Why is it that apologists for booty and Jihad will always accuse the ones who aren’t bought with money of being bribed? Perhaps the very things people falsely accuse you of, they support because they themselves are guilty. A thief lacks trust because he thinks that others are like him. It is said that if you point a finger, pay close attention since three of your fingers are pointed towards yourself. Booty and corruption are part of the Islamic Ten commandments. With my new faith, the Bible clearly instructs its followers with the command “you shall not steal.” Neither can you “lust after your neighbor’s wife.” As one Muslim author described what the Mahdi does when the masses cry out “Give to me Mahdi” that “Allah will sow love of him in the hearts of all people.”110 Who is, and with whose money is he, buying the support and love of the peoples?
ANTICHRIST AND BOOTY
In Isaiah chapter 10, the same theme continues, “Woe to the Assyrian (the Antichrist), the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation; I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.” (Isaiah 10:5-7)
What does the Antichrist do in this passage? He comes to “seize loot and snatch plunder.” This is identical to several other descriptions of the Antichrist found in Ezekiel and Daniel. In Ezekiel 38 for instance, we read of the motives in the Antichrist’s heart: “I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.” (Ezekiel 38:12) In Daniel we read of the Antichrist’s plans: “When the richest provinces feel secure, he will invade them…He will distribute plunder, loot, and wealth among his followers.” (Daniel 11:24)
But the final clincher that the Antichrist will be a Muslim is seen in Ezekiel 38, where it describes the war against Israel as carried out by a horde of Muslim nations, and then it gives the reason—to take booty and the spoils of war: “Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” (Ezekiel 38:13)
Not only are Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel speaking about the same individual, but they are all also clearly speaking about the modern nation of Israel where the people have been resettled after being re-gathered from among the nations.
Antichrist, will attempt to curry favor and gain recruits through booty and bribes. In the second century, speaking of the Antichrist, the Church Father Ireneaus said that the Antichrist “pretends that he vindicates the poor.”111
The Palestinian Hamas supporters claim that the Palestinian Authority are corrupt for stealing all the money sent to them by Europe and the United States, while Hezbollah provides water and food to Muslims in Lebanon, and Hamas provides health care to the poor Palestinians. The spirit of the Antichrist/Mahdi is already at work.
And so once again you can see how the behavior of the Antichrist—in both his motives and his actions—is matched perfectly by both Mohammed and his Mahdi.
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Both Desire World Domination
SO WHO DESIRES TO DOMINATE THE WORLD: AMERICANS OR MUSLIMS?
The Bible teaches that the Antichrist will strive for complete world domination. The Apostle John informs us that in the Last-Days, “power will be given to him over all peoples, and tongues, and nations.” (Revelation 13:7) This is confirmed by Jewish tradition as well: “He will deceive the whole world into believing that he is God and will reign over the entire world.”112 What the Bible warns us of is exactly what Islam is. The renowned Muslim scholar Mawlana Sayid Abul Ala Mawdudi from the Indian subcontinent stated: “Islam is not a normal religion like the other religions in the world, and Muslim nations are not like normal nations. Muslim nations are very special because they have a command from Allah to rule the entire world and to be over every nation in the world.” “Islam is a revolutionary faith that comes to destroy any government made by man. Islam doesn’t look for a nation to be in a better condition than another nation. Islam doesn’t care about the land or who owns the land. The goal of Islam is to rule the entire world and submit all of mankind to the faith of Islam. Any nation or power that gets in the way of that goal, Islam will fight and destroy. In order to fulfill that goal, Islam can use every power available every way it can be used to bring worldwide revolution. This is Jihad.”113
WHO IS THIS NIMROD?
