Perhaps the most controversial figure in the Bible is what is often called “the Antichrist.” Among those who profess to believe in the Bible as God’s revelation to men, there is a wide range of differing views on who or what this diabolical figure is, or will be, or represents. How one interprets what the scriptures say about this subject depends mostly upon how literally one interprets the Bible, and Bible prophecy in particular. The approach taken here is to interpret scripture as literally as the text allows. This means letting scripture interpret scripture, as opposed to fallible men who have always been more than willing to interpret it for us based on their own views and presuppositions. Contrary to a widely held but undeclared belief, in fact God did a very adequate job of communicating to us a message which paints a picture which makes perfect sense – without our help. We don’t need to add to it, or cherry pick some parts and ignore others, as men almost invariably do. We don’t need to interpret things allegorically, or as poetic hyperbole, except when the text requires it. Symbols are actually readily recognizable as just that – such as a big red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, or a lion with wings. But in fact taken in context – both the immediate textual context and the context of the other relevant passages – we indeed find the explanations for what these symbols mean.

When it comes to the application of what is revealed in literal scripture, with respect to seeing its fulfillment in historical or contemporary events and personalities, there is an essential requirement to pay attention to details, and intentionally avoid making the literal scripture fit our interpretations, scenarios, and contemporary or historic realities. On the other, if Bible prophecy means anything, there are or have been or will be actual real-world events and personalities which will match the all the details of the related prophecies – not just some, but all.

That being said, there are more interpretations and theories about what who or when this Antichrist figure is, was or will be, as there are conspiracy theories or theories about anything else. The first question is, is the Antichrist in the Bible a real person, or just a spirit (as in the spirit of the Antichrist), or a system, or an ideology, or what? Taking the literal approach, we see the only use of the word “Antichrist” is in 1 John where we are told the following:

“¹⁸Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour….²²Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:18 & 22)

“³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” (1 John 4:3)

“⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”(2 John 7)

It seems as though what John is writing about is not single personage, or even a particular system or ideology, but more of a general reference to a spirit which is antichrist in nature. If this were all we had to go on we would have to abandon the notion that there either will be or has been a Satanically empowered world leader or system, such as is usually understood by the term, “antichrist.” But of course this is not all we have. While it is very valuable information about this “Antichrist” it is not the only, nor the best description – not by a long shot. While this term “Antichrist” is useful and meaningful, it is perhaps unfortunate that men have adopted it as opposed to other terms or names John used to refer to this figure in his prophetic book of Revelation. There, in the 13^th and 17^th chapters we are given a lot of information and details about this figure we often refer to as “the Antichrist.” But John refers to it, or him, as a beast. In the 13^th chapter it is first a beast coming up out of the sea, which had the seven heads and ten horns. However, it was also a combination of four beasts, which Daniel describes (Daniel 7), including a leopard, a bear and a lion, as well as a ten-horned beast. From both Daniel, and the 17^th chapter of Revelation, we see that this ten-horned beast is both a coalition of ten national entities referred to as “kings” or “kingdoms,” and a leader who emerges from that coalition as their leader who rules over them (Daniel 7:7-11 & 24-25, Revelation 17:10-11). In Daniel he is referred to as a “little horn,” in Revelation 17 as the 8^th beast, which is “of the seven” (Revelation 17:10-11).

In that 17^th chapter John explains clearly the symbology of the seven heads, and the ten horns on this beast, also referred to in Revelation 12 as “a great red dragon” (Revelation 12:3). While he uses another symbol, saying “the seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman [Babylon the Harlot] sits,” he goes on to interpret even that as “seven kings” (17:9-10). Then he goes further to tell us that five of those seven kings had already fallen, as of John’s day when he was writing this. He goes on to tell us that the one about which he is writing is not the one that was extant in his day, when he wrote this. And he tells us that he is writing about a future king which would only “remain a little while.”

For the person who is committed to taking scripture as literally as the text allows, (recognizing obvious symbols and figurative language, but taking the words in their most natural sense) these few passages cited above eliminate probably 90+% of all the many varied interpretations and end-time scenarios that have been invented by men for many centuries (about 20 centuries). While it may be debatable as to exactly which of the historic empires John’s prophecy was meant to include, when we go to Daniel who was writing about the same future events, at least three of those five become rather clearly indicated – expressly interpreted and articulated by Daniel himself: the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and the Greek or Alexandrian empires (see Daniel 2:32-45, 7:1-27, 8:1-22, 11:1-4). Beyond that Daniel goes on in the 11^th chapter of his book to describe two more kingdoms, a northern and a southern kingdom which are now history, recognizable as emerging from two of the successors of Alexander the Greats empire. The northern King or kingdom was the Seleucid empire of the north. The southern King or kingdom was the Ptolemaic empire of the south. His prophecy which had been fulfilled in history as of John’s time, took us down to about 167 BC to Antiochus Epiphanes, less than 300 years before John wrote this.

