Islam and the End Times

Every time we look at the prophecies of the end times we are drawn back to Israel and the nations that surround her. This was particularly apparent in the One Third Of The Earth and Revised Rome studies. In the prophecies of Daniel, we are pointed right at the Syrian portion of the divided Greek Empire as the focal point of an end times empire that will be ruled by the anti-Christ. In the Seven Mountains study, we see seven empires that spring up around the Mid East and the Mediterranean rim, who take control of Israel at some time in their histories. The final one being the Beast Empire. In the Ten Kings study we see that there are ten nations that come together in the end times to make up the final empire of the beast. These ten nations come from the same group of nations that make up the recurring empire of the beast. In the study of Gog, we see the same exact thing. The thing that all of these nations have in common is that they are the nations where the Gospel was first preached and even embraced in many cases, but over time they have rejected the Gospel for their own religion of Islam.

Islam covers a large portion of the earth with Israel stuck right in the middle of it like a little bellybutton. The nations that make up the Middle East are all over 95% Muslim, all the way to Afghanistan, Pakistan and some former southern Russian states. Most of North Africa falls into the same religious demographic, which is over 95% Muslim. There are many other Asian nations that are removed from the epicenter of Islam, but they too have the same demographics, 95% Muslim. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country, and it is separated from the Middle east by most of the Indian Ocean.

Why is this important? If Muslims occupy the nations that are going to make up the end times empire of the beast, then it will be Muslims that follow and serve the beast. Even if they all change their religion to something else, they are still the people who will make up the final empire. It is not likely that they will change their religion, and it is not necessary either. Islam is an anti-Christ religion at its very core. The Koran guarantees that it will stay that way because it singles out both Christians and Jews as infidels and denies the deity of Christ. 1st and 2nd John say that anyone who denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, as the Son of God, he is anti-Christ. So all of Islam is undeniably and unwaveringly anti-Christ, and the sects that are growing the fastest are those who are the most militant towards Christianity and Judaism. These sects are more anti-Christ than the overall religion in general.

Muslim means one who submits to God. Muslims believe that the words of the Koran were given to Muhammad by the angle Gabriel. Jesus and other Old Testament prophets are accepted as prophets of Allah, but in practice Islamic beliefs contradict that acceptance. Muslims believe that Muhammad [570-632 A.D.] was the final prophet and that his “revelations” superseded the earlier prophecies of the Bible. Muslim doctrine is very works oriented, and a Muslim depends on his good works to get him into heaven, which is diametrically opposed to the Jewish faith, which leads to the Christian faith, which begins with grace that is received by faith for salvation, and is followed by good works from a then saved and regenerated human spirit.

The jihad or holy war is a part of the Islamic experience and to kill or be killed in defence of the religion, whether in war or just to rid society of “infidels” is considered an honor and a good work making one worthy of heaven. As in any religion you will find good people and some not so good who’s motives arise from evil and who use their religion as a front for their hateful acts. There are also many sects or variations of interpretation of Koranic law.

There are five main tenants of the Islamic religion and many other codes that range from ritualistic works of the flesh, to codes of moral conduct. These are pretty much universally accepted by all the sects. The five main tenants are;

1. Shahada-belief in God and Muhammad as his prophet. In their prayers, they often recite the line “there is no god but God and Muhammad his prophet.”

2. Payer five times a day facing Mecca.

3. Giving alms to the needy.

4. Fasting in the month of Ramadan.

5. A pilgrimage to Mecca for every able bodied individual.

The Muslim religion started out as a religious and political movement combined or a theocracy. Those same roots along with the fear that is evident in a Muslim society, experienced by anyone who is not in full compliance with Muslim doctrine, will undoubtedly be the catalyst that brings the Middle Eastern Muslim world together in the end times. The jihad, which is a holy war, is not meant to force the conversion of peoples to Islam. It is meant to liberate Muslims from those who oppress them and in broader terms to liberate society from all restraints that prevent the rule of Islamic law. The end result is the overthrow of social structures with the purpose of implementing the laws of Islam, thus carrying out their goal of “reforming the earth.” In the end, this does have the effect of forcing people to except Islam as their religion. The anti-Christ will overthrow three of the ten Middle East Muslim nations that he will rule over, and the others will likely submit as though it were the will of God. As time goes on, he will be able to motivate them by a mutual hatred of Israel and the thought of purifying the earth of infidels, which includes all non-Muslims. He will use some form of Islamic law to rule by, whether it is a strict reading of the Koran or an evolutionary form of sectarian law.

