The Islamic Antichrist (27 page)

Satan often masks his true identity with something wonderful in order to allure and hook his victims. In most cases, Satan’s true nature is eventually revealed. When this
happens, it is because of the absolute mercy of God. In such cases, God gives the deceived person or people the opportunity to see the real face of evil behind all of the makeup. For some, the mask of deception will not be removed in this lifetime. For these, it will be too late. But for those who have the opportunity to see the truth behind what has been holding them sway, as I said, it is the mercy of God in their lives. When the Antichrist demands worship, he will reveal his true identity to many. The mask will fall and many eyes will open. For many, however, an utter determination to believe in the legitimacy of the Madhi and Islam will overwhelm them. These would rather be swept up into a great deception with an Islamic nature than acknowledge having been wrong all along. Oddly enough, the choice that will suddenly be set before them will be to worship the Antichrist/Mahdi claiming to be Allah incarnate or to turn to Jesus, Yahweh—the God of the Bible—incarnate. All of the excuses that Islam used to cling to in order to reject Jesus, namely that Allah would simply never become a man and draw near to us as such, will be taken away. In allowing the Mahdi to be “revealed,” God will be showing great mercy to the followers of Islam. When the Antichrist is revealed, Islam itself will finally be fully “unveiled.” This will be a final demonstration of God’s wonderful ability to turn even the most horrific time in history into an opportunity for multitudes to find repentance. He will be giving them one last great opportunity in this world to turn to Jesus. To do so at this time, however, will of course mean one thing: martyrdom. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14).

While the Lord certainly speaks of allowing those who are deceived to continue in their deception, I believe that many Muslims will see the truth at this time and multitudes will find both salvation and possibly martyrdom at this time. Indeed, God’s mercy is strong.

THE PROBLEM OF UNFULFILLED SIGNS

Another objection that might be raised is the problem of unfulfilled signs. Some might argue that unless Muslims see the fulfillment of
all
of the Minor and Major Signs of Islamic apocalyptic tradition, including the one-eyed Dajjal, or several other significant signs, they will not accept a false Mahdi. This argument makes some sense, but is easily resolved.

First of all, the primary factor at play here is the flexibility of the hadith traditions. In examining some of the hadiths about the Dajjal, for instance, we saw that while they were clear that indeed the Dajjal would be “one-eyed,” the hadiths could not agree which eye was blind. One hadith said he was blind in the left eye, while the other said it was his right eye. Due to the obvious corruption and inconsistency throughout the hadith traditions, the hadiths are simply easy to ignore. I have personally found this reality too many times to count when discussing Islam with Muslims. A Muslim might quote a hadith as a proof text to validate his point for one argument, only to deny the “trustworthiness” of the very same hadith in another discussion. Many Muslims feel free to declare any hadith unreliable when it suits them and likewise to declare any hadith as fully reliable when it suits them on another occasion. There is no universal acceptance as to which hadiths are absolutely authoritative and which are not. For those who find themselves within the system of Islam, the hadith traditions create the perfect loophole to almost any argument that might be raised against the authority of Islam. The flexibility of the hadith traditions creates the perfect fuzzy atmosphere for a false religion to thrive. It is a deceiver’s dream come true—allowing its adherents to remain in a haze of circular reasoning without ever realizing it.

While I concede that some Muslims will be looking for various signs to be fulfilled, so long as the Mahdi is on the scene and accomplishing all that we have discussed for the cause of Islam, I really don’t think that any Muslims will
actually reject the Mahdi simply because one or more of the particular “signs” of the last days has failed to materialize. Simply stated, when Jerusalem falls to the Antichrist, very few Muslims will protest.

The best way for most Christians to relate to this is to imagine how most Christians would respond if Jesus returned to the earth from heaven and established His rule over the earth from Jerusalem. Imagine that almost the entire world is becoming Christian as Jesus teaches from the Scriptures from His throne in Jerusalem. Imagine that the restoration of all things is gradually taking place—powerful supernatural healings are in abundance, the Jews are restored to their Messiah, and everything looks just perfect. Yet in the midst of all of this, there never appeared an Antichrist or a “tribulation” or anything of the sort. Would most Christians thus reject Jesus? Or would they simply shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh well, I guess my eschatology was off a bit”? I think I know the answer.

And this is an excellent analogy because the Mahdi is in so many ways to the Muslim what Jesus is to the Christian. While I am quite sure that most Christians would not protest under such a scenario, but rather fully embrace Jesus, so will Muslims worldwide embrace the Antichrist/Mahdi despite the lack of several other confirming signs.

CONCLUSION

Although I’m sure that there will be other challenges to the thesis of this book, for now I believe that we have sufficiently addressed the two primary potential objections that might be raised. In the next chapter I will share my own personal analysis and ponderings of the information that we have covered so far.

CHAPTER TWENTY

FURTHER THOUGHTS

H
aving addressed and offered resolution
to some of the potential challenges to the thesis presented in this book, we now move on to some final thoughts.

MERE COINCIDENCE?