According to Islamic tradition, the Mahdi will lead “a worldwide Revolution.” It is for this reason that the Bible in Micah 5 calls the Antichrist “Nimrod”—he is the rebellious one who will “cause all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves” to receive a mark on their persons. (Revelation 13:16) Some may be tempted to think that such militaristic statements do not represent the beliefs of most modern Muslims. But in fact, even many Western, so-called moderate Muslims regularly express such beliefs. Abdullah al-Araby in his book The Islamization of America cites a very frightening letter from one Catholic Archbishop to the Pope as he describes his speech during an interfaith dialogue. An excerpt from his letter recounts that during the meeting, an authoritative Muslim figure stood up and spoke very calmly and assuredly, “Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you, thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.”114
ARE YOU FIGHTING ANTICHRIST?
Are you simply sitting at church services, going home and, then returning again to get serviced with “positive and uplifting messages?” Or are you a sheep who was sent amongst the wolves? There is a way that you can find out. The real evil is usually the element that makes one nervous while they are confronting or exposing it. At one conference, I was speaking on Yom-Kippur in the largest synagogue in Los Angeles. The Rabbi felt comfortable to say as part of his exchange that the New Testament was riddled with violence. When he finished speaking, I stood up and asked him “Rabbi, when was the last time, and in front of an audience, did you ever say that the Qur’an is riddled with violence?” He said “Never.” He choked when I asked him, “do you feel that the Qur’an is riddled with violence?” I asked him one last question, “Why then Rabbi did you feel comfortable to say that the New Testament is riddled with violence, yet you dared not to say the same about the Qur’an?” That Rabbi was definitely not fighting Nimrod.
Telling the truth is not easy, and false accusations can be made with great ease. In Nazi Germany, no Nazi was afraid to falsely accuse the Jews of everything under the sun, yet how many dared to stand against the lies of the Nazis? Even in America, the media was virtually silent when six million Jews were massacred. Today the same phenomenon exists. I have spoken at many Jewish events. The comments I get from them are the same old usual fears. Jews have spent hundreds of millions in building Holocaust memorials so that the world will never forget. One of the events they like to remind the world of is Crystal-Nacht—the night when the Nazis burned the synagogue in Berlin and stormed thousands of homes throughout Berlin. Yet, when the Synagogue at Joseph’s Tomb was burned in Israel—a synagogue much more important to Jewish history than the Berlin Synagogue—little was said about it in the West, or even among the very ones who swear that they will never forget. It is easy to fight dead Nazis—that takes little courage. The living Islamo-Nazi movement is a much different story. Yet it is an almost identical issue—but with a more dangerous twist—Islamists do not carry out their orders from the Fuehrer, their orders come straight from Allah and his Nimrod.
Nothing in these Holocaust Museums even mentions Joseph’s Tomb. Concentrating on Holocaust memorials is a good thing, but it is not enough. The best way to honor those who were lost in the Holocaust is to truly continue the fight today against the spiritual inheritors of Nazism. It is good to honor and reme
mber the dead, but what about the living? We say “never again” while the “never again” happens right in front of our eyes—despite all the Holocaust memorials. Christians are no better—the same things that happened to Joseph’s tomb happened to the Church of The Nativity, Christ’s birthplace, and we looked the other way. Most Jews and Christians in the West react as they see others act around them. They seem to seek more to be accepted in order to get respect, instead of gaining respect by strength and honor. No one on earth would ever consider telling a Muslim that he has no right to Mecca. Yet when a Jew or a Christian tries to simply pray quietly on the Temple Mount, they are immediately removed. And then their fellow Jews and Christians point their fingers at them and accuse them of being troublemakers. When Ariel Sharon simply walked on the Temple Mount, a war nearly erupted, and the Muslim world went on a frenzy with the majority of the West actually blaming Sharon for the violence that ensued.
