Daily Bible Reading - December 19, 2018

Today's Reading:

Colossians 2:20-3:17

Ezekiel 29-30

Isaiah 55

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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading   

In Isaiah 55, we have reminder about the Promises and Word of Yahweh - which is more solid and permanent than stone.

Isaiah 55:11 "So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My Mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 

Yahweh doesn't change His Mind (Malachi 3:6, Psalm 89:34). This is certainly comforting when we are claiming His Promises! And it is also safely stabilizing, when we are seeking true doctrine. The old ways (found in Torah) are still the right ways (Jeremiah 6:16).

As we draw to the end of the modern year, 2018, many of us face the challenge to determining the timing of the Feasts for the coming year. And - as in any doctrinal issue - the old ways of concluding and beginning the biblical year are still the right ways. 

What does Yahweh's Word say about the Calendar issue? At first, it seems exceedingly confusing - enough so, that there are several differing viewpoints on it, the main of which are listed below:

•  The year begins with the first new moon after the barley is “Abib” in Jerusalem.

•  The year begins with the new moon NEAREST the vernal equinox (this year that was March 20).

•  The year begins with the first new moon ON or AFTER the vernal equinox (tekufah).

So, which is it? Which one is Scripturally correct - the Word that does not alter?

To do our due dilligence in searching it out, we must start with a study of "Abib". 

The word "Abib" appears exactly four times in the Bible: Exodus 13:3-4, Exodus 23:15, Exodus 34:18, and Deuteronomy 16:1. In each instance, Abib is the name given to the first month of the year (which is the spring in the Northern hemisphere). Since we are commanded not to add to the Word, nor take anything away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2), we must notice that in none of these references does the Bible mention barley being in any stage of ripeness. According to these Scriptures, Abib is merely the Hebrew name of the first month of the biblical year.

Yet, many Feast-keeping groups are quite concerned with noting the ripeness of Jerusalem's barley, in order to determine if it is "abib." You see, if you're watching for barley, it won't be Joe's barley, or Susie's next door...  The only barley to be considered it Jerusalem's barley...  And that in itself should be a strong clue that this cannot be the original method for determining the start of the biblical year... The oldest ways, found in Scripture, are the right ways. 

So, how does the Bible say to calculate the Biblical year?

• Genesis 1:14   “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.”

• From the New Jerusalem Bible:

• God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years. (Genesis 1:14)

• From the New American Bible:

• Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years, (Genesis 1:14)

• Psalm 104:19   “He appointed the moon for seasons...”

• Leviticus 23:4   “These are the feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.”   

The word which is translated as "Feasts" in Leviticus 23 also appears in Genesis 1:14. Only in Genesis it is translated as "seasons". The original Hebrew word for both of these instances is "mo'ed", which is the Feasts of Yahweh. Clearly then, the appointed times of Yahweh were put in place at Creation, before sin. And the means of calculating them (creating a biblical calendar) was given as the "heavenly lights" - specifically, the moon (Psalm 104:19).

Determining the start of the Biblical year could not have been originally done with abib barley. Barley can only be a second witness, it can never be the primary determiner. This is because abib barley is dead grass- and there was none at Creation…   Also, long before Jerusalem was captured by David and made into the holy City, Yahweh’s people were keeping the Feasts. They were able to determine the timing of keeping the feasts entirely without Jerusalem barley at all.

During the flood, Noah was able to determine the first day of the year without consulting a barley harvest.

   Genesis 8:13 “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.” 

Lot kept the feast of Unleavened Bread, feeding unleavened cakes to the angel visitors in Sodom (Genesis 19:3).

Joseph proclaimed the Feast of Trumpets in Egypt (Psalm 81:3-5).

The Children of Israel kept the Passover when they were delivered from Egypt (Exodus 12:11-12). And during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (a desert), Israel kept a careful record of the months and years without consulting the barley harvest in Canaan.

