Barry’s Beacon - Shining Biblical Light on Current Events
Correction to previous Barry’s Beacon on AI holographic images on 16th January 2024
A friend pointed out an error in my comments about the holographic image that President Erdogan of Turkey used of himself to deliver an address to his AKP party conference. My friend stated correctly that the image was holographic and was photographed in 3D, but it was not a true 3D image as it was projected onto a flat 2D surface. He noted that the technology for true 3D images projected into a true 3D environment had not yet been mastered. Yet that was the point of our news item. At the end of 2023, there was a complete holographic 3D concert projected on a 3D stage space of the group ABBA. Commentators agreed that everyone could be fooled that the 3D images were actually the real live persons performing in 3D on the stage. Unless you had been informed otherwise, you could not distinguish it from reality. We saw some segments of the performance on our computer screens and agreed that this technology had developed far enough to give us an image of Antichrist that could both move and talk in 3D on a 3D space, in line with Revelation 13. An interview with a critic who attended the ABBA concert confirming it was genuine 3D holography on a 3D platform is here.
Nonetheless, I would like to thank my friend for pointing out what was, and was not, genuine 3D holographic image projection on a 3D space, and also confirm that the technology to do that had only been demonstrated in November 2023.
CHINA: History, the Silk Road, the End of the Road and Prophecy –
This Beacon article was prompted by several news items plus a number of different questions about China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its terminal city, and how that connects with several end-times biblical scenarios.
Brief History of China and the Silk Road
In the so-called Table of Nations in Genesis 10, we find that one of the sons of Ham was Canaan and one of the sons of Canaan gave rise to the Sinites. The record then states that afterwards, some of the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. It may well be that the Sinite branch was in view here as Isaiah 49:5 mentions that many will come from afar to worship Messiah when He reigns. They will come from the north, and the west and from “the land of Sinim,” which by implication must be from the East. In 1894 there was the Sino-Japanese war and the treaty which followed, and then in 1969 the Sino-Soviet border dispute. In each case the tribal root “Sino-“ referred to China. This seems to imply that some families from the Sinite branch of the Canaanites spread abroad in the Far East and settled what is now China. Legends and tradition talk of the families of the 100 “dark-hairs” who came from the West “over the mountains of Chin and settled in Shensi.” [See J-B Du Halde, “The General History of China,” Vol.4, 1738, and G. S. Faber, “The Origin of Pagan Idolatry,” Vol. 2 around p.343 ff., 1816. See here].
As time went on, the foundations for the first Silk Road were explored in 138 BC during the Han Dynasty. By 130 BC trade had opened between China and the rest of the known world via the Silk Road that went from China to Persia. It continued for 1500 years until the Ottoman Empire closed its operation in 1453 AD. One of the two main end-points of the Silk Road was Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in Turkey from which distribution to Europe was made. However, when Turkish cooperation ceased, the whole project closed down. The traded items had included silks, spices, precious metals, minerals, jade, paper, furs, handcrafted items, horses and slaves.
The New Silk Road Starts to Emerge
On 29th June, 1978, the China Pakistan Corridor was opened. It became part of the Asian Highway Network, AH4, and it traces some of the many links on the ancient Silk Road. The BBC program, ‘World Roundup,’ mentioned that this segment and its connections seemed to form the framework for a New Silk Road project. On September 7th, 2013, the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was finally opened, although development was ongoing. The China Pakistan Corridor indeed forms a vital link in the scheme. Sometimes called the New Silk Road, the whole scheme has been a $1 Trillion global infrastructure investment program, designed to build trade and investment links in developing countries. In the decade since then, at least 147 countries have come under the BRI umbrella - that is, a majority of the 193 UN member states. The Initiative started by building road and rail links across Asia which basically followed the old Silk Route from China, and through Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and on to Turkey. Istanbul on the Bosphorus in Turkey was then planned to be a main distribution center from these Asian, Caspian and Black Sea nations (Including Russia) in the East to the European nations in the West. (See maps in public domain below)
Concurrently, a sea route was also developed linking ports in the South China Sea and western Pacific, including Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The route then went via the Malucca Straits to the northern Indian Ocean with ports in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka around the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Finally, it linked with Indian, Iranian and Persian Gulf countries, with a land route to Turkey. A complementary New Silk Road Corridor also went from the Red Sea at NEOM in Saudi Arabia. This extensive city included portions of Jordan and Egypt at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba and is currently developing extremely quickly.
