Global SITREP C5-16: Failed Military Coup d'Etat in Turkey

Turkish Armed Forces Take to the Streets

FINAL UPDATE 23 July 2016: This will be the final update for SITREP C5:16, and its is literally laced thick with linked Open Source INTelligence (OSINT) to buttress its content. 

Why the Coup d'Etat in Turkey Failed

New information has come to light which has been confirmed by Turkish officials and senior military officers. This information details how Hakan Fidan, the director of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, officially the Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (a/k/a MIT) received a 'heads up' about a possible coup d'etat on the afternoon prior to the planned coup commencement (Thursday, 14 July). 

Immediately after sunset on the 14th the MIT deployed it's Russian-made DShK 12.7mm anti-aircraft weaponry to the roof of the MIT headquarters building. No one outside of the MIT was aware that it possessed this kind of combat capability. When coup commando's made their attempt at a helicopter assault on the building they were stopped cold and the assault failed completely.

There are significant indications (The Wall Street Journal, July 20,2016) that the 'heads up' came from the U.S. CIA whose current director, John Brennan, covertly converted to the Wahhabist sect within Sunni Islam while he was CIA chief of station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The delayed response by the Obama Administration was likely to due a desire to remain as distant as possible from the event - many US servicemen are stationed on two Turkish military installations (Izmir and Incirlik) where the commanding officers were among the senior coup leadership.

Actions taken by Hakan Fidan resulted in the Turkish coup leadership being forced to advance the extremely well-planned execution of the coup by a full six hours. This advancement of the timeline doomed the coup even before it began. The principle problem was that key elements of the coup did not have the necessary C2 (Command and Control) communication capabilities to receive the FRAGO (FRAGmentary Order) notifying the various elements of the virtual last-minute change to the execution of the coup in its various phases.

Many are those who saw initial reports of the coup in progress and noted how it appeared to be run by an incompetent leadership. No, the leadership was not incompetent; a critical mass of the various elements of the coup were executing their assigned phases of the operation based upon the timing meticulously detailed in the original coup d'etat plan. 

Also, one of the most senior officers of the coup leadership, Brigadier General Semih Terzi, was assassinated by a junior officer as he personally led the attempt to assume command of Turkish Special Forces Headquarters. This opening salvo of the coup, which occurred at the new advanced  schedule, quickly demoralized other elements of the coup and dealt an additional fatal blow to the coup's C2. As with many military operations throughout history, meticulous planning rarely survives first contact with the enemy.

The coup plotters did not plan to kill Erdogan while he was vacationing at the resort town of Marmaris. Two of the most elite groups of Turkish Air Force commandos were assigned to take Erdogan captive at his hotel. However, when they arrived at his hotel at 0300 in the morning Erdogan, having been forewarned of the coup, was nowhere to be found. It is also known that these elite commandos were not taken captive as the coup failed, but remain at-large giving rise to fears within the Erdogan regime of forthcoming targeted assassinations.

Most of the loyal government and media offices were also alerted to the coup. One of those was Turksat, a satellite communications and internet provider. The failure to take control of Turksat and shut it down enabled Erdogan to issue his alert via the FaceTime app and to appear on television to order his his loyalists out onto the streets of Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara. The rest is now history.

One final item. How is it that no one, and I mean no one, has asked the most important question begging for an answer. How is it that Turkey's senior office corps seeking a return to a democratic secular government for the country would align themselves with an Islamist cleric (Fethullah Gulen)?  The answer is they didn't and the claim by the Erdogan regime that they did so is as bogus as the day is long.

15 July 2016: Events are occurring swiftly, and it is nearly impossible to keep pace with them. The key fact is that the very nature of an in-progress military coup d'etat is such that making a valid assessment on the situation in Turkey is virtually impossible as of 8 PM EST this evening.

What is being received are conflicting reports about the coup and its alleged successes in locations around the country, primarily the metropolitan areas of Istanbul and Ankara, and many counter-reports denying those successes. What is for certain is that one or more elements of the Turkish armed forces has launched a coup against the Islamist government led president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

There are at this time continuing engagements between the coup forces and civilians and those military forces which remain loyal to Erdogan's government. 

Update 16 July 2016: While the coup appears to have not succeeded, it remains to early to tell fact from fiction. There are reliable reports that approximately 1500 troops taking part in the coup have surrendered to government forces. Among them are the coup's apparent military leadership which includes a handful of generals and a few dozen colonels.

In a surprising twist a legal spokesperson for the Turkish government is saying that an imam living in exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania is the overall spiritual leader of the coup forces. The 74-year old Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, is the namesake of the Gulen Movement and the "Gulenists" within it, and the Turkish daily Zaman is closely linked to his movement. 

The Erdogan government seized control of Zaman and the also associated Herkul.org website in March of this year. Both the Zaman daily and Herkul.org served as media outlets for the Gulen Movement. It's not a far stretch to assess that this kind of government repression of opposition voices in Turkey might have been a catalyst for the military-led coup d'etat.

The surprising twist comes in a very recent (13JUL16) pre-coup d'etat news report by The Daily Caller that Hillary and Bill Clinton are also closely associated with Fathullah Gulen and his movement. A trove of discovery documents filed with the U.S. Congress detail the ties between the Clinton Foundation and Fethullah Gulen.  The Gulen organization and many of its adherents have also donated heavily to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

As if Hillary didn't have enough troubles these days. Then again, wherever there is smoke coming from within the Clinton Foundation there's a small fire producing that smoke.

