When we think of the Book of Revelation and it's prophesy of the anti-Christ, it seems unbelievable. It is very hard to think of it in terms of real life events. This post will attempt to bring the prophecies of Revelation and the bible concerning the end days to life.
As a Christian, I believe the bible is the literal word of God. I also believe that: 1) Satan (or the devil) is real, and 2) The Book of Revelation is to be taken literally.
God's word is undisputed truth. But it can be interpreted and twisted to mean many things. Please, never take anybody's word about God's truths. Open the bible and ask God for wisdom so you won't be fooled by false teachings or deceitful men.
Now, we will take an unorthodox approach in understanding who the people involved in the end times will actually be. Let's put ourselves in Satan's shoes, so to speak. His goal is to deceive the world. He is also doomed to a sentence of eternal damnation in the lake of fire. He hates God and his creation. There is nothing more he would like to do than to bring as many of us as possible with him to eternal damnation.
Okay, so you're Satan and you want to deceive the whole world and take as many as you can to the lake of fire with you. What is step one? You discredit the only escape from eternal damnation....you discredit the name of Jesus Christ. This has been done in many ways throughout history. Some have been blatant, some have been more secretive and sinister.
An example of a blatant attempt is just to spread lies and create other options. There are many forms of other false religions, including not believing God exists at all. Satan has even formed a religion with his real name attached, Satanism.
There is a minority of people in this world who are evil enough to embrace this blatant rebellion of God. However, for the majority of people this approach doesn't work.
In life, we see many people that are deceived by con artists everyday. The most successful of these deceivers are the ones who weave lies with elements of truth to them as well.
For example, If I try to sell you a drink claiming it causes weight loss you would be skeptical. But if I said that if you take my drink three times a day, exercise for at least one hour a day, change to a healthier diet and then I show you pictures of people that have lost weight using my product, you would be more likely to believe.
Where is the deception? The fact that you drank my product three times a day had nothing to do with your weight loss. If you had exercised and changed your diet without taking my product you would have lost the same amount of weight. The fact that I associated my product with these healthier life choices and with pictures of people who have lost weight (some of which probably didn't even use the drink!) made it more likely that I could sell you my product.
Do you see how there were elements of truth to my deception, making it easier to be fooled? Satan uses this same tactic to deceive many of us today. His deceptions are so intricate that we are no match for them. Only through the Holy Spirit can we really see his deceptions. Only through God's light being shined on this darkness can we see these lies for what they really are.
For those who can be deceived into not believing in God, Satan's job is easy. But what about those who DO believe in God? Now it becomes a bit trickier. If he can deceive you into believing in another false God who isn't Jesus, his job is done. What about if you believe in Jesus? Well, if he couldn't get you to believe in blatant evil or in false Gods, the next step is to try and suffocate the truth inside your heart so that, even if you DO believe in Jesus, you won't have much of a positive effect on others or have a great chance of spreading this belief.
An example of Satan's deception within the church of Jesus is some teachings in the Catholic church. By teaching people to pray to the virgin Mary, or to other saints, or by teaching others that if you say "a few Our Fathers and Hail Mary's", your sins will be forgiven, this negates the power of God. Religion is bondage and it suffocates the love of God. It is about rules and regulations and about diverting your attention from the reason why you believed in Jesus in the first place.....to learn from Him and grow closer to Him, or the love of God. True fellowship with God is not by following rules or by praying to sinful men and women of the bible, but by praying to Jesus and seeking His wisdom; To grow closer to Him so that we can live a life on earth in His image and according to His commandment, "Love God with all of your heart and treat others the way you would be treated."
Many protestants are no better. They are too busy fighting with homosexuals, entertainers, hollywood, the music industry, abortionists, etc. God called us to be an example to the world, not to argue and fight with everyone. Did God come down from heaven and force us to believe in Him? Didn't He give us a freewill and let us make that choice? Why then do some feel it is a Christian right to fight with others and impose our beliefs onto them? No, this is not how you win souls. Rather, we are to be the light of the world and live our lives according to God's word, all while being kind and loving to those around us, to tell them the truth gently and with patience, not to yell at them and tell them they are going to hell.
Now, in the Book of Revelation it talks about the anti-Christ, how this evil man will deceive the whole world. But how can this happen? How can Satan, through the anti-Christ and his false prophet, deceive the WHOLE world and get them to hate Christians and Jews? Here is how I believe it will happen:
Do any of you know about the Muslim faith and what they believe about the end of the world? It turns out that many of their beliefs mirror those of Christians. In fact, many of them believe our bible is from God. But they also believe that over the years it has been "poisoned" by Satan, so that only some of it is now true.