Remember, the oldest ways, found in Scripture, are the right ways. Yahweh appointed the Heavenly Lights for Seasons – Seasons is moedim – feasts. In other words, the timing of the annual Feasts is determined entirely by the heavenly lights. And barley, was given as a second witness, being part of First Fruits. But it was never the primary witness. As Isaiah told us in today's reading, God doesn't change. The heavens are still the primary timekeeper for determining the biblical calendar. 

So, in order to use the heavens to determine the biblical calendar, we need to know what heavenly event ends the prior year. Watching for this ending point, helps to bring us to the correct starting point for the subsequent year.

What heavenly event ends the Biblical year? The Scriptures tell us to end the year at the tekufah. Tekufah is a Hebrew Word which refers to the actual Vernal Equinox, in the spring. It is a heavenly event, because on the Tekufah day and night are of equal length (both being 12 hours). 

• "And it came to pass, after the year was expired (tekufah) , at the time when kings go forth to battle..." (2 Sam. 11:1 KJV).

• "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, ..." (Ibid., RSV)

• The end of the year was the Spring Tekufah.

Before we go any farther into explaining the tekufah, we need to address the subject of "spring", which presents a whole new complication...

So if the year begins and ends in the Spring, we immediately have a problem in creating a Biblical calendar. The northern and southern hemisphere are opposite in their seasons. So, when it is  spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it is fall in the southern. And when it is fall in the northern hemisphere, it is spring in the southern.

So, if you go by the Spring Tekufah in the Northern Hemisphere, Passover will be kept in April or May on a modern calendar. But, many of our dear brothers and sisters in Australia have wondered what they should do. April or May is fall in Australia and New Zealand. There spring is in September and October. So, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, should you keep the Passover in September or October on a modern calendar?

That’s a good question. To answer this, I need to remind that the Feasts were started in Eden… This is not only significant for showing that the feasts pre-dated sin, it also shows the epicenter of Yahweh's heavenly time-clock, helping us to align with Heaven's prophetic clock.

As the Bible says, Eden was the home of Adam and Eve. And it was in Eden that the Feasts were first given – and mankind was first shown Yahweh’s heavenly time-clock. Now the Garden of Eden is no longer found on planet earth. But its former location can be found. And finding Eden’s location is a big part of aligning with Yahweh’s Heavenly Clock – from which we may determine the timing of the Feasts. So where was Eden located?

The site of the Garden of Eden was in the Middle East, situated somewhere near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are today. This is based on the description of the rivers given in Genesis 2:8–14.

Using the rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, which Genesis tells us used to flow out of Eden, we may determine that Eden was found in this region.

That puts the former Garden of Eden in the red circled region, which is located in the Northern Hemisphere.

Is there any evidence to show that this region is still significant in the future?

Yes, In Zechariah 14:4, we find that when the New Jerusalem is brought down to Earth, Yahshua will stand upon the Mount of Olives, cleaving it, and it will become the site of the New Jerusalem on the earth made new, as the Bible tells us in Revelation 21-22. 

Zechariah 14:4  “And His Feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst...”

Revelation 21:1-2 “And I saw a New Heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven…”

Not only will New Jerusalem stand upon the place - on the earth made new - that was the location of Eden on the former earth, but also, this will be the headquarters of Yahweh's Government. And to this place His people will gather to worship Him on His appointed times, into Eternity.

Isaiah 66:22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Yahweh, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith Yahweh.” 

Just so we are totally clear about it, Scripture also tells us that we will be keeping Yahweh’s Sabbaths and New Moons according to the timing of His Clock – which will be fully aligned with the position of the New Jerusalem, in the Northern Hemisphere. 

So, when God first gave His Feasts at Creation – the timing of His Feasts would have been aligned with Eden in the Northern Hemisphere. And when the earth is made new, once again, God’s Clock for determining when to worship Him will be aligned with the position of New Jerusalem – which is again – the Northern Hemisphere.

