Definitely something to watch for Venge. Have you ever heard of this?
From
WikiBefore anyone says "we are waiting for the Mahdi, we await Jesus", just take into consideration how well the false christ "arrival" fits into the biblical account of the anti-christ (or false prophet - not the intent to establish an argument for a system vs. person here), deceiving many.
Mike,
Hey brother. I have heard of the Mahdi. Joel Richardson and other writers are big on that. It is possible that this Mahdi, if he even will exist in the future, isn't real yet some people could call a man of sin that. It is interesting to those that hold that view that the Mahdi, Islams Messiah, is actually the Bibles AntiChrist. The Mahdi comes on a white horse to destroy the false religion (Christianity and their false prophet (Jesus, but they say just False Prophet). As they believe Jesus had not died at the cross. Yet, we know from Revelation that the white rider is the AC to which they claim is their Mahdi.
I believe in a man of sin and that is it. The bible does not speak of a Mahdi. We have the False prophet. Some people forget, the Bible is a middle eastern text written by middle easterners centered around the middle east from its foundation. Now, they do go into northern Africa, but then it really only grows into the world after Christ's great commission. People need to think in terms of when the bible was written and how it was written.
Back to the AC, I do believe it is Islam. But there are many good Muslim's in the world. They need Christ as much as any of our neighbors. Christ died so that all may believe. Before I had Christ I was worthy of the same death a pagan was. So they need to hear the word and to be loved letting our light shine on them.
Never in history has there been a time that a religion grows so quickly, and spreads out not thru evangelizing, but by conquering in the past and now by mass immigration. I don't know if you read world news. You should look at Sweden, Denmark and Germany right now. They are setting up the "call to prayer" (loud speakers at their mosques to broadcast their religion's call over peoples houses) in many of those countries cities. In Denmark, they have some councilman that are calling for Sharia. They want Denmark to become the first Muslim country in Europe. Obviously, wanting and actually doing are two different things. But as the demographics change, it can happen.
Now I don't want to go off topic. When we look at the AC and the Beast from the sea, we know his religion will be all over the place. In every nation, some more heavily then others. Let us assume it is Islam for a moment. If a man appeared on the world stage that was able to work miracles, even possibly to deceive Christians to thinking he was Christ....and this man was a Muslim, would it cause a falling away from Christianity to Islam?
Now, if that same man who was worshipped as Christ was a religious leader and he then wanted his billion followers to rise up and make all lands for Allah only, do you think his followers would do it? Maybe not all of them, but many would as we seen in ISIS, all over the world people joined them. And their leader did no miracles.
If it were to happen would they kill by the sword?
Would they want to change times and laws to Muslim times (Muslim Calendar) (Prayer on Friday)and Muslim laws (Sharia)? Remember the man of sin doesn't actually succeed, he thinks to change them....
With Muslims spread throughout most of Europe now, in 50 years they will be a majority in 2 countries and almost 30-50% in a few others. (Some recent studies have shown projections). They could cause death and subject native populations.
Westerners don't have the will, the audacity, the history or the anger of many Muslims because they want a 20 mile piece of land promised to Jacobs peoples. 20 miles long and all this war and death and anger is over it. You know that is God at work when 20 miles of land is what is causing all these problems.
Will the AC be of the line of Ishmael or Esau? I don't know. There are good talking points for both. Josephus shows in his annals that the people of the prince that is to come will burn down the city and the sanctuary. Translated for easier reading: The Antichrist will come from a people that were present in 70AD at the sacking and burning of the city of Jerusalem. Josephus states that most of the Roman Empires legions at that very sacking were not Roman. They may have been given Roman status as did Paul, but they were made up of mostly Syrians and Arabs. That is an scientific-historic fact even found elsewhere. He even describes the sacking by saying those who were doing the burning had a blood lust in their eyes that the Roman (Italian Legate) could not even get them to stop. Most likely because the Arabs and Syrians held such hostility against the Jews for centuries. They were thrilled to destroy it all in the faces of their enemies. This is the people of the prince that is to come.
People make mention of the Romans as Italians but it is a known fact as their empire expanded they could not have millions of Italians controlling it all. They hired out people, paid others to join. The key in the text was the people of the prince. Italians are a people but Romans are not a people. Rome is a place and Romans were an empire. But the Roman empire was made up of different peoples, tongues and nations. It is those people that make up different nations in the Roman empire that the AC comes from.
He must comes from a nation that forms the 7 heads of the beast. All 7 heads controlled the middle east. If we were to look at the 7 heads today and what countries today make it up, we would most likely have:
A. Iraq
B. Syria
C. Jordan
D. Turkey
E. Egypt
F. Sudan
G. Libya
H. Afghanistan
I. Lebanon
J. Palestinian Territories
K. Turkmenistan
L. possibly parts of northern Saudi Arabia
M. Iran
N. Georgia – non Muslim majority
O. Pakistan
P. Armenia – non Muslim majority
Q. Azerbaijan
R. Uzbekistan
S. Kyrgyzstan
All of these are Islamic dominated nations except Armenia and Georgia.
If we look at when Seleucid was in power, the nations today that were under him in the north were:
1. Anatolia: Turkey
2. Persia: Iran
3. Levant: Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine
4. Mesopotamia: Iraq, Kuwait
5. Afghanistan
6. Pakistan
7. Turkmenistan
The Countries under the king of the south were:
1. Egypt
2. Ethiopia: Sudan
3. Libya
If we only look at the large nations, IF we are focusing on 10 mountain nations(10 toes), we have:
1. Turkey
2. Iran
3. Syria
4. Pakistan
5. Iraq
6. Afghanistan
7. Jordan
8. Egypt
9. Libya
10. Sudan
There is no denying, the main religion of these regions is contrary to the bible and contrary to Christ.
Edit: I did not add Italy or some smaller Nations between Greece and Italy. I can add them later.