What in the world will the prophesied kingdom of the Beast look like? From where will it originate? Can we identify it now? Is the United States mentioned in Bible prophecy? Herein are my own answers to these questions…
(BLAERG- “The Chattering Cyclops”)
DISCLAIMER
This is not a “prophecy”. The Lord has not “told me” what’s about to happen. I don’t claim to have any special fool-proof knowledge or insight into Bible prophecy, and I don’t want any money out of you. I’ll try not to use the word “scenario” even once. What follows is my current view of the kingdom of the Beast of Revelation and Daniel, based on many years of Bible study and observation of world events and trends. I’m sorry it’s rather long, but I have sub-headings here so you can scroll down and skip parts you aren’t interested in. In case anyone is uninitiated into these things, I must declare that I have no intention to incite any kind of rebellion or opposition movement against the government or international organizations, or against any religion or belief system.
INTRO
As I’ve written before, considering the predicament that the nation of Israel is in along with its recent history and very likely near future, it seems that either we are witnessing an incredible set of simultaneous coincidences, or the prophesied events of “End Times” are nearly upon us (you can search for my posts on Israel and Jerusalem and how Bible prophecy is seen to be fulfilled in its ancient and recent history). With that in mind, I’ve been considering prophesies of the kingdom of the Beast.
Looking closely at the prophesies, we find that the beast will be a kingdom but also a man who will ascend to almost unstoppable world power.
Daniel’s prophesies and those of Revelation depict a series of world empires affecting the nation of Israel from ancient times up to the future coming of the Jewish Messiah, (actually the second coming), this time to judge the earth. Without attempting to explain the related prophesies I’m hoping that either you know something about them or that what I have to say will make sense and be of some help.
WHO THE BEAST IS NOT
Over the last several decades most prophecy “experts” within the evangelical Christian world (I mean those who don’t go along with “replacement theology”) have clung doggedly to the conviction that the kingdom of the Beast will be a “Revived Roman Empire”, with the European Union as its likely immediate progenitor. Enthusiasts have watched the Union get stronger and more unified politically, but there’s been something missing: a considerable lack of unity and a total lack of willingness to dominate and subjugate the rest of the world. Perhaps a far more radical union will form in the future.
A few commentators believe that the Antichrist will be a Jew. This idea is immediately demolished by realizing that the Islamic world would never follow or worship a Jew, miracles or not: they would be far more likely to want to kill him.
For centuries the Roman Catholic Pope has been seen by many in Europe and the US as the Antichrist or his predecessor. At least one prophecy “expert” today even claims that the “Holy Roman Empire” has been reborn in the form of the EU with the Catholic Church. I can’t help seeing this as a silly idea. The Pope has little influence in Europe except with his own committed followers, and the Islamic world, the Hindu world and so-on will never willingly worship the head of a long-distrusted Christian organization, even if he could manage to perform some miracles, and even if the latest pope has been photographed kissing the Quran (yes he has).
THE ONCE-UNLIKELY ALLIANCE
Within the last fifteen years or so a few brave commentators, namely ex-Muslims, have stuck their necks out (imagery intended) and suggested or insisted that according to Scripture the Beast will be a Muslim, and his kingdom the Islamic world, or part of it. This leads me to my own suspicion bordering on conclusion which goes one step further: the kingdom of the Beast will consist of some of the Islamic world in an alliance with the West. That doesn’t mean that I expect everyone in the West to be reading the Quran and kneeling towards Mecca five times a day (yet), but that public opinion is warming to the Islamic world and agreeing with its views on Israel and the rest of the world. Some top politicians are reaching out to the Muslim world and turning their backs on Israel. What was unthinkable a few decades ago is happening.
I’m not the only one beginning to connect the dots to produce this picture. I’ve noticed that perhaps the most famous figure in the prophecy world who once taught the “Common Market” theory is becoming more and more wary of the Islamic world and its actions and intentions. Below are some of the reasons, from Scripture and from my own observations, why I’ve come to my conclusion.