It is debatable as to whether these two empires, the Seleucid Dynasty and the Ptolemaic Dynasty, were the other two of the five about which John wrote. It could also have been other historic world empires such as the Assyrian or the Egyptian empires, which have been more commonly mentioned by Bible scholars to interpret the five heads of the beast that John tells us had already fallen.[1] On the other hand, when we realize that the northern King or kingdom, the Seleucid Dynasty, was centered in Syria, which encompassed what was left of the Assyrian empire, and the Southern King or kingdom was the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which was another later Egyptian empire, maybe both are true. The Assyrian and Egyptian empires, which had a revival or resurgence in the later period after the dissolution of the Greek or Alexandrian Empire, may be what God had in mind when inspiring John to write about the five heads or “kings” who had already come and gone by the time he wrote this prophecy. [2]

John then tells us clearly and explicitly that the empire of the beast with the ten horns is one that had not yet come on the scene as of his day. This would preclude the Roman Empire as the one that was yet to come. While the “revived Roman Empire” theory has been probably the most popular of our time since at least the mid 20^th century, despite the many dogmatic claims of its adherents there is no literal scripture to suggest that such is what John had in mind. Interestingly this theory has morphed from the revived Roman Empire being apostate Christianity in the form of the Roman Catholic Church, with the Pope as the Antichrist, to the more popular modern version of the European Union (EU), or European Common Market, with a European leader as the Antichrist (two very different scenarios both under the same name, “Revived Roman Empire”). However, neither of these match well most of what we see in relevant prophetic passages, without a great deal of forcing unnatural meanings on texts, eisegesis, and ignoring or rephrasing what is clearly stated. Furthermore, neither has any degree of credibility given the situation and rapidly progressing developments of our day. It is very difficult to see either the Catholic Church or the EU as becoming a world empire, the dominant geo-political or military or economic force in our world any time in the future. Nor are their definitive characteristics the persecution and beheading of Christians, the spirit of the antichrist as John defines it in 1 John, honoring a god of fortresses with no regard for the god of their forefathers or the desires of women, as Daniel describes this end-time figure (see Daniel 11:37). While it may be speculated that all of these things could happen in the future, it seems somewhat suspicious that we have to overlook all that is happening now, already, in what quite obviously is an emerging beastly empire, which fits these descriptions to the fullest extent imaginable.

Perhaps because of these facts we are seeing a paradigm shift in what may be mainstream eschatology, as more and more students of Bible prophecy are seeing the relatively recent emergence, or re-emergence of Islam as the dominant force on the global scene today. It has become a very dominant force economically because of its most abundant resource – oil, which happens to be the most critical commodity globally – the ultimate engine of virtually every national economy in our modern world. It is the most militaristic with elements completely committed to gaining dominance and control over the rest of the world – a world-wide Caliphate. It started with a man claiming to be a prophet of God, but denying all the gods of their predecessors including the God of the Bible, and all the gods of the other polytheistic religions. Its most identifying feature is its proclamation that “there is no god but Allah,” which by their definition is not the God of the Bible, or Judaism, or Christianity. Central tenets of their religious doctrine per their holy book, the Koran, are that Jesus is not God, nor the Son of God, and He did not die on the cross for anybody’s sin – in fact He never died on the cross at all. This fits precisely and concisely John’s definition of the spirit of the Antichrist, and the Antichrist. Another element of their religion is salvation by works (keeping the five pillars of Islam), or giving their lives as martyrs in the struggle (jihad) to destroy and dominate the enemies of Islam – the infidels (unbelievers who don’t confess Allah as God, and Mohammed as his prophet).

If one takes the approach to prophecy of picking some of the characteristics of this Antichrist or the Beasts of Daniel and Revelation, one can choose from a huge smorgasbord of empires and world rulers – and that is what has been and is still going on. We can start with Nero, or Domitian of the time immediately following the writing of the book of Revelation, and we can find antichrists in almost any age down to today. Men have seen various rulers and even Popes, including recently such figures as Hitler, Mussolini, Khrushchev, Mohammed, Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, several American Presidents, and the list goes on and on. Bible scholars have argued that the Antichrist has to be a Jew, a European, a Moslem, an Assyrian, a German or Austrian (Hitler resurrected), etc. etc.. How do they get their wide variety of interpretations all coming from the same written text? Its what men do – take a few pieces of the puzzle, develop a theory or scenario which fits those pieces and one’s own presuppositions and preferences, and make all the other pieces fit, or simply ignore them. The net effect is that observers who don’t become indoctrinated adherents of one of these views or schools of thought, get the impression that it is either all just a lot of speculation (much of which has already been proven to be nonsense), or that the whole subject of end-time Bible prophecy is too mysterious or confusing and too controversial to really take seriously and spend much time or effort trying to understand. This is most unfortunate, and unnecessary, but it is exactly what the enemy of our souls, the enemy of truth, wants to see happening in the church – especially as these truths and revelations become most relevant. And indeed we have this warning in a passage which also describes this Antichrist figure:

“⁸Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; ⁹that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, ¹⁰and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. ¹¹For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, ¹²in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12)

To get the accurate picture which Daniel and John and other prophets saw, or saw pieces of and revealed to us, we have to have the whole puzzle, with every piece in its proper place. If we take the wrong approach, we won’t get the picture. We can get a variety of wrong pictures by picking some pieces and forcing them to fit together – and that is what has been and is still going on. People take a few pieces, develop a picture in their own mind, usually driven by their presuppositions (as with Preterists) or trying to fit in events and developments of their time (typical of historicists), manipulate wording or interpret it symbolically, or allegorically to make it fit their view, and gloss over or ignore the logical and factual difficulties and discrepancies of their resultant theories and scenarios. Interestingly many if not most those theories and scenarios have some elements of truth in them, especially to the extent that they do allow scripture to speak for itself, and align their views with the literal natural meaning of those relevant texts. Ironically most, though not all, do take some passages quite literally, but they are very inconsistent in their approach, taking other passages non-literally when they don’t fit their preconceived pictures and views, or their doctrinal presuppositions.

For example, many scholars take most of the prophecies of Revelation and much of Daniel as being very hyperbolic speech, such that the apocalyptic predictions have all already been fulfilled in the destruction of tiny Jerusalem in AD 70. However, the do interpret Daniel’s prophecies about the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Alexandrian (Greek) empires quite literally – since they have already been literally fulfilled. But most of the rest of his prophecies, which he himself tells us are about the end-times or the last days, are not taken literally, nor is what John writes which so clearly corresponds to what Daniel wrote. Even those claiming to be literalists – the Futurists – find non-literal and very forced interpretations to make passages which tell us when the Antichrist will appear, and when the rapture will be (such as Matthew 24:29-31 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, fit their preconceived scenarios), fit their preferred preconceived scenarios. They force Daniel’s and John’s prophecies to include a Roman Empire, and then a Revived Roman Empire as the last Beast or Beasts from which comes the Antichrist. They insist that the Gog/Magog of Ezekiel 38-39 happens during the Tribulation Period of Revelation, but is not even mentioned in Revelation, while the Gog/Magog mentioned in Revelation 20 is not the Gog/Magog of Daniel 38-39 (and there are many more examples of forcing scripture or reading into it, or leaving out relevant pieces to fit their preconceived views and doctrinal presuppositions). The resulting scenarios are not only in conflict with literal explicit scripture, but riddled with logical inconsistencies and contradictions, and out of touch with what is happening in the real world today.

There are a few key passages that define and describe for us this figure we call the Antichrist. First we have Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 7, where he is called “the Little horn” (see Daniel 7:7-11 & 24-25, Revelation 17:10-11). It is hard to miss that Daniel is writing about the same beast as John writes about in Revelation, as it is described as the beast with ten horns – however, some even deny this connection (see Michael Fortner in The Beast and the False Prophet Revealed). Letting scripture interpret scripture, we find that Daniel explains and expands on what John writes about in Revelation 13 and 17, and John explains and expands upon what Daniel writes about. Taking a literal approach to both passages it is rather clear that there is a personage, the “little horn,” and a kingdom or empire – a ten-nation coalition – intended by or involved in these prophecies. Nor is there any logical or textual reason to suggest, let alone insist, that it can’t be exactly what these prophets describe – a ten-nation coalition with a leader that emerges and dominates them as well as the rest of the world. The only reason to selectively and somewhat arbitrarily decide that some of what Daniel and John were describing should be taken symbolically, is to make them fit some presupposed theory or scenario.

Both Daniel and John predict that a person will emerge from this ten-nation coalition. According to Daniel and John he will be blasphemous, belligerent, boisterous, and will wage war with and overpower the saints. According to Daniel he will dominate the other member nations, and will try to change “times” (perhaps a different calendar as per Islam) and laws (as in implementing Sharia law). According to John he will be empowered by Satan (“the dragon”), and will not only dominate the other nations in the coalition, but will have authority over every tribe and people and tongue and they will all be forced to worship him and accept his mark (the 666) or be killed. According to both Daniel and John this final beast – the 4^th beast and “little horn” of Daniel 7, the 8^th beast of Revelation 17-19 – will be defeated and destroyed completely by the “Ancient of Days,” or “one like the Son of Man,” “the Lamb,” the “Lord of Lords” and the “King of Kings.” There is little if any room for doubt that Daniel is referring here to our Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming to judge and to begin to reign on this earth.

We also have other prophetic passages that corroborate what Daniel and John wrote, and makes it clear that they are both about the same time, events and personages. In Matthew 24 Jesus refers to Daniel’s prophecy about “the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 9:27 and 11:31) associating it with the occurrence of His own second coming. Then Paul tells us about this Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians which corresponds perfectly with what Daniel wrote and John wrote, and makes it clear that the two are writing about the same end-time figure – which we call the Antichrist.