I also find it notable that Yahweh has a pattern of fulfilling His prophetic events on His holy Days. And every fulfillment of a prophetic event has always fallen on a Feast Day - according to the timing in the Northern Hemisphere.

For example, according to Genesis 19:1-3, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed during the Feast of Unleavened Bread - the timing of which aligned with the Northern Hemisphere (as Sodom and Gomorrah were in the Northern Hemisphere).

The Children of Israel were delivered from Egypt during Passover - when it was Passover in the Northern Hemisphere...

The armies of Egypt were destroyed in the Red Sea during the Feast of Unleavened Bread - when it was Unleavened Bread in the Northern Hemisphere...

Yahweh spoke His Torah from Mount Sinai on the Feast of Weeks - Pentecost - when it was Pentecost in the Northern Hemisphere...

Yahshua's Death on the Cross took place on Passover - when it was Passover in the Northern Hemisphere...

And I could go on...  Every prophetic event that has ever fulfilled a Feast, at any time - ever - has always taken place on the Feast according to the biblical calendar of the Northern Hemisphere. This is where creation began and where God’s Government will one day be based in the New Jerusalem. 

Since every past fulfillment of God’s Prophecies has happened when it was the Feast in the Northern Hemisphere, I believe it is a safe conclusion that God’s Heavenly clock – which was established in Eden is still aligned with the timing in the Northern Hemisphere. I also believe that all future fulfillments will of prophecies will take place on God’s Feasts, in the timing of the Northern Hemisphere. 

For this reason, dear ones in the Southern Hemisphere, I believe that you need to keep your calendar aligned with the north. Passover should be following the Spring Tekufah in the Northern Hemisphere, even though it is fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

The ultimate purpose of a biblical calendar is to align mankind with God. We are bringing our understanding into alignment with His Heavenly Clock. And the Almighty started time in Eden. Heavenly Timing has continued from this point.

So, now that we've seen the calendar needs to be according to the spring of the year on the Northern Hemisphere, we next need to address which new moon is the beginning of the new Biblical year. To answer that, we must first see when the Bible tells us to end a Biblical year. Once we know when the prior Biblical year ends – we will know that the next new moon, following the year’s end, is the beginning of the next biblical year. So, when does the biblical year end? - As we already discussed, the end of the year comes at the tekufah:

• "And it came to pass, after the year was expired (tekufah) , at the time when kings go forth to battle..." (2 Sam. 11:1 KJV).

• "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, ..." (Ibid., RSV)

• The end of the year was the Spring Tekufah.

The Hebrew word Tekufah—in plural Tekufoth—literally meaning "period or season, also, equinox or solstice, referring to the annual seasonal changes. The four Tekufoth are the month of Aviv/Nissan at the spring equinox… at the summer solstice… the autumnal equinox and… the winter solstice.” 

http://www.cryptojews.com/gad_nassi.htm

So, when is the tekufah of the spring? The original word was the Hebrew of the Vernal Equinox...  But the timing of the Vernal Equinox has been changed...  Originally Equinox meant "equal nights" - in other words, it was supposed to be the day when the hours of daylight matched the hours of night. On the date of this heavenly event, it was the tekufah. 

Actually, the infamous emperor Constantine changed the timing of the Vernal Equinox. Instead of being the day when the hours of dark and light were equal in length, they fixed the date to March 21, as is explained in the following quote:

“…The ecclesiastical rules that determine the date of Easter trace back to 325 CE at the First Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine… The Council decided to keep Easter on the same Sunday throughout the Christian world. To fix incontrovertibly the date for Easter, and to make it determinable indefinitely in advance, the Council constructed tables to compute the date…

The ecclesiastical rules are:

•The vernal equinox occurs on March 21,

•Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox.