Update 17 July 2016: The title for this SITREP has been changed to reflect the reality of the situation, the Turkish military coup d'etat against the Erdogan government has failed. However, significant fallout will continue for an indefinite period of time.

By the numbers being reported 265 Turks lost their lives. Just over 100 of that number were rebelling Turkish soldiers. One of those soldiers was summarily beheaded by a mob of pro-Erdogan Islamist civilians on the Bosporus Bridge. To this add in 1,440 injured on both sides of the coup.  The number of rebel soldiers arrested by the government was 2,840 at last count; there will be more and all of them likely face a penalty of death by execution. Many of the captured rebel soldiers have expressed their belief that they were taking part in a nation-wide exercise. Eight Turkish soldiers escaped to Greece in a helicopter and have requested asylum there.

In what may be the most significant fallout, and one so far unrelated to the military's coup attempt, the totalitarian nature of the Erdogan Islamist regime has been placed in full view. Prior to the coup being crushed an AKP (the ruling Justice and Development Party) legal organ of the regime issued arrest warrants for 188 members of the country's independent supreme court system, plus 2,750 lower bench judges from across the country. 

This action paves the way for the introduction of a fully Sharia-compliant court system in Turkey as the independent secular court system has now been decimated. The literal Islamist meaning of "Justice and Development" has been revealed. Remember, Turkey is a member of NATO and this kind of authoritarianism is not compatible with the system of values within the alliance. 

As mentioned above, the presence in the U.S. of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen has led Erdogan to blame the U.S. directly for the failed attempt to overthrow his regime. The entire Gulen global organization is being referred to by the regime as a "parallel structure." Gulen's immediate extradition from the U.S. is now Erdogan's number one "must" demand upon the Obama Administration, and it has placed the U.S.-Turkish strategic partnership in a condition of high risk.

Given the totalitarian nature of the Erdogan regime now on full display is there any wonder that elements within the Turkish armed forces, who have always been dedicated to the preservation of Turkey as the secular republic envisioned and founded by Kemal Ataturk, have once more rebelled?  

I  believe the current assessment needs to be that Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist AKP allies bear full responsibility for the  acute political destabilization that has now befallen the Turkish republic and polarized its society. The fallout in Turkey will continue for the foreseeable future with further upheaval an inevitability.

UPDATE 20 July 2016: The seriousness of the fallout at this point has eclipsed all expectations. Erdogan's totalitarianism has thus far resulted in the arrests and detentions of over 50,000 Turkish civilians plus approximately 20,000 military and police officers. On top of this Erdogan ordered the cut-off of all electrical power and the secure sealing of the Incirlik Air Base. This action essentially takes approximately 1,500 American pilots and support troops as prisoners along with approximately 50 American tactical nuclear weapons. 

There is now no doubt that Erdogan and his fellow AKP Islamists hold the United States culpable as supporters of the coup d'etat, with a leading government newspaper editor claiming that the U.S. planned the coup and attempted to assassinate Erdogan. A review of American news organizations and their headlines and reports from yesterday afternoon through 0600 this morning resulted no mention whatsoever of these critical developments. Silent are FoxNews, the DrudgeReport,  ABC News, NBC News, CBS News and several others. It would seem that the Obama Administration's control over mainstream US media is as absolute as Erdogan's control over Turkey, but you already knew that.

Global SITREP C6-16: "In the Latter Time of Their Kingdom"

The Roman Empire c. 117 AD Greatest Extent

21 July 2016: The great overflowing of instability that has come upon the modern Republic of Turkey is no accident. One of the prime views of the Eschatology Today blog is that nothing which occurs in the world these days, at this late hour of the pre-70th Week era (a/k/a "the Church Age"), is unrelated to coming prophetic fulfillment. One hyphenated word which accurately has conveyed what these events represent in the context of near-future prophetic fulfillment is "stage-setting" and which is precisely what is occurring in Turkey today.

Interpreting and assessing what is occurring in Turkey from the Biblical prophetic perspective simply has to begin with the prophetic words of the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. These words are within the interpretation Gabriel provided to Daniel regarding his Divine vision of the Ram and a Goat, and which move temporally into our present time, are found in Daniel 8:23. They describe the time immediately preceding the rise of the Antichrist, also identified as the beast from the sea in Revelation 13.

“And in the latter time of their kingdom,

When the transgressors have reached their fullness..."

Gabriel said, "And in the latter time of their kingdom." Whose kingdom?  

Obviously, their's is the kingdom that would give rise to the kingdom of the Antichrist in the last days! Their's is the kingdom in the specific context of Gabriel's interpretation of the vision Daniel was given by God. 

It is the kingdom symbolically represented by the male goat which came from the west (Daniel 8:5) and unambiguously identified by Gabriel as Greece. It was also represented symbolically by the notable or conspicuous horn that was Alexander the Great, and the four little horns which was the division of Alexander's empire into four less powerful empires, and which in its final form achieved within the generation immediately preceding the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, was conquered and absorbed into the Roman Empire.