This much we can know without confusion or any need for speculation – it is spelled out for us in explicit literal scripture. But we do have to start with all the pieces, keeping them in the order as per the inspired texts, not manipulating them or trying to force them to fit where they don’t fit. Once we do this we can look for what may be a match in our real world – the world as it actually is, not what it might be. Where there is no match we should assume that we just aren’t there yet – at least part of what is prophesied is still to happen in the future. For a change we really have to avoid making nuclear bombs, or Russia or China, or America, or even Islam, or some contemporary figure, fit the profile – or forcing the profile to fit them. However, we do need to see where there are perfect matches to what is predicted, literally – and yes, the real Antichrist will match perfectly what is actually predicted.

With that in mind, it seems that everything we find in Daniel, John’s prophecies, Paul’s prophecies and Matthews record of what Jesus said, does indeed match perfectly a phenomenon already present and emerging on the world’s scene as a spectacle that has become the focus of the attention of the whole world. One probably doesn’t need to even name it – everyone sees this elephant in the room, knows it is there, but most want to deny that it even exists. While some are telling us we need to be watching out for the Catholic Church and the Pope, and others are telling us that the European Union, or Russia, or China are the big threat – the beast from which comes the Antichrist, the obvious beast is rapidly fulfilling the details of all the relevant prophecy.

First, in Islam we see exactly what John described as the spirit of the Antichrist, and the Antichrist. Islam overtly and expressly denies who Jesus was and is, saying He was a man like Mohammed. Mohammed adopted the moon god which goes back to the days of the Babylonian Empire, and the false religions which began with Cush grandson of Noah, and his son Nimrod. He claimed to be descended from Ishmael, his god “Allah’s” real chosen people instead of Israel. Islam through history has murdered and massacred more people than any other entity, and most of their hostilities have always been directed toward God’s people, the Jews and the Christians – just as they are today. Islamists, Moslems, or Muslims, blaspheme the God of the Bible. According to their eschatology (end-times prophecy), they are looking for a Messiah figure which most call the Mahdi (some call him the 12^th Imam), who will set himself up as the ruler of the world, which they call a universal Caliphate. This is exactly what Al Qaeda and now ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) tell the world they are bringing to fruition.

Interestingly according to Islamic teaching this Mahdi will rule over a council of ten cabinet members, or “Assistant Caliphs” [3] – the ten horns of the Beast? Moslems have a great commission just as Christians do, as the Koran and Sunna or Hadiths command them again and again to convert everyone to their religion. The big difference is that they are commanded to accomplish this by persuasion or force, either converting everyone, or making them submit to their tax (jizya) and their Sharia law. The apologists for the “Religion of Peace” have many ways of explaining away the many verses in the Koran, and even more declarations and explanations in the Hadiths, which command violence and use of force, and condone terroristic activities. However, obviously the many who have been violent down through history, including Mohammed himself, and the militant violent terrorists of our day, don’t agree with those convenient but unconvincing interpretations. Just as some of us take the Bible literally, so do they. To suggest that the “jihad” commanded throughout all Islamic literature including the Koran, is just about a “spiritual struggle” is almost laughable – a rather obvious attempt at deception (though it is proving to be quite effective).

This brings us to other prominent characteristics of the Antichrist as described in our prophetic texts, taken literally. Daniel tells us that he is a person, a “king,” who will be “insolent and skilled in intrigue … He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And through shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence;” (Daniel 8:23-25). According to a former Muslim terrorist, Walid Shoebat, there are two doctrines of Islam which condone deception, Kitman and Taqiyya. He quotes from both Shia and Sunni scholars, including the sixth Imam of Shia, and Ibn Abbas, the most renowned and trusted Sunni narrator of Islamic tradition, endorsing the practice by both Shia and Sunnis. The latter wrote: “Nine-tenths of the Islamic religion is Taqiyya (dissimulation), hence one who does not dissimulate has no religion.” (from Al-kafi vol. 9 p. 110). Or, as the Sunni Muslim scholar Ibn Katheer put it, “Taqiyya is allowed until the day of Resurrection.”[4]

The fact is that modern day Islam, as well as historic Islam, has always been all about deception from the beginning. Not only did it begin with lies about revelations from God through the angel Gabriel, condemning Judaism and Christianity, refuting the teachings of the Bible, but the claim today that it is a peaceful religion is perhaps the biggest lie since the serpent’s seduction of Eve in the Garden of Eden. The whole religion is based on false claims and deceptions. It actually only takes a simple reading of the Koran to see that the claims being made by the so-called moderate and peaceful Muslims are blatant distortions of the truth. However, it is this very deception that is now the politically correct doctrine of the liberal left in what used to be Christian nations. Sadly now it is even being accepted by much of the conservative right, which is allowing Islam to grow into the Beast that will eventually consume us. While the radical extremists militant terrorists are being seen as the only threat, the reality is that the moderate peaceful elements are making far more threatening advancements of their cause by infiltration and subversion. It is far more likely that the world will turn to a peace-loving moderate Muslim who promises to do something about the extremists and violent elements of Islam, and embrace him as the savior for the whole world. Once in power either in terms of economic or military control, or both, the dissimulation will have served its purpose, and he will reveal his true self and intentions – global dominance. As a true Muslim, he will obey the clear and mostly rather unambiguous commands of the Koran, the Hadiths, and the Sunna.

