There are a few prophetic things that must happen before the commencement of Daniel’s seventieth week. Among them are the ram – goat war of Daniel chapter 8 and the formation of the 10 nation confederacy that will support the coming antichrist. This 10 nation alliance will, I believe, be all Islamic. This is ably presented in the books “Islamic Antichrist” and “Mideast Beast”. These are must reads for students of biblical prophecy and are available for free here:Islamic-Antichrist.pdf (joelstrumpet.com) and here:Master File Joel Richardson (joelstrumpet.com).
The ram – goat war of Daniel 8, I believe, will be between Yavan (modern-day Turkey) and Iran (biblical Persia). For a detailed exegesis of this chapter go to Los Amigos Bible Studies link on the lower right and locate chapter 8 of the study on the book of Daniel.
While our nation has been focused on politics lately, there has been news of some subtle moves in the middle east that indicate the ram – goat war may be coming soon. Following are links to two articles that describe what I’m referring to. Erdogan reaches out to Israel – but new allies will influence Jerusalem’s response – Israel News – Haaretz.com also, Iran Press: Erdoğan Undermining Iran’s Territorial Integrity | MEMRI. What’s significant about these articles is Erdogan’s sudden interest in improving ties with both Israel and the Sunni Arab nations that have one after another been signing peace deals with Israel. Turkey, under Erdogan, is also Sunni. He seems to be moving against alienating himself from these Arab nations. These moves, of course, are directly in opposition to the motives of the Shia Islamic regime in Iran who Erdogan has been cozy with recently. The common enemy of most middle east Arab Sunni countries and Israel is Iran. So, Erdogan seems to be incurring the wrath of Iran by these overtures. All it will take is some political or religious catalyst to set off a Sunni – Shia war between Turkey and Iran. Antagonistic political and religious issues are certainly already present between the two. Consider, for a moment, what the world’s reaction would be to such a war. Would there be any intervention from any ME country, Israel, the US, Europe ? I doubt it, especially if Turkey was winning as the bible predicts. The world would probably welcome the demise of the rogue Iranian regime. The US and NATO would possibly even assist Turkey – a NATO alliance member. Remember, from Daniel 8, after Persia is vanquished by Yavan, The “little horn” (antichrist) emerges from the political turmoil after Yavan’s leadership breaks up. Also, it’s not too hard to see a ten nation confederacy of Islamic nations emerge in the aftermath of this war with a revived Ottoman empire based in Turkey at the helm.
You might ask, Jim, are you certain this is coming ? My answer is no; after all this is prophecy. But I present this to you as a reasonable scenario. Keep watching and studying your bible. We live in fascinating times.