While a Jew is not even allowed to walk on the Temple mount without riots erupting, Muslims have the audacity to claim that they literally own the entire globe. If you go to the website of almost any Mosque in the United States, you will invariably see a link to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR is a Washington based Islamic group that likes to present itself as a moderate Islamic civil rights group. Yet, according to Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant.” The Qur’an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.”115 This is the same Omar Ahmed who tore into the Reverend Franklin Graham for calling Islam, “an evil religion.” Mr. Ahmed addressed Graham in an open statement: “Learn more about Islam and Muslims before you repeat your erroneous and divisive statements about one of the three great Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Such statements only sow animosity and mistrust among Americans. As a religious leader you should instead work to rebuild our national foundation instead of trying to tear it down.”116
Accusing every one of divisiveness and racism is typical of most Muslim organizations. Yet when one looks closely at such promoters of “love,” it is easy to find out that they are the very one’s who promote those things they accuse others of. Such is the spirit of Islam that speaks out of both sides of its mouth; one side intended for Western consumption and the other for Muslims. I will repeat this like a broken record, what Westerners need to know is not what these groups say in English, but what they say in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, etc.
Daniel Pipes a scholar of militant Islam and director of the Middle East Forum, points out the case of one prominent American Muslim’s open aspirations to take over America. Pipes introduced one Ismail Al-Faruqi, a Palestinian immigrant who founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought and taught for many years at Temple University in Philadelphia. “Nothing could be greater,” Al-Faruqi wrote in the early 1980’s, “than this youthful, vigorous, and rich continent [of North America] turning away from its past evil and marching forward under the banner of Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great).”117
In England, and throughout Europe, Islam has progressed in pride-filled strength far beyond that of Islam in America. Therefore, in such a context, we see aggressive statements being made far more openly. As far back as 1989 Europeans were shocked to see thousands of Muslims openly protest in the streets of Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands carrying signs with the provocative slogan, “Islam—our religion today—your religion tomorrow.”118
Dr. Siddiqi, the head of the Muslim Institute, (now the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain) states “Jihad is a basic requirement of Islam and living in Britain or having British nationality by birth or naturalization does not absolve the Muslim from his or her duty to participate in Jihad.”119 Siddiqui does not exclude Britain from the places where “armed struggle” is necessary. Jihad is obligatory everywhere. And as time has passed, the call to Jihad in Europe has progressed to the point of being proclaimed openly in the streets by radical Muslim leaders.
The call to jihad is rising in the streets of Europe…In a town north of London, during the time Tony Blair was Prime Minister, a small group of young Britons…said they would like to see Prime Minister Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside No. 10 Downing Street. They swear allegiance to Osama bin Laden and his goal of toppling Western democracies to establish an Islamic super state under Sharia law, like Afghanistan under the Taliban. They call the Sept. 11 hijackers the “Magnificent 19” and regard the Madrid train bombings as a clever way to drive a wedge into Europe.
Muslims in the West regularly refer to Islam as the “religion of peace.” Yet of the roughly 400 recognized terrorist groups in the world, over 90 percent are Islamist groups. Over 90 percent of the current world-fighting involves Islamist terror movements.120 The endless goal of moderate Muslim apologists is to make the claim that the radical terrorist groups are not behaving in an Islamic way. While many nominal and liberal Muslims have a strong disdain for the murderous behavior of many of the most violent groups, the terrorists are actually carrying out a very legitimate aspect of Islam as defined by Islam’s sacred texts, scholars, and representatives. They are indeed behaving in an Islamic way. They are behaving like Mohammed and his successors. While it is often said that the terrorists have high-jacked Islam, in reality it is the so-called moderate Muslims who are trying to change the true teachings of Islam. Many in the West today are calling for a “reformation” within Islam. The problem is that this reformation has already happened and the most radical forms of Islam that we are seeing today are the result—violent Islam is true Islam. Yet few have the courage to declare the obvious.
The Bible warns us that in the Last-Days, the Antichrist would be given power, “over all peoples, and tongues, and nations.” (Revelation 13:7) Today throughout the world, Islam is pushing for precisely that. In the days to come, it appears as if, although for a very short time, the Muslim Antichrist will come very close to accomplishing this goal.