While some may think that the Antichrist will be a radical militant Muslim, who will come to power through violent conquest, that does not quite fit Daniel’s description, indicating that it will be through shrewdness and deceit that he will conquer his enemies (Daniel 8:24-25). Islamic terrorists, the so-called extremists who are hi-jacking this peaceful religion, are not trying to deceive anybody – they proudly and loudly announce and broadcast their true intentions, and take full responsibility for what they do, and probably some terrorist acts they don’t do. The only deceptive and shrewd ones are the ones claiming to be peaceful, the moderate Muslims. They are the sheep in wolves clothing scripture warns us about, and Daniel prophesied about.

Daniel tells us that “he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers.” As is evident from the Koran, Mohammed was somewhat familiar with some of the teachings of scripture, especially of the Old Testament. He was also raised as a polytheist – the gods of his fathers. But he denounced them all, Judaism, Christianity and polytheism, to proclaim the one God Allah as the only true God. In this sense he, and thus his religion of Islam, were abandoning the religions of those who came before him.

However, the truth is that Allah is just a derivation of the early Babylonian moon god, the supreme god of Mohammed’s area and tribe. Thus this prophecy may not be about Mohammed at all but about what the future Antichrist will do once he comes to power. In Revelation 17 we see that the 8^th beast and the ten horned beast will hate the woman, the Harlot Babylon, and will destroy her – “burn her up with fire.” To understand this correctly we have to identify who or what this woman, Babylon represents. Some today who see Islam as the Beast identify this Babylon as being America. While there are indeed many similarities between America and the descriptions and details we find in the 18^th chapter of Revelation, and a rather forced interpretation of Jeremiah 50-51 (America as “the hammer of the whole earth” Jeremiah 50:23) this is a rather obvious departure from the literal method of interpretation, and is highly speculative at best. It also seems to ignore to many of the details of the actual prophecies which don’t fit America at all.

Some more conservative scholars who are futurists and literalists take Babylon as referring to actual Babylon – both the literal city of Babylon, and the system associated with historic Babylon (see commentary and writings of Walvoord and Dyer). It is not as clear and cut and dry as some of the other respects of the prophecies about these end-time figures, but we do have a lot of clues that point to Babylon as the religious system associated with the Antichrist. It is that religious system which both rides and carries the final beasts, the ten-horned beast and the leader of that ten-nation coalition, the 8^th beast or the Antichrist, to power (as has often been the case down through history). If we understand this religious element to be Islam we certainly have a fit. Islam has its roots in the Babylonian religion which originated with Noah’s grandson Cush and Cush’s son Nimrod, as revealed in scripture. It is also essentially the power behind the throne of the political and economic elements of this beast we see rising now in the middle-east. Even the more secular governments, such as Turkey today, are only in power because they profess to be Islamic. As we saw in the Iranian revolution, and more recently in the “Arab Spring,” those political entities that were not Islamic enough were overthrown by the more religiously fanatic elements (though in the case of Egypt that was reversed as the military regained dominance). However, the people, the masses of humanity in those countries, are decidedly Muslim and will never tolerate a non-Muslim government.

But scripture tells us that once this Antichrist figure gains dominance over not only his own ten-nation coalition but the whole world, he will set himself up as the god that everyone will be required to worship. Considering that he will have come to power largely by deceiving the whole world about his true beliefs and intentions, should anyone be surprised that he will also turn against the powerful religious system, with its influential Imams and religious leaders, who would actually be in competition with him for the power? Once he declares himself to be God – as scripture makes it clear that he will (2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13) when the religion insists that there is no God but Allah, and even Mohammed was not himself God – how will the devoted and deceived religious leaders respond to him? Will they not have to denounce him as a false Messiah figure? And when they do, will he not respond by doing to them what he has already done to all the rest of his enemies? Thus it seems that this prophecy about this end times figure forsaking the god of his fathers, most likely refers to one of those prophetic elements which have not yet occurred, and won’t occur until very near the end of his reign. Nevertheless it does fit with and helps us to understand what John prophesied in Revelation 17, when we recognize the harlot Babylon as the religious system of Islam, which the political ruler attacks and destroys.

