At the time of this writing in 2019, the world has seen an attempt to restore an Islamic Caliphate (or an Islamic State) in the Middle East. As we will see, such a restored Islamic State is likely prophesied. To understand this coming Islamic State better, first let us understand our cousin Ishmael, and his close relationship to his cousin Esau (who is today the Roman Catholic Church).
As we explain in Nazarene Israel, Yahweh blessed Ishmael, saying that Ishmael would beget twelve princes (meaning twelve countries with kings), and that he would also become a great nation (meaning a great religious group).
B’reisheet (Genesis) 17:20
20 “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.”
To understand these blessings, we need to realize that the definitions of words in Scripture are different than how the world normally uses them. When Scripture refers to our nationality, it does not refer to the country in which we grew up, or even to our genetics (i.e., race). Rather, in Scripture, our nation is our religion. For Nazarene Israelites, our nation is Nazarene Israel, even if we live in many different countries all around the world. So, to apply this same understanding to Ishmael, when Yahweh said Ishmael would become a great nation with twelve princes, He meant there would be an Islamic world (which the Muslims call the “ummah”). This Islamic nation would have twelve Islamic countries ruled by princes.
Esau’s case is a bit more complex. Esau was also called Edom, and he settled in Mount Seir (in modern day southern Jordan).
Genesis 36:8-9
8 So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom.
9 And this is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir.
The natives of the southern Jordan are ethnic Arabs who later became Islamic. Not only is this pattern symbolic, but Esau became even more enmeshed with the Arab and Muslim world when he married two of Ishmael’s daughters, Mahalath and Basemath.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 28:9
9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Avraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 36:1-3
1 Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom.
2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
In earlier chapters we saw how King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a statue set up on the earth, representing a series of five Babylonian-style empires (where the elites exploit the poor). Notice that the fifth iteration of this is a combination of Roman-style Christianity and Islam (Esau and Ishmael).
Daniel 2:32-33
32 “This image’s head was of fine gold [Babylon], its chest and arms of silver [Medea-Persia], its belly and thighs of bronze [Greece],
33 its legs of iron [Rome], its feet partly of iron [Roman Christianity] and partly of clay [Islam].”
Earlier we saw how the third empire in the series was Alexander the Great’s Macedonian (Greek) Empire (the belly and thighs of bronze). Alexander’s empire spread east. While Christianity spread to many of these lands, today most of them have been conquered by Islam.
The fourth in the series was the two legs of iron (which symbolize Rome). In 293 CE, the Emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire into two administrative divisions, which were literally called the eastern and western “legs” of the Roman Empire (corresponding to the two legs of the statue). Yet in 330 CE, Emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, and renamed it Constantinople. While Rome served as the administrative capital of the western leg, Constantinople served as the capital of the eastern leg, and of the Roman Empire itself after Rome fell. Then finally the Eastern Roman Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Islamic Empire in 1453.
After Constantinople fell, the seat of Eastern Orthodox Christianity migrated to Saint Petersburg (in modern-day Russia). However, the Ottomans called Constantinople by the new name Istanbul, and it became the seat of the Ottoman Islamic Empire. It is very significant that the seat of the Ottoman Islamic Empire sat on the seat of Constantine’s Roman empire, because it was a case of Ishmael sitting on top of Esau. Not only this, as we saw earlier, Istanbul perfectly straddles the eastern and western worlds. This gives it a very special significance.
In Hebrew, the term Gog (גּוֹג) means “roof”, and from the perspective of the land of Israel, Turkey was the “roof” of the ancient known world. The term Magog (מָּגוֹג) means “what comes from the roof”—and what comes from the roof is the eastern and western legs of the old Roman Empire. This gives Turkey a special relationship with both the eastern and western Babylonian-Christian worlds, and this special relationship accounts for the special relationship Turkey has with both (western) NATO and (eastern) Russia.