And the Roman Empire is the western empire which Gabriel also unambiguously identified by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:26b in time (Messiah Jesus) and by its specific military action in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple.

"And after the sixty-two weeks

Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

And the people of the prince who is to come

Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary."

This now brings us to the purpose of the map at the head of this SITREP. Take a good, long look at this map. Study its details as they are very instructive also. You know where modern Turkey is located on this map of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent. You also know that Turkey is an integral part of NATO and has seen itself as a potential member of the European Union, particularly since negotiations to this end commenced 11 years ago.

This brings us to a couple of questions. The prophetic symbolism seen in the vision of Daniel and the very concise interpretation provided by the angel Gabriel are inviolable Scripture. Have we seen anything here that even remotely could be construed as representative of Turkey's symbols of a crescent moon and star? Is their anything in Scripture that specifically references Turkey? No, there is not. Zip, nada, nothing that singles out modern-day Turkey in any manner. 

Turkey, if we are to go by prophetic Scripture, has always been within something larger than itself. This should be speaking volumes to us about the stage setting that is yet to occur in the very near future. And remember, the final beast empire is represented by ten horns, three of which Antichrist will subdue and take for himself.

Turkey and Ezekiel 38/39 - Briefly

Then we have the nations identified by the prophet Ezekiel in the 38th and 39th chapters of the prophetic book which bears his name. The names of those nations are all sons of Noah's son Japheth, except for Togarmah who was the third-born son of Japheth's first-born son Gomer. All of these sons of Japheth and the son of Gomer are identified by Ezekiel to denote peoples, or nations of people who descended from them, and not the land which they at one time in the distant past occupied. The lone exception to this is the leader of the military confederation, Gog, who is clearly identified as coming from the land of Magog. Magog means in Hebrew, 'from Gog.'

All of these sons are variously identified by ancient sources in connection with the Cimmerians, Sarmatians, Scythians, Caucasian Iberians, Georgians and Armenians. And Magog itself is located by the ancient sources as being either in the Caucasus region west of the Caspian Sea, or even in some ancient maps as north of China in what we know today to be Mongolia and Russian Siberia. Also of note are correlations of Tubal with the city of Tobolsk in the Russian Federation, and Meshech which is directly related to the Russian language name for the city of Moscow - Moskva. 

The bottom line in this exegesis is that Turkey is peripheral to the nations which will be a part of the prophetic event described in Ezekiel 38/39; it is not a participant in the invasion, but will be on the opposing western side of the war which results as seen in Ezekiel 38:21-22 and 39:3-6. Most who read Eschatology Today regularly are well aware of this exegesis because it has been dealt with previously in some detail. 

What Next?

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see the potential for Erdogan and his AKP reaching too far for absolute power. A few steps too far into totalitarian dictatorship in post-coup d'etat Turkey and it could all backfire badly upon them pretty quickly. 

The current status is that Erdogan has become a virtual dictator and has taken upwards of 100,000 Turks as domestic prisoners of war. Human rights in Turkey are presently nonexistent. American service personnel and family members at Incirlik Air Base as well as the 50-some odd nuclear weapons stored there are virtual hostages - pawns in all actuality - in the political chess match Erdogan and his AKP party are playing with the US Obama Administration and NATO. One wrong move and it could well be an unforeseen 'checkmate.'

Bottom line: the situation in Turkey is utterly inconsistent with the principles that bind together the nations of NATO and EU member states. Without a rapid reversal of the situation in Turkey, let's just say 'regime change' might well be a viable option to save Turkey from the extremist ravages of the AKP and returned to a kinder, gentler version of Islam, an "Abrahamic religion' kind of Islam that NATO and the EU as well as the Ezekiel 38:13 political and religious global elite have since the end of World War II been very comfortable being in a very close alliance with, and will be in the future.

Three months is about all the time i would assess that Erdogan and the AKP have remaining in pressing their luck in this gambit and without going too far with it. And then there's the fairly strong possibility of a Trump Administration coming to power in six months time and turning Washington, the District of Corruption upon its head, and what that will mean for NATO, the EU, Israel and the rest of the world, not to mention Turkey. 

Law and Order, leading from the front will again be the norm. NATO, as has been discussed here, is already on its way towards massive financial investments in defense industries and rearmament. In particular note here is the nation of Greece whose new defense spending per GDP is among the highest in NATO. They've all read the writing on the wall of a coming Trump Administration. These new paradigms will have a profound across the board effect. Americans are not the only people on this planet who like and want to be associated with winners and winning; Europeans like it and so do a lot of other countries, including Turks.

Global SITREP C3-16: It Was Never About the EU, But All About NATO

24 June 2016: This is a special SITREP that I think is necessary because Bible prophecy teachers will be talking about it in their sermons this weekend.  So I see the need to tell you where I stand, and because I anticipate there are more than a few who will ask questions on this subject.

When it comes to Bible prophecy and 'last days' eschatology, I hold to the opinion that the EU was never the central theme of the fifth and final world empire. This final world empire has been discussed at length in many Eschatology Today posts over the past 7 years which have looked at the angel Gabriel's prophecies recorded in the Book of Daniel, chapters 2 and 8 through 12, as well as Revelation 13. In my view the central eschatological focus should never have been on the EU, but always should have been on NATO. And this is the bottom line on why I see the BREXIT vote as much ado about nothing. It is irrelevant when it comes to the eschatological 'big picture.'

