Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Arguments Against a Muslim Antichrist

by Bill Salus


Troublesome times, filled with stage setting prophetic signs, have many concerned they live in the last generation. As such, many eschatologists field questions about the Antichrist whose reign of terror dominates the final generation.

Topping the list is the curiosity over his origin. Will he be a Jew, Gentile, Muslim, or perhaps a Supernatural being like the Nepilim in the ancient Days of Noah?

According to the majority consensus of several experts interviewed by Dr. David Reagan of Lamb and Lion Ministries, there doesn’t seem to be a Jewish bone in Antichrist’s body. Their views can be watched here or read in my blog article called “Is the Antichrist, a Jew, Gentile, or Supernatural.”

Additionally, those pondering the supernatural origins of the Antichrist comprise a minority thus far. In fact, the first time I had heard about it was in a radio interview I hosted with end time’s expert and co-founder of Rapture Ready, Terry James. During the Prophecy Update radio program Terry made a compelling argument for a supernatural Antichrist. This fascinating interview took place on November of 2010 and can be heard here.

However, through a process of deductive reasoning, it appears most scholars believe the Antichrist is either a non-Muslim Gentile or a Muslim Gentile. Traditional teaching points to a non-Muslim Gentile Antichrist rising out of the Revived Roman Empire. Advocates of this view point to Daniel 9:26, which says this crazed individual will be a Roman. The prophecy declares the Antichrist will come out of the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple, an event fulfilled in 70 A.D. by the Roman Empire.

In January 2009 I wrote an article called “Does Daniel Debunk the Assyrian Antichrist.” This article hit a sensitive nerve among those interested in the origin of the Antichrist and prompted 143 blogs, including many from author Joel Richardson of the bestselling book “The Islamic Antichrist.”

Recently, I was asked by Dr. David Reagan to pen my position on several questions related to the Antichrist. One of them was regarded with the potential for a Muslim Antichrist. Some of the best teaching on this controversial subject is written in a transcript entitled, “The Muslim Antichrist Theory and Evaluation” by Dr. David Reagan.

Dr. Reagan's excellent article points out that Islamic eschatology also has an Antichrist called the Dajjal and that similarities between the Islamic Dajjal and biblical Antichrist exist. Muslim Antichrist advocates often use these similarities to argue their point. However, any similarities between the two are inadmissible due to the fact that Islamic scribes had several thousand years of previously recorded biblical prophecy available to them, which enabled them to fabricate the features of the Dajjal.

Summarized below are a few of the reasons I don’t believe the Antichrist will be a Muslim.

To hypothesize the Antichrist could be a Muslim, which is a relatively new paradigm shift in thinking, ignores the prophetic ramifications of Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38, and the first four seal judgments of Revelation 6:1-7. Prophetic insights written in Isralestine, The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East, suggest Psalm 83, and possibly Ezekiel 38, appears to occur before the Antichrist rides in on the world stage as the "white horseman" of the apocalypse in Rev. 6:1.

As pointed out in the Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 arguments below, the fulfillment of both prophecies will negatively impact the religion of Islam. Therefore, by the time the Antichrist emerges, Islam should be undergoing a deepening crisis in faith thereby hindering any Muslim's bid for world worship.

The Psalm 83 Argument

Psalm 83 is a confederation of ten predominately Muslim populations that will invade Israel to reclaim Palestine for the Palestinians. They will be decisively defeated by the Israeli Defense Forces as per Ezekiel 25:14, Obadiah 1:18, and elsewhere. This defeat will serve as a severe “punch to the gut” of the Islamic faith. Muslims worldwide will be shocked to witness today’s tiny Israel militarily overpower their present surrounding Arab foes.

The Ezekiel 38 Argument

In the aftermath of the I.D.F. victory of Psalm 83, the predominately Muslim nine-member coalition of invaders of Ezekiel 38:1-6 will make their bid to invade Israel to capture Israeli plunder and booty. We are informed in Ezekiel 38:18 - 39:6 that the invaders will meet their doom via the divine doings of the Lord rather than the I.D.F. The defeat of the Ezekiel invaders will be nothing less than a powerful “uppercut to the jawbone” of Islam.

In the aftermath of these two victories the downward slide of Allah will be observable as Muslims worldwide will become increasingly disenchanted with their Islamic faith. This is already occurring. Fueled by the Internet and social networks, many Mideast Muslim youths are looking beyond the confines of seventh-century Islam and state censored media for a brighter democratic future. Allah’s downward slide partially fulfills the prophecy in Zephaniah 2:11, which foretells the fall of all false gods.

These two Pre-Tribulation prophetic events, Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38, should assure that Islam is both crippled and compromised by the time the predicted wars of Revelation 6 occur. These apocalyptic wars predict indiscriminate death and destruction worldwide putting Islam well within its sites. As a result, Islam should be “knocked out for the final ten – count” before the midpoint of the seven – year tribulation arrives.

In addition to the objections identified above, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 declares the Antichrist will someday have the audacity to declare himself as god. Such a declaration flies in the face of Islam’s primary tenet that “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet or messenger.” According to the prophecy the Antichrist opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Once the Antichrist fulfills the 2 Thess. 2:4 prophecy a fatwa would certainly be issued to assassinate him if he was a Muslim. When this fact is pointed out to Muslim Antichrist advocates they often point out that Revelation 13:3-4 and Rev. 17:7-11 suggests the Antichrist will die. But, they argue these passages also suggest he will subsequently resurrect to rule the world.

The logical question then arises, "Wouldn't that prompt the issuance of another fatwa against his life?" In order to avoid an unending vicious cycle of fatwa, death, and resurrection they speculate that fatwa’s calling for the Antichrist’s death ultimately cease to be issued. Such a conclusion is difficult to support scripturally. Thus, the 2 Thessalonians argument also opposes the Muslim Antichrist theory.