With this background, now let us look at Revelation 17:8-11 from a first century perspective. If we remember that Islam did not yet exist, we can see that all five iterations of the beast system are contained here. Further, the political and religious aspects are both referred to (since the Babylonian beast system is really all one system). This will help us understand the possibility of a coming restored caliphate much better.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:8-11
8 “The beast that you saw was [Babylon], and is not [Islam], and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was [Babylon], and is not [Islam], and yet is [Rome].
9 Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman [Rome, but also Mecca] sits.
10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is [Rome], and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.
11 The beast that was [Babylon], and is not [Islam], is himself also the eighth [United Religion, and also a restored caliphate], and is of the seven [Ottoman Empire], and is going to perdition.”
The key to understanding this list is to realize that these five Babylonian-style empires are a subset of a longer list of eight Egyptian-Babylonian-style empires. The seventh of these empires is also of the eighth (verse 11). If the eighth is a unified Babylonian world religion based on Catholicism (“Universalism”), then both a renewed Islamic Caliphate and backslidden Protestantism might fit here, if the Ecumenical Movement succeeds.
- Egypt (Ezekiel 29:1-30:26)
- Assyria and Nineveh (Nahum 3:1-19)
- Babylon (Revelation 18:2, Jeremiah 50-51)
- Medea-Persia (Daniel 8:20-22, 10:13, 11:2)
- Greece (Daniel 11:4)
- Rome (existed when Revelation was written)
- Ottoman Islamic Caliphate (1299-1922), and perhaps also backslidden Protestantism (1517-future), if the Ecumenical Movement succeeds
- A one world government and one world religion, which may also embrace a renewed Islamic Caliphate
As we saw earlier, when Revelation was written, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Iran, and Greece had all fallen. Rome was. The Ottoman Islamic Empire was not yet—and when it came, it continued a short while (1299-1922). The Ottoman Empire received a deadly wound at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, from which it never recovered, and yet Revelation 13:12 tells us that the governmental beast will have its deadly wound healed.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 13:12
12 And he [second beast, URI] exercises all the authority of the first [governmental] beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first [governmental] beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
As we saw earlier, the first beast is a government beast, while the second beast is religious. However, these are really two different facets of the same beast system. That is why Catholicism was religiously wounded in 1517 (by Martin Luther) and it was politically wounded in 1588, with the sinking of the Spanish Armada. However, with Islam these two beasts are closer to one in the same, because Islam (correctly) denies any separation between assembly and state. Thus, the politico-religious wound that the Ottoman Empire received at the walls of Vienna in 1683 can be healed in one stroke.
Every assembly mentioned in Revelation was physically located in modern-day Turkey (Gog). Also, Revelation 2:12-13 mentions a place called, “Satan’s throne.”
Hitgalut (Revelation) 2:12-13
12 “And to the messenger of the assembly in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword:
13 I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”
Below is a picture of the original foundation of Zeus’ throne in Pergamos, Turkey. Zeus was a sun god, and it therefore associated with Lucifer (the Light Bringer).
Zeus’ (Satan’s) central altar was built in the shape of a giant horseshoe. If one looks closely, one can still see the original horseshoe-shaped foundation.
Some people might wonder why Satan wants a house. However, Satan is a counterfeiter, so if Yahweh wants a house where people can come and worship Him, then Satan wants one also. Moreover, if there is power at Yahweh’s true place of worship, there is also occultic power at Satan’s altar, and in Satan’s symbolism.
In the fourth century, Satan’s temple at Pergamos was converted to a church (and was dedicated to the Apostle John). Fourteen centuries later, in 1871, the German engineer Carl Humann brought Satan’s altar to Berlin, where it was put it on display at the Pergamon Museum. Then in 1902 the German Kaiser Wilhelm II brought the rest of Satan’s temple to Berlin. Then eleven years after that, in 1913, Germany brought the gates of ancient Babylon to the Pergamon Museum. And remembering that Satan’s things have occultic power, it is interesting to note that World War 1 began the following year (in 1914).