Islam has many facets and beliefs, many sects who believe a little differently than others. Let me give you a basic rundown of what they believe about the last days on earth as we know them:
They believe a Muslim will come from the earth who will unify the nation of Islam. This person is known as the "Final Mahdi" of the "Twelfth Imam." He will set up the "Final Caliphate." A caliphate is a government ruled by Islamic law. Muslims believe the Final Mahdi will set up this Islamic government and that the whole world will be under its rule. This will happen by force if necessary.
Did you know that Muslims believe in Jesus? Oh yes, they regard him as a prophet sent by their god (Allah) to earth to preach Islam. The only difference (which is a BIG one) in belief from Christians is that they don't believe he is the son of God or that he died for our sin. They believe he was taken directly into heaven without dying. For this reason Christianity and Islam can never be truly linked together as the same faith.
They believe that in the end of days, Jesus will come with the Final Mahdi and promote Islam. The Quran, the Muslim holy book, suggests that he will also attack Christianity with force when it says, "he (Jesus) will break the cross..."
They also believe that Jesus will come and abolish the Jizya, which is a Muslim tax that non-Muslims who live in an Islamic state must pay. This suggests that whatever tolerance there is by Muslims toward other faiths (most notably Jews and Christians) will be eliminated.
There is a third character in this plot. The Muslims refer to him as "Dajjal." There are many strange beliefs by different Muslims concerning Dajjal. The basic agreement is that they believe he will come during the end days and deceive many Muslims by claiming he is God. But they believe that the Muslim Jesus will kill him and Islam will rule forever in peace.
Do you see how all of this ties into the Book of Revelation? If you go back to my previous teachings or open a bible, you'll see that it speaks of the anti-Christ and that there would be a false prophet helping him, performing many great miracles. Do you remember how John described the false prophet?
"Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon." (Revelation 13:11) NIV
Many bible scholars have believed that this false prophet would be a traitor from the Christian faith. Having two horns like a lamb but speaking like a dragon suggests that he pretends to be good but is actually from Satan. But I believe this false prophet isn't a Christian religious leader who defects from the faith (like the pope or some other famous preacher)....I believe this person will pretend to be Jesus himself!!! Jesus is often referred to as a Lamb in our bible.
Are you beginning to see this take shape? As you know there are many Muslims in the world. If the devil is to unite the whole world through the anti-Christ, using the Muslim faith is a good start. Now throw in this false prophet, the Muslim Jesus, who will attempt to deceive Christians into joining Islam, and you have many more people likely to unite under Satan's control. But that seems crazy, right? Christians would never go for that. Think again.
Many of us do not have a close relationship with the REAL Jesus. We do not spend time studying the bible or shaping our lives and conduct according to His image. Most of us rely on what others say about Jesus; or we do not think about the faith at all. It will be easier for the Muslim Jesus to deceive Christians who do not know His true characteristics according to the Christian bible.
Now let's pretend that some guy pops up in the world and starts performing these outrageous miracles while claiming he is Jesus. This is not just some crackpot....he's performing legitimate miracles that cannot be logically or scientifically explained. You don't think that many people would believe what he claims to be true? If this fake Jesus says that Christianity was a lie, he's performing all of these miraculous things for people to see while the whole world is swaying toward Islam and the anti-Christ (Mahdi), you don't think many people will believe? Of course they would!!
How many people today will go along with what the majority thinks or believes, regardless of whether it is right or not? Think about the pressure that will be put on people during the time of the anti-Christ. In today's world, if you don't go along with the politically correct version of life then you are often ridiculed and even publicly bashed. Many lose there jobs and good reputations, or in oppressive countries lose their lives. What would happen in a world where just about everyone starts believing that Islam is the truth and that all other people of faith are wrong and should be killed? Unless your faith is very strong, you will change over to Islam to save your life!
What if the world lost its tolerance toward Christianity and Judaism? What if the whole world believed it was right to persecute and kill those who refuse Islam and who believe Jesus is the Son of God? If someone said to you right now you must believe Allah is God and you must renounce Jesus as your saviour or else you would be killed, what would you do? Many during the Tribulation of the end days will denounce the faith under this intense pressure and choose evil, thereby saving their lives (but only for a short while).
So, with all of this in mind, combined with what is said in the Book of Revelation, this is what I believe will happen in the last days:
The anti-Christ, (the Final Mahdi or Twelfth Imam in the Muslim faith), will rise up. He will unite the muslim nations under his rule and establish a world government under Islamic rule (or the Final Caliphate) by military force. During this time the world will be in chaos. There will be many earthquakes, civil unrest in many countries will abound and famines will start to happen all over the world because of drought.
Despite using force to create this global Islamic government, the Mahdi will also be somewhat tolerant to other religions and faiths. He will allow other non-Muslim religions to exist within the Islamic world government but they will have to pay Jizya, or a tax for non-Islamic faiths. He will even set up a seven year peace agreement with Israel and allow them to rebuild their Temple of worship.