TARGETS OF THE BEAST
The Bible, and particularly Revelation, makes very clear the fact that the kingdom of the Beast will have two declared targets for extinction: Christians and Jews. The Beast will increasingly persecute these two groups and ultimately seek to destroy them totally. There is one religion today, and one only, whose most committed followers have this very same stated goal. Its founder had the same approach in his day towards the “people of the book”, and the Turks in the Middle-Ages, having occupied the “Holy Land” and claimed it as their own, attempted to purge the Middle East and then Europe of Christianity. Today the more radical groups in the Middle Eastern countries have been and are working to eliminate Christians. The same has been happening in parts of Africa, such as Sudan.
(2LOUD “Aero”)
SUBMISSION
Today we see the West submitting to Islam. How can I say that: the West is free, isn’t it?
Well, Islam is all about submission to Allah, and now that in the very Western nations where millions fought for freedom of thought and speech we have a virtual ban on any criticism or scrutiny or questioning of Islam, it seems to me that the submission has already occurred. Islamic movements within our nations are asserting their rights and spreading their message, and everyone else is afraid to disagree, or else those who try to disagree are castigated by their own courts and governments. More than that, Muslims are winning over many to their way of seeing the world, particularly in regard to Israel. While the nominal, peaceful Muslims just want to live out their lives and get along within the nations they’ve settled (and the same applies to their nations of origin), radicals work to drive the rest on to deeper commitment and radicalism. It’s a case of the tail wagging the dog, and the dog is afraid or unwilling to resist.
THE CAPTURE AND DIVISION OF JERUSALEM
One of the central aims of the Beast, according to Scripture in several prophesies, will be the capture and division of Jerusalem, and the destruction of Israel as a nation. Don’t look now, but this is the dream and the stated goal of most of the Islamic world (see my post “Israel and the Sound of Gnashing Teeth”). The United Nations, including the European Union and the United States, are in declared agreement that at least half of Jerusalem must be given to Israel’s enemies, and while the West is currently willing to tolerate the existence of Israel in a greatly diminished form, that’s going to change. According to United Nations “law”, Israel is an illegally occupying presence in much of the little land they possess, and something must be done to extract it. Until a few years ago, the United States was known to be the protector of Israel, but the will to alter that position has been apparent.
While Jerusalem is mentioned well over seven hundred times in the Bible as Israel’s capital and home, it is not mentioned once in the Quran-written several hundred years later. The kingdom of the Beast is going to aid Islam in its assault on Jerusalem, and the world’s stated decisions and proclamations to date are undeniable evidence that the Kingdom of the Beast and Islam will be in agreement over this matter.
WHERE IS THE U.S. IN BIBLE PROPHECY?
For a long time people have been asking the question, “Is the United States mentioned in Bible prophecy?” Of course, the name “United States” would not have been used in Bible prophesies made many centuries ago, in fact the known names of that time were given so that people of all ages, not just ours, could make some sense out of them.
As an example, Persia is named in the Bible as being the member of an alliance against Israel (Ezekiel 38). In the early 20th century, the name of the nation “Persia” was changed to Iran, a country whose spiritual leader has said that the only solution to the problems of the Middle-East is the destruction of Israel.
Various answers are given to the “U.S.” question, including one which involves the Revelation reference to the “wings of a great eagle” which will rescue the remnant of Israel from the onslaught of the Antichrist. Proponents of this idea believe that the US will come to the aid of Israelis and air-lift them to safety. I personally see this as a hopeful guess at best, particularly as Old Testament references to the “wings of an eagle” always refer to God’s own miraculous deliverance, not to the national symbol of a nation:
“You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4).
There are a couple of interesting terms used in the Bible which suggest a reference to the US, such as the “young lions” and the “coastlands” (Ezekiel 38).
It seems to me that the most logical conclusion that the US does not seem to be specifically mentioned in Bible prophecy is that it will be a part of the global problem-and perhaps even the driving force of it. The kingdom of the Beast will be an overpowering military force, according to Scripture. Among other reasons the clincher, for me, is the fact that “all nations” will be involved in the attack on Israel and Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2). The word “all” seems to suggest “all” doesn’t it? The US in this case would be just a part the United Nations or the “international community” invasion force, or else the US will stand back and watch it happen. Israel will be alone against the world, and their rescuer will not be a post-Christian, ungodly culture, but the Lord Himself:
“I have trodden the winepress alone, from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath…For the day of vengeance was in my heart…” (Isaiah 63:3-4).
