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‘Turkish Summer’? Fiercest Anti-Government Protests In Years Erupt In Istanbul, Scores Wounded After Police Attempt To Disperse Demonstrators

05/31/2013 3 comments

First it was the “Arab Spring”. Now it’s the “Turkish Summer”. Tip of the hat to Kurt J for the link, who also points out that even though every Arab Spring protest initially began with elements of liberalism and the hope of true democratic freedom, the end result was the ousting of one dictatorship being replaced by another that was much worse. Turkey will get tough to douse the flames of protests, but too much force will only add fuel to the fire. And if recent history is any indicator, any potential removal of Erdogan and the current government may only result in another that is even more Islamist than the one it replaces …

By Ayla Jean Yackley, Reuters –  “ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests for years.

Thousands of demonstrators massed on streets surrounding Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, long a venue for political unrest, while protests erupted in the capital Ankara and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir.

Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street near Taksim. Primary school children ran crying from the clouds of tear gas while tourists caught by surprise scurried to get back to luxury hotels lining the square.

The unrest reflects growing disquiet at the authoritarianism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Riot police clashed with tens of thousands of May Day protesters in Istanbul this month. There have also been protests against the government’s stance on the conflict in neighboring Syria, a tightening of restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection.

‘We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan … Even AK Party supporters are saying they have lost their mind, they are not listening to us,’ said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Bosphorus University who attended the protest.

‘This is the beginning of a summer of discontent.’

The protest at Taksim’s Gezi Park started late on Monday after trees were torn up under a government redevelopment plan but has widened into a broader demonstration against Erdogan’s administration. Friday’s violence erupted after a dawn police raid on demonstrators who had been camped out for days.

‘This isn’t just about trees anymore, it’s about all of the pressure we’re under from this government. We’re fed up, we don’t like the direction the country is headed in,’ said 18-year-old student Mert Burge, who came to support the protesters after reading on Twitter about the police use of tear gas.

‘We will stay here tonight and sleep on the street if we have to,’ he said.” Read more.

If “Mystery Babylon” Is Not Rome, Then Who Is It?

05/31/2013 13 comments

Here is a great article by Walid Shoebat that everyone needs to read in full. As we all know, Satan does everything in his power to counterfeit, corrupt and conceal truth. As noted in my Mark of the Beast article, the Church of God — the assembly of His people — is called the “Ekklesia” in Scripture and in terms of location is identified with Jerusalem, the epicenter of the Judeo-Christian faith. If the “Bride” of Christ is identified and associated with the city of “Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:9-10, “… I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife… and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God”) then it only stands to reason that Satan’s counterfeit of the Church — the “Babylonian Harlot” — would also be associated with a city of her own. From the preponderance of the evidence that we are given throughout Scripture, the desert “harlot” identified by John in Revelation 17 is associated with the epicenter of Islam itself. Whereas the Judeo-Christian faith arose out of and looks toward Jerusalem, Islam arose out of and looks toward the city of Mecca, the spiritual homestead of the “Ummah” (the Muslim world). And if the “Judeo-Christian Bride” of Scripture is also defined as the “Body of Christ”, whose body does the antithetical “Babylonian Harlot” make? …

Revelation 17:1, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters …'”

Mystery Babylon Is Mecca, NOT Vatican

By Walid Shoebat – “When it comes to Mystery Babylon, the common tendency amongst many Protestant theologians is to liken it to Rome. According to them, Rome is the city of seven hills. Others even equate it with Iraq, since this was home to the original Babylon. Years ago, many books were written about Saddam Hussein, who was allegedly hard at work, rebuilding Babylon. Christians gobbled up the books without truly examining the evidence. Saddam was simply rebuilding a tourist attraction where Nineveh once stood, the project was later abandoned and Saddam died on the gallows along with the prophecy books that included his name.

But when presenting a multitude of biblical evidence, people still angrily deny this interpretation because they have etched in their minds a verse or two insisting it’s still Rome, while adhering to a centuries-old theory initiated by Martin Luther. That plus today’s Catholics do not bite. In fact, a clue to the real Babylon was just presented in an article by Aaron Klein when he stated this week that:

“Forces in the Persian Gulf and Arab intelligence services have noted the establishment of Iranian missile launch sites aimed in the direction of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence officials speaking to WND.”

Yet, no one in the prophecy arena has even raised a single red flag about the significance of this report; Iran (biblical Elam) must destroy Arabia. In Isaiah 21:9, Isaiah levels a prophetic oracle against Babylon using the same announcement in Revelation 18:1-2 and Revelation 14:8: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen”:

“The burden against Dumah” (Isaiah 21:11)
“The burden against Arabia” (Isaiah 21:13)
“All the glory of Kedar will fail” (Isaiah 21:16)

These are all in Arabia, which is destroyed by Iran “Elam” (Isaiah 21:2)

There has been an immense oversight by many in the field of biblical eschatology; that when it comes to the destruction of end-days Babylon, Scripture makes no mention of any of the ancient Babylonian cities: Nineveh, Ur, Babel, Erech, Accad, Sumer, Assur, Calneh, Mari, Karana, Ellpi, Eridu, Kish, or Tikrit. All of the literal references in Scripture are in Arabia.

The use ‘MOTHER OF HARLOTS’, while it is commonly attributed to the Vatican’s Mariology with the worship of Ishtar, history records that the worship of Ishtar ‘Kilili’, or ‘Queen of Harlots’ [1] originated from Arabia, not Rome. In fact, when Muslims roam roundabout the black stone, it is a throwback to the worship of Ishtar, whom they called Athtar and Allat.

When it comes to the Harlot woman, the Kaaba is a perfect match. The black tarp is considered by Muslims to be a woman’s dress (Kiswa) as Edward Gibbons elaborated:

“…the kuswa of the magnificent Kaaba, is what is used for clothing of a [virtuous] covering, on top of it, it is written, the Kaaba’s dressing, meaning ‘we have dressed her her dress.” [2]

Everything that the harlot is described it fits the Ka’ba; dress, pearls, jewels, gold, silver and even the blasphemies etched in silver threads with golden inlays across her attire. Just the doors of the Ka’ba alone has Read more…