The Islamic Antichrist (8 page)

THE MAHDI AS A SPIRITUAL WORLD LEADER

Likewise, it almost goes without saying, the Mahdi of Islam will be the leader of a worldwide worship movement, a worship movement that will seek to cause anyone who practices any religion other than Islam to renounce his faith and worship
Allah, the god of Islam. As we saw in the last chapter, the Mahdi “will govern the people by the Sunnah of their Prophet and establish Islam on Earth.”
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And “Islam will be victorious over all the religions.”
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Thus we see that the Mahdi leads a world revolution that will institute a “new world order” based on the religion of Islam. Islam will be the only religion allowed. Both the Antichrist and the Mahdi are said to be the unqualified leaders of a global religious movement that will draw worship away from the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ. As we will see clearly in later chapters, inherent in the worship of Allah within the context of Islam is a direct denial of the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ. In fact, this is the reason that some Muslims feel so strongly as to say that the Mahdi will “eradicate those pigs and dogs”—the Christians and the Jews who refuse to convert to Islam. Which leads us to the next obvious similarity between the Antichrist and the Mahdi.

THE ANTICHRIST’S TARGETED CAMPAIGN AGAINST JEWS AND CHRISTIANS

The Bible is very clear that Satan, through the Antichrist, will specifically target first Jews and then Christians for death. In the Book of Revelation, chapters twelve and thirteen, we read another prophetic passage of Scripture rich with symbolic language. Initially it is slightly difficult to understand, but after the symbols are explained, it becomes very clear:

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. (Revelation 12:1)

The “woman” symbolically pictured here is the family or nation of Israel, the Jewish people. We see that she is crowned with twelve stars. This represents the twelve sons of Israel who became the twelve tribes that make up the family or the nation of Israel (Genesis 35:23–26).

She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne. (Revelation 12:2–5)

The woman—Israel—becomes pregnant and gives birth to a “male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” This is a clear reference to Jesus, the Jewish Messiah (see Psalm 2:9). The dragon mentioned here is identified in verse 9 as “that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” We see that Satan desires to kill Jesus, but instead Jesus is “snatched up to God and to His throne.” This is a reference to Jesus’ ascension to heaven after the Resurrection (Acts 1:8). After this:

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him…. He [the dragon] pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child…. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12:1–6, 9, 13–14, 17)

We see that Satan is “enraged at the woman” (Israel) and “went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Israel’s “other offspring” are those Christians who indeed “obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” This is the only passage that makes specific reference to Satan making a direct target of both Jews and Christians. And we know that
this passage speaks specifically of the end times, because it mentions twice the three and a half year period (1,260 days and “a time, times, and half a time”) that the Antichrist will have authority to war against the saints:

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. (Revelation 13:5–7)

The Prophet Daniel also saw that the Antichrist would have this authority to wage a successful war against “the saints.”
Saints
is also translated “holy ones” in some translations. It speaks primarily of the true followers of Jesus who know and serve the One True God.

He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. (Daniel 7:25)

Again here we see the reference to the three and a half year period when the Antichrist will persecute those who resist him.

The Bible is clear, then, that the Antichrist will specifically target those who resist his attempts to establish his religion all over the earth. From the Book of Revelation as well as the Prophet Daniel, we see that the two groups that most enrage Satan are the Jews and the Christians.

THE MAHDI’S TARGETED CAMPAIGN AGAINST JEWS
AND CHRISTIANS

Interestingly enough, Islamic tradition speaks much of the Mahdi’s special calling to convert Christians and Jews to
Islam, yet speaks very little specifically of conversions from other faiths. It seems as though converting Christians and Jews to Islam will be the primary evangelistic thrust of the Mahdi. The following quote from Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini clearly articulates this vision:

The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and Christians; if they accept it they will be spared, otherwise they will be killed.
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And of course we cannot forget the infamous hadith that has become a favorite of many Muslim anti-Semites. Again, note that it is speaking specifically about “the last hour”:

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
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After commenting on this particular hadith, several Muslim authors will quickly point out the very “interesting” fact that this particular tree, “the Gharqad” (apparently the boxwood tree), is presently being planted in abundance by Jews in Israel. The point is that Muslims expect this final holocaust to take place within the present state of Israel. This of course corresponds to another very specific similarity between the biblical Antichrist and the Mahdi.