IRON MIXED WITH CLAY
Daniel’s prophecy of the feet of iron and clay at the bottom of a statue, depicted as the last world empire before Judgment (Daniel chapter 2, and mirrored in Revelation) is commonly interpreted by evangelicals as lingering remnants of the empire of ancient Rome which will soon evolve into the last world empire-that of the Beast. This is why the European Union has been so fascinating to prophecy students. It did seem for some time that the forming Union was going to realize all that Napoleon, Charlemagne and Hitler had tried but failed to do by force. Here’s the Roman Empire:
In recent years those who insisted that Islam would be the kingdom of the Beast drew attention to the fact that ancient Rome became divided between East and West. Therefore, they say, if we must see the legs as remnants of ancient Rome, one of the legs as represented in Daniel’s vision must be the Eastern leg, consisting of much of what later became the Ottoman Empire-that is, the Islamic world, which almost succeeded in conquering Western Europe.
This leads me to my “one-step further”. While it’s true that Roman boots never occupied American soil (as far as we know), not only is Western Europe culturally and politically a legacy (excuse the pun) of ancient Rome, and “out of” Rome, but the United States is “out of” Western Europe. It was founded and settled initially by Europeans. It too has Roman roots culturally and politically. The US is a part of that iron-and-clay mix: the US is as much descended from ancient Rome as Europe is.
In Daniel’s vision the iron and clay of the legs represent peoples groups which join together as an empire, but are essentially so different that they cannot become truly one. Europe and the US are composing themselves as much as possible of a mixture of peoples groups, with some successes and with some problems. I see the iron and clay mix as the mingling of races and the attempted union of nations which are really too different to merge. I’m not at all prejudiced against any race or ethnic group: we’re all members of the same human race. However, it’s painful to see that while many of the millions of Muslims moving into Europe want to assimilate and get along, many others have no intention of blending, and cannot because of their beliefs or because of the extremists among them. Countries such as the US and the UK are now producing home-grown Islamic Jihadists.
Not only this, but it’s clear that their presence is helping to turn the people of Europe against Israel, so that politicians of all persuasions are increasingly blaming tiny Israel for the ills of the world, just as they did in pre-war Germany. It’s political correctness to bash Israel. The same mentality is flowing through the media into the minds of Americans, including some Christian denominations. Currently the attempts of Israel to reign in the violence of Hamas, an organization which has in its charter the destruction of Israel, is producing large-hate filled demonstrations across Europe, organized by angry Muslims and supported by large numbers of sympathizers. Meanwhile the media whips up more hatred with their biased, one sided reporting.
WAR IN-A BABYLON
Revelation tells us of a war which will affect the entire world beginning at the Euphrates River (Revelation 9:13-16). This river runs through present-day Iraq, currently wracked by violence and the gains of the Islamic State, which with many other factions has as a stated goal the destruction of Israel. Another prophecy speaks of an invasion of Israel by several nations identifiable today, which include Iran and Turkey, both very much opposed to Israel’s existence (Ezekiel 38 and 39). The Euphrates region has already been plagued by war for many years.
THE KINGDOM WILL HAVE UNMATCHABLE MILITARY POWER
“Who is like the Beast? Who can make war against him?” (Revelation 13:4).
At the present time this could not be said for the European Union, but it could be said for the West led by the US, which together has been the policing force of the most of the world for some time. The undisputed military super-power has for decades now been the US along with its allies in Europe. No, they haven’t been fighting under any Islamic banner, but they have been fighting for the cause of various Islamic groups, and/ or funding them.
ARAB SPRING?
About the beheading of an American reporter and other evil actions of ISIL/ISIS/ the Islamic State, President Obama claimed just this week that:
“ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents”.