When reading the Koran, it almost becomes a monotonous chant of “believe in God and his prophet Mohammed.” It talks of faith in the afterlife, and the glory one will receive if he retains his faith in Islam as the only religion. It claims that God has sent thousands of prophets {124,000+} to all nations, to prophesy what each nation needed to hear at that particular time for their purification. That claim progresses to a point where all nations are now supposed to receive Muhammad as the final prophet and Islam as the final religion and that all religions were leading up to a time when the nations could come together under the final banner of Islam. Islam accepts nearly all former prophets from any religion as a prophet of God but demands that all should follow Islam now as Allah’s final religion.

The Bible and the Koran contradict and oppose each other completely. The Koran accepts Jesus as a prophet of God and some Muslims believe that he will return as a mortal man in the end to fight against an anti-Christ. Islam and the Koran expressly deny that Jesus is the saviour of the world thus making the whole religion of Islam anti-Christ. They do believe that Jesus is the Christ and Messiah, but in name only. They do not believe in the same way as Jews or Christians do, and they deny that He is the son of God. According to the Koran, there really is no need for a saviour for all mankind. Unlike the Bible that points out the need for a saviour because of the fact that we are all born into sin and that we cannot change that sin nature on the inside of us or eradicate our own sins, except through the blood of Jesus and trough the new birth of salvation, Islam teaches that sin is a personal issue, with each individual possessing the ability to change his inner self with the help of Allah and the words of the Koran. If you believe and do the “good works” enumerated in the Koran, then that in itself is not only salvation to the individual but also purifies the inner being.

All prophets are considered sinless because they are actively serving God, and only disobedience to the Koran is sin. If you are from another religion, Allah is merciful and just waiting for your enlightenment so that you can be converted and received by him into the Islamic religion. That is until you get to the Jewish and Christian faiths. The Koran actually quotes or refers to the Bible quit frequently, calling it the Book of Allah. It goes on to declare that the Book has been corrupted, and it interprets the scripture in such a way as to turn it against the Jew and the Christian, calling them infidels that have turned away from the true faith. Christians are called polytheists who believe in three gods; God, Jesus and believe it or not Mary. At times and in the same breath, it calls all to repent and to receive the Islamic religion and then goes on to warn Muslims to not be fooled when a Christian or a Jew claims a conversion to Islam, because they are liars and cannot be trusted. It goes on to admonish the followers of Allah to resist and fight against these deceived and deceiving losers.

In the Koran, a jihad is actually any type of struggle that the Muslim finds himself in. This includes an inner struggle to follow Allah or the struggle to lead others to Islam. That is the greater jihad. Islam is not a religion of peace. The only peace that Islam promises is after they have taken over the world and made Islam the religion of all people who are left standing after the final conflict. Fighting an armed war is considered a lesser jihad. To the high minded Muslim, unprovoked holy wars and terrorism are forbidden but when anyone comes against Muslims, the Koran highly recommends that Muslims jihad as a defence of the religion. Unfortunately, as we can see all around the world, not all Muslims are high minded and peace loving. There is a difference between the peace loving Muslim and the religion of Islam. The Muslim who chooses peace over fully complying with the Koran is just not a good Muslim. These peace-loving Muslims are the ones who need to know the true God of peace and the Savior who died for them, and the Holy Spirit who assures us of our salvation. All Muslims need to know Jesus on a personal level.

Although the Koran and Muslims in general believe that Christians have corrupted the Bible, they interpret the scriptures that speak of the Holy Spirit as being prophetically related to the coming of Muhammad. When Jesus said, in John 14:16-17, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you,” they believe that He was referring to Muhammad as the Comforter and Spirit of Truth. They take the words, “He will abide with you for ever,” to mean that Muhammad is the final prophet.

There are two major problems with their interpretations. First, they deny the existence of the trinity, therefore, they cannot even accept the existence of the Holy Spirit. They deny His existence in the same way that they deny the deity of Christ. The Koran expressly denies any other God but Allah, and declares that he is only one and not three. Even so, Allah quite frequently begins his sentences with pluralistic words, such as “we” and “our,” just like in Genesis, where God said, “Let Us make man in Our image.” We, is not referring to Allah and Muhammad as co-writers of the Koran because the Koran says that that is not so. For some unexplainable reason, Allah is speaking as a group, or at least as more than one individual, while incriminating those who worship the one true God who presents Himself in three persons who are identically the same, except in the roles they perform.

The second major problem with their interpretations is that while the Koran says that the Bible is legitimate, except for the fact that Christians have corrupted it, they then pick and choose the Scriptures that support their beliefs while over looking the whole body of work. By doing that they miss out on the grace of God, not only for salvation, but for every aspect of life. At the same time, they lend credence to the fact that the Bible is God’s holy and inerrant word.