This NEOM metropolis also has the Israeli port and tourist city of Eilat associated with it at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. This complementary New Silk Road Corridor includes the developing Red-Med express rail link from Eilat to the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa on the Mediterranean, from which European markets can be accessed. In the latest development, a similar link from the Persian Gulf states across Saudi Arabia again is planned to connect with the Red-Med rail link to the Mediterranean. The planning for these sections is still being finalized. However, the importance becomes more apparent when it is realized that, because of these latter connections, the Saudis and some other Arab states are talking about normalization of relations with and acceptance of Israel as noted here on January 19 - 24, 2024:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-782728.
Whatever happens in the short term, it is entirely possible that a final Middle East Peace Covenant may be the ultimate outcome of all these plans and negotiations, and this impinges on a number of biblical prophecies.
The New Silk Road and the Euphrates
Nevertheless, no matter what the outcome is from the current negotiations, the basic New Silk Road from China through to Turkey is already a fulfillment of the prophecy found in Revelation 16:12 where it is called the “Way of the Kings of the Sunrising,” (usually translated as the ‘Kings of the East’). Revelation 9:14 points out that these kings bring an army of 200 million militia to fight in the battle of Armageddon and they come across the dried-up Euphrates River. This procedure has already been tried a decade ago. On 1st June 2014, Turkey used its control of Middle Eastern water supplies via its 4 dams on the Euphrates to impede government forces in Iraq and Syria and facilitate the advance of the ISIS militia. By June 12th, the Turkish action had dropped the level of the Euphrates by over 20 feet, and it became a creek with a series of mud-pools in Syria and Iraq. The resulting severe water shortage left government forces, and the general population, weakened and unable to adequately defend against ISIS. The Euphrates in Iraq at that time is seen in the image on the right:
In all this, there has been a concern that the Chinese giant could take over much of the world. Scripturally, that does not seem likely, at least not until nearer the end of the 7-year Tribulation. From one reading of Revelation 9:14-16, it seems that there may be just over a year of preparatory events before the Kings from the Sunrising send their 200 million strong army for the Armageddon finale. That is then climaxed by the Lord’s return to rule in His glory. Even though Chairman Mao Zedong claimed his People’s Army in China was made up of 200 million militia in 1969 (BBC & ABC Radio news & an analysis titled ‘Voice of the Dragon’), the official numbers of active members in the Chinese militia today stand at just 2 million. Other Asian countries with the highest currently active troop numbers are: India 1.5 million, North Korea 1.2 million and Pakistan about ¾ million. For a regional comparison, Turkey has the second largest militia in NATO with 890,500 active and reserve members. Since both China and India have populations of just over 1 billion people, it is possible that these two alone could raise the scriptural numbers. Alternately, groups from various parts of Asia may also be involved. Since Daniel 11:44 mentions this same army as “coming out of the East and North” against Antichrist, who established his command headquarters in Jerusalem (Daniel 11:45), then it seems likely that Russian forces (from the North) may also be involved along with the militia from Asian countries. Remember, this is scheduled after 7 years of Antichrist’s politics, trade and economics. So, today’s figures may not be relevant.
Chinese Expansion and Ezekiel 38
However, there are two other influences that may well moderate the Chinese expansion. First, the Chinese BRI framework uses infrastructure investments which have been described as “predatory.” Some of these host countries have become stuck with a heavy debt they cannot repay. In some cases, the Chinese have claimed ownership of the facilities they have built, as in ports in Sri Lanka. Others have pulled out of the scheme, like Italy. This may have a snowball effect. As a result, the rush to support China is now tapering off, and the pace of their advance is noticeably declining as the G7 are funding competing projects. An extensive discussion can be found here. So, it may only be in the Tribulation with the world-wide trade of Revelation 13, 17 & 18 that this process with the BRI will come to full fruition, but by then it will be under the control of Antichrist, not the Chinese.
The other influence which will moderate Chinese expansion may be discerned by China’s current main allies: Russia, Iran and North Korea. Near the time the Tribulation starts, the Ezekiel 38 battle occurs. In that battle, Russia, Iran and their allies are induced to invade Israel, and God miraculously wipes them out on the hills of Israel in a few hours (Isaiah 17:12-14 “Behold at eventide, trouble! But before the morning they are no more!”). Since the Russian and Iranian armies and their allies will be totally destroyed, their power across the world generally, and the Middle-East in particular, will have been effectively removed. Since China’s quest for power was assisted by these two nations in particular, this Ezekiel 38 event is likely to severely curtail its ambitions.