There’s an apparent intention on the part of the US administration to ignore the fact that the “I” in “ISIL” stands for “Islamic”. The IS has been targeting Christians for extinction, and killing them in the most horrific ways they can think of-including crucifixion and burying them alive. And perhaps members of the administration have not read the parts of the Quran which teach the faithful to:
“Slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the last Day…. Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah!” (Sura 9:5,29,41).
Mohammed said:
“I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, none has the right to be worshipped but Allah” (Al Bukhari vol. 4:196).
The US and NATO aided, provided weapons, and trained fighters for the Al-Qaeda take-over of Libya and the brutal murder of Qaddafi. The US, talking about an “Arab Spring”, aided the Moslem Brotherhood’s take-over of Egypt, deposing its President of thirty years, and one who had been almost a friend to neighboring Israel. The US administration, led by President Barak Hussein Obama, arranged for the new Moslem-Brotherhood government-which openly declared its violent intolerance of the existence of the state of Israel (2)-to be given as a gift twenty F-16s and two hundred Abrams tanks (3). Only the opposition of some US congressmen and senators and the return of the military in Egypt to the scene prevented most of the gift from being delivered.
When Egyptian citizens and the military saw that they were going to be put under strict Sharia law by the Muslim Brotherhood, which even as Muslims they rejected, they managed to take their country back, to the howls of disagreement from the media and various top politicians in the West. I personally spoke to some Coptic Christians who were horrified at the Moslem-Brotherhood’s US-backed ascension to power, because they were aware that Christians, tolerated by Mubarak, were being attacked and murdered by the Moslem Brotherhood, and ancient churches destroyed.
The West has been funding and giving weapons to those rebelling against President Assad in Syria, in a war which up until April of this year had resulted in the deaths of almost two hundred-thousand people, with the number still climbing. Assad was known to tolerate and accommodate Christians in his country, and the ancient churches there were relatively safe: the rebels-Islamists-have the opposite view and have been killing Christians, driving them from their homes and destroying the churches. For a sizeable part of the world, the kingdom of the Beast has already arrived.
Barring a successful political firestorm, Hamas, whose charter calls for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel, is now to be funded to the tune of over 400 million US taxpayer dollars a year with the blessing of President Obama (4).
Yes, the West went into Iraq and Afghanistan-seen by some as an attack on Islam, but look at the result: extremists have gained the upper hand. American troops there have had to burn their Bibles (5).
THE METHOD OF EXECUTION
Revelation tells us that the kingdom of the Beast will execute its enemies-those who refuse to convert, by beheading. There is only one movement whose extremists have this approach today, and whose founder had the same approach:
“And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands” (Revelation 20:4b).
THE HARLOT
The harlot of Revelation chapter 17 is generally recognized to be false religion in some form. The Harlot “rides” the Beast, meaning that false religion is a major part of, and perhaps the controlling factor in the kingdom of the beast. Old Testament imagery depicts false religion as a harlot on many occasions. The kings and leaders of all of history are said to have “committed fornication with her”, and the people of the earth had become “drunk” with her adulteries” (verse 2).
THE LAST HUMAN EMPIRE: NOT TOTAL WILLING COMPLIANCE
This may seem like an insignificant point, but while the last human empire will become world-dominant in many ways, there are texts which show that not all nations will be willing to join the alliance (for example, see Daniel 11:40-42). When “experts” speak about world government they often lead us to think that there will be one big, happy world State with everyone in agreement: this is not the case at all.
THE ACCEPTABLE BEAST
The world of the End Times is going to give its allegiance to the Beast-either willingly or having been forced to, while at the same time agreeing that Jerusalem must be wrested from the Israelis. Prophecy experts have noted that according to Scripture (Bible) the Beast himself will deliver some amazing signs, spectacles and achievements. They believe that this will be enough to win over the peoples of all faiths to him,. It seems to me that signs or not, the Islamic world will never give its allegiance to anyone who is not himself a Muslim, or who at least does not support their claims upon the world.
ANTICHRIST: THE PEACE MAKER?