Somewhere in the middle of this peace agreement the Mahdi will die. Satan will be cast down onto the earth and the fake Muslim Jesus will appear. He will resurrect the anti-Christ, or Final Mahdi, from the dead. The world will be astonished. The resurrected Muslim Mahdi will be enraged and empowered (along with the false prophet, or Muslim Jesus) through the power of Satan. Religious tolerance will be eliminated.
The Muslim Jesus will proclaim to the earth that Christianity was a lie. The Jews will be kicked out of their temple and many will be murdered. The Muslim Jesus will set up an image of the Mahdi in the Jewish temple (abomination of desolation) and force the world to worship the Mahdi and his image. Next, Christians everywhere will be persecuted by the whole world and systematically murdered. Every person in the world will be forced to have the Muslim number of 666 on their right hand or forehead. Anybody who does not receive the mark and worship the Mahdi by becoming Muslim will be killed.
During this time of great persecution, the true church of Jesus (who are not murdered) will preach to the world, warning them NOT to worship the Madhi but to worship Jesus. They will warn that anybody who worships and receives the mark of the Mahdi will suffer eternal death. The Lord's two witnesses will also preach the gospel of Jesus during this time, using supernatural powers to assist them.
After the 42 month reign of the Mahdi, the REAL (or Christian) Jesus will come for His church; He will resurrect the dead in Christ and lift the remaining living Christians on earth up into the clouds to meet Him in the air. The whole world will see our Lord in the clouds and the people of the earth will be horrified, knowing that they have been deceived. Our Lord will gather the 144,000 Jewish people, selected by God, to the Mount of Olives.
Next, many plagues and judgments of God will happen upon the people of the earth. Everyone (except the 144,000 Jewish elect) will suffer great misery from these plagues. The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will claim that the Christian Jesus is actually Dajjal, or the great deceiver according to Muslim prophecy. Muslims will think that everything is happening according to Quran prophecy. So through the power of Satan, the Mahdi and Muslim Jesus will deceive the nations into forming one great army to meet Dajjal (the REAL Jesus) and the Jews in battle. These armies will be deceived into thinking that, according to Muslim prophecy, they will be victorious in battle and establish the kingdom of Islam to reign forever and ever
The Christian (or REAL) Jesus will descend from heaven with his army of saints to the battle of Armageddon to defend the 144,000 Jews. The Muslim forces will be destroyed; the Mahdi and Muslim Jesus will be thrown into the lake of fire, Satan will be locked into the Abyss and the REAL Jesus (our Lord) will reign with His saints for 1,000 years.
After 1,000 years Satan will be released and will once again deceive the Muslims (and their children that multiplied over the 1,000 years) who didn't die during the Tribulation. Satan will once again claim that Jesus is this Dajjal character. He will gather a huge army of non-believers to God's holy city to defeat the real Jesus (or Dajjal in the Muslim faith). But they will be destroyed once and for all and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire, never again able to deceive the world.
The great Day of Judgment will come. All of the dead in hell will be resurrected to be judged by God the Father. Their deeds in life will be read from books that were kept by God as proof of their crimes. Those who were not forgiven of their sins through faith in Jesus will be found guilty and sentenced to eternal suffering in the lake of fire.
God will create a new heaven and earth. He will dwell with His people and there will be no more suffering or death. Jesus and His followers will live with God in paradise forever and ever!
*****TO SUMMARIZE- Satan will attempt to deny Jesus of His deity. He will attempt to eliminate the power of Christianity. Through the anti-Christ (Mahdi) and false prophet (Muslim Jesus), he will claim Christianity is just another offshoot of the "true" faith, Islam, where Allah is God. He will use the Mahdi to unite all of the world religions into Islam.
Eventually the Mahdis true colors will show. Through the power of Satan, he will eventually bring terror and evil upon the earth, killing anyone who does not accept him as God (most notably Jews and Christians). A fake Jesus will appear who will claim Christianity was a lie and that Islam is the only true faith. Through the use of great miracles and intimidation this phony Jesus will deceive many on the earth to worship Satan and the Mahdi, and to deny the true God in heaven and His Son.
Christians will be killed if they do not renounce the REAL Jesus (as their savior and the Son of God) and if they do not receive the mark of the Mahdi. Eventually the REAL Jesus of true Christianity will come and destroy the evil in the world. He will set up His kingdom. We will reign with Him. Satan will eventually be destroyed. God, Jesus and His people will reign together forever in His paradise.*****
Whatever is to happen, let us watch as the Lord commanded us. When asked about what the last days would be like, Jesus responded:
"Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name claiming, 'I am Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."
"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
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. At that time if anyone says, 'Look, here is Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect- if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time."
"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass there the vultures will gather."
"Immediately after the distress of those days, 'The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all of the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."
"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away." (Matthew 24:4-35) NIV
from: http://www.theraptureofgodschurch.blogspot.ca
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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
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