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Both Lead A Turkish-Iranian Invasion
Who is ushering in the Apocalypse: Christians or Muslims? The Bible describes that in the Last-Days, Israel will fight against a coalition of nations that are led by Turkey and Iran. In Zechariah 9:13 the Lord declares, “I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Yavan.” In this passage, Israel is seen fighting against Ionia or Yavan. In several Bibles, this word is translated as “Greece.” But Ionia/Yavan was simply a province that was located on the west coast of modern Turkey. This is crucial, because the clear context of this battle is the return of Christ: “Then Jehovah will appear over them” and fight on their behalf. So in the End-Times, at the time when Jesus returns, the Jews (Zion) will be engaged in a war with Turkey (Yavan). In Ezekiel 38 we learn that besides Turkey, Iran will also be a key player in the Last-Days assault against Israel: “Persia…will be with them, all with shields and helmets…” Persia is simply the ancient name for modern day Iran. We already see Iran today threatening Israel. What is so amazing is that Islamic tradition also contains prophecies that picture precisely these enemies waging war against Israel in the Last-Days. The difference, as usual, is that in the Islamic account, the Turks and the Iranians are portrayed as the righteous and are being led by the Mahdi, while the Jewish people are, as usual, portrayed as the wicked.
An Islamic prophecy speaks about an army of Muslims carrying Black Banners, with the creed of Islam written across them: There is no god but Allah, Mohammed is Allah’s messenger. The black banner has always been the banner of Jihad. In this tradition, the Muslims are marching from Iran and are heading toward Israel to take Jerusalem for their Mahdi. After the Muslims have conquered Jerusalem, the Mahdi is said to use the Temple Mount as his seat of authority from which he will rule over the whole earth.
When Mohammed returned after his eight year exile from his home city of Mecca, he had with him an army of 10,000 Muslims who were carrying the black banners of Jih
ad. Written across these banners was the word “punishment.” Likewise, the Mahdi when he invades Israel, he will be accompanied by a vast army carrying the black banners of Jihad, which today are seen in all of the Islamic Jihad videos and waved at all of the Muslim rallies throughout the world.
But the pertinent aspect of the tradition of the black flags is that the two nations that are specified that will accompany the Mahdi are both Turkey and Iran. Abdul Rahman al-Wahabi in the The Day of Wrath states: “The final battle will be waged by Muslim faithfuls coming on the backs of horses…carrying black banners. They will stand on the East side of the Jordan River and will wage war that the earth has never seen before. The true Messiah who is the Islamic Mahdi will defeat Europe, will lead this army of Seljuks [Turks]. He will preside over the world from Jerusalem because Mecca would have been destroyed.”121 The Seljuk Empire were Turks that preceded the Ottoman Empire. It covered the region of Turkey, Northern Iran, Syria, Iraq, Southern Caucasus, and Azerbaijan. Many Islamic scholars believe that the Mahdi will lead an army of Turks and will rule over Israel.
Expounding on the tradition of the black banners, the so-called “moderate” Sheikh Kabbani, the darling of many conservative Americans, states that the armies will come from the region of Iran: “Hadith indicate that black flags coming from the area of Khorasan [Iran] will signify [that] the appearance of the Mahdi is nigh. Khorasan is in today’s Iran, and some scholars have said that this Hadith means when the black flags appear from Central Asia, i.e., in the direction of Khorasan (Iran), then the appearance of the Mahdi is imminent.”122
Do you see how the “coincidences” keep piling up? But with God, there are no coincidences, no accidents, and thankfully, no surprises! While the Bible prophesied thousands of years ago that the Antichrist would lead an army of Turks and Iranians, so also does Islamic tradition state that their Messianic Mahdi would lead an army of Turks and Iranians against Israel. The prophecy predicts the destruction of Mecca. This would give an insight into the mindset of Islam’s author, the devil. Satan knows that Arabia will be destroyed, and specifically Mecca. I will discuss this future prophesied event in later chapters. But for now, we need to remember that Satan’s Biblical knowledge is not to be underestimated. The Bible states that in the Last-Days, Satan will know that his time is short (Revelation 12:12). How does he know this? What source is he using to find out this information? Again, Satan knows and understands Biblical prophecy better than we do. Never underestimate your enemy, especially when he has been around for thousands of years.
God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible Page 18