(US Naval Observatory,http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/easter.php)

The date of the actual Tekufah is March 17...  The times change depending on where you are located in the Northern Hemisphere, but the date is the same. The following sunrise and sunset chart (which is for Oregon, but is the same Tekufah day as Jerusalem) makes it easy to see that March 17 is actually the day of the tekufah, when days and nights are of equal length:

I share this chart because it is the same where I live as it is in the region (near Jerusalem) where Yahweh's calendar was first given.  For this reason, we will find that the date of March 17 is right. So now that we see when the biblical year ends – on the tekufah, which is March 17, let’s see when the next Biblical year begins. 

•Exodus 12:2 “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” 

When we look up the word “month” found in Exodus 12:2, we find that the primary meaning of “month” is “NEW MOON”. It only came to mean month, by implication. A month was the length of time from one new moon to another. But the primary meaning of chodesh isn’t month, its NEW MOON.

With this in mind, let’s look at how Exodus 12:2 was translated into English. Translators chose to translate chodesh as month in this text, but that isn’t the primary meaning. Let’s restore the primary meaning back to chodesh and translate this verse properly.

Which new moon are we talking about here? Since the biblical year ends on the spring tekufah – the day when day and night are equal in length – the new moon that starts the biblical year must be the new moon immediately after the spring tekufah.

This coming year, the first new moon of the year is going to be sightable on the evening of April 6, which means April 7 is the first day of the biblical year, in 2019. 

And that is the old way, the way given in Genesis, to determine the timing of Yahweh's holy appointments. It is the way that goes all the way back through to the Garden of Eden. And it will continue to the time when Eden is restored. Truly, Yahweh doesn't change, nor alter the things that have gone out of His Lips.

Isaiah 55:11 "So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My Mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 

Yahweh doesn't change His Mind (Malachi 3:6, Psalm 89:34). This is certainly comforting when we are claiming His Promises! And it is also safely stabilizing, when we are seeking true doctrine. The old ways (found in Torah) are still the right ways (Jeremiah 6:16).

Daily Bible Reading- December 18, 2018

Today's Reading:

Colossians 1:24-2:19

Ezekiel 27-28

Isaiah 54

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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading   

Both yesterday and today, in Ezekiel, we read about an entity called "Tyrus". In fact, in Ezekiel 28, he is called the king of Tyrus. Just who is "Tyrus"? In my Decoding Ezekiel series (which is a 17-part series of DVD's), I did a talk about Tyrus, some of which I would like to share now to enhance what we've been reading. The king of Tyrus is the devil himself, the fallen one who formerly was a covering cherub at the very Throne of Yah, but chose to become the instigator of sin:

Ezekiel 27:2-3-28:12-15 "Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith Yahweh God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty...  

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith Yahweh God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.  

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

In Ezekiel 28:19, the eternal end of Satan is also foretold:

Ezekiel 28:17-19 "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."

This is why Scripture tells us that the enemy of souls is very motivated to do all that he can to destroy without delay. He knows that his judgment day is coming - and that his time to destroy and deceive is short.

Revelation 12:12 "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."   

Amid excavations at four different ancient sites in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat at the Büyük Taşlık village in Turkey there laid a cuneiform tablet unearthed after laying there for 4000 years (2,000 B.C.). 

The cuneiform tablet in the Sorgun district of Yozgat shows symbols of Ishtar, known as the Hittite goddess of love, war, fertility and sexuality. Ishtar or “the queen of harlots” goddess was found mentioned more clearly in this cuneiform than those on any other unearthed tablets.

By linking Ishtar to other archaeological relics, also written in the same cuneiform is the Epic of Atrahasis (dating to the same period of 1700-1800 B.C.), we find that this ancient deity known as Ishtar was the female version of the snake-beast-god, known as Ishtaran. Archaeologists also discovered that Ishtaran is just another name for “Allah” who is literally mentioned in the epic by name and had a dual male and female nature, in ancient, pagan writings.

The Epic of Atrahasis is the Mesopotamian account of the Great Flood, which was a corruption of the Biblical account in Genesis where Satan rebelled against Yahweh. The amazing epic translated by archeologists who did not cover up the name “Allah” at the beginning of the epic all of the gods are laboring in slavery for the head deity, Enlil. One rebellious deity, named “Allah”, then revolted against Enlil. But Enlil crushed the rebellion and defeated Allah in Sumerian mythology.

