These posts are worth reading:
It is, of course, too early to determine whether anything will come of this, but it should not be rejected outright either. Turkey’s growing diplomatic provocation of the USA and EU, and its historic willingness to act as a mediator between the USA and Iran is suggestive of an eastern-looking, neo-Ottoman foreign policy. Nor should Turkey’s domestic political and economic problems be ignored (https://www.ft.com/content/298d8136-283e-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0). There is impetus to distract from domestic problems by drumming up opposition against a foreign enemy (think Franco-Prussian War and Russo-Japanese War).
Many reading this will immediately be conscious of Ezekiel’s predication of an invasion of Israel, led by forces from Anatolia allied with forces from Persia, North Africa, and the southern Nile region. I will put my cards on the table and say outright that I interpret this prophecy futuristically. I believe it refers to the Antichrist’s invasion of Israel the prophecy is concluded by the return of Christ followed by the Day of LORD, when the enemies of God will be punished.
How close are we to the times prophesied by Ezekiel? No one can say with any accuracy: such knowledge belongs to the Lord. But we were commanded by Christ to watch (Matt 24:42). This is an interesting data-point that may yet be relevant in the future. Parts of the establishment mocked at the idea that Hitler would seriously invade Europe – but he did and Churchill’s wilderness prophecy (think John the Baptist) was vindicated. Keep watch.
All Along the Watchtower 
Whatever anyone wants to take from these links, it is obvious that Erdogan deserves a good deal of serious watching. He very well could be the catalyst for a very serious situation in the Middle East which could last for many years.
I suppose, as Bishop Sheen has pointed out, that we can take some solace in the fact that evil has its hour but the Lord will have His Day. How long is an hour and how long is a Day (1000 years?) might make the hour stretch out to 40+ years or so . . . could be a very violent time that we are encroaching upon and it may last much longer than any one of us would care to imagine.
I am surprised with what is going on in the world and within the Church that the shoe has not yet dropped on this episode. But then, God is patient with us and His Mother prays for us and the Church. He will wait for the last soul to be born and raised to be included in the rolls of those whom will be saved. When that last soul is saved is beyond any on us to speculate about. But the hour and Day for the closing chapters to unfold could be upon us now or it it may not happen for another 2000 years — but then it seems unlikely things can continue as they are without some kind of supernatural interference in response to our present state.
But to restate it again: Erdogan may indeed be a person of interest to keep one’s eyes fixed upon.
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Indeed – he most definitely bears watching. As you say, I think the next trigger will cause something that will last years rather than a few months.
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Ottoman is indeed the word. Bears watching? Absolutely, the other day a Turkish missile killed a 26-year-old British woman volunteering with the US-affiliated YPJ in Afrin (eastern Syria).
Watching Turkey is well and good, and necessary, but I am getting quite weary of the EU and Britain supporting Iran. In case no one has noticed over there, the Saudis are trying to reform just as fast as they dare, not least because they are losing their robes to American oil. The other day the Crown Prince MBS said this when asked if women are equal to men, “Absolutely. We are all human beings and there is no difference.” That’s from the NY Times by the way.
If this is allowed to go on, we will see the new Ottoman Empire including Turkey and Iran, armed with nuclear weapons. That’s bad for America, it is a death sentence for Europe as we have known it since Charles Martel.
Mind, no one expects Europe to fight, the Germans have run down defense so badly that the NATO ready armored brigade (their responsibility this year) has about 20% of its vehicles in order. Europe has become useless, except to steal its citizens’ freedom.
Other than its warm water port, I really have no clue on why Russia is supporting Hassad. Iran/Turkey looks as much a threat to them as anybody else. But then the sides aren’t very well drawn in this mess.
The religious effects are well above my knowledge to comment on. It’s an area where I simply say, God’s will, will be done, and that’s well above my pay grade.
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Yes, I very much agreed with your post today. The Germans have managed to fund a lot of their state benefits because they were not putting money into defence, meanwhile Britain spends more and still gets laughed at. Well, we shall see when the Lion of Judah roars in our land. Britain belongs to YHWH: our Queen is anointed in His Name and swears to uphold His law – He will surely be victorious.
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A bit more from Gatestone on KSA and MBS. Mbs is kicking out the Moslem Brotherhood. Talk about a do or die project. Here’s the link.
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Thanks, NEO. My take is that KSA is one of the nations in Ezek 38-9 that asks what Turkey is doing, implying they are not part of the coalition.
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Nope, they aren’t. They are becoming a pretty good ally of ours, and increasingly Israel, as is Egypt. Thing is, if he wins this fight with the brotherhood, like that report says, the money for your radical Madrassas should dry up completely. I understand why British conservatives are bothered by KSA, but the times they are a’changin’. Mostly has to do with leadership, MBS, and Trump, with a major boost from a free market.
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Hurray for the free market (well, mostly – some issues on what should count as commodities). I’d like to see more enterprising people try to offer cheap school education in this country.
