By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive)

Many students of Bible Prophecy insist that the Antichrist stems from a revived Roman Empire centered in Rome, a model that positions the end-times beast kingdom in Europe. But current news out of the Middle East provides some damning evidence that debunks such theory.  

The “Europe” model for an Antichrist kingdom became prominent during the rise of the European Union four decades ago during the seventies when self-proclaimed prophecy ‘experts’ began to announce that the end is near and countless books were written to the effect making such theory dominate the American church.

The theory stemmed from a common interpretation of Daniel 2 claiming that the Roman Empire model included two legs, a leg they claim stems from Rome and another eastern leg centered in Constantinople, which today is in Turkey. Therefore, the European model, in this view insists that Turkey joins the European Union since it must include both the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire.

But the current news today shows that after his victory speech, President Erdoğan of Turkey mentioned a “New Turkey” and his cabinet made it clear that his government is moving away from joining the European Union altogether. With this new foreign policy, Turkey’s EU aspirations may be shelved, according to Erdoğan’s chief adviser, Yiğit Bulut.

Bulut, in a recent analysis, outlined a controversial vision for a new Turkey in the wake of Erdoğan’s election victory, a vision that suggests cutting ties with the EU.

While some are still adamant about the European model, not all Bible scholars agree. For example, the prominant Rev. Dr. Matthew Henry over three centuries ago dealt with this controversey:

Who is this enemy — whose rise, reign and ruin are here foretold? Interpreters are not agreed. Some will have the Fourth Kingdom to be that of the Seleucidae and the ‘little horn’ to be Antiochus…. Others will have the Fourth Kingdom to be that of the Romans, and the ‘little horn’ to be Julius Caesar and the succeeding emperors, as Calvin says. The Antichrist, the Papal Kingdom, says Mr. Joseph Mede…. Others make the ‘little horn’ to be the Turkish Empire; so Luther, Vatablus, and others. Now I cannot prove either side to be in the wrong. And therefore, since prophecies sometimes have many fulfilling and we ought to give Scripture its full latitude (in this as in many other controversies) — I am willing to allow that they are both in the right.” (Henry: A Commentary on the Holy Bible, with Practical Remarks andObservations, London: Marshall Bros. Ltd., n.d., IV:1270f)

So besides the Papal Kingdom (Europe) as a theory, there was also the “Seleucidae” (Seleucid) which is the “Turkish Empire” model which was the most prominent view historically. These are not isolated interpretations, even amongst the most major Protestant theologians.

Today this Seleucid region is centered on the areas of the Ottoman Empire, which overtook the Roman Empire at its fall in Constantinople during the Muslim invasion by the Ottomans under Muhammad II in 1453.

Furthermore, no one historically could point to any burdens or judgments in end-times context in any literal references in the Bible that include any European entity and the Seleucid-Grecian model has all its historic regions literally included in Scripture by their ancient names. The Seleucid-Grecian model today would include a landmass stemming from the Levant and not the Adriatic (1) and includes a swath of lands from the Middle East, Turkey, Central Asia, which includes the former Soviet republics (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) to the Persian Gulf and Eastern Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan and even parts of India in Pakistan. This is the 10-40 Window and are currently all Islamic.

And the current news that just came out of the Middle East by prominent Turkish government officials and analysts (2) is beginning to confirm. As soon as the President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won, the idea of a “New Turkey” was explained by his government to represent a new understanding in Turkish foreign policy, through which the country is expected to increasingly move away from the European Union ideal while focusing on its relations with China, Russia and the former Soviet republics (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan).

Furthermore, in an article published by the pro-government Sabah daily, Erdoğan’s chief adviser Mr. Bulut said that Turkey needs to stop aspiring to be a member of the EU and instead seek to expand its influence in the Middle East and elsewhere.

“The current state of the relationship with the EU is next to non-existent. The EU has its own problems and politicians from EU countries are trying to gain votes by campaigning against Turkish membership and Erdoğan is reluctance about EU membership,” said Fatih University Associate Professor Savaş Genç.

“Moving further along the EU path means further reforms, extending freedoms, improving democracy and ultimately giving up some of your sovereignty to Brussels, which Erdoğan is not willing to do. He dreams of a state that is structured more around intelligence-gathering, more based on the National Intelligence Organization [MİT],” he added.

And according to Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, head of Ankara’s International Strategic and Security Research Center (USGAM), the focus of Turkish foreign policy will be to increase its influence across the former Great Seljuk Empire, which controlled a region stretching from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and Eastern Anatolia.



“Turkey will most likely turn its face to the area where the former Soviet republics are and the area towards the Great Wall of China. This is the geography of the Great Seljuk Empire, which includes Iran, Afghanistan and India,” Erol said.

The evidence to what we have been warning about for the last two decades is finally beginning to take shape. Erol pointed out that the appearance of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev from Central Asia during President-elect Erdoğan’s victory speech on Aug. 10 is a sign of Turkey’s focus on the region.

In an unexpected move, Atambayev took the stage with Erdoğan as the Turkish president-elect was delivering his victory speech on Sunday. Speaking in Turkish, after congratulating Erdoğan, Atambayev said Turkey will be stronger under Erdoğan’s presidency.

 Another sign of the focus on this area will be Turkey’s decision on the Chinese missile issue.

 NATO member Turkey’s highly controversial talks with China over the acquisition of long-range missiles are expected to continue until the end of August.

We argued for two decades while our opponents agreed that for the European model to match such a Roman revival, Turkey MUST partner with Europe, yet Turkey as it seems is not joining Europe anytime soon but uniting to its former nations that were under Ottoman rule. This would be a divided Empire that will not unite, but cooperate as in the former days under a Caliphate that will stem from Turkey, not Rome.

Perhaps its time to use some wiser approach, that at times, the best logical approach to Prophecy should be to keep it kiss. One should ask themselves; while many pick on the Vatican, how often do you find people who want to mess with Islam? Doesn’t it seem to be an easier position to point the finger at Rome and Europe? Is the Pope going to cut off your head? Who has persecuted Christians in the past, Europe or Turkey? Standing against the Antichrist spirit is always risky. When you expose it, you risk death. Ask yourself, what would be the most uncomfortable thing to expose today, the European Union and the Catholic Church as the Antichrist and the Great Whore, or Islam centered in Mecca? One can expose the Catholic Church and the European Union until they are blue in the face, and no one will berate them. Islam on the other hand, is a very different matter.

SOURCES
(1) For example on some of the older school prophecy students, Sir Robert Anderson asks: “It has been confidently urged by some that as the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image symbolized the ten kingdoms – five on either foot – five of these kingdoms must be developed in the East, and five in the West. The argument is plausible, and possibly just; but its chief force depends upon forgetting that in the prophet’s view the Levant and not the Adriatic, Jerusalem and not Rome, is the center of the world.”

(2) See recent article in Todays Zaman. https://www.todayszaman.com/national_erdogans-new-turkey-may-move-further-from-eu-say-analysts_355742.html