Allah, Allat… these were different names to the same deity, who in the Epic is referred to as Ishtaran. Significantly, according to archaeology, Ishtaran is referred to as “the beast". It's symbol is represented on kudurrus, is a serpent. Biblically, the Genesis “serpent” is also known as the dragon in Revelation 12:9. Thus, we find that in the ancient Mesopotamian records of Ishtaran, the evidence to connect the pre-Islamic serpent of Ishtaran with the moon god, Allah - and to Lucifer himself.

The Islamic religion claims “Allah” as their principle deity. As Lew White, in Fossilized Customs, states plainly,  “Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god…  and the stars were his daughters.”

In Old Testament times, Nabonidus (555-539 B.C.E.), the last king of Babylon, built Tayma, Arabia as a center of Moon-god worship. (Nabonidus is pictured on the Babylonian carving. Notice the crescent moon shape on his staff and in front of him) …South Arabia's stellar religion has always been dominated by the moon-god in various variations.

 Many scholars have also noticed that the moon-god's name "Sin" is a part of such Arabic words as "Sinai," the "wilderness of Sin." When the popularity of the moon-god waned elsewhere, the Arabs remained true to their conviction that the Moon-god was the greatest of all gods. While they anciently worshiped 360 gods at the Kabah in Mecca, the moon-god was the chief deity. Mecca was in fact built as a shrine for the moon-god.

Moon worship spread throughout the ancient region of Mesopotamia. Depending on where this false god was honored, there were a variety of names for him. The moon-god was also called: Nanna, Suen and Asimbabbar. 

“The Assyrians, Babylonians, and the Akkadians took the word Suen and transformed it into the word Sin as their favorite name for the Moon-god. "Sin is a name essentially Sumerian in origin which had been borrowed by the Semites." (Lew White, Fossilized Customs)

But, where ever he was worshiped throughout the pre-Islamic world, his symbol never changed. Always the moon-god was represented by the crescent moon. Today, awareness has been lost of the connection between Allah and the ancient moon-serpent-god of ancient Mesopotamia. Well-known and much-trusted Christian leaders, proclaim that Islam and Christians worship the same god.

But what does all this have to do with the end-time Ezekiel prophecies about Tyre? We're getting there... 

After Alexander the Great conquered Tyre in 332 BC, the city alternated between Seleucid (Syrian Greek) and Ptolemaic (Egyptian Greek) rule. Tyre was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century. The Crusaders conquered Tyre, which acted as the capital until this kingdom's fall in 1291. Tyre became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire was an empire founded in 1299 by Oghuz Turks under Osman I in northwestern Anatolia. After conquests in the Balkans by Murad I between 1362 and 1389, the Ottoman sultanate was transformed into a transcontinental empire and claimant to the caliphate. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire was a multinational, multilingual empire controlling much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, the Caucasus, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.

As Wikipedia reports, the Hebrew Bible makes several references to Tyre, mentioning that King Hiram I was a contemporary of David and Solomon in 2 Samuel 5:11, 1 Kings 5:1, and 1 Chronicles 14:1. Tyre is mentioned in Isaiah 23, Jeremiah 25:22 and 47:4, Ezekiel 26-28, Joel 3:4-8, Amos 1:9-10, and Zechariah 9:3-4. In each of these prophecies, the total destruction of Tyre is foretold - which is yet future.

Tyre was indeed attacked by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who left the mainland city in ruins, and later by Alexander the Great, who destroyed the island city. Alexander constructed a half-mile-long causeway from the mainland to the island, using the wood and stones from the ruins of old Tyre. That, too, was foretold by Ezekiel 26:4, 12. In Ezekiel 26:17, the lament for Tyre recognizes it as a city of renown.