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You’ve a point, I think.
I know you have a point on education, but am very afraid that HMG would strangle such a thing in its cradle. They seem increasingly hostile to home schooling as well, not as bad as the Germans, but bad enough.
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Indeed. If I had kids and had neighbours who were willing, I’d want to form a neighbourhood school with trusted parents or hire a school-marm who is known to us or properly vetted.
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I’d call it a good idea. I also like church schools, but would be rather wary with CofE or even Catholic ones lately.
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Indeed – much needs to be done to reform the regulations, etc.
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Indeed, and I’d say the Episcopate, itself. Of course one could say it’s been going downhill for exactly 462 years, since it’s the anniversary of Archbishop Cranmer’s execution.
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Many good points, NEO. I am assuming you meant Bashar al-Assad and I think you hit the nail on the head when you speak of a warm water port that has access both to the Middle East strategically but also to Europe and the NATO nations. Putin is a bad character as well and the future of the world is really being destabilized by both Putin and Erdogan . . . What the future holds does not look good especially with the decline in the effective fighting poser of NATO and the other possible players in destabilization; China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan etc. The world is a mess and they all want to blame the US and leave the fixing of the problems of this world to the US. Appeasement is not going to work which seems to be the Global EU solution.
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Good points, and yes, I did. Sometimes my fingers don’t type what think (or I’m getting senile, take your pick!).
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Me too. I suffer from gnarly finger syndrome (GFS). 🙂
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It’s tough getting old, not as tough as not, though! 🙂
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I agree, but I’ll bet Stephen Hawking would have refuted that statement. He seemed to be just find with the idea that our future is precisely nothing . . . total annihilation . . . just nothingness.
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Well, I suppose for his sake we hope it’s true (for him), but that is not what is written.
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Yes, I don’t think the Son of God explained death as an eternal, dreamless sleep.
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Even the Mohammed did better on that question.
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You should watch the interview of John Lennox about Stephen Hawking. I’ll put the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If4XisIJNA4 . John Lennox is a professor of pure mathematics at Oxford, and a Christian (I think Protestant).
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Excellent youtube entry as well Nicholas; thank you. Indeed I had the thought when Hawking was speaking of positive an negative energy existing in exact equilibrium (there being a sum then of both that equals nothing) and that creation of the universe was then akin to digging a hole to create a mountain. Nothing really has been created . . . we lost as much material in the hole than we did in the building of the mountain . . . the sum again being nothing. My thought at the time was that if it is stable then there would have been no ‘digger’ to create the universe and no reason to do so . . . it should remain in stasis forever. It begs the question as to the ‘why’ of a disruption in that equilibrium to bring about a big bang.
The other thing that struck me about the man himself was that by all accounts the man was a living miracle. It seems more appropriate that a man might somehow or somewhere in his soul a thought or two about the unlikeliness for his advanced age when he was expected to die after 2 years from his contracting ALS. For my thought, I would have a profound thanks to God for giving me a life, though a life that involved physical suffering, that was long and fruitful. It seems that his life might have taken a more theological turn and that he might have been a bit more grateful for the fulness of his life. Well anyway, let us pray for his repose for I feel that he was speaking beyond his expertise and admitted that he did not like philosophy or theology and didn’t read such works . . . an inborn prejudice against other scholastic enterprises . . . for his God was science itself and purely science . . . a committed believer in Scientism alone (reminds me of Bible alone) . . . and there is much more available from these enterprises that should and ought to have come into play.
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Indeed. Personally, I’m a fan of Aquinas’ approach to these big questions. Scientism is contradictory since it runs into the problem of AJ Ayer’s logical positivism. Unfortunately, these sorts of things are not taught as they should be. It’s a shame we don’t have some itinerant friars to teach these things.
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. . . and it bothers me no end that he got no pushback from the Pontifical Institute of Science (which he was member through 4 different Popes) to his ideas. Perhaps this is the problem in a nutshell worldwide for we seem to be losing religion to science and with science there is not perfection and corruption, no right and wrong, no moral essence. Is it any wonder then that we have fallen upon evil times that places no blame on individuals, their perceptions or their, actions. We have a world that apparently lives in a world where nobody’s view is more relevant or real than another persons ideas. Truth is in the individual alone and there is no truth outside of the truth that there is no truth. We alone are the arbiters and all who believe in a Universal Truth are intolerant fools who place limits on the individual . . . a yoke or burden too great for the person to bear. I feel we are world of Pilate that keep saying over and over “And what is Truth?”. I guess it is purely in the eye of the beholder these days.
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Indeed: I am continually frightened these days about the encroachment on our freedom to say things that 100 years ago were uncontroversial. I find myself praying more frequently that God will make Jacob Rees Mogg our Prime Minister (he is a Catholic and member of the Conservative party).
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And I only hope that these folks are not upon the stage too late to be of much use. Its like a bunch of actors showing up to act in a play just as the final curtain is bing lowered.
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