Muhammad is called the final prophet of God, but the Muslim religion allows for continuous revelation from just about anyone of that religion, if they are considered spiritual. This allows a refining of the Islamic religion to fit the current circumstances in which they find themselves, but also accounts for some of the schisms between many of the different factions. Tradition is also a big part of the Islamic religion. They look to the actions and sayings of those that have gone before them for instruction. If you do something today and then repeat the same action tomorrow, sooner or later it becomes tradition, so you can imagine the difficulty of keeping the original intent of the religion pure. There are not many signs and wonders recorded in the Koran, in fact, the Koran states that the giving of the Koran is all the miracle that mankind needs. But, it leaves room for signs and miracles just in case Allah wants to do a couple later on. From a Christian perspective it all sounds like a set up for the latter days, when the anti-Christ and false prophet come on the scene and start doing miracles and leading armies against Jerusalem and Christian believers.

Muslims believe that Jesus did not die on the cross. That is considered a Christian perversion. They believe that someone else was substituted on the cross and Allah took Jesus up into heaven, reserving Him for a future return to the earth for a final work. They call Jesus Isa. According to their traditions, Isa will return before the judgment of Allah and fight Christians and Jews and convert the whole earth to Islam. This conversion to Islam is supposed to end all wars and bring peace to the earth. Isa will lead Muslims in the final jihad against Dajjal which, is their antichrist. Isa will, of course, win this battle against Dajjal and be the victor. He will then remain on the earth, marry, have children and live for another 19 years after his marriage and then pass away.

If it is not apparent yet, Dajjal, who is their antichrist is our Jesus; and Isa, who is their Christ in name only, is the one we call anti-Christ. Our Christ Jesus is their antichrist and their Christ Isa is our anti-Christ. Jesus and Isa will meet at the Battle of Armageddon, and the Muslims who are following Isa are assured victory already by the teachings of their religion. No wonder they so fool-heartily follow after the anti-Christ at Armageddon to take on the returning Christ. They think that they are going to win. They’ve been lied to. There will be peace, but they will not be around to enjoy it. It’s a sad reality to look around the world right now and see that most of the armed conflict that is going on right now comes from Muslim aggression and conquest of other people. That does not mean that war and terror are unique to them, but they are major instigators, and the rest of the world is waking up to the threat that they pose.

When you consider the Koran as the foundation of Islam and add to that the hatred of Jews and Christians by many Muslims, the future of that religion becomes pretty evident. According to the Koran, Muslims are not supposed to oppose Christians and Jews, but live peaceably with them unless attacked, but the current reality in many parts of the world would lead you to believe otherwise. Muslims believe that a part of the Christian doctrine is jihad or conquering other nations for Christ. They remember the Crusades that were launched against Muslims in the name of Christ. They also believe that like their own religion, Christianity is a theocratic religion because, “Christian nations” are always trying to force their own ideals on Muslim nations to make them more like themselves. The crusades were wrong, and there are no nations today who conquer for the purpose of spreading Christianity. There is a catch in all of this and that catch is that Christian nations, or any nation for that matter, must stand up to Muslim aggression or risk becoming Muslim nations themselves.

Christians should never find themselves in direct personal conflict with Muslims. From a Christian point of view, if we say that the Muslim, or anyone else for that matter, is lost beyond the hope of salvation, we are judging in God’s place, and that is wrong. God may lead you away from certain individuals but that doesn’t mean you give up on them. In general, we should pray for them, and with God’s help and leading, help them to see the difference between the Islamic religion, which is based on personal works, and for many it breeds fear and hatred; and the Christian faith which brings the miracle of the new birth on the inside of us, followed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit and a wellspring of life and love from the inner being towards all mankind. If this does not describe your Christian experience then perhaps you should make a closer examination of your own Christian faith.

Nothing that is said in this book gives reason or excuse for any Christian to hate, judge or mistreat anyone of the Muslim religion. There are many terrific individuals in Islam that will accept you as a Christian and at the same time try to convert you as you try to convert them. That’s just the way it is. Our commission is to love all people, including those who make themselves our enemies, and give a reason for our hope with an introduction to our living Lord when the opening is provided. We need to remember also that large numbers of Muslims are living exemplary moral lives. They are decent people who are committed to serving their god in the same way that we are committed to serving Jesus Christ.

If the Lord should not come again for another 1000 years and the entire political and religious makeup of the Middle East should change entirely, the one thing that will not change is the fact that this is the region and these are the people that will make up the final end time ten nation empire. Until the rapture occurs, it is never to late to introduce them to Christ. One interesting thought before moving on. There are other Islamic nations that surround the Middle East that God never mentioned in regards to the end time or the empire of the beast. If He had mentioned them, we would have been able to know who they are, and that their fate as nations are already sealed. The very lack of mention could suggest that these nations could see revival to such a magnitude as to change the religious and political nature of the entire nation. Let us hope so.

THE END TIMES SIMPLIFIED

TOPICAL STUDY

by JC Alexander

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