Which Text do You Use?
In fact, this Ezekiel 38 event has the potential to interrupt things even further. In most of our English Bibles, the text has been translated from the Masoretic Hebrew which originated about 100 AD. It had square characters, and the vowel points were added about 900 AD. This Masoretic Hebrew text had been made because the original master copy (in Paleo-Hebrew with its script-like characters) from the Temple had been destroyed by the Romans in the fire and devastation of 70 AD. However, a much earlier translation had been done by Hebrew scholars from that original Paleo-Hebrew text into Greek almost four centuries earlier in 282 BC. This Greek was the common language that everyone knew around the whole Mediterranean region at that time, and this was the version used in synagogue readings and discussions. It was also the version used by the early Christians and is called the Alexandrian Septuagint – usually abbreviated to LXX.
There is a point to this story which is becoming increasingly important today because of one verse, Ezekiel 38:13. In our Bibles, from the Masoretic text, we have the verse reading “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish and all their young lions will say to you [the Russian and Iranian invaders], ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty?’.” However, there is a major difference from this in the original Paleo-Hebrew translated in the LXX. It reads “Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Chalcedon and their villages…” Here we find the Paleo-Hebrew original apparently saying the ‘merchants of Chalcedon,’ rather than the ‘merchants of Tarshish’ from the Masoretic text that we have in our modern Bibles. At the time when Ezekiel was writing, Chalcedon was indeed one of the major trading centers in the Eastern Mediterranean. It later became known as Constantinople and today is called Istanbul. It is slated to be the major distribution center into the Mediterranean and Europe at the end of the New Silk Road from the Belt and Road Initiative.
This is a problem for bible expositors because Chalcedon/Constantinople/Istanbul is in Turkey, and many claim that Turkey comes with Russia and Iran against Israel. However, if the merchants of Chalcedon speak out against the Russian invasion, logic demands that Turkey is not part of that action. Its position in NATO may also play into this, quite apart from other considerations. Thus, when Russia and Iran are destroyed on the hills of Israel, and their power in the Middle East and elsewhere has dwindled, then this would leave Turkey as the major power-broker in the region. If this is true, then it changes the whole prophetic outlook considerably. Even now, Turkey follows an independent line in international politics, despite being part of NATO. So, she may favor Russia sometimes, yet other times Turkey stands against Russia and criticizes. She does the same with Iran. This would play into the BRI scheme as Istanbul is the proposed hub where trade items from Asia have access to markets in Europe, Africa and beyond via the Mediterranean.
Examining the End of the Silk Road
Now let us consider something that may be of potential importance.
In Revelation 13, 17 & 18 we find the “Great Harlot who sits on many waters” (Rev. 17:1) is actually the “great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18). The fact that it is the focus of world trade is clear from Rev. 18. This is also the reason this city is called ‘the great harlot’ since, from the earliest times, trade was described in terms of harlotry – namely “the Intercourse of Trade.” It is described this way several times in “John Adams Diary 40” for the period 29th April – 22nd May 1783 in reference to trade with a number of other countries, including Britain. Even earlier, the Act of 1707 which formed the United Kingdom with Scotland & England had Article IV discussing trade routes and items in these terms “Full Freedom and Intercourse of Trade and Navigation to and from any port or place within the said United Kingdom and the Dominions and Plantations thereunto belonging”. In Revelation 18 we find that every aspect of trade from around the world has come to a focus and is maintained by and through this city. In the old way of thinking, this was harlotry on a world-wide scale, and, by this trade, control over the whole world was exercised (Rev. 17:8 and 18:3).
Clues for the Harlot City’s Location:
As we look at the description of this city, we note there are three other things which characterize it apart from the trade that chapter 17 gives us. First, the city is drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus (Rev. 17:6; 18:24). This is a statement that includes both past and future martyrdom. Second, Rev 17:1 and 18:17-19 indicate the harlot city is a port that opens to “many waters.” Third, the city is built on seven hills (Rev. 17:9). In addition to trade, these three items are specific characteristics of a literal location, not just a hidden or semi-hidden movement like the Globalists, even though they are creating some of the conditions for its emergence.