Tyre is also mentioned in the New Testament in Matthew 11:21-22 and 15:21, Mark 3:8 and 7:24, 31, Luke 6:17 and 10:13-14, and Acts 12:20 and 21:3,7.

The Bible's prophecy in Ezekiel 26:21, has not yet been fulfilled - for the city of Tyre still remains today. Tyre is located in the southern tip of Lebanon (see below).

Ezekiel 26:21 - "I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Yahweh."

Isaiah 23:15-17 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.” 

Tyre was significant in that it once was at the heart of the Ottoman empire. Thus, the Bible prophecies of Tyre are deeply tied with this empired. History tells us that Ottoman empire began to collapse at the end of WWI with the armistice of October 31, 1918. But it didn’t fully fall until 1920. On 23 April 1920 the nationalists convened a Grand National Assembly in Ankara, deep in central Anatolia. They elected Mustafa Kemal as its first president, effectively establishing an alternative government.

So if the Ottoman empire fell in 1920, when did it begin rising again? The first act which marked the resurrection of the fallen Ottoman empire was the invasion of Kuwait, which took place in 1990.

Robert E. Kaplan has written an incredibly salient and dead-on-target article about the coming resurrection of the Ottoman Empire, as well as America’s complicity in it. An interesting starting point for when Kaplan says this movement started in the United States was smack dab in the middle of the Bill Clinton administration.

Via Gatestone Institute:

“Since the 1990s the United States has intervened militarily in several internal armed conflicts in Europe and the Middle East: bombing Serbs and Serbia in support of Izetbegovic’s Moslem Regime in Bosnia in 1995, bombing Serbs and Serbia in support of KLA Moslems of Kosovo in 1999, bombing Libya’s Gaddafi regime in support of rebels in 2010. Each intervention was justified to Americans as motivated by humanitarian concerns: to protect Bosnian Moslems from genocidal Serbs, to protect Kosovo Moslems from genocidal Serbs, and to protect Libyans from their murderous dictator Muammar Gaddafi…

Each of these United States military interventions occurred in an area that had been part of the Ottoman Empire. In each, a secular regime was ultimately replaced by an Islamist one favoring sharia law and the creation of a world-wide Caliphate. The countries (could not have) experienced the “Arab Spring” of the 2010s without the help of American military intervention, Tunisia and Egypt, had also been part of the Ottoman Empire, and also ended up with Islamist regimes.”

So the Ottamans and the Germans were in league with each other during WWI and the early successors to the Ottomans – the Muslim Brotherhood – was allied with Hitler in WWII.

Beginning with the Clinton administration, it seems that the U.S. has been following a similar pattern.

Incidentally, Turkey’s Islamist Imam, Fethullah Gulen, fled Turkey for the U.S. in 1998 – during the Clinton administration. In 2000, he was indicted by the pre-Islamist Turkish Government for promoting insurrection and convicted in absentia. Gulen was then acquitted in Turkey in 2008 – after the Islamist regime, led by Erdogan, came to power. Later that year, a U.S. judge ruled Gulen could remain in the U.S.

Gulen still resides in the U.S. and his charter schools in this country number in the hundreds.

In essence, the Clinton administration got the ball rolling when it comes to America’s involvement in resurrecting the Ottoman Empire, the Bush administration ultimately furthered the effort by not confronting the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., and the Obama administration  kicked the entire thing into overdrive.

"Just as the Balkan conflicts of the 1990's and the “Arab Spring” of the 2010's considered in historical perspective suggests that Turkey might be attempting to recreate its former empire, consideration of the Turkish Empire in historical perspective suggests the possible partnership of Germany with Turkey in the project given that, from its creation in 1870, Germany viewed Turkey with its empire as a most valuable client and ally. In the view of the leaders of Germany, Turkey was controllable through a combination of economic intercourse, gifts of educational opportunities, provision of technical expertise and administrative aid, as well as bribes to Turkish officials. Germany saw influence over Turkey as a means of influencing Muslims worldwide for its own interests. Thus as the German scholar Wolfgang Schwanitz has shown, during World War I Germany employed the Turkish Caliphate to promote jihad – riot and rebellion – in areas where Moslem populations were ruled by its enemies Russia, France, Britain and Serbia." (Walid Shoebat, The Case for Islamophobia: Jihad by the Word; America’s Final Warning)