Why? Because the EU is not a military force, NATO is. And the dominant theme in last days prophecy of the 70th Week is one of a final world-dominating empire of the Antichrist wielding overwhelming military power. Without NATO the Antichrist would be a great big nothing. The final dominating world empire is "Rome" in the 21st century, and this time "Rome" will include not only the United Kingdom and other European nations, but also the whole of North America and its peerless arsenal.

"And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation." 

Revelation 13:7b

Addendum 29 June 2016: So how does this relate to prophetic events just prior to the 70th Week (Ezekiel 38/39) and that week itself? What follows is my forward-looking view on how it plays out.

As discussed briefly above, the EU is not powerful; it never has been since 1958.  

NATO, on the other hand, is where the real power lies since right after the end of World War II. NATO was created by its member nations within 1 year of Israel's rebirth: Israel in 1948, and NATO in 1949. Given the type and duration of negotiations that occurred, the establishment of Israel and NATO were contemporaneous. 

NATO and its adjutant North Atlantic Council (NAC), established by Article 9 of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty (NAT), stand as the empowerment of Article 3 and Article 5 of the treaty. This is where the true power of "Rome" in the late 20th century and early 21st century AD abides. The North Atlantic Council has been in active session from 1952 to the present moment - that's 64 years in continuous session. This is where NATO's legal power to engage in warfighting in defense of the alliance's member nations and the Council's interests exists.

By definition, the North Atlantic Treaty (NAT) is a currently existent "covenant among many." (Reference: Global SITREP C2-16: Israel Takes a Big Step Towards the "Covenant Among Many")  In the near future, at the start of the 70th Week, this NAT (covenant among many) will be expanded to include Israel, and a few other nations. Most likely the post-Psalm 83 rump of modern day Jordan and other Sunni Arab states are among those nations. 

Antichrist will "confirm" this expansion of the NAT for a period of 7 years, and after which those nations would be extended full membership in the treaty organization. At the present, this legal mechanism is known as NATO's "Partnership For Peace." And as we know from Bible prophecy this extension of the NAT to Israel will be unilaterally abrogated halfway into the 70th Week. Antichrist's NATO forces would enter into Israel during the Daniel 12:40-45 war under the provision of NATO's Article 5. 

So, this 70th Week "covenant among many," just as its pre-70th Week version, will be crafted, maintained and enforced from a position of military strength, not weakness. These are core principles that have governed the politics of world empires from Nebuchadnezzar to the present. This is accordance with Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Has the UK withdrawn or threatened to withdraw from NATO? From the North Atlantic Council and the North Atlantic Treaty? No, and it never will. 

Consider this as i have mentioned previously on Eschatology Today: are these nations prior to the 70th Week truly dealing from a position of weakness as some interpret Ezekiel 38:13?  All should now be aware of my disagreement with that interpretation. I think the initial response of NATO to the sudden appearance of the Magog horde suddenly coming south towards Israel from the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus is one of incredulity ("Are you blankety-blank kidding me!?"), and that quickly shifts to a response of massive retaliation (warfighting) in support of Israel. This becomes a brief world war as seen in Ezekiel 39:6 and elsewhere in Ezekiel's prophecy.

The EU Army?

1 July 2016: With the UK's BREXIT vote still resonating around the globe the French and German foreign ministers jointly issued an obviously prepared in-advance dictum announcing the European Union's transformation into a "political union" that would include massive rearmament to enable future offensive military operations anywhere around the globe. 

The website German-Foreign-Policy.com (click link) published on 28 June its own report, entitled "The European War Union," which included the full text of the joint position paper written by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (a Social Democrat) and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (a Socialist). 

This dictum might well be seen as a whole lot more than the words of European socialist dreamers bent on creating a European Superstate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel very recently declared that Germany's defense budget would converge with that of the United States on the basis of Germany's GDP. Based upon World Bank GDP figures the 2014 German GDP was $3868.29 Billion, so the announced German defense spending increase would rise from the current $36.6 Billion to $131.5 Billion. France would be required to do the same, as would the other eight nations necessary to form the prophetic 10-nation confederacy, as would other attendant and necessary requirements for the establishment of a European Superstate. Such a thing would truly be unprecedented in world history and will be watched to see if the development of this "European Security Compact" truly matches or even exceeds the dream it is to be built upon.

UPDATE 5 July 2016: Something I've noticed that is sticking out like a sore thumb and which remains unmentioned by prophecy teachers in all of the discourse and sermon pronouncements since the UK vote to leave the EU late last month. That something is that neither The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia were a part of the Roman Empire in 70 AD nor at its greatest extent in 116 AD. Neither were, of course, any North American nations. On the other-hand, there are other nations which were within the Roman Empire in ancient times but have no connection whatsoever to either NATO or the EU since their establishment after World War II.

This indicates to me that spending a lot of time looking at maps of ancient Rome should not be a key part of any exegesis regarding the geographical nature of the final beast empire; that the ten, reduced to seven, political entities represented by ten crowns on the heads of the beast do in fact symbolically represent something which simply did not exist in ancient times, but which does exist in these latter days. That something is an artificial global construct which symbolically would appear as dissimilar material being partly strong and partly weak, like iron and clay. Something which had its origins in and is based in the West, but has legal extraterritoriality as a primary feature. Is it from this recent man-made artificial "sea" of nations that the rise of 10 crowns have their origin?