When I first grew acquainted with Islamic eschatology and the many similarities between the biblical Antichrist and the Islamic Mahdi, I was quite taken aback. But as I began to see that these similarities extended far beyond just the Mahdi and the Antichrist, I knew that this subject merited a comprehensive study. I had to “see just how deep this rabbit hole goes.” As the similarities between the two eschatological systems fell in line, one subject after another, my personal conclusion was that these numerous similarities were not mere coincidence. There is clear evidence here of purpose and design. In chapter eighteen, I listed twenty-two striking parallels between the biblical and Islamic templates for the last days, and I’m sure that I could extend this list. Several of the parallels by themselves are quite impressive. Think about this fact, for instance: Bible scholars and students of Bible prophecy have concluded that the Antichrist will make a “peace treaty” with Israel for exactly seven years. This treaty is believed by many to include a concession allowing Israel to rebuild the Jewish Temple. The exact same scenario is mirrored by the Islamic tradition that the Mahdi will mediate
a “peace treaty” with the Christians through a Jew from the priestly tribe of Levi. A Levite would be the necessary agent to represent the Jewish people in rebuilding their Temple. Amazingly, the Islamic timeframe here is
for exactly seven years
. This is just too detailed and specific a parallel to write off as mere coincidence. And this is perhaps the most insignificant element of all of the many parallels that exist.

In thinking through the implications of the fact that the biggest bad guy in the Bible, the Antichrist, has transformed into the coming savior of Islam, while the biggest good guy in the Bible, namely Jesus, has transformed into the biggest bad guy in Islamic eschatology, one must be willing to ask the obvious question:
Has Satan been specifically involved in the inspiration of Islam’s end-time doctrines
? Has Satan devised in the Islamic traditions a preemptive means to carry out his final plan? Now of course in natural history there were real men and numerous developments that contributed to the formation of these traditions as we have them today. But I am speaking of invisible spiritual factors and beings behind the formation of these traditions. The specificity, detail, and extent of the parallels demand the acknowledgment of design, while the twisted and cynical nature of these “anti-parallels” clearly point to the malevolent nature of the “person” doing so. I understand that that may initially sound like quite a paranoid statement to make. But think through the facts. When God revealed the Book of Revelation to the Apostle John, he was at the same time pulling the lid off of Satan’s grandest plan to deceive the world. Satan’s plans were exposed
a priori
. Finding himself in such a position, did Satan, crafty as always, decide it was necessary to create a strong tradition that contained an “anti-parallel” of God’s plan? If so, Satan could still brazenly carry out what God has already said he would do and deceive a great portion of the world while doing it. If this is the case, then when the Antichrist comes forward as prophesied in the Bible, Satan has seen to it that at least 1.5 billion Muslims, rather than recognizing the
Antichrist for who he is, instead will believe fourteen-hundred-year-old traditions and prophecies that predict the advent of such a wonderful “savior.” By overseeing the establishment of such an antichrist tradition in a vibrant world religion, Satan has already prepared a fifth of the world to receive his coming Antichrist with arms wide open. It seems as though the entire Muslim world, which is expanding rapidly, has been set up in a way only accounted for by the purposeful plans of God’s greatest enemy. If this is the case, then not only can it be said that “Satan is alive and well on planet Earth,” but even more specifically: Satan is alive and well in the fastest-growing religion on planet Earth.

THE GOOD SIDE OF ISLAM

Now, before we move on I must point out that while this book has in many ways focused on the negative aspects of Islam, it must also be qualified here that Islam as a religion is filled with many very good, godly, admirable, and noble traits. One could point out Islam’s strong emphasis on modesty or prayer or Islam’s stunningly beautiful architecture and art. In fact I personally find many things about Islam and Islamic culture incredibly attractive and appealing. To outright deny this side of Islam would be to put our collective heads in the sand. But as Oswald Chambers has said in his classic Christian devotional,
My Utmost for His Highest
, “The good is always the enemy of the best.”
¹
This is an essential concept for us to grasp. The reason for this is that Satan figured this out long ago and has effectively utilized this concept as one of his greatest tools to lead many astray.

Islam has many inward and outward religious expressions that are quite good; many bear a strong resemblance to the expressions that I have experienced in Christianity. Of course, the religion of Islam without the genuine gospel of Jesus will never lead anyone into a true relationship with God. No matter how many admirable traits and traditions Islam possesses, ultimately
it falls short and fails to deliver where it truly matters the most. Jesus is not merely another prophet; rather he is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). So in this sense, again we see the clear antichrist nature of Islam. How so? Because the word
antichrist
has a duel meaning. Not only does
antichrist
mean “against Christ,” it also means “instead of Christ”—
a substitute
. In Islam, I see a masterfully crafted substitute form of Christianity. Islam bears as much resemblance to the real thing as possible without actually having the most essential aspect of all—a genuine living relationship with the One True God of the universe through Jesus Christ. This is the essential mode whereby God has chosen to deal with humans. Islam attempts to bypass this. It would be hard to create a better example of a Christ-less version of Christianity than Islam. And in this sense, Islam is the “good” that is the ultimate enemy of “the best.” Thus, the danger of Islam is not only its obvious dark side but also its light side. For it is those aspects of Islam that resemble a genuine relationship with God that make it seem acceptable to many who base their decision on a less than complete examination of both religions. Satan is crafty and wise. Without a veneer of godliness, Islam would be unacceptable to everyone, but Satan has always candy-coated his poison. Satan was perfectly happy to suffer and allow many godly elements into the religion of Islam in exchange for the absence of the essential and foundational element of any true relationship with God, which is the real Jesus—the only Savior of the world.

IF NOT ISLAM, THEN WHAT?

After all of the information is examined, there is one last important question that needs to be asked:
If Islam is not the antichrist system, then what is?