Daniel tells us he will “show no regard for the desire of women” (Daniel 11:37). We can read a lot into this, and many have, and we can speculate on what this might mean until hell freezes over – or we can take just what it says at face value. Maybe it just means that he won’t respect women and won’t have the least bit of concern or sympathy for what women want. What system of governance, or ideology, or religion, shows almost utter contempt for the dignity, or the rights, or the freedom, or the equality of women? Catholics elevate a woman to virtual deity – Mary the Mother of God. Europeans like Americans have embraced feminism to the point that it is politically incorrect to suggest that there is any real difference between the sexes, and women are often given preference over men even for jobs or positions for which they lack equal qualification. What religion endorses genital mutilation of women, head and face covering, polygamy, wives being the property of the husbands, denial of many rights and freedoms for women not denied by any other societies or religious organizations? There is only one ideology, religion, and political system widely known for that today.

The prophecy that this end-time figure will “honor the god of fortresses” and will invest a lot of material wealth on that god, would seem to again point to the militarization of so many of those Islamic countries. Countries like Iran and Turkey have been and are making incredible investments in weapons and weapons systems – Iran of course determined to become a nuclear power. While Islam has a very bloody history of military conquest, it was more a means to acquire wealth, than the object of much if not most of their spending. But today we see Iran investing more in weapons systems and nuclear armament than in meeting the needs of her people. It is very likely that this will be the highest priority of the Antichrist once he comes to power, which will enable him to “take action against the strongest of fortresses.” Whether “the strongest of fortresses” will be the western powers, such as the United States and/or Europe, or possibly Russia or China, is at this point a matter of pure speculation. But clearly that is where the present trends and developments in the world are heading – a military confrontation between the forces of Islam, and the rest of the world (the ultimate “clash of civilizations” as per Basil Matthews in 1926, or Samuel P. Huntington in a 1993 lecture and a 1996 book).

Furthermore, Daniel’s prophecy takes us through what is now history from his time down to the second century before Christ, describing a figure which is very recognizably Antiochus IV Epiphanes, when he desecrated and destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (164 BC). Both Daniel and Jesus called it “the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 9:27 and 11:31). From that point in Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 11 we have prophecies which find no real fulfillment in history, until recent times. From what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 24:15 we learn that this was actually also prophetic of what would happen during the period of tribulation, shortly before his second coming – the subject of that whole chapter. Thus we know that this Antiochus IV Epiphanes was a prototype of what we now refer to as the Antichrist. What this would seem to tell us is that this Antichrist would be a descendant of the Seleucid line of kings – a Syrian, or possibly Assyrian (as there are several prophecies regarding the “Assyrian” which seem to be about the Antichrist such as Isaiah 31:4-9 and Micah 5:6-7). While this may be taking the meaning of the prototype to far, it does fit with the interpretation of this 8^th beast of Revelation 17 being an Islamist, with the potential to emerge as the leader of a coalition of ten Islamic mid-eastern nations.

Scripture explicitly tells us that this end-time ruler will rule over the whole world. Many very wise and knowledgeable men tell us it does not really mean the whole world, and they each have their own definition of what it does mean. While it is true that “all” doesn’t always mean all in the absolute sense, it may be safer to just take God’s word for it, and take it literally – which is what we will do to be consistent. We all know that the world’s outcry is for peace, and many if not most world leaders see that as only happening when we have a global governance – one world government. Many geo-political trends on the global scale are clearly moving in that direction. In a world in which everyone has been brought together via the computer and the internet, and our economies are so enmeshed and entwined with each other, why do some find a one-world government so unbelievable?

However, one thing is virtually indisputable in today’s world. The Islamic world will never submit to or accept the governance of any global government by infidels. It is inconceivable that a Catholic, or a non-Muslim European president, will be able to gain dominance and control over what has now become a vast Islamic community of nations. On the other hand, given present trends internationally, it is becoming more and more conceivable that a “moderate Muslim,” who promises to eliminate or reign in the violent extremists elements, will become acceptable as a world leader, even in the western countries. Since it has become common knowledge that Islam is a peaceful religion, a peaceful Muslim of the so-called “moderate” variety will not be seen as a threat, but rather as a solution to an otherwise unsolvable global problem – maybe even to avoid WWIII (or so the promise will be).

And then there is another major consideration. Islamic nations now collectively control most of the world’s most critical and valuable resource – oil. Western nations are the most dependent on foreign, and the U.S. is the world’s biggest consumer of oil. Although in 2014 and 2015 the U.S. became one of the world’s largest producers of oil and gas, she was still far from being energy independent. Furthermore this was a relatively short-lived phenomenon which was only made possible by the record high prices of oil on the world’s markets. The result was that other oil producing nations, chiefly Saudi Arabia and Russia, increased production and manipulated the markets resulting in a collapse of the high price market with prices plummeting from over $100 per barrel to below $35 per barrel in late 2015. The intent of at least the Saudis was to drive the U.S. out of the market, as her production is very dependent upon the higher prices (probably above at least $60 per barrel) for her shale oil and fracking to be profitable. Thus, while most people have a false sense of security thinking that the U.S. is relatively energy independent, this is not a reality. The oil markets are still very much dominated by the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) nations, most of which are Islamic nations. The reality is that once there is a coalition of those nations under one powerful leader they will be able to use the weapon of oil to bring the western powers to their knees economically. Furthermore, Russian and China are dependent upon the American and European markets to keep their economies afloat, thus also very vulnerable to the manipulations of the oil supply and or prices – especially should they choose to cut off the supply to the western nations.