A MILITARY ATTACK AGAINST ISRAEL AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT AS THE SEAT OF AUTHORITY

The Bible teaches that the Antichrist, with his multi-nation coalition, will attack Israel, and specifically Jerusalem, to conquer it:

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people [who submit to Antichrist’s rule] will not be taken from the city. (Zechariah 14:2)

You [Gog—Ezekiel’s name for the Antichrist] will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you. Thus says the Lord GOD, “It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people [Israelites] who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’” (Ezekiel 38:9–12, NASB)

According to the Bible, after this attack, the Antichrist will specifically set up his “throne” in “God’s Temple.” The Apostle Paul lays this out quite clearly:

He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4)

The location of the Jewish Temple has always been on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Today, the Temple that once stood on Mount Moriah does not exist; it was destroyed by the Roman emperor Titus in AD 70 according to the prophecy of Jesus:

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1–2)

Today, Mount Moriah, sometimes known as the Temple Mount or in Arabic as
Haram Ash-Sharif
, is the location of two mosques and the third holiest site of Islam. There is endless speculation about the Temple Mount regarding issues such as exactly
where the Jewish Temple once stood on the Mount or whether or not a rebuilt Jewish Temple will rise there in the future. The verse from the Apostle Paul certainly seems to indicate that a rebuilt Jewish Temple will indeed appear in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul says that the Antichrist will “set himself up in God’s Temple,” or more literally, “he takes his seat in the temple of God.” This speaks not so much of a literal sitting down as it does of a taking a position of authority. Thus we see that the Antichrist will make Mount Moriah and, more specifically, the rebuilt Jewish Temple, the specific location of his rule. Jesus warned of this event two thousand years ago. Referring to the Antichrist having set himself up in the Jewish Temple, and the events that will immediately follow, Jesus said:

So when you see standing in the holy place “the abomination that causes desolation,” spoken of through the Prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:16–22)

Here we see Jesus referring to the Antichrist’s occupancy of the Temple as “the abomination that causes desolation.” The “desolation” refers to the chaos and severe persecution against the Jews and Christians that will immediately follow when the Antichrist’s true identity is revealed. After his military campaign against Jerusalem, the Antichrist will make his base of authority the Temple Mount itself. At this time, it is clear that the Antichrist’s malevolent feelings toward Israel will become fully manifest, so much so that Jesus warns the inhabitants of Jerusalem to straightaway flee to the mountains.

THE MAHDI’S ATTACK OF JERUSALEM AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE FROM JERUSALEM

Likewise the Mahdi is said to attack Jerusalem and reconquer it for Islam in order to establish Islamic rule over the earth from Jerusalem:

[Armies carrying] black flags will come from Khurasan [Iran]. No power will be able to stop them and they will finally reach Eela [the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem] where they will erect their flags.
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Jerusalem will be the location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, which will be headed by Imam al-Mahdi.
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Also, as we just saw in the previous section, the Mahdi will not end his campaign against Jerusalem in a peaceful way. For the Jews, the Islamic version of the last days ends with the last few surviving Jews hiding behind rocks or trees from the sword of Islam. The military campaign against Jerusalem and the establishment of the Islamic caliphate there likewise will not result in a benevolent rule over the Jews by the Mahdi, for as we have already seen, the last quote continues:

…that will abolish the leadership of the Jews…and put an end to the domination of the Satans who spit evil into people and cause corruption in the earth.
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In relation to the attack against the inhabitants of Israel, there is, quite interestingly, another very specific correlation between the actions of the Mahdi and the actions of the biblical Antichrist. While the similarities between the Antichrist and the Mahdi that we have already discussed are astonishing, I believe that the specificity of this next parallel is simply incredible.

THE ANTICHRIST’S SEVEN-YEAR TREATY WITH ISRAEL