A dominant characteristic of the man known as “Antichrist” will be his masterful deception. Antichrist will talk peace but wage war, perhaps including “proxy war”. Whoever Antichrist may be, he will have to be in a very influential position to persuade the Israelis into the prophesied “covenant”, an agreement which he will have no intention of keeping. Antichrist will double-cross the Israelis, and must be someone in a position to double-cross them, i.e. someone they are willing to trust or someone they have no alternative but to trust.
There’s a very determined drive towards a peace treaty between the Israelis and the Palestinians at this time (along with necessary agreements in a wider context) involving, “coincidentally”, the division of Jerusalem and of the “West Bank”. The West Bank was spoken of by Jesus in his account of Tribulation and Armageddon events as “Judea” (Matthew 24).
The West, and particularly the US, has shown ongoing determination to be the peace-brokers in Israeli-Palestinian discussions.
RELIGION AND THE BEAST
The kingdom of the Beast will be marked by a strict requirement to adhere to the worship of its leader as enforced by his very own prophet (Revelation 13). So this is not a kingdom without any religious worship.
The Antichrist will be presented to the world as a deliverer: the wonder-man who has come to save humanity from itself. He may be labeled a “prophet” or the latest incarnation of a prophet.
WILL REGARD NO GOD
The fact that Antichrist-the Beast-“will not regard any God” does not mean that he will be averse to Islam. He may say something like “we do not regard ourselves as a world of Christians or Hindus or Buddhists, but as a world of citizens.” His own intentions will be uppermost in his mind, and he may seem to have no belief in a real god. He may well present himself as a secularist or even as an atheist, but at the same time shape his policies and aims upon an affinity for one religion in particular.
LAWLESSNESS AND IMMORALITY
The West is arguably the most immoral empire on earth, and the US leads in this regard. The Antichrist is described as a man of “sin”, or as the NIV translates it, “lawlessness”. This does not mean that he will not have his own set of laws-he will. It means that he will be in defiance of the ways of God as defined in the Bible. The Beast and his kingdom will promote sin and call it “good”. He will “try to change the set times and laws” (Daniel 7:25). He may well be a law-breaker in his own political context too, doing what he pleases despite what the laws of the land or constitution may say. A mark of the end-times, according to Scripture, is total immorality as God sees it. We live in that kind of world now.
While Islamic law counsels certain self-controls and standards of right and wrong, and while Sharia law can be very strictly interpreted, the reality of its front-line extremists as demonstrated by IS, for just one example, is murder, kidnapping, rape and slavery: total lawlessness and immorality. Anything goes when it comes to dealing with their perceived enemies.
REPORTS FROM THE EAST, NORTH AND SOUTH
Daniel tells us that “at the time of the end” the Beast will be engaged in battle by the “king of the North” and the “king of the South” (Daniel 11:40). Not only that, but having gained the upper hand against these powers, and being situated in the “Beautiful Land” (most likely a reference to Israel), he will receive worrying reports from “the east and the north”. Who knows what jockeying for power is going on here, and remember that often-times Muslims are in violent opposition to Muslims, as in Syria at the present time: he could conquer or be allied with some forces in the Middle East and still have some against him. But the interesting thing to note is that only three of the four points of the compass are accounted for as the origins of his enemies. The one remaining direction from which enemy forces do not come against him is the West. Could this be because he himself is from the West? At the least, it seems like the US and the EU-the West- will not be against him.
IS THE LAST CHRISTIAN NATION TURNING AGAINST CHRIST?
We expect atheists to try to rid their country of the message of the cross, but this aversion to the Christian faith has been manifesting itself more and more in the courts, the government and the military in recent years, in the US and in Europe. Some prominent and trusted ministers and organizations are speaking of the growing trend of opinion against Christians, and the prospect of persecution in the United States is a lot more believable now than it was just ten or twenty years ago. The US is a “post-Christian” culture, where prayer in the name of Jesus is banned in schools and government offices, where speaking about one’s Christian faith at work can lose you your job, where the government and the media dictate what you must believe about origins, where Christians are taken to court and put out of business for refusing to bake someone a cake, and where the IRS focuses on obstructing Christian and conservative organizations.