Finally, with Iran becoming a nuclear power, to join another Islamic nation – Pakistan, the military threat increases significantly. An Islamic nuclear power is far more dangerous than such non-Islamic nations as Russia and China and even India, because of the ideology of their religion, and its clearly stated goal of global dominance, and its eschatology of world-wide judgment on the infidels. The rule of the deterrence of mutual destruction which keeps other nuclear powers in check, will not very likely apply to nations with such an ideology and a suicide bomber kind of mentality – even if it is only a minority with such a mindset. A minority of over 1.5 billion adherents is still in the millions of those who take their holy book literally.

There are other defining characteristics of the beast, and/or the Antichrist, such as what John describes as the “fatal wound [that was] healed” (Revelation 13:3 & 12). This again is one of those aspects of the prophecy which has given rise to many varied interpretations. The text in this case seems to be a little ambiguous as to whether it is the king (the Antichrist), or the kingdom of the beast which is fatally wounded – which may mean that it could be both. Since scripture doesn’t seem to interpret this for us such that we can definitively know for sure what is meant, our interpretations may be somewhat speculative at best. Some scholars (such as Henry Alford) tell us it is the destruction of the Roman pagan Empire by the Christian Roman Empire, hence the revival of the Roman Empire would be its miraculous healing.[5] Another view is that it is about the Ottoman Empire which is the seventh beast, and will be revived as the empire of the last beast of Revelation (Michael Fortner – The Beast and the False Prophet Revealed). Still another scholar is sure that it will be Adolph Hitler resurrected from the dead (Robert Van Kampen – The Sign). Each of these views have significant challenges matching what all scripture does tell us about these beasts.

If it is about an empire being revived, then a revived Islamic Empire seems the most scriptural and believable. However, rather than a revived Ottoman Empire a better candidate might be a revived Mesopotamian Empire, as it seems that all of the Empires of the seven headed beast can be subsumed under this broader title. This is significant because John tells us that the last beasts are “of the seven” -“The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.” (Revelation 17:11 – the word “one” is in italics in modern versions because it is not in the original Greek text.) A modern coalition of Islamic nations into a contemporary empire would actually be a combination of all of the former Mesopotamian empires going back to the Babylonian Empire. Even the religion of Islam is a derivation of the earliest Babylonian religions going all the way back to Cush and Nimrod, Allah being a name for the moon god.

If is about a person, a “king,” the 8^th beast of Revelation, the “little horn” of Daniel, then such a person has apparently not yet appeared on the world’s stage. Thus this is probably one of those still future predictions which hasn’t happened yet, and is thus probably not knowable. But if a world leader emerges, especially in the Islamic world, who is able to make the world think he has died and come back from the dead, it will be a rather certain clue that he is the prophesied Antichrist (this is discussed more in depth in the book Revelation Demystified, and The Beast, the Antichrist, the Harlot Babylon – Popular Theories Revisited and A Reality-based “Sola Scriptura” Proposal, by this author).

An interpretation which is gaining popularity today is that the Antichrist will actually be the key prophetic figure of Islamic Eschatology – the Mahdi (and to some the “Twelfth Imam”). While this makes a lot of sense compared to some of the other candidates, such as the Pope, or a European president of the EU, or even Hitler or many others, it does seem to present us with a challenge logically. According to Revelation 17 this final beast, the 7^th and 8^th form of the seven-headed beast, hate the Harlot Babylon and devour her and burn her up with fire. If we understand Babylon to represent the religious element of this kingdom of the beast, for which there is a great deal of scriptural and historical evidence, and it is the religion of Islam, then we have an Islamic Imam attacking the religion of which he is the head. While this is perhaps possible, it is lacking in credibility. It seems more likely that the Antichrist will be an Islamist, but assume more of a role of a secular government leader, like the role Saddam Hussein played in Iraq. Whether he will claim to be the promised Mahdi seems questionable.

Are we in the end times? Are we seeing the Beast of Daniel and Revelation rising up out of the sea of humanity? Is there a religion which is associated with Babylon (in Iraq), which fits the Biblical description of the harlot riding the beast? For some no amount of evidence will be convincing – they will never see the elephant in the room, at least until it is too late. Utopians and optimists, and people who don’t believe in taking what God has told us literally, will continue to believe what they want to believe. They will hang on to the hope that somehow, magically, the situation the world is in today will work itself out. Somehow the rapidly growing beast of Islam will go away, or be taken care of – they hope, or wish.   They will never recognize the Beast or the harlot Babylon or the Antichrist. Perhaps they are the ones Paul wrote about in 2 Thessalonians – those who really don’t have a love for the truth, who just don’t want to know. Perhaps the biggest lie ever perpetrated on such an educated world, that Islam is a religion of peace, is part of the “deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,” which we are told there God sends upon those who just don’t want to know.

