THE DEBATE OVER
ANTICHRIST
Click to go to our Home Page
|
From Walid Shoebat
Would you please consider my article below for
your publication
Thanks
Walid Shoebat
THE DEBATE OVER
ANTICHRIST
By Walid Shoebat
THE THREE CHALLENGES
Does the beast of Revelation involve Middle Eastern Muslim nations,
is it exclusively European, or is it both? Some say the notion that Islam
could play a prominent role in the coming revival of the Roman Empire is
impossible, unorthodox, untraditional, the work of ‘Lone Ranger’ type
interpretation, and even revisionist..
1
The majority of American evangelicals believe that the Antichrist
system must be exclusively European, yet this view is changing after the last
few years with the rise of Islam.
So, could Islam play a role in this end-times scenario? You
might think to yourself—so what? Why should we care? Well, why then
did the Almighty give us Daniel and Revelations? Even better still — why
did God give us all the Messianic prophesies regarding Jesus’ first coming?
Careless followers that missed these ended up without salvation, regardless of
whether they sacrificed lambs in the Temple or obeyed the law—when it comes to
the issue of Messiah, they missed the most crucial event in history. All
for not paying close attention to Bible Prophecy. And what about the second
coming? Are we to be careless with respect to the evidence presented in
the Bible? I am not saying that you could lose your
salvation, but if you end up on the side of Antichrist, you never had salvation
in the first place.
Yet today, the debate is brewing—what about the threat of Islam?
Did the Bible warn us about it? Are we supposed to keep our focus exclusively
on Europe?
To shed light on the implications of such detailed evidence (which
spawned countless challenges and questions) I decided to write God’s War on
Terror regarding Islam’s involvement in end-times. Consequently, I
get challenges daily, not only by Muslims that want me dead but also from
Christians who are dogmatic about their views. Ironically, we have no
record of any Christian minister killed for exposing the E.U.
as the work of Satan, yet we have millions who gave their lives for standing up
to Islam. So please allow me to alleviate some pressure and present you with
only three challenges:
CHALLENGE 1: Did traditional
Prophecy scholars teach that Europe is exclusively the Antichrist
kingdom?
You might be shocked to know that the highest caliber
commentators of old did not believe that Europe was the exclusive player in the
End-Times. A revival of a Roman Empire never meant a revival of a European
Empire.
Many of our best western scholars on Bible prophecy believed that
Islam would be a major player and will revive in the end of days as part of
this end-time beast. John Wesley interpreted the Iron in Daniel 2 as
Islam (Works, 1841). Hilaire Belloc foresaw
Islam‘s rise.2 Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica interpreted the martyrdom of
Christians during the Great Tribulation to come from Islam. Josiah Litch interpreted Revelation as the ushering in of
Islam..3 He even described the magnitude of Islam’s role being
Antichrist to the extent of calling it the “general agreement among Christians,
especially protestant commentators.” Cyril of Jerusalem (315-368 A.D)
in his Divine Institutes believed that Antichrist proceeds forth
from the region of ancient Syria 4, which today extends from Syria
well into portions of Asia Minor (Turkey). Sophronius,
Patriarch of Jerusalem (560-638) and Maximus the
Confessor (580-662) identified Islam with Antichrist and lived through
Islam’s invasion of Jerusalem. Maximus was also
an important theologian and scholar of the early Church who helped defeat the Monothelite heresy referred to the Muslim invasions as
“announcing the advent of the Antichrist.” John of Damascus (676-749)
was another very important figure in the early church. In his famous
book, Against Heresies, he identified Islam as the forerunner to the
Antichrist. Eulogius, Paul Alvarus
and the Martyrs of Cordova (9th century) believed Muhammad to be a
false prophet and the precursor to the Antichrist. 5 Many are not
aware that while Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation, believed
that the Papacy played the role of the spiritual harlot, he also believed that
the Muslims were the Kingdom of Antichrist. 6
John Calvin interpreted Daniel 2 eastern leg as the Eastern-Roman
Islamic Empire and that Daniel 11:37 applied to the Muslims. 7 Even
Jonathan Edwards the great American congregational preacher, revivalist, and
president of Princeton University, like Luther and Calvin, saw Islam as one of
the premiere elements of the Antichrist Kingdom. 8 Calvin even
interpreted Islam’s fall at the sound of the great trumpet 9 Islam
falling at the sound of the great trumpet even carries Islam into the
Great Tribulation and not as many of our contemporary prophecy analysts who
allege that Islam must be removed prior to Christ coming.