The Prophetic Road to Revelation: Part VI - The 70th Week

Har Megiddo National Park in Israel

12 June 2016: (Continuation of this post is Below) As seen in the image above, the vast Plain of Jezreel lies before the elevated land mount known in Hebrew since ancient times as Har Megiddo. This mount and the plain before it have on the whole become a byword for the end of the age, and known simply as Armageddon, as taken directly from The Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 16, verse 16:

"And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Harmagedōn."

This prophetic event is final 70th Week global war between the alliance of governments under the leadership of the Antichrist and his earthly enemies, known rather simplistically in Biblical eschatology as the "kings of the east." This war is prophetically announced in the concluding words of Daniel 9:27c:

"Even until the consummation, which is determined,

Is poured out on the desolate." 

As discussed previously in Eschatology Today blog items, this final global war occurs during the finale of the  angel Gabriel's prophecy concerning Israel's 70th Week (Daniel 9:24-27). However, in real-world terms it almost certainly will occur during the terminal 42 months 7th year (Daniel 11:40-45). Global wars are prosecuted for years, as we have seen in real-time since September 11, 2001 to the present. As can be seen in that passage of Scripture from Daniel, this final global war commences with an Islamist/Russian attack upon the Antichrist's dominion of nations and results in a devastating counter-offensive against those enemies. This global war is vividly described in Jeremiah 25:32-34:

"Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, disaster shall go forth

From nation to nation,

And a great whirlwind shall be raised up

From the farthest parts of the earth.

And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

 “Wail, shepherds, and cry!

Roll about in the ashes,

You leaders of the flock!

For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled;

You shall fall like a precious vessel."

It is at this time that the consummation the Lord's determined wrath poured out upon the earth and its inhabitants is completed. 

And it is also at this point in time during the 70th Week that the Lord Jesus Christ suddenly appears in space above and entering the earth's atmosphere with His army of saints to put an end to the global war which Jesus  revealed in His 'Olivet Discourse'  that no living flesh would have survived were He not to intervene directly. 

So, this is how human rule on the Earth comes to an end and the Kingdom of the Lord becomes established. But what happens during the earlier portions of the 70th Week? 

As we have seen in the recently revised Part V: Ezekiel 38/39 as a transitional Event to the 70th Week of The Prophetic Road to Revelation, there is a global war involving weapons of mass destruction which serves as the transition in that it completes the stage setting necessary for the Antichrist rise to absolute power through his confirming a covenant (peace treaty) among many nations. That covenant will appear, falsely, to have settled all issues which brought about the brief but extremely violent events described in Ezekiel 38/39.

This is the point during my composing this post at which I sat relatively idle and necessarily prayerfully silent for the past couple of weeks, not knowing where or how the Lord would have me go in furthering in this eschatological interpretation of the events of the 70th Week. 

My prayers did not have to wait very long for a response. Out of the blue I am informed by an Email that I am to receive Dr. David Reagan's (Lamb & Lion Ministries) newest book (image above), "Wrath and Glory: The Meaning of the Book of Revelation." This is a revised or second edition of the original first published in August 2001, a month prior to September 11 and the start of the long war between Islamists and the West which has continued to the present moment, and according to Gabriel prophecy of Daniel 11, will continue into the 70th Week. I stated in earlier posts that the past is prologue for the future. It is my personal view that since 9/11 we have been living in an almost benign prologue of what will occur during the 70th Week when WMD use (nuclear, biological and chemical warfare) will be the norm rather than the dreaded exception it is today.

Now, there are a great many books written concerning the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which is in essence the story told in prophecy about the coming events of the 70th Week. Some of these great many books are, quite frankly, very bad and not worth your time in reading them. However, there are some, more than a few actually, which are very, very good. One such book was the first one of this type I ever read and was written by Jack Van Impe (pub. 1982), titled "Revelation Revealed". 

However, since my opening and commencement of virtually non-stop reading of Dr. Reagan's book this weekend, there is no question that his book is fully a cut above all of the rest of the good books on this subject, not that this is any sort of a surprise given the years of Bible scholarship that have come from Dr. Reagan's pen and keyboard. And, yes, this is a boldly certain endorsement of Dr. Reagan's book; it is without question fully a Spirit-guided book. Its content and resources make it indispensable for any student of Bible prophecy library, even if you happen to already possess the original 2001 edition.

While I will not at this point quote from Dr. Reagan's book directly, as that will require a specific permission to do so, I will in the coming days address many of the keys he identifies as necessary in coming to a greater understanding of what the Revelation of Jesus Christ is. As always, the Holy Spirit will be your guide.

I was immediately drawn and fascinated by the cover artwork for this book. Look closely, down towards the Earth below and behind our triumphant returning Messiah. You will see the 70th Week version of Har Megiddo which stands in stark contrast to the image at the top of this post. Look even closer and you will see combat aircraft at full afterburner, attack choppers, missiles and all manner of modern military hardware in full battle array engaged deep into a pitched battle rhythm. This image precisely illustrates what the angel Gabriel and John the Revelator describe to us in their respective Scriptures. The cover art is an image of ancient Bible prophecy coming to fulfillment in a 21st century world with 21st century hardware, and which which has been a consistent theme of Eschatology Today. It puts a 21st century face on Biblical prophetic texts which are in excess of 2,500 years old. 

