There are those today who are debunking a Muslim beast "antichrist"
"The whole concept of an Islam Antichrist is fantasy" : Don Koenig
The Islamic beast in the Middle East is Abaddon-Apollyon, the fallen angelic king of the abyss noted in Revelation's unfolding who rules 7 Middle Eastern kingdoms for Satan presented in the scope of the prophetic visions of the past and future [
Revelation 13:1-4; 17:8-14]
Who is this beast of Satan’s choice clothed in a human king’s body and where he will confederate his Middle Eastern kingdom at the end of this present age according to the Lord’s revealing by His prophets of the Bible?
There are three entities intertwined in this first beast of Revelation’s unfolding that must be recognized in order to understand the make up
Satan, Abaddon [a fallen angerlic like Satan], and the human little horn of Daniel’s visions [a future king of the northern Middle East] will compose this never before manifesting that will astound the unbelieving world during the Lord’s coming period of tribulation and wrath to punish them for their refusal to believe the truth about Him [
2Thessalonians 2:8-12]
This beast will be the concoction of Satan’s bidding to usurp the Lord and to prevent the coming of the Lord’s millennial kingdom on the earth [
Daniel 7:7-25; 8:9-12; 8:23-25; 9:26-27 [the other prince] ; 11:36-45; 12:7]
Revelation 9:1; 9:11; 11:7; 12:6-9; 12:12; 12:6-14; 13:1-4; 14:9-11; 16:1-16; 17:8-14; 17:16-18; 19:11-21; 20:1-3]
Ezekiel’s vision of the invasion of Israel at the middle of the coming 70th week decreed and the resultant battle of Armageddon 42 months later [1260 days] identifies Satan as the one [gog] who will stage this setting on the earth by the Lord’s drawing at the time of the end [
Ezekiel 38:17]
Ezekiel is to set his face against Satan [gog] .... against the ancient land of Magog, Meshech and Tubal which is still there today .... and inhabited by the same Assyrian/Babylonian populations who are the Muslims of the Middle East [see my article "Middle Eastern Culture"]
Satan was the "chief" [rosh] angelic prince of these ancient post flood land settlements and still is today; the land where his beast in the little horn will rise at the time of the end of this presentage [the upper Tigris River basin of the northern Middle East proper at the convergence of the modern states of Syria [put], Turkey [togarmah], Iraq [cush] , and Iran [gomer [north]/persia [south]
The beast and the little horn are not noted in the vision, but they are the ones who will carry out Satan’s design against Israel which will at first succeed [
Micah 5:5-6;
Revelation 11:2; 13:5], but will end in abject failure by the Lord’s direct intervention [
Ezekiel 38:18-23; 39:1-29]; Satan’s entire strategy will fail with his beast destroyed in the Lord’s lake of fire, and the little horn and his human followers killed and buried at Armageddon [
Joel 2:20; 3:9-17;
Zechariah 14:
Revelation 19: 11-21]
It is Satan who view's Israel as being protected by the Lord against the nation’s ancient enemies of the Middle East round about and he will attempt to eliminate Israel through his beast, the little horn, and their human followers [
Psalms 83;
Ezekiel 36:2-7; 36:36; 38:10-12; 38:14-16;
Zechariah 12:2-3; ]
Those who attack Israel at the middle of the 70th week decreed with include the inner core [
Psalms 83] and the outer core [
Ezekiel 38] which contains the adherents of the Islamic Middle East; the inner core will be joined by the outer core through the rising of the little horn [the Assyrian of
Micah 5:5-6]
A remnant part of Israel has returned to the land as of recent just as the prophetic scriptures predict and living in the very setting with the Lord’s protection today, and in place for Ezekiel’s vision to be fulfilled; the tiny nation is living permanently and in confidence with the obvious protection of the Lord’s intent [
Ezekiel 36:1-7; 36:7-28]
He is at the same time going to pressure Israel for a believing remnant part to turn to Him by allowing Satan to gain a partial and temporary victory [
Jeremiah 30;
Daniel 12:1;
Micah 5:5-6; 5:7-15;
Daniel 9:26-27 [the other prince]; 11:40; 12:7;
Zechariah 13:8-9; 14:2-5;
Matthew 24:6-44;
Luke 21:20-36;
Romans 11:25-36;
Revelation 11:2; 12:6; 12:14-17]
There are those today who say that Satan’s beast will not originate from the populations of Islam in the Middle East because these are stuck in the aged traditional interpretations of Bible prophecy of general reformation theology whose interpreters did not fully understand the prophetic scriptures [some of these were severely lacking and motivated by proprietary objectives]
Some noted and visible prophecy teachers of today attempt to hold on to their ideas of a western “anti-christ” who will rise in a revived European [ancient Roman] setting when the prophetic scriptures do not support it [Hal Lindsey; Jack Kinsella, Terry James; Todd Strandberg; David Regan; Don Koenig; Bill Salus; Doug Krieger; Sean Osborne]
The list is much longer, but these are well known, have written books, and are recognized on a number of theological message boards that appear on the Internet
The current teaching is that Israel will be attacked by the surrounding populations of Islam led by Russia and the attackers will go down in utter defeat thereby creating a greater Israel by territorial gain and that this setting is necessary for Israel to live in peace in the Middle East either before the 70th week decreed for the nation or during the same
This position is taken in order to protect their pre-positions with regard to a revived Roman Empire as the base of the rising of Satan’s beast, when in fact the prophetic scriptures tell a very different setting