Satan’s altar was still in Germany through World War Two. Adolf Hitler belonged to the Skull and Bones (Thule Society), and in 1934, after becoming Germany’s leader, he ordered the Tribune at Zeppelin Field in Nuremberg (above) to be built as a center for his Nazi rallies. His architect Albert Speer used Zeus’s (Satan’s) throne as the pattern. World War 2 began five years later (in 1939). These things are not a coincidence.
The Soviet Union captured Satan’s throne, and in 1948 they took it to Russia for ten years. It was returned in 1958, but it was in the Soviet Union during a key time in its rise to global nuclear status (after World War Two).
The United States President Obama had a mock-up of Satan’s throne built for his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Interestingly, it was an even better mock-up of the Pergamon altar than the one Adolf Hitler had built. It was also during his time in office that President Obama declared that “America is no longer a Christian nation.” He also appointed Muslims to key positions. These appointments are in keeping with the pattern of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, whereby the toes of the statue are of iron (democratic Christianity) mixed with miry clay (Islam).
Prophecy is not given so we can know the future. Rather, it is given so that when things come to pass, it confirms our faith. Because of this, we can’t know exactly how things will play out, but we do know that Roman-style Christianity and Islam are both are aspects of the same Babylonian beast system. However, the first beast of Revelation 13 is a governmental beast, and it has both Christian and Islamic facets. Therefore, when the first beast’s deadly wound is healed, it could mean a restored world government (of the kind the Catholic Church used to have, i.e., the UN), and a restored Islamic caliphate.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 13:12
12 And he [second beast, URI] exercises all the authority of the first [government] beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first [government] beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Because Roman-style Christianity and Islam are so closely related, if the old Catholic world dominion is restored (through the UN), there will also likely be a healing of the old Ottoman Empire. And not surprisingly, Ex-Muslim Walid Shoebat reports that Turkish President Erdogan is rebuilding the Pergamos complex and has repeatedly demanded that Germany return Satan’s throne by a target date of 2023. If Germany does return it, it could portend a restored Islamic caliphate centered in Turkey. In other words, the old Ottoman Empire will be restored, synonymous with Ankara’s stated goals.
Beyond this, there is also a place for a smaller version of Satan’s horseshoe-shaped throne, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Many people believe that the Dome of the Rock is built in the location of Solomon’s original temple, but this is not the case. Rather, Solomon’s original temple was built closer to the southwest of the mount (reference “Locating Solomon’s Temple”, by Norma Robertson).
Many people believe that the temple mount we see today is the same as it was in Yeshua’s time, but this is not at all the case. When the Pharisees revolted against Rome in the Bar Kochba Rebellion (circa 132-136 CE), the Romans banned the Jews from living in the land of Israel, and they also built a huge stone earthworks up and over the original temple mount, and built a temple to Zeus (Lucifer) on top of it. The original Roman temple was dismantled, and when the Muslims conquered the land of Israel they built the Dome of the Rock on this gargantuan platform, and it has been assumed that the Dome of the Rock stands in the place of the original temple ever since. (To understand why the Dome of the Rock is not built in the original location, please see the study, “Locating Solomon’s Temple,” by archaeologist Norma Robertson.)
In earlier chapters we saw that at the time of this writing we are in the timeframe of Seal Six, and that we are waiting for the sky to recede like a scroll, which likely symbolizes a limited nuclear war, which will be used to bring the New World Order [UN] to full power. And there is also planned a United World Religion [URI], with a common temple, with the outer courtyard open to all the gentiles (Revelation 11:2).
Is it possible that after Seal Six, when the New World Order rises and a one world religion is established, that another altar to Zeus (Lucifer) will be established on this horseshoe-shaped rock, under the guise of being an altar to “God” or “HaShem”? And that the Muslim world will also be brought together as a single caliphate (or ummah), fulfilling once again the prophecy that Ishmael would be a great nation with twelve princes?