The Book of Daniel and the Revelation of Jesus Christ are Spiritual companions of each other. They come from the same Source. They prophesy about the same period of time which is the finality of the 70th Week. The difference for us is that neither is about the distant future with respect to our time. As Daniel was twice informed (Daniel 12:4 and Daniel 12:9) in the book which bears his name, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end."  This book, and this blog, are about the fact that these prophetic Scriptures are no longer sealed up, they are about the end times in which we live and which we can and should fully understand. The watchmen have been enabled and know with great precision what they are to watch for.

The discussion of Part VI: The 70th Week began with a virtual snapshot of the ultimate and final battlefield at Harmagedōn  and linked that to how the 70th Week commences with the Antichrist's confirming of a "covenant (treaty) among many" nations following the chaos of Ezekiel 38/39.

This was intentional and is similar to how the text of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is put together by an omnipotent and utterly sovereign God who exists independent of time and space. As you read through its chapters the texts will jump in time, going either forward or backward at will, but always with the purpose of foretelling the wrath-filled future of the 70th Week and revealing Jesus Christ throughout the process, and in so doing revealing the very nature of God the Father. 

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is understandable today simply because the time for its fulfillment is near. That's the work of the Holy Spirit manifest. Just as the Book of Daniel has been unsealed and is understandable simply because we are living in the days of the time of the end of mankind's political rule over the Earth. The end results in the beginning of Jesus Christ's eternal rule as King of kings and Lord of lords.  

We should all be reading this book, in prayerful study and in conjunction with the other prophetic books of the Bible, such as Daniel. Do you know why? Because God promises that all who do so (as well as those who hear and those who heed these words) will be Blessed! The Greek word for blessed in this text is makarios, and it means to be blessed in the most supreme manner possible by God the Father. Good reason to start reading, right? 

So, what will come next in Part VI: The 70th Week are some of the essential details, given in an orderly fashion so that they make sense and through the power of the Holy Spirit enabling a full, big picture view of the text. God not only whats you to read this book, of which He is the original author, but He wants you to understand it so that you can teach it to others in your family, friends and perfect strangers if and when that potential arises for you.

I am sure we have all seen the various graphically illustrated timelines for the 70th Week. If on the rare chance you've not seen one before simply Google "end of days timeline" and select images Dozens of different variations will be presented for your viewing. Most, if not all, are a simplistic combination of pictures and brief descriptions illustrating the passage of time future from the point of the Harpazo (Rapture) of the bride of Christ to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

I will present the same information but in a slightly different manner. 

The Harpazo/Rapture occurs prior to the revealing of the Antichrist. In less than a microsecond the millions upon millions of deceased true believers of Jesus Christ will be instantly raised from the dead in eternal spiritual bodies just like Jesus has after His resurrection, and those who are alive on the Earth will be instantaneously transfigured into the same type of eternal spiritual bodies. Both groups will meet Jesus Christ in the air and enter into Heaven with Him.

The 70th Week begins with the appearance of a rider on a white horse (left in the below image). This is the first of the so-called "four horsemen of the apocalypse" which are symbolic representations of the Antichrist, Global Warfare, Scarcity of Food, and Death. These four are present whenever and wherever war occurs, however, during the 70th Week their effects will be more terrible and unprecedented than at anytime in the history of the Earth. The event which reveals the Antichrist is a covenant (peace treaty) that he will confirm among many nations for a period of 7 years. From the Biblical perspective, the most important of the nations within the provisions of the treaty will be Israel. Antichrist will unilaterally abrogate this covenant with Israel exactly 42 months after he confirms it.

The Antichrist a/k/a the "first beast" of Revelation 13:1-8 is literally an extremely charismatic man who initially mimics the Lord Jesus Christ; he is an imitation Christ, a false, satanically-empowered messiah, a man who orthodox Jews will accept as being Moshiach ben David according to Jesus Christ as recorded in John 5:43. Antichrist brings with him the other three "horsemen" and their appearances are rapid sequential. Also with the Antichrist is a false religious leader, the false prophet, a/k/a the "second beast" of Revelation 13:11-17 who will also be satanic in nature, and in combination with Antichrist and Satan forms an unholy trinity, a false godhead. What the false prophet will do as empowered by Satan is clearly and plainly written in the text

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Concurrent with the appearance of the Antichrist and his confirming of the covenant among many nations are the sealing of God's elect: the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and the non-Jewish believers in Christ. The are sealed so that no harm comes from God's wrath being poured out upon the planet during the 70th Week. Also concurrent is the ministry of the Two Witnesses. The details of their ministry is given to us all clearly and plainly written in the text of Revelation 11. 

Notice that I have now used the phrase "clearly and plainly written in the text of..." twice. This is of great importance because it is through the plain text that God communicates prophecy directly to each of us. Nothing is hidden, everything is completely understandable and all of it is literal as literal can be. Anyone who says you cannot understand the Revelation of Jesus Christ by simply reading the text of this book is a liar. Again, the Holy Spirit is your guide and comforter in this endeavor, He will convict you of its absolute truth.