In the future Lebanon will be involved with other Arab nations in a push to destroy Israel. Read Psalm 83:4,6-8–The prophecy reads, in part, 

“Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more…The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot” 

Lebanon (Gebal) and Tyre play a prominent role in Psalm 83. Why is Lebanon important (the country of Tyre)? It is the home of the terrorist regime Hezbollah. 

"Like in the 16th century, which saw the rise of the Ottoman Balkans as the center of world politics, we will make the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East, together with Turkey, the center of world politics in the future. This is the objective of Turkish foreign policy, and we will achieve this. We will reintegrate the Balkan region, the Middle East and the Caucasus, based on the principle of regional and global peace, for the future, not only for all of us but for all of humanity."

- Foreign Minster Ahmet Davutoglu

Having identified the king of Tyre (which is the devil himself), we must now turn our attention to the Ezekiel prophecy about its prince. The prince of Tyre (who is an underling of Tyre's king, but a ruler nonetheless) is the infamous final beast of Bible prophecy.

Ezekiel 28:2 “Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Yahweh GOD; Because your heart is lifted up, and you hast said, I Am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you art a man, and not God, though thou set your heart as the heart of God.”

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."   

Noting these Bible prophecies about Tyre, many students of Bible prophecy (such as Joel Richardson and others) have come to believe that the final beast power will be Muslim, of the New Ottoman Empire. 

Now, I know, having grown up in the SDA Church, the idea that the beast might be anyone other than the papal power sounds like heresy. But wait!...  There is a woman who rides the beast - which is most definitely the papal power...  So if the papal power is the entity represented by the woman who

rides the beast, why would it also be the beast? Two entities, who are on the same team are shown here. But the woman is not the beast...  and the beast is not the dragon...  The dragon gives power, seat and authority to the beast...  They are three separate entities, which are on the same side. 

False Messiah (this person, who will be a king from a land with a small army (future Lebanon) will eventually have great authority and power that Satan, the Dragon (Rev.12:9) gives him, along with the three empires mentioned and their interests and ideologies (communism/socialism/social democracy) are represented by him, and he will have a seat (place or kingdom  i.e. city and country, that he exercises that power from) which will be Jerusalem, Israel. The beast, will come from Tyre, Lebanon as a result of  the new Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Syria, Lebanon ) whose Prime Minister wants a New World Order will form out of World War III that is fast approaching!  And he will sit in Solomon's rebuilt Temple (also known as the temple of Ezekiel)!

I Kings 10:14  "Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents." 666

Rev. 13:18   "Here is wisdom.  Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man (Solomon) and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

Another argument to substantiate the Assyrian connection of the Antichrist is based on a passage in Revelation 17:9-11 where there is a reference to seven empires. Five are referred to as "fallen" (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece). The sixth is "the one that is" — namely, the one that existed at that time (Rome). The seventh is called the one that "has not yet come" (the empire that will give birth to the Antichrist). Revelation 13:1-3 also refers to these seven empires and states that the Antichrist will arise out of the one that comes back to life in the end times.

All of these ancient kingdoms continued to exist to one degree or another except the Assyrian.  It was the only one that totally ceased to exist and therefore, it is the one that will be resurrected from the dead in the end times. Daniel 7:12 where Daniel is told that "an extension of life" for "an appointed time" had been granted to the beasts that were symbolic of world empires.

Daniel 7:12  "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time."

For many years, the connection of the beast with Tyre has lain dormant - unknown. But the king of Tyre is plainly the devil. And the prince, mentioned in Ezekiel 28, is non other than the beast of Revelation, which Micah also foretold would be of Assyrian descent:

Micah 5:5 - “And this man (the true Messiah) shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.”