In the nominal Church “Chrislam” attempts to convince us that Muslims and Christians are really worshipping the same god. There are so many ways of showing that this is not true, but as an example, compare what the Quran says about Jesus Christ with what the Bible says:
“Allah is only one God. Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son…” Quran [004.171 ]
“They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them”. Quran [005.073]
In contrast as stark as it could be, with the term “antichrist” being used, the Bible, written centuries before, says:
“Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist-he denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).
OUTTRO
Please let me know if you have good arguments or evidence against what I’ve written-I would not at all mind being wrong.
NOTES
1: http://spectator.org/blog/60285/obama-isil-speaks-no-religion
2: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/07/219272.html
http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-should-americans-fund-hamas-1401913021
5: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/02/day-us-military-burned-bible-in-afghanistan/
Fuel for Faith 
“A few commentators believe that the Antichrist will be a Jew. This idea is immediately demolished by realizing that the Islamic world would never follow or worship a Jew, miracles or not: they would be far more likely to want to kill him…”
But why do we assume that the anti-Christ would have to be a figure that the Muslim world would be deceived by and willingly follow, but find this same notion completely impossible when it comes to Christians or Jews…?
I have recently been incredibly challenged by the work of Chris White on this particular topic, and through listening to his research, it has been become clearer and clearer to me that what the Bible describes about the actions of the AC, is that he in fact DOES make war “against the enemies of Israel”. And if that doesn’t describe the Islamic nations, I don’t know what does.
When we look at Jesus’ warnings in Matthew 24, which tell us (the Believers…) “not to be deceived” by false Christs, then how does your own argument work against this notion of an Islamic anti-Christ just as much? You envision an AC who would deceive Muslims into voluntary worship and allegiance, yet force himself upon Christians and Jews through authoritarian rule. But why couldn’t the inverse scenario be at least equally possible? Why are we so fixated on the assumption that the AC couldn’t possibly pose as a “savior” to political Israel, and by extension, all the Christians who have pledged their political and military support of that country? If the AC actually came in and routed all the surrounding Muslim neighbors of Israel (as I have come to learn that the bible actually prophesies he will do…) then wouldn’t that actually elevate him in the eyes of the “West”, the Christians and Jews primarily, and be a much more fitting archetype for someone who Christ tells us could actually “deceive even the elect, if that were possible”…?
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Thanks for your interesting comments, which I will have to digest for a little while.
My initial reaction is that Christians and Jews are not going to be deceived by someone who is chopping off their heads. There are already numerous false prophets right here in the USA let alone anywhere else, and since “Christ” means anointed one” and plenty of those false prophets claim to be anointed, we don’t have to wait for any savior, Jewish or otherwise, for deception. The Islamic world doesn’t have to be deceived because they are already the ones who want to chop Christians’ and Jews heads off. Coincidence?
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exactly. They’re already deceived, so who are the ones that the Enemy would most likely be aiming for when it comes to Deception…?
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I see “all nations” against Israel in Scripture, just as they already are as attested to in the UN. The West is already under the spell of Islam, hence all the venom against Israel. No Jew is going to turn that around, and people like you and I would scoff at a savior who doesn’t line up with Scripture: the fake Christians are already anti-Israel and signing up to boycott the nation. Yes, I can see in Daniel Antichrist moving into the middle east and setting up shop in the “beautiful land”, but that doesn’t mean he’s Jewish or protecting Jews. He will be a closet anti-Semite, having gained their trust for a covenant of some kind, and will need to subdue some of the Islamic world also.
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So how exactly do you picture it “playing out” then in the very last days? Is the AC believed to be someone who actually rule all the other nations besides Israel, but then only make a “pact” with Israel, not actually ruling from there, and then at some point turning on the Jews and attacking them as well? This is the idea that I seem to get from many of the “support Israel” Christians, and so what I seem to take away from it all is that ultimately, “supporting Israel” is basically viewed as the only way to truly oppose the AC when he comes…
I find that extremely troubling.