If you have any questions as you read the Revelation of Jesus Christ post them in a comment and timely answers will be provided.

A National Moment of Remembrance

30 May 2016: Today marks the 148th annual observance in the United States of America of what has come to be known as Memorial Day. This day was borne out of the American Civil War in order (posted below) to honor our war dead. General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 on 5 May 1868 establishing this day of remembrance as Decoration Day.  

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield gave a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who are buried there. 

Today you may notice veterans of the VFW and civic organizations around the country collecting funds for veterans causes. With each donation they will hand to the donor a Red Memorial Poppy in return. These donations benefit war orphans, widows and servicemen and women in need. This American tradition was born in 1915 when an American woman named Moina Michael penned a poem in response to "In Flanders Fields."  

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

More recently the Congress of the United States passed the National Moment of Remembrance resolution is December 2000. The purpose of the resolution has been to request all Americans "informally and voluntarily in their own way to pause from whatever they are doing at 3 PM local time observe a silent Moment of remembrance and respect and, or in listening to the playing of Taps. 

Today we honor all of our war dead knowing that while all servicemen and women have given some, there are more than 1.8 million who have given all since 1775 in the sacrifice of their lives defending the Republic, its values as enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America.

HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

General Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868

1. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from his honor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation’s gratitude, the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.

2. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

3. Department commanders will use efforts to make this order effective.

By order of

JOHN A. LOGAN,

Commander-in-Chief

N.P. CHIPMAN,

Adjutant General

Official:

WM. T. COLLINS, A.A.G.

Global SITREP C2-16: Israel Takes a Big Step Towards the "Covenant Among Many"

18 May 2016: This is too important of a subject to be just an update added to the bottom of the previous SITREP. This subject is of an importance which is ultimately prophetic to an incredible degree as the passage of time will surely make very clear.  

Upon the approval of the North Atlantic Council, on Wednesday, 4 May 2016 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg extended an offer to the State of Israel to establish an Israel Mission Office at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. Israeli Prime Minister accepted the offer yesterday during a phone call to Stoltenberg and then invited him to come visit Israel. Ambassador David Walzer, Israel's current Ambassador to the European Union (established June 2000), will now become the Israeli Chief of Mission to NATO.

Also, joining Israel in establishing Mission Offices in the NATO Headquarters are a quintuplet of Sunni Arab nations: Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. (Sheba and Dedan, anyone?)  The invitation to Israel was extended by the unanimous consent of the NATO ministers, and which included the NATO minister from Turkey. This is a major step forward towards bringing Israel into the NATO military alliance which will also, eventually, include the four Arab nations seen in close alliance with the "merchants of Tarshish and all the young lions thereof" spoken by the prophet Ezekiel. The past is prologue to the future.

Israel's process of inclusion into the NATO alliance began in 1994 when the North Atlantic Council created the Mediterranean Dialogue which is composed of six non-NATO countries of the Mediterranean region: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, plus Mauritania in the heart of West Africa. The purpose of the Dialogue is for stability and security. More recently the nations of NATO and the Dialogue have been referred to as NATO+7. Military cooperation and coordination constitute 85% of the activity engaged in, making the NATO+7 essentially a military precursor to full integration into the NATO alliance. Opening a Mission in NATO's Brussels HQ is, again, a major step in that direction.

I cannot think of a single 'last days' prophecy from this point forward where there is not some significant aspect involved either prior to or during the 70th Week. Most important of the significant prophetic aspects, I believe, is the "confirming of the covenant among many" which initiates the 70th Week. This is truly a goose bumps breaking news story, with some serious 'past is prologue' implications as well. 

Global SITREP C1-16: The Past As Prologue

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

(Update Below) 12 May 2016: The past is prologue to the future. Prologue is defined as "a preliminary discourse; a preface or introductory part of a discourse, poem, or novel." To this definition I will add God-breathed prophecy for the simple reason that prophetic prologue in Scripture was extant thousands of years before Shakespeare was born. 

The various texts of the Bible, but especially the prophetic texts, are replete with this theme many times over. In Genesis the narrative of Noah and the Ark serves as a rather detailed account of those ancient times as well as a prophetic prologue for the Harpazo of the Bride of Christ by Jesus in the near future. So too in Daniel 11:20-45, the angel Gabriel provides in great detail the account of Antiochus IV Epiphanes which we know in hindsight as completely fulfilled historical events, and also as prologue for future events during the 70th Week to be fulfilled by the Antichrist.

With Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek-Macedonian self-proclaimed demigod of the Seleucid Empire in a long, unbroken line of Macedonian-Greek Seleucid kings, we have a very specific prologue into the coming of the man who will become the Antichrist as provided by Gabriel in Daniel 11. The prologue does not even skip a beat in the exploits of this man circa 168-67 BC to those of the real future Antichrist; the text is a virtual time warp of from the events of 168-67 BC to those of what I believe will be circa the years 2028-2031 AD. And in this fact alone the future will be fulfilled. As many have pointed out previously, this is about a bloodline, and about a certain demonic entity which possessed Antiochus IV Epiphanes during his brief rule and will possess the coming Antichrist in the final 42 months of the Megas Thlipsis (a/k/a the 'Great Tribulation').

