Echoes and Origins

The Recent Actions of Turkey and Israel Solidly Point To The Prophetic Chapter

20 August, 2026: Recent events in the middle east are increasingly mirroring the Bible, and specifically Ezekiel Chapter 38. In that famous chapter, the character ‘Gog’ of the land of Magog is drawn into a regional conflict with Israel. And now we may very well be seeing the precursor to that.

It all started on August 18, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes against the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria, near Aleppo and relatively close to the Turkish border. At least eight strikes hit the facility, damaging runways and hangars, although there were no reported casualties. Israel says Syria was preparing to allow Turkish troops to deploy at the airbase. Israel regarded that as a serious security threat and said Damascus had been warned repeatedly.

Ankara denies that it was preparing to establish a Turkish military base or permanent troop deployment there. Syria’s foreign minister has also said that Damascus had assured Israel that there was no plan for a permanent Turkish military presence at Abu al-Duhur.

There actually was a Turkish military delegation at the airbase shortly before the Israeli attack, however. Syrian officials say the delegation was there to inspect rehabilitation work being done at the facility.

The Ezekiel 38 Connection

Now this is where it definitely begins to get interesting. For years, largely thanks to the Cold War, many Bible students, including myself, were convinced that Gog and Magog represented the Soviet Union, and when it collapsed, then we moved our sites to Russia. And for years many of us spent time trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It was quite the undertaking to, without the help of the Internet, trace down all those ancient lands and find out their origins.

But now, I have, along with many others came to the conclusion that Gog of the land of Magog may be pointing to Turkey instead of Russia. But look at current events and see where this is going:

² Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, ³ And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: ⁴ And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: – Ezekiel 38:2-4 KJV

This goes back to the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024. Turkey has become one of the principal supporters of Syria’s new government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Ankara has been helping Syria rebuild its military and governmental institutions and has been providing military training and other support.

Israel, meanwhile, has been extremely suspicious of Syria’s new leadership and has conducted numerous strikes against Syrian military infrastructure. So what we’re watching is really a contest over who is going to have military influence inside post-Assad Syria. And Turkey is becoming increasingly important.

Israel and Turkey are now openly warning each other

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz publicly warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not to test Israel’s resolve and accused Turkey of getting involved in “dangerous adventures” in Syria.

Turkey has responded very sharply, condemning the Israeli strikes and accusing Netanyahu of using false allegations to justify what Ankara considers unlawful attacks on Syrian territory.

And there’s an important third party here: The United States is worried enough that Washington is trying to establish a direct military “deconfliction” mechanism between Israel, Turkey and Syria.

That’s basically a communications system designed to prevent one country’s military from accidentally getting into a confrontation with another country’s military. U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said Turkey wasn’t even warned about the Israeli strike and could potentially have responded militarily when it saw Israeli aircraft heading toward the area.

That’s a pretty remarkable statement. To make matters even worse, President Donald Trump’s stance on Israel is becoming more erratic, as does most of his actions when it comes to the middle east. With his position changing on a daily basis, even fellow Republicans are having a tough time knowing what page the President is on.

And here’s the part I think is most significant

This isn’t simply Israel versus Syria anymore. Turkey and Israel are both major military powers operating inside Syria, and their interests are increasingly colliding. Turkey is backing the new Syrian government. Israel is trying to prevent what it considers hostile military forces from establishing themselves in Syria. And Syria is caught between them.

Reuters is reporting that the head of Israel’s Mossad actually spoke with Syria’s foreign minister on August 14, specifically about Turkey’s expanding military presence, just four days before the Israeli strike. So this wasn’t an impulsive event that came out of nowhere. There had been high-level Israeli-Syrian discussions about Turkey immediately beforehand. And now the rhetoric between Ankara and Jerusalem has become much more threatening.