We have had contact with a number of expositors who have favored different locations simply because of the trade factor alone without considering the other three items which characterize this city. Thus, those who propose that New York city is a possibility, as it is a world-wide trading center on a waterfront location, miss the mark because it is not built on seven hills, nor has it been responsible for the bloodshed and death of the martyrs of Jesus in the past. Similarly, the city of Rome is often slated as the one that John had in mind here. To begin, it is well-known that Rome is an ancient city built on seven hills. Furthermore, it has been responsible for the death of many early Christians. However, Rome is not close enough to an ocean to allow the shipmasters to stand off and watch her burning occur (Revelation 18:17-19). For this reason, the cities of Jerusalem, Mecca, Moscow and Kiev can all be eliminated as too far away from the ocean. Likewise, London and similar cities, including the rapidly developing complex of NEOM in Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea, do not qualify as they have not been major centers for Christian martyrdom. These restrictive conditions thus eliminate many possibilities.
Clues From Martyrdoms
However, if we look at just the martyrdom of Christians and those associated with them, we get more clues. The martyrdom of Christians began in the 1st Century AD in the Roman Empire and went on up to 1750 AD. A number of authors consider there to have been from 50 to 56 million martyrs. [Charles Buck, “A Theological Dictionary” under the heading “Persecution,” p.335, Thomas Cowperthwait & Co, Philadelphia 1838. Also, M. D. Aletheia, “The Rationalists Manual,” 1897]. It is for this reason (and the fact it was built on 7 hills) that Rome was often considered as the Harlot city of Revelation, despite the other conditions not being fulfilled.
However, there have been other wipe-outs of peoples and people groups throughout recent history. For example, the German Nazis, focused in their capital Berlin, killed 60 million, including 6 million Jews. The Russians focused in Leningrad or Moscow wiped out 20 million people. China, focused in Beijing, has wiped out 70 million people, including Christians. Before the end of World War II, Japan focused in Tokyo, had eliminated 12 million in Asia. Nevertheless, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing are not on an ocean and so fail to qualify scripturally. Tokyo is adjacent to the ocean, but is built on alluvial plains with low upland hills farther away. So, it cannot be claimed as the city on 7 hills in Revelation.
There is yet one other ancient city that was built on 7 hills; straddles a waterway that is a major trade route, and was a trading center even before 600 BC and the time of Ezekiel. This city was the focus of edicts to wipe out Jews and Christians, and records available in the early 2000’s suggest that as many as 250 million have been murdered because of those edicts. That is 5 times the number of martyrs resulting from the edicts of Rome. The city was still part of the Roman Empire, but it was the Eastern capital, namely Constantinople, or modern-day Istanbul. The old name was Chalcedon as recorded in Ezekiel 38:13 in the Septuagint version or LXX. The slaughter occurred as Muslim forces conquered vast territories and established Caliphates and then the Ottoman Empire as they spread across the Middle-East and Mediterranean Europe starting around 632 AD, forcing many to become Muslims and killing the rest. This city features prominently in the Chinese Belt and Road scheme as it is the end point from the Asian markets to the East and is the proposed access point to Europe and Africa.
A Eurasian Stock Exchange
There may be more to consider. On 16th July, 2013, the Turkish Administration announced plans to make Istanbul the economic focus for Europe, Asia and the Middle East, eventually establishing a Eurasian Stock Exchange there. That process has been hindered by the Covid epidemic and the two major earthquakes causing tens of thousands of deaths, but the report in Disruption Banking Journal for 5th September 2023 indicated that the Istanbul Stock Exchange was now considered to be a safe haven for investors. That can be read here.
It appears possible that the plans for the Eurasian Exchange might now move ahead. These plans seem to fit appropriately with the BRI initiative, as well as having a possible prophetic fulfillment. If these considerations are anywhere near correct, we may need to re-think our approach to some key prophetic passages in the Bible. One question has been why this location (if indeed it is the one) is biblically called “Babylon the Great.” Some think it should, instead, be in the area of ancient Babylon, even though that city was not built on 7 hills, nor was it near any ocean. However, a brief historical examination reveals something fascinating biblically.
Near the time of Daniel’s death around 535 BC, King Cyrus, the Persian, had accepted the Babylonian priests as part of the new Medo-Persian Empire. Later, in the days of Xerxes and Queen Esther, these priests tried to take over the Empire. When they were expelled in 485 BC, these Babylonian priests took all the artifacts of their craft and finally settled in Pergamos, Turkey. It is for that reason that the Lord says to the church at Pergamos in Revelation 2:13 “I know you live where Satan’s throne is, but you hold fast to my name…” The city of Pergamum is the northernmost city of the 7 churches in Revelation and is just southeast of the Dardanelles which is the seaway entrance to Istanbul. So, if this is taken at face value, it seems as if the Babylonian system was relocated to the same region of Turkey where the city of Istanbul is now.