Even Sir Robert Anderson, perhaps one of the best prophecy experts
who unlocked the seventy weeks of Daniel, in his remarkable book The Coming
Prince, insists to focus on the Levant (Eastern) parts rather than
the Adriatic (West). 10
Countless other Bible commentators warned about Islam being the
kingdom of Antichrist—Selnecker, Nigrinus,
Chytraeus, Bullinger, Foxe,
Napier, Pareus, John Cotton, Thomas Parker, Increase
Mather, Cotton Mather, and George Stanley Faber. 11
Also added to the list is Rev. Professor Dr. Francis Nigel Lee who
sums up the traditional view in his excellent work Islam in the Bible:
“from the seventh century onward – [the two legs] would degenerate respectively
into the Papacy (which progressively took over the West) and Islam
(which progressively took over the East.” (p. 5)
Making Europe the exclusive body of Antichrist kingdom is not the
orthodox or even the traditional view. Some insist that Antichrist is Italian
since he comes from the Roman Empire, but Roman does not strictly mean Italian,
just as Alexander the Great was Grecian, this does not mean Athenian—he was
from Macedonia. Antiochus Epiphanies, another biblical prediction was Syrian
not Athenian or Cypriot. Why then, when it comes to Antichrist, insist on an
Italian ignoring the whole empire. Even Jesus insisted that Pergamum in
Revelation 2:12-13, was the seat of Satan and not the gymnastically altered
interpretation for an archeological relic that sits
in Berlin.
While contemporary prophesy analysts trumpet the idea that the
fourth composite of Daniel 2 iron metal as strictly European, traditionalist
views differ. Dr. Matthew Henry comments: "Who is this enemy—whose
rise, reign and ruin are here foretold? Interpreters are not in agreement.
Some will have the Fourth Kingdom to be that of the Seleucidae
and the ‘little horn’ to be Antiochus..... Others will have the Fourth
Kingdom to be that of the Romans, and the ‘little horn’ to be Julius
Caesar and the succeeding emperors, as Calvin says. The Antichrist, the Papal
Kingdom, says Mr. Joseph Mede.
Others make the ‘little horn’ to be the Turkish Empire [Muslim];
so Luther, Vatablus, and others. Now I cannot prove
either side to be in the wrong. Therefore, since prophecies sometimes have
many fulfillments, we ought to give Scripture its full latitude (in this as in
many other controversies)—I am willing to allow that they are both in the
right.” 12
NORTH
AFRICA
Most students of prophecy that ascribe to a revival of the Roman
Empire ignore that North Africa (Phut) encompasses
five Muslim nations historically part of the western wing of the Roman
Empire, and already mentioned literally in several end-times references.
In order for the exclusively European model to fit, the whole of this Muslim
region must be irrelevant. So what part of the Roman pie do we slice off
and what parts do we include?
CONTEMPORARY VS TRADITIONAL
So what happened? Why do we have such a variation between
contemporary versus traditional? The problem began in 1981 when Greece
joined as the tenth nation in the European Union and many sounded a false alarm
that announced they unlocked the mystery and have the fulfillment of Revelation
17, all with its ten horns, to later be embarrassed when the European Union
mushroomed into twenty some nations.
Instead of pulling back their books, these analysts ran back to the
drawing board, not to confess their error, but to insist that the E.U. model must shrink to only ten.. They still chose to
finagle with the theory. Some, like Arnold Fruchtenbaum,
realized that this was wrong: “It has become common
today to refer to the ten kingdoms as being in Europe only, especially the
Former Common Market, now the European Union. But the text does not
allow for this kind of interpretation. At the very best, the European Union
might become one of the ten, but it could hardly become all of the ten.'' 13
According to Fruchtenbaum, the European
model comprises only one tenth, a mere slice of the whole pie. Jamieson Fausset & Brown insist that, “the ten toes are not upon
the one foot (the west), as these interpretations require, but on the two (east
and west) together, so that any theory which makes the ten kingdoms belong
to the west alone must err..”
CHALLENGE
2: Besides the argument on whether Magog is Russia, can anyone cite any literal
reference to a nation that God destroys in the End-Times that is not Muslim?
Only if you ponder this question can you grasp its magnitude.
On one occasion during a lecture to a group of prominent Bible prophecy
teachers in the Pre-Trib Prophecy Conference in
Dallas, I asked this question and no one raised a hand to answer.
In frustration, I pointed to Dr. Randall Price, a known Prophecy
teacher and asked him to respond, in which he pointed that when it comes to literal
references there are none. Grant Jeffrey, another known author, once
attempted to respond with Cush, not realizing that biblical Cush
(a reference sometimes translated as Ethiopia) is defined in the Unger
Bible Dictionary as a landmass south of Egypt.. Today this will be Sudan
and Somalia.