Furthermore, attempts to identify a Muslim Antichrist often require historical revisionism and sensational newspaper exegesis. Historical revisionism occurs when Muslim Antichrist advocates discount Roman responsibility over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple. They teach Arab conscripts, even though they were subservient under Roman rule, did the dirty work. This argument is highly suspect and easily refuted. (Refer to the blogs here).

Newspaper exegesis occurs by focusing on Islam’s adversarial role in current Mideast events rather than appropriately ordering the Israeli war prophecies described in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38. Muslim Antichrist advocates attempt to give Islam longevity by conveniently incorporating these prophecies into the campaign of Armageddon.

It is commonly taught that the final Armageddon battle, whereby the Antichrist and his armies are defeated, occurs during the latter part of the seven-year Tribulation period. Many, including myself, believe the Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 prophecies occur independently from, and in advance of, the final Armageddon battle. Therefore as stated above, before Armageddon comes Islam will be “knocked out for the ten – count

It appears humanity is about to witness the fulfillment of Psalm 83 followed by Ezekiel 38. These two powerful prophetic events should render Islamic eschatology, which has no Godly inspiration apart from that clumsily plagiarized out of the bible, useless. There will be a biblical Antichrist and he may be alive today. But, it is highly doubtful that he will be a Muslim.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Is America to be Judged Prior to Daniel's 70th Week?



Resurrection Day, 24 April 2011: Since virtually all teachers agree that the United States of America is not specifically mentioned in the literal Word of God, then where, pray tell, is the literal judgment and destruction of the United States of America taught by so many of these same prophecy teachers prophetically foretold in His Word?


The prophetic fact-of-the-matter is that such a unique judgment upon the USA is not foretold in the Word of God.


The obvious lack of a specified Divine judgment upon the United States of America is therefore a man-made judgment; an eisegetically-derived judgment. And as such it is an extremely incongruous form of Divine judgment when so many Arab Muslim nations have been actively at war against the reborn Israel and have facilitated Israel's ever increasing terrorization since her re-birth 63 years ago. The judgments coming upon these nations are clearly foretold in numerous chapters written by the numerous Divinely inspired prophets of God -- Asaph (Psalm 83), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel (Chapters 38/39), just to name a few.


Or how about when applied to the bulk of western nations, particularly of Europe and the Western Hemisphere where modern-day anti-Israel sentiment and its precursor holocaust enabling anti-Semitism were nurtured and have existed for AT LEAST SIX CENTURIES along with abortion-on-demand, homosexual and all manner of other sexual perversions, as well as a civilization-wide turning away from God and the Lord Jesus Christ along with every manifestation of Satanically inspired humanism. All of these sins have been nurtured as inherited by the West as a whole through the absorption of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and ultimately decadent Roman norms of human civilization.


Yet many teachers tell us that the United States of America is to be uniquely singled out for Divine judgment and destruction prior to Daniel's 70th Week. Is this correct?


No, and on the contrary, I utterly reject such an interpretation notion as this. The last empire mentioned in the Bible is the Roman Empire. Every nation in Europe and the Western Hemisphere is a direct descendent of the Roman Empire and its peoples.


So the fact that the US is not specifically mentioned in the Bible is meaningless in my view. The US is in the Bible, but under a different point of reference. Is nuclear-armed France mentioned in the Bible? How about nuclear-armed United Kingdom? Spain? Portugal? Canada? Brazil? Any of them?

No. Not one is mentioned.

But what is symbolically mentioned are the "iron and clay" ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue given to to the prophet Daniel by God in a night vision. Those toes are the representation of the descendent nations of the Roman Empire. Moreover, what is symbolically represented by the prophet Ezekiel are the Western seafaring nations of commerce referred to as Tarshish and "all their young lions" (former colonies).

I do not believe the US is going to be uniquely judged and destroyed. I believe that those Bible eschatologists who've been teaching that the US is doomed to destruction are in error and have completely missed a key prophetic point.

I believe the US will be an integral, if not indispensible, part of the Beast Empire, and NATO will be the overwhelming army of the Beast. Without the incredible military power of the US the military power of NATO is nothing special. No nation on the earth has the military command and control (C2) capabilities, much less the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, sensors and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities that the US possesses. Zippo, nada, none. We're forward deployed on bases in dozens of countries all over the planet, our residual combat power is peerless, and we're actively fighting wars or low intensity conflicts simultaneously in several places hundreds to thousands of miles distant at this very moment. This is the kind of military power that will manifest itself in the literal fulfillment of this key prophecy during Daniel's 70th Week:

Daniel 11:40-44



"At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many."


That's a whole lot of conquering. It is conquest on a truly global scale. And it all happens within a very short span of time.

Therefore, I believe the United States of America will be judged when all of the other nations of the beast empire are judged at the appointed time as God Almighty informed the prophet Daniel in a night vision.

The time of the coming judgment of these nations of the beast empire is found in Daniel 2:28a (emphasis added):






"But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.


The judgment itself is foretold in Daniel 2:31-35






“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

... along with the God-given interpretation in Daniel 2, verses 36 through 45:


“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”


This is the judgment upon the nations at the conclusion of Daniel's 70th Week by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.


This prophecy of judgment upon the nations is repeated in even greater detail in The Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapters 18 and 19. The source of this prophecy is the same as that given to Daniel... Almighty God.


Read the words of this prophecy and be blessed as declared in Revelation 1:1-3, and pay heed that no one add to or take away from these words per the explicit warning of Revelation 22:18-19.