Jerusalem Did Not Figure in the Center of the Ottoman Life

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Oct 26, 2015 at 15:49

Having recognized the ambitions of Erdogan long ago and with the scholarship of Dr. Pipes lending so much towards this aspect of the Muslim resurgence in the Middle East, it is easy to see how one could adopt a position that in view of the Ezekiel prophetic perspective that Erdogan's shifting power base could be seen as the one that might lead the world into the abyss of its own ambitions, not the least of which is the reconquest of Jerusalem. In the Ottoman days, Jerusalem was not the center of the Sultanate; neither will it be in the future.

Jerusalem as the center of a caliphate makes a more compelling argument, even as Biblically impractical as it may seem. As is seen in the beginnings of the third intifada that Abbas and others have incited, it is the Temple Mount that becomes the vortex that the rest of the Middle East conflagration centers upon; for it is written, Jerusalem is now the essence of the meaning of the phrase: stumbling block. Erdogan cannot, will not reign there. The throne is still promised to the Son of David.

That being said, does Turkey still figure in the Ezekiel scenario? To be sure, yes it does; since from the time before the Galatians, Turkey, by its predecessors names (and by its prominence in the Apocalypse of John), has been at the crossroads of every major (and probably some minor) territorial conquests and is positione now to be the doormat to the invasion coming to a Israeli neighborhood near Jezreel.

Erdogan does appear to be catalytic to the events now unfolding; but his ascendancy has its own limits and he would do well to keep Turkey out of it; but alas........................

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