By Walid ShoebatIn 2012 the Mayan calendar prophecy, like the Y2K predictions, will come and go, failing the phony prognosticators, and the prudent will shun the idea of a European Union emerging as antichrist.What is coming on the horizon is an Islamic Union led by Turkey. If this sounds too bold, perhaps reading the Word of God will show that He does not mince words either. In Zechariah 9:13 the Lord without apology declares, “I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Yavan.” In this passage, Israel is seen fighting against Ionia, or Yavan, not the European Union.In several Bible versions, this word is translated as “Greece.” But Ionia/Yavan was simply a province that was located on the west coast of modern Turkey. This is crucial, because the clear context of this battle is the return of Christ: “Then Jehovah will appear over them” (Zechariah 9:14).The war with Islam is not simply a prelude to another invasion by a European Antichrist as is commonly taught, but the appearance of Christ Himself in person to fight Turkey. He will also fight Egypt (Isaiah 19) to rescue the remnants of Copts (native Egyptian Christians) that survive the impending massacre during Egypt’s coming civil war.Turkey (Iron) will take over the weakened clay nations of Egypt, Sudan/Somalia, Tunisia, and Libya (Daniel 11:42), which recently opted for Sharia rule over western secularism or democracy. This is exactly what we stated long ago. We will also see the Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, and the Turkmens (C.I.S.) joining Turkey’s Islamist model and pledging allegiance to the New Ottomans.A contest between cyber-rattling Iran (the “Bear”) and the fast moving, calm and collected Turkey (the “Leopard”) will ensue. Turkey will emerge as politically victorious in the region, with an accepted Islamist model, and the West accepting it as the mini-superpower in the Mediterranean region.Iraq will weaken as a result of America’s exit to simply be devoured by Iran. By this, Turkey will control the Suez Canal and the Bosporus Strait, while Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. This will undermine the U.S. naval hegemony in the region, which will eventually use its military armada alongside other allied European nations including Greece, Spain, and Italy in a showdown with Turkey.In the next few years, the West will enter an era like that of the late 1930s when Neville Chamberlain famously announced “peace in our time.” Thus, we will see the fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 5:3: “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come.” At this point, the West will find out that secular (moderate) Islam and fundamentalist (radical) Islam are two faces of the same coin.The good news, and unlike that which modern prophecy buffs have taught, the United States will continue to be the strongest military power that will stand against Turkey. The United States is “the mightiest fortresses” (Daniel 11:39) that will eventually destroy this Islamic alliance: “I am going to bring foreigners against you. . . . They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas” (Ezekiel 28:7-8).I believe the United States, alongside other allies, will wake up in the end. Christians need to stop giving heed to fatalists who warn of the impending doom of America, but fulfill their biblically mandated duty to their nation and recognize it is Satan’s kingdom that is doomed.I don’t see America or Europe in that prophetic model. I don’t see Europeans directly threatening Israel, but I do find Turkey parking its naval fleet on the Mediterranean as a direct threat to Israel. And I do see Erdogan hailed as a hero throughout the Muslim world when he angrily walked out on Israel’s President Shimon Peres at Davos in 2009 over the flotilla incident, turning the tide of Turkey-Israel relations sour since that time.And yet it was Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who brokered a deal ordering Hamas to release Gilad Shalit—something the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations failed to do. As France’s Sarkozy put it, Erdogan emerged as the perfect peace broker. He will eventually even have Hamas recognize Israel during this hudna (a tactical cease-fire in the Islamic world).The Islamists are changing “set times and set laws” (Daniel 7:25) by introducing Sharia rule. The Gog of Turkey, PM Erdogan, succeeded for years in establishing himself permanently by concocting the Ergenekon Conspiracy, an alleged plot to overthrow Erdogan by an elaborate network of retired military officers and other high officials. Erdogan does “not honor the desire of women” (Daniel 11:37), prohibiting them entry in the government and promoting the wearing of the hijab.It is not any European leader that is setting his eyes on Jerusalem but Erdogan who declared during his speech to the Organization of Islamic Council, “Jerusalem is the apple of the eye of every Muslim.” No French, Italian, or German European Union leader made such proclamations. And as we predicted, Turkey failed entry to the European Union, since the beast is the body of a leopard (Revelation 13:2)— the Greco-Roman and not European— with its feet of the bear (Iran) and its mouth of the lion (Babylonia).The Babylon of the End Times is not Iraq, which is soon to be gobbled up by Iran when the United States pulls its troops out. Most modern prophecy buffs predicted the revival of Iraq’s Babylon by Saddam Hussein. Their predictions are in the dustbin of history. They failed to examine Scripture closely, and isolated verses from their context. The Bible in End-Time prophecy never even mentions any of the ancient cities of Babylon. In every verse in the Bible where a location within this predicted Babylon is mentioned, that vicinity or city is in Arabia, not Iraq (Isaiah 21, Jeremiah 49). It is Kedar, Dumah, and Arabia; there is no mention of Babel, Sumer, Accad, Erech, and Calneh in any of these verses. Arabia’s Islam is the mouthpiece (mouth of a lion) that rules and rides this beast. It is the harlot from the desert (Revelation 17:3) that sits on many waters and is the “desert of the sea” (Isaiah 21), which John saw. Christ proclaimed that the Antichrist will rule from Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-13), not Rome, which will be the future seat of Satan. This is on the sides of the northern lands (Asia Minor/Turkey).Although this is not what many popular prophecy buffs have been saying over the last decades, I am in good company. Not only are we actually seeing it come to pass already, but many scholars of the past, including the following, also saw Islam playing a major End-Times role: Hilaire Belloc, Bishop Fulton Sheen, Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica, Vernon Richards, Sir Robert Anderson, Cyril of Jerusalem, Sophronius the Patriarch of Jerusalem (560-638), Maximus The Confessor (580- 662), John of Damascus (676-749), Eulogius of Cordova, Paul Alvarus, the Martyrs of Cordova, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards, the great American Revivalist. These and many others simply focused on the literal proclamations in the Bible.
Walid Shoebat was born into a prominent Arab Muslim family in Bethlehem. His grandfather was a Muktar (Arab Chieftan) and good friend of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a notorious friend to Adolf Hitler. Walid was raised to hate Jews and the Western world. He joined the PLO and was involved in numerous acts of terror, including the attempted lynching of an Israeli soldier. He immigrated to the United States where, upon a challenge to discredit the Bible in order to convert his wife, he found the truth and became a Believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in 1993. His life has been dedicated to exposing the danger and deception of Islam, and spreading the Good News of Israel’s Messiah at great personal risk through speaking engagements, on television, radio, and the web, and through the production of books, CDs, and DVDs.God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy, and the Bible is Walid Shoebat's journey and his journal of studying the ancient Bible predictions that convinced him to leave Islam. This fascinating study, with utmost respect to the rules of Hermeneutics, will unlock the mysteries in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, offering answers to questions like these: How are Muslims set up to follow the Antichrist? Who is "Mystery Babylon"? What is the "Mark of the Beast"?