More and more Bible scholars and students of Bible prophecy are waking up to the fact that there is a connection between the Islam of today and the beasts and Antichrist of the Bible. While those theories also now abound, which is mostly a function of how literally they take what scripture says, at least they are looking in the right direction.   The conclusions I have reached based on a very literal approach to interpretation and letting scripture interpret scripture, especially with respect to the symbology used, include the following concerning the one we call the Antichrist:

• He will be a Muslim, initially emerging as the dominant leader of a coalition of ten Islamic nations (Daniel 7:7-8 & 19-26, 8:9-12 and 22-26; Revelation 13:1-4, 17:11-13).
• He will deceive the whole world into believing that he will be a peaceful uniter who will bring the world together and will eliminate the threat of radical militant Islam (Daniel 8:23-25 and 11:21-24; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12; Revelation 13:3-4).
• He will be able to use the weapon of oil to coerce the non-Islamic nations to agree with his demands and accept his leadership, promising them peace.
• He may come from the Seleucid line of kings, a Syrian or an Assyrian, possibly a descendant of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Daniel 8:21-26, 9:26-27, 11:31; Isaiah 31:4-9; Micah 5:6-7).
• He will implement a global economic system, probably internet based, in which everyone will have and ID number involving a bar-code – every bar-code features three sixes as part of the UPC code (Revelation 13:18).
• The barcodes with the ID numbers will be burned by laser into a chip implanted in every persons right hand and forehead (Revelation 13:16-18).
• He will break a seven-year treaty he had made with Israel and will invade her (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 13:7).
• He will desecrate the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (which will be rebuilt on the real former temple site – not the mistaken Dome of the Rock site), and will declare himself to be God (the “abomination of desolation” of Daniel 8:11-13, 9:27, 11:31, 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Revelation 13:14-15).
• He will then demand that the world worship him – not the Islamic Allah (Revelation 13:3-8, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
• He will be opposed by the Woman, the harlot Babylon, the Islamic Imams and Mullahs and clerics and He will destroy them purging the world of the Islamic threat (the fall of Babylon the Great) as he promised to do before he came to power (Revelation 17:15-18).
• He will invade Egypt – the “king of the south,” which will rise up against him (Daniel 11:40-43).
• He will hear rumors of an insurrection in Jerusalem and he will return to marshal all of his forces in the valley of Megiddo, also known as Har Magedon (Daniel 11:44-45; Revelation 16:12-16; also known as the Plain of Esdraelon, or the valley of Jezreel, or the “valley of Jehoshaphat” of Joel 3:2 & 12).
• Jesus Christ will return with His followers and forces and will completely annihilate this beast, the former Islamic coalition, and its leader the Antichrist (Isaiah 11:4; 13:9-11; 31:4-8; Daniel 2:44-45, 7:11-14, 22, 26-27; 9:27; 11:45; Joel 3:2, 11-15; Zephaniah 3:8; Zechariah 14:1-5; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 2:8; Jude 14-15; Revelation 17:14, 19:19-21)

There is more about these end-times beasts and the Antichrist and the Harlot Babylon in Revelation Demystified, and The Beast, The Antichrist, and the Harlot Babylon, also by this author.

[1] A popular and perhaps prevalent view among futurists is that the Roman Empire is represented by the legs of iron of the statue of Daniel 2, and hence the 4^th beast of the 7^th chapter is a revived Roman Empire. This view is not well supported by scripture or history or current events, and has been soundly refuted by many later, contemporary Bible scholars. The revived Roman Empire theory also seems to be contradictory to what John tells us in Revelation 17:10-11 about the 7^th and 8^th beasts.

[2] It also seems somewhat arbitrary to pick two other empires out of the many possible historic candidates, (such as the earliest Sumerian or Akkadian empires, or the later Islamic empires such as the Ottoman empire) neither of which are even mentioned anywhere in Daniel’s prophecies. Perhaps again it is best to stick with what Daniel actually wrote about, and he makes no mention of the Egyptian or Assyrian Empires, or any other empires, existing before Babylon. If we take John’s prophecy as related to Daniel’s prophecy, it may be more consistent to begin where Daniel began and follow his order of succession – Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Seleucid (revived Assyrian) and Ptolemaic (Egyptian) kingdoms or empires.

[3] This per “The Plan for the Return of the Caliphate” by Abu Qanit al-Sharif al-Hasani of the Guiding Helper Foundation (cited by Walid Shoebat in his book God’s War on Terror, chapter 23.)

[4] Also from Walid Shoebat’s book, The War on Terror, chapter 16.

[5] From Dr. John Walvoord’s commentary on Revelation 13:3 in the Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament edition.