In your post you spell out the very sobering realities of how the U.S. and NATO etc. have funded and trained Islamic terrorist groups in the middle east to depose and destabilize governments like Libya and Egypt, which is completely true, yet in your last comment you talk about “all nations being against Israel, as testified to in the UN”. In my own research into the matter, I have found in incontrovertible that the U.S. has been, and continues to be, the number ONE supporter of Israel and the IDF both in terms of financial assistance, and supplying of military hardware. The “iron dome” system we keep hearing about, was developed and built as a joint venture between Israel and the U.S. Most of the planes and tanks used by the IDF, are not only American made, but tailor made to fit special Israeli specifications.
Anyways, the point I am getting at is that you are on the right track when you are pointing out the kinds of “False Flag” proxy warfare being conducted BY the U.S. using “rebel groups” who they pretend to be against. That is really the key. Because the fact is that ever since the Muslim Brotherhood was created in Egypt, (by British Intelligence) “Muslim Extremism” has actually been something fomented and formed by powers (occult, globalist powers) in the West… Most Americans still can’t stomach the idea that Luciferian globalists working within the US government would actually plan and stage something like 9/11, (even though all the evidence points to this), and so how much harder is it for Christians today to believe that these occult-driven elites, embedded in ALL the governments of the world, (including Israel) are continually manufacturing and perpetuating this endless “war on terror” in order to provide a pretext for their endless war agenda?
Anyways…. All I’m saying is that in the end, the “muslim boogey man” is really just the pre-designed bad guy who absorbs the attention away from the ones who are actually working very hard behind the scenes to prepare the way for their satanic messiah, the “capstone” of the Illuminati pyramid, to arrive….
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Thanks for the lively discussion-its nice to know that someone out there is thinking for himself. Thanks also for your thoughts.
Antichrist will come to power in the global sense mid way through the seven years (Revelation 13:5 and 2 Thess. 2:3-4), joined by ten other leaders of some kind (17:12). Before that time he will not be the world’s leader-but he could be “a” world leader. In any case, he will be in a position to arrange and police that covenant, which does seem to relate to peace, since people will be talking “peace and safety” (1 Thess. 5:3). The big discussion and dream these days is for peace in the middle east, and when the Lawless one seems to arrange it, he will have some fooled, but not those who will be overrunning Jerusalem and Judea, and attempting to slaughter all in his path (Matthew 24:15-21; Zechariah 14:2; Revelation 12:13-17). The Lord is going to fight against those nations. So up to the mid-point of the seven years, I see antichrist as being a world leader who will fool Israelis into making peace and thinking they’ve achieved it. Muslims, on the other hand-and I don’t know how you’ve missed this- are the ones who have actually sworn to destroy Israel, and who claim that the land is theirs, with the agreement of most of the United Nations. Not only that, but Muslims have in their own writings-courtesy of their Prophet, that the Christians and Jews must be brought into submission to Allah or killed. No, not all Muslims want to get wrapped up in that, but the Muslim boogie man does exist, and you’re making a very big mistake to ignore that. It all adds up, does it not? So if antichrist is going to betray anyone, its the Israelis. Committed Muslims would see a Jewish Messiah as nothing less than blasphemy: its only secular Jews who are willing to make peace with “moderate” Muslims, or with someone who poses as being neutral- and a man who has both the power and the influence to enforce/ensure that peace. A man who the whole world is prepared to give the job to. Perhaps he is not going to be an openly practicing Muslim, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s going to give them free reign as soon as the opportune time arrives.
I agree that Israel is not a totally innocent party, but Biblically it’s the assault on Jerusalem which causes the Lord to go mad with fury and descent to repay the nations which have attacked her (Zechariah 14:3-5).
I can’t understand why you would think that antichrist would be a Jew, particularly as he’s going to be the one to behead Christians. How often do Israelis do that? It’s the likes of Islamic State which actually is doing that now.
And yes, they are doing that with the aid of backhanders from Western leaders and I’m sure Western bankers also, who want to see a one-world government.