The Importance of Energy
There is one other matter which headlines in the Israeli Press focused attention on for 29th January, 2024. We will come to that in a moment, but a backstory may help paint a clearer picture. In 1994, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected Mayor of Istanbul. Amazingly, he turned a $2bn debt disaster for Istanbul into a $4bn credit by an economic, industrial, ecological and transportation miracle. Four extra bridges over the Bosphorus and an undersea tunnel were constructed, relieving the traffic jam between the two halves of the city. Istanbul had been heavily polluted. Erdogan eradicated coal, oil and petroleum use for power stations, cars, buses and trains. Instead, the sole legal power source for everything in Istanbul was the much cleaner natural gas. Today, 95% of Turkey’s energy needs are met by natural gas, and Istanbul is a clean, clear city. The problem is that Turkey has no natural gas deposits of its own – it all has to be imported. This is why Erdogan has become extremely interested in the supply of energy and wants Turkey to be an energy-hub for the region instead of the severely sanctioned Russia.
Just south of Turkey in the Mediterranean is the divided island of Cyprus. The southern half belongs to Greece, but in 1974 Turkey annexed the northern half. Between the coast of the Greek Cypriot southern half of the island and the coast of Israel, huge amounts of natural gas have been found in underwater strata. The Turkish northern half is without any similar deposits. Although Egypt produces lesser amounts of gas, it also has gas liquefaction plants that produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Israeli gas is piped to Egypt and then the LNG from these fields is transported Europe via Greece and Italy. In 2022 an agreement was signed between Cyprus, Israel and Egypt to cooperate as a consortium on all gas exports. Meanwhile Turkey has contracted with that consortium to construct a pipeline from these fields to supply her needs. This agreement was reiterated on 23rd May 2022. Turkey pointed out that it was a better economic proposition to get gas from the fields of the consortium to Europe via Turkey. Another strand was added to the energy scenario this week on 29th January 2024 when the ministers of Israel, Cyprus and Greece committed to link their electric power production from these fields via a 2000 megawatt submarine cable to Europe later this year. It was mentioned that Turkey and Egypt had also taken part in these discussions, but currently the Gaza war was inhibiting their full cooperation. We have constructed a map of the current energy supply lines in the Eastern Mediterranean.
A Possible Link to the Abomination of Desolation?
The outcome is that it seems Turkey generally and Istanbul in particular may become largely dependent on Israel-Cyprus-Egypt natural gas production and the electricity generated from it, for her energy supplies. Let us provisionally accept, just for the moment, that Istanbul may, perhaps, become the harlot city of the Tribulation, and therefore the focus of world trade from the BRI scheme and its offshoots. As the focus of world trade, it is easy to imagine how it could control countries and governments around the world by restrictions, sanctions on the supply of vital items, and so on. Who would be able to come against Antichrist and this city?
Daniel 11 illustrates this. (Verses 21 to 35 cannot refer to Antiochus Epiphanes as Jesus says they are yet future in Matthew 24:15. Thus Antichrist arises in verse 21.). In verse 29, near the middle of the Tribulation, Antichrist comes from the north down the east coast of the Mediterranean towards Egypt, which had been causing him some problems earlier. However, before Antichrist gets near Egypt, he is taken by surprise. Daniel 11:29 says “But [Grecian] ships from Cyprus will come against him. Therefore, he will be grieved and return in rage against the holy covenant …and set up the Abomination of Desolation.” Think for a moment: 1) Cyprus is a divided island. 2) Antichrist is upset because ships come against him from the Greek Cypriot part of the island. This suggests that he favors the Turkish population in the island’s northern sector. Consequently, he would also favor the Turkish trading city of Istanbul. This indicates that his problem with Egypt is also linked directly with Cyprus and Israel. Right now, the most tangible link between Egypt, Cyprus and Israel that would affect the Antichrist and Istanbul is the energy supply issue. From today’s perspective, that consortium will be able to control the power supply to run the city. In a fury of reprisal against the consortium of Egypt, Cyprus and Israel, the Antichrist then sets up the Abomination in the Temple in Jerusalem.
If these suggested possibilities are anywhere near the truth, it places unusual significance on current events in the Middle East. It implies that our time is short before the Lord returns to catch away His Bride (1 Corinthians 15:51-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:10).
[Other details at these three links: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/384348
Barry Setterfield - 1st February 2024.
