Editor’s Note: See the first part of this article on page 6 of the Aug. 17 issue.
I hope the previous article in which I wrote, “Islam could possibly be the religion of the Antichrist,” piqued your interest and, even more so, Islam’s possible role in the Great Deception. Again, there isn’t a verse that explicitly points to Islam playing this role, but as I’ve written extensively, the Bible seems to provide ample evidence that the empire of the Antichrist will be a revived Ottoman Empire led from Turkey. And there doesn’t seem to be a possibility of an Ottoman Empire detached from Islam. Therefore, since the Great Deception is synonymous with the rise of the Antichrist, it appears the Great Deception trap is set already.
Like Christianity, Islam has an “end times;” but unlike within Christianity, Muslims are driven by their eschatology. Their jihad is to usher in “their” end of the age. What is absolutely shocking is that their end times scenario is the exact opposite of ours. It’s as if someone purposely counterfeited Bible prophecy. Hmm, who would do something like that?
If you remember from history class, Muhammad received the sacred text of Islam when an “angel” appeared to him in a cave. Yet, in his description of being given the “angelic” message, the “angel” doesn’t act as any angel in the Bible does. Rather there appears to be an evil nature to him. There may have been some type of celestial or spiritual being that appeared in that cave, but it seems likely to be from the other team. Regardless of how the Islamic prophecies were given, they are sneakily counterfeit to ours.
Let’s start with the first prophesied figure in our eschatology — the Antichrist. He’s presented with many other names in the Bible, but I find it easier to just stick with one name so we know we’re talking about the same figure. In short, our view of the Antichrist is that when the world is going through tribulation and difficulty, he will rise on the scene, promise peace and the world will gravitate to him. He’ll bring peace to Israel and make a seven-year peace agreement with them. He will campaign to conquer other nations. Then in the middle of those seven years, he will set up headquarters in Jerusalem. He’ll commit the abomination of desolation in relationship to the Temple in Jerusalem. Then he will turn on the Jewish people. At the end of the seven years, he will be defeated when Jesus returns on the White Horse.
Check out this list from Joel Richardson’s The Islamic Antichrist about what Muslim teachings say about their messiah-figure they call the Mahdi:
• The Mahdi is Islam’s primary messiah figure.
• He will be a descendant of Muhammad and will bear Muhammad’s name (Muhammad bin Abdullah).
• He will be a very devout Muslim.
• He will be an unparalleled spiritual, political and military world leader.
• He will emerge after a period of great turmoil and suffering upon the earth.
• He will lead a world revolution and establish a new world order.
• He will lead military action against all those who oppose him.
• He will invade many countries.
• He will make a seven-year peace treaty with Israel.
• He will conquer Israel for Islam and lead the “faithful Muslims” in a final slaughter/battle against Jews.
• He will establish the new Islamic world headquarters from Jerusalem.
• He will rule for seven years.
• He will cause Islam to be the only religion practiced on the earth.
• He will appear riding a white horse.
• He will discover some previously undiscovered biblical manuscripts that he will use to argue with the Jews and cause some Jews to convert to Islam.
• He will also rediscover the Ark of the Covenant from the Sea of Galilee, which he will bring to Jerusalem.
• He will have supernatural power from Allah over the wind and the rain and crops.
• He will be loved by all the people of the earth.
Did you see the similarities of the Muslim messiah, the Mahdi, and our Antichrist? They’re exact opposites. This means that the one the Muslim world is looking for as their messiah (oversimplification because there is division within Islam) is said to do the same things the Antichrist is said to do. Therefore, the actual rise of the Antichrist could be seen and understood from the Muslim world as the arrival of their Messiah/Mahdi.
We could write this off as only a deception to the Muslim world but imagine if this was to happen, then it would appear to the rest of the world that Islam had been the true religion all this time. This becomes even more dangerous in a world that is turning more and more against Christianity.
Can you see the makings of an ultimate deception? And we’ve just scratched the surface. The deception becomes even greater with the next stage in Islamic eschatology in which they say Jesus returns and performs miracles on behalf of the Mahdi. Their Jesus matches our False Prophet.
A great deception indeed. Again, I’m taking a risk and stepping out on a limb because we don’t have a direct passage showing Islam would play a part at the end of the age, but due to the evidence of the origin of the Antichrist and his empire, I believe this is worth exploring.
Jake is the newest state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)