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Thank you for the response. I did not mean to imply that I did not think that the “Muslim threat” wasn’t real, or that I’m not aware of how Islamic nations have vowed to “wipe Israel off the map” etc. etc. My point is that I have been increasingly learning about how all of these “pieces” really come together in a possible way that most of us Christians have not yet really been allowed to consider. I recently just listened to a podcast, where a guy named Chris White very methodically address all of the questions you just raised, (and he’s much better at articulating these things than I am) It’s here: http://vftb.net/?p=5302
In a nutshell, it describes the idea that this type of “Muslim anti-Christ” figure, who leads the arabs/muslims in a big assault on Jerusalem, is actually the guy/army who the REAL anti-Christ will destroy. Chris actually walks you through Daniel and Revelation etc., showing us how this is exactly what the Bible tells us the AC WILL DO, i.e, the anti-Christ is clearly shown to be attacking and defeating, the enemies of Israel. After which, the AC “enters the beautiful land”, sets up the daily sacrifices, and there is “peace” for a time, and then only later turns on both Jews and Christians (don’t even most “typical” eschatologies believe that the AC will “break his covenant with the Jews” at some point and attack them?)
It’s not so much about looking at the perceived political climate of this very moment and trying to interpret scripture through that lens (which is constantly changing as history and our perceptions change with it…) but instead just looking at the prophecies at face value. When you do that FIRST, it’s amazing how it all then really DOES line up in some very scary ways with both Jewish and Muslim eschatology. (i.e., you clearly start to see that Muslim eschatology prepares them to follow some guy who the AC will defeat, “saving” Israel”, and Jewish eschatology prepares them to actually embrace the AC as their long-awaited Messiah, because he did what Jesus didn’t do and won military victory over their enemies…)
Anyhow, I highly recommend the podcast, cuz he goes into much more depth and detail than I ever could here….
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Ok I’ll give it some thought but don’t expect a response any time soon.
Hmm, I don’t remember seeing anything about Antichrist defeating the enemies of Israel. I think his escapades as written in Daniel 11 could just as easily be explained as a Sunni-Shiite type face off, in which antichrist determines to bring his own kind of order to the Middle-East. In either case, it would only serve to reaffirm my suspicions that the West, and particularly the US, will play the leading role. Maybe Israel will be “protected” and then occupied by the West, then subdued: that makes sense. But from what I’ve heard and read, all ex-Muslims and Christians in the ME see Antichrist as a Muslim, not a Jew.
Later matey…
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Islamic State: The Middle East has erupted into a full scale blood bath ever since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a well known global terrorist on June 29, 2014 declared a caliphate or Islamic State. Notice that word caliphate can rightly be hyphenated as ‘caliph-hate’. This lawless man now wants to be known as Caliph Ibrahim. Around the late June timeframe Hamas also launched a massive and unprovoked rocket attack from Gaza strip into Israel. This cancer has also spread to Nigeria where Boko Haram in allegiance to the caliphate on August 16 massacred 1000 people in the predominately Christian town of Gwoza. The intention of this caliphate beast is to force all people to bow six times a day to Satan. Otherwise the Caliph will force all ‘infidels’ to pay a tax or be beheaded with the sword. This is only one short step of requiring all people on earth to wear the mark of the beast on the right hand or forehead.
I see the activities of the Islamic State as belonging definitely to the First Seal of Revelation. However the final 42 month countdown is ultimately permitted only by the Lord of Heaven.
http://truthlife.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/the-seven-seals/
I do not know whether the LORD has already begun to open the Seals related to the appointed time of his return. Nevertheless Jesus said to always watch and be ready (Lk 12:38-40). My understanding by comparing both Matthew and Revelation is that Jesus will call the church to heaven by rapture during the Sixth Seal –
http://truthlife.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/the-sixth-seal-rapture-of-all-christians/
I do believe that the LORD has moved in the heart of the Commander in Chief to oppose this caliphate Beast.
“From governments and peoples across the Middle East there has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so that it does not spread. There has to be a clear rejection of these kind of nihilistic ideologies. One thing we can all agree on is that a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century. Friends and allies around the world we share a common security and a common set of values that are rooted in the opposite of what we saw yesterday and we will continue to confront this hateful terrorism and replace it with a sense of hope and civility.”
President Barack Obama
August 20, 2014
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Thanks for that…
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