This is were history comes into play and it is instructive on how events may well come to pass in the future. In ancient times globalism was accomplished through the vehicle of Empire. In Scripture, the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream by the prophet Daniel established this paradigm of human empires for the sum of human-led rule on this earth until the 'end of days.'  

With an eye to historical events, did Antiochus IV Epiphanes inherit his very powerful and militarily dominant empire, or did he conquer and establish it as Alexander the Great had done 157 years earlier? The historical fact is that Antiochus IV Epiphanes inherited his empire; it was literally handed to him when when his predecessor, Seleucus was assassinated by a general named Heliodorus upon returning to the capital Seleucia from Jerusalem in 175 BC. Antiochus, the second son of Seleucus then seized the throne through royal scheming and the subterfuge of some close associates. Daniel 11:21 was thus literally fulfilled by Antiochus in 175 BC (see the comments section on precisely how this fulfillment came to pass). I believe we can expect to see similar subterfuge and conspiracy as the future Antichrist comes to power.

The end of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the transition or overlap to the future Antichrist occurs within the text of Daniel 11:29-39. These ten verses apply to both Antiochus IV Epiphanes and to the future Antichrist. Then at Daniel 11:40, where the prophecy states "At the time of the end..." the overlap has been completed and the time-line has definitively jumped forward by about 1,850 years into the 70th Week. None of the text of Daniel 11:40-45 was fulfilled in the past; all of it is set for a future fulfillment during the 70th Week. 

It is also important to note that the Seleucid bloodline which followed Antiochus IV Epiphanes (his son Antiochus V Eupator; his grandson Demetrius I Soter; his great-grandson Demetrius II Nicator who was overthrown by another great grandson supported by Rome and the Seleucid Empire became fully a vassal state of the Roman Empire, Alexander I Balas; his great-great grandson Antiochus VIII Grypus; his great-great-great grandson Seleucus VI Epiphanes Nicator. This line continues all the way to the last Seleucid vassal king named Philip II Philoromaeus (which means 'friend of the Romans'), and then to Antiochus XIII who ruled for a year in 65-64 BC when Rome turned what remained of the Seleucid kingdom into a full-fledged province of Rome controlled by Roman General Pompey. This kingdom was then stripped of its Macedonian-Greek name Seleucia and renamed Syria by Roman decree. At this time Antiochus X Eusebes Philopater became a figurehead ruler of Syria, but he was quickly replaced in 58 BC by the Roman general and supporter of Pompey, Aulus Gabinius. Antiochus XIII ultimate fate and progeny thereafter are unknown to this day. A descendant could literally be anywhere, yet what is certain is that he will emerge and fulfill everything that has been prophesied. 

The keen-eyed will likely have already made note that this same lineage lent its name to a major city of ancient times, the Biblical city of Antioch, which is today known by its Turkish name, Antakya. This city was founded in the 4th century BC by the first of the Seleucid kings, Alexander the Great's close aide, Seleucus I Nicator. Acts 11:26 teaches that this city is where believers of Jesus Christ first became known as Christians.

Just as Gabriel's prophetic narrative scaled time in a single bound, so now shall this SITREP.  In the year 2016 AD, according to the Julian calendar we use, the world situation is similar to that of the fourth decade of the 20th Century AD (1931-1940). 

In a nutshell, the events which preceded World War II ensured its occurrence. These were chaotic events which gave rise to the emergence of strongmen on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Stalin, Tojo, Chamberlain, Churchill, Roosevelt. Each of major nations of the world found the necessity of a strong leader to rule absolutely essential; such is the call and dictate of national survival. The League of Nations, the first modern attempt at globalism, was weak and therefore ineffective and ultimately incapable of fulfilling is purpose. Right by might became the rule with some nations taking territory that belonged to others, and other nations doing nothing to stop it. A world war was the inevitable result.

Midway through the second decade of the 21st Century AD chaotic events are once again occurring. In many countries strong leadership is once again seen as an essential necessity. Nations are seizing the territory of others; corruption is rampant in almost every facet of society. A blood-thirsty religious cult centered on a 7th Century AD madman's demonic-inspired conquests is running rampant through both legal and illegal means all over the globe. Before everyone's eyes the global semblance of order that was established following World War II through the establishment of the United Nations has been fully corrupted and continues as a virtual functioning debacle. 

The difference this time is that the means to destroy all life on the planet is in the possession of a handful of nations who are more or less aligned in opposing blocs known as East and West. Strong men and dictators currently rule in the Eastern Bloc. And smack dab in the middle of this is the Middle East. No longer is the threat of war in the Middle East the issue, the issue now is that there is ongoing warfare of one type of another occurring in even its remotest corners, with the major nuclear-armed powers directly involved from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Levant. These are wars which will ignite larger ones, eventually dragging the nuclear-armed powers into a flood of direct conflict. The absence of a strong-man in the Western Bloc cannot last much longer; and the opposing sides in the trifecta of the Middle East's wars are all clamoring for the emergence of their expected messianic figure. 

As we all know from prophetic Scripture, the fast approaching appointed time of this demonically-controlled man's emergence and revealing is imminent. So is the blessed hope of the Harpazo. "Ready" and "Get Set" have already been announced, all that remains is for our Father in Heaven to say "Go!"