Grant Jeffrey chose one of the most fundamentalist Muslim nations
as a response to find non-Muslim nations in end-times. David Reagan of the
Lion and Lamb Ministries with frustration pointed to Mystery Babylon
14 ignoring that the crucial word in that question is
“literal”. If Babylon is a response to cite any literal
reference for a non-Muslim nation that God destroys, this would still
support my view— Mystery Babylon is an allegoric reference..
CHALLENGE 3: In every
portrayal of Christ’s return to the earth, is He not fighting a nation that
today is Muslim?
The significance of this question is as follows —scholars are
unanimous, that Christ’s second coming must happen after Antichrist
appears on the scene. Christ’s mission will be to destroy Antichrist and
establish His Millennium kingdom. The European Union model has the Muslim
hordes destroyed before the Tribulation period. Yet the text shows that Messiah
Himself deals with Muslim nations.
The next prophecy conference you attend ask, “Is Jesus on earth on
the Day of the Lord?” Ezekiel tells us of that day, “For the day
is near, even the Day of the Lord is near” (Ezekiel 30:3). Yet this is
when “Cush and Phut, Lydia [Turkey] and all Arabia,
Libya and the people of the covenant land will fall by the sword along with
Egypt” (Ezekiel 30:5). Other prophesies show these nations are cast into
Hell, including Asshur – “Iraq – Syria”, (Ezekiel
32:22-23) Elam – “Iran” (Ezekiel 32:24-25) Meshech
&
Tubal “Asia minor—Turkey” (Ezekiel 32:26) – Edom – “Arabia” (Ezekiel 32:29).
These nations are punished for striking terror against Israel and the believers
(Ezekiel 32:22-24 & 27).
Perhaps sharing a few from the volume of hundreds of prophecies of
Jesus’ wars during the Great Tribulation can shed more light on the matter:
“See Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of
Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them”
(Isaiah 19). Does this remind you of the song “behold He comes riding on
the clouds”? Yet rarely are we told that Jesus here is fighting Egypt—a
Muslim nation.
Even in Christ’s judgment of the nations (Joel 3) He is fighting
Muslim entities. “Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon
[Lebanon] and all you regions of Philistia [Gaza]” (Joel 3:4) It couldn’t
be more clear! It was as if Jesus Himself was speaking directly to
Hezbollah (Tyre and Sidon) and Hamas (Philistia), challenging them regarding
their bloodlust against the Jewish people. Their fight against Israel is in
reality a declaration of war on the King Himself.
In Isaiah 25:9-10 at the time of the Lord’s return, we have Christ
fighting Moab “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited
for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we
will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the
hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under Him, even as
straw is trodden down for the dunghill.” (Isaiah 25:9-10).
Even in Isaiah 63, scholars unanimously agree that He fights Edom
(Arabia).
Are the Muslim nations in prophecy destroyed prior to the Christ’s
coming? Will the Antichrist then establish his European rule? Can
anyone find a verse in the Bible in which Christ fights and nations are
literally mentioned which are not Muslim?
This is why many who exclusively see Europe as Antichrist insist on
removing Islam from the scene prior to the coming of Christ. Since
the Muslims still exist on earth upon the Lord’s return fighting against Him,
their whole premise of an exclusively European Antichrist falls apart..
Walid Shoebat,
God’s War on Terror www.Shoebat.com (720)935-2826
REFERENCES
1
Lamplighter Newsletter, David Reagan, January 2009 edition.
2
The Great Heresies, chapter 4 March, 1936, page 127-128
3
Hosiah Litch, The Three Woe
Trumpets, Fall of The Ottoman Empire, August 11, 1840
4 Divine
Institutes, 7:17
5 Paul Alvarus, Memoriale sanctorum 2.4
6
Martin Luther, Tischreden, Weimer ed., 1, No. 330
7
Calvin On Islam Revelation Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, Lamp Trimmers El Paso,
2000
8
Jonathan Edwards, The Fall of Antichrist, Part VII, page 395, New York,
Published by S. Converse 1829
9
Jonathan Edwards, The Fall of Antichrist, Part VII, page 399, New York,
Published by S. Converse 1829
10 The
Coming Prince, Page 273
11
Froom: op. cit., II pp. 323f, 325f, 331, 340f, 412f, 458 & 518f
and also III pp. 40f, 74f,
125-31, 149, 183, 240f, &352f.
12 M.
Henry: A Commentary on the Holy Bible, with Practical Remarks andObservations, London: Marshall Bros. Ltd., n.d., IV:1270f.
13 Fruchtenbaum,
Footsteps of the Messiah, page 36
14
Lamplighter Newsletter, David Reagan, January 2009 edition.