" and He never takes his eyes off it.  For this reason, Satan wants it.  He wants to destroy and pervert anything that God has marked or said.  So of course a show down over this city will be part of the Last Days events.  The Jews will one day put up the 3rd Temple on the Temple Mount where there now stands a Mosque and the Dome of the Rock which are two of Islam's holiest sites.

Turkey will join with Russia and Iran probably soon following the rapture of the church which will cause the final destruction of America.  The enemies of God will see this as an opportunity to not only take the Temple Mount once and for all but also to seize the wealth that Israel has amassed. 

Tick-tock.