This dangerously points to the scripture above. God says he will pull Gog into a conflict; he says, “I will put a hook in your jaw.” In the context this was written, this is not a reference to fishing. This gruesome practice was done when it came to hostages and prisoners. In order to lead people without resistance, hooks were placed in the jaws of captured enemy Kings and troops as a way of leading them without fear of resistance or escape. In plain language, God is saying he will draw Turkey into a conflict, only to crush them once and for all as vengeance for their longstanding treatment of Israel.

Lying Down With Dogs

As a child, my mother often questioned my choice of friends with the proverb, “If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.” This is exactly the illustration God has given us concerning the land of Magog. Pulled reluctantly into a conflict they weren’t prepared for, they find themselves leader of a larger coalition, all bent on destroying the nation of Israel:

⁵ Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: ⁶ Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. ⁷ Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. – Ezekiel 38:5-7 KJV

This translates into a modern-day who’s who of the middle east. Gomer is the lands currently known as Egypt and the Sudan. Persia needs no interpretation; we’ve all heard of the Persian Gulf, and thereby, Persia can only be modern Iran. Ancient Ethiopia was not the land currently known by that name. Ancient Ethiopia was primarily Cush, and Cush included southern Egypt and the Nile Valley, including Nubia. Libya is Northern Africa, which could include the various terrorist cells, such as Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

But at some point, Turkey turns into the aggressor:

⁹ Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. ¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: ¹¹ And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, ¹² To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. – Ezekiel 38:9-12

So we see an ‘all or nothing’ attitude emerge from Gog, and the lands combined together to form this coalition. Gog decides that the land of Israel is before them, and they decide to take the spoils from Israel and wipe the Jews off of the face of the earth. But little will they know at that time that the anger of God has kindled, and he has different plans.

And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. ¹⁹ For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; ²⁰ So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

²¹ And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. ²² And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ²³ Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. – Ezekiel 38:18-23 KJV

There is no wonder that so many Bible scholars consider this to be the event that is the precursor to the great Tribulation. This event, where God openly protects Israel from invasion when even the allies of Israel all stand back and do nothing. God saves his nation in stunning fashion, and leaves no doubt as to who is responsible.

There Is A Bottom Line

I think even the most dedicated atheist is able to see that Turkey is being drawn into a conflict through Syria. Their longstanding ties with Syria, as well as the accusations being made against Turkey by the Israelis are something that is just not going to go away. In many ways, we are already on a road that has no turns. Iran has put itself into a position where they have became anathema to the entire world. The fact that they often attack other Arab nations is proof positive that they now think of themselves as unstoppable. And Bible prophecy or not, it isn’t hard to see that mentality leading to an unprovoked, all out war against Israel.

In fact, there is no way forward out of this mess as long as the IRGC remains in power in Iran. Recently, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei (also spelled Ismail Baghaei) said,

“Iran does not negotiate with the United States under pressure because Iran is fundamentally different from the U.S. approach.”

In that he is absolutely correct: The USA negotiates from a position of wanting peace and wanting the violence to end. Iran loves violence, and loves nothing better than breaking their promises at the drop of a hat. Iran negotiates in order to buy time to restock their ammunition and armaments, in order to propagate war.

If the IRGC’s spokesmen’s lips move, it means he’s lying. In that one statement he told the absolute truth, by accident. The IRGC is nothing like the rest of the world. What they are is a cult-like group of people who believes by starting the third World War, they can simultaneously exterminate the people of Israel and bring about the return of their God.

So here we sit, mid-August and it’s hard to know the good guys from the bad guys without a score card. While the world is in awe over Islam, Christianity and Judaism is hated like never before. Which, if you think about it, is the way it should be. The world hates God because their deeds are evil, just like Jesus said. I personally would run away from any religion, no matter how ‘peaceful’ they claim to be, if that religion was being embraced by a world filled with lawlessness, hatred and violence.

I don’t even have to search the Bible any longer: I can search the daily news and find plenty of scripture right there in the headlines and captions of the stories that are told.