Here are the failures of this theology either by the adding of speculations, misinterpretations, and or outright omission of biblical truth with regard to the related exegesis of end time prophecy:
Satan’s beast is not human and was not operating during the ancient Roman period and still is waiting for his release from the abyss; reformation theology has not discovered this truth; this entity will be far different that any ordinary human king of the past with powers vastly exceeding those of any; and he will not need the ordinary human invention of military might from his Islamic kingdom
Satan is addressed as gog in
Ezekiel 38; 39; gog is not a human Russian confederator who unites the current adherents of Islam in an attack upon Israel with the same going down in defeat together
Satan is the god of this present world and the one who will be worshiped by the adherents of Islam in the Middle East through his beast in the little horn; Islam worships a false [fictitious] god called “Allah”, but there is no such being, Satan is the one who hides under this covering
There are no unfulfilled events contained in the scope of the visions of the Bible prophets outside of the coming 70th week decreed for Israel and beyond [the visions are silent between the ending of the 69th week and the beginning of the 70th week still pending; arbitrarily placing events like
Psalms 83 before the 70th week is not supported by the visions, and neither is there a Roman presence in the visions
The people of the prince that shall come [the beast in the little horn] will be his followers at the time of the end and not the Romans of 70 A.D.; 70 AD was not the time of the end and is not recorded in the scope of the prophetic visions
Confirmation of the covenant that the Lord has with His nation of Israel presented in
Daniel 9 is not some sort of peace treaty between the “anti-christ” and Israel; this beast will be a war monger from his rising at the beginning of the 70th week, and he will be about to destroy the "great city" of western civilization, conquer the Middle East including Israel, and to fend off all opposition from other nations
It is the Lord [the first "He" of 9:27] who will confirm the covenant for a believing remnant part of Israel during the coming 70th week and the only one who can do this; the other prince [the beast in the little horn] [the second "he" of 9:27] cannot and will not do this, but he will come to desecrate
Careful reading of
Daniel 9:26-27 will reveal a repeating of 9:26 giving the actions of both princes in 9:27
There will not be a time of “peace” for Israel before the Lord brings it after the battle of Armageddon; Israel’s current position of a protected nation will continue until the middle of the coming 70th week decreed; and there will not be 1260 days of "peace" during the first half of the 70th week decreed for Israel [this will be the time of the beast's rising and conquering [
Daniel 7:7-25; 8:9; 11:36-44], and to then rule for 42 months during the next 1260 days]
Daniel’s visions related to the beast’s followers and kingdom are all Middle Eastern based, not western Europe; the image in chapter 2 is all Middle Eastern from the head to the feet; the 4th kingdom presented in
Daniel 7 is the final form of this kingdom .... Revelation confirms this [
Revelation 13:1-4 presents the symbols of the leopard, bear, and lion kingdoms of the ancient Middle East .... all populated by the same Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo/Persian, and Turkoman cultures that still inhabit the region today]
All of the visions of the prophets move from the ending of the beast's rule over Syrio/Babylonia just before the first century to the time of the end of this present age .... there is nothing of earthly events recorded in the visions between
Israel’s greater expansion will not take place as the result of a war involving Russia and the nation’s Islamic enemies either before or during the 70th week decreed, but only after the Lord’s victory at Armageddon [Russia will be a victim of the little horn and vanquished by him]
If you are looking for this setting in the Middle East to take place before the end of the 70th week you will not see it
If you are looking for a sham peace treaty that will set off the events of the 70th week [same as the coming tribulation period] you will not see this
If you are looking for a re-built temple of the Lord’s on the temple mount either before or during the 70th week you will not see this; His temple will not be built until after for his millennial kingdom on the earth
The Lord’s “snatching” [harpazo] of His church and the ensuing period of His wrath will come with no warning and no obvious signs; all of this could begin before this day is over
The individuals named above do have the truth regarding the Lord’s pre-tribulation “rapture” of His church, but their presentation of the same has flaws that draw attack from preterist [historical] and post-tribulation thinkers; at the same time they miss the undisputed evidence of this event given in Revelation’s unfolding
Here are the flaws:
That the “departure” of the church will remove the Lord’s holy spirit from the earth
That this event is described as those “taken” while those rejected are “left” on the earth
That those who will “escape all of these things” are the Lord’s church noted in His discourse regarding national Israel during the 70th week
That the great multitude viewed in
Revelation 7:9-17 is not the pre-tribulation church, but the martyrs of the tribulation
That the Lord’s church of today is not seen in Revelation after chapter 3
Here is the proof of the Lord’s pre-tribulation action to immortalize His church before His judgment that is missed by most pre-tribulation thinkers [
Revelation 4:4; 5:1-10; 7:9-17; 11:1; 12:12; 13:6; 17:14; 19:14; 20:4 [those on thrones]]
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