The Ishmael Factor

Yesterday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter to President Bush was published. I just finished reading the letter and was disturbed to discover what I suspected. President Bush has been exhorted to submit to Allah to help solve the world’s problems. Why might this seemingly unimportant letter be important? It is a well-documented practice in Islamic history that before you attack your enemy you must first give him the opportunity to become Muslim.

Muhammad himself did this to the Byzantine Emperor before attacking his territory. Is this meant to be a veiled threat and mere bluster to intimidate, or is this a serious warning of something more ominous? I don’t know. The letter makes it clear that in Ahmadinejad’s mind the coming of the Islamic Jesus Christ is near and President Bush had better get with the program. In a future blog I hope to write about this more. You can read the Iranian president’s letter for yourself by going to http://www.npr.org/documents/2006/may/ahmadinejad_letter.pdf

Robert Livingston is author of Christianity and Islam: The Final Clash.

Check out the edited podcast of a message I shared during the summer of 2005 on Radical Muslim End-time beliefs. You can go to www.finalclash.com/audio/talk1.mp3 to hear it. In it I also mention why I ended up writing the book Christianity and Islam: The Final Clash. Compare Radical Muslim beliefs to what you know about Bible prophecy and see if you aren’t as amazed as I was when I learned this stuff.

As I write, the Palestinian Authority (PA) teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. Israel has suspended payments of customs money collected at the PA’s border because of Hamas’s recent victory. President Bush has stated that Hamas “must renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist” in order to receive continued funds from the United States. The European Union, France, Germany, Britain and the United Nations have all said much the same. If the West withholds funds, it has been reported that “within a few weeks most Palestinian government employees, including police and security guards, will not be paid”. The economic cost for Palestinians would be cataclysmic.

How can Hamas, the landslide victors of the Palestinian elections, manipulate the world to get money? Labeled “a terrorist organization” by the U.S. State Department and most of the western world, Hamas has a well-established belief in a “one-state solution” to the Palestinian problem. Their answer is simple. Destroy Israel. In spite of this, after a rocky start, they will almost certainly get enough money. Here’s why and here’s how: Read the rest of this entry »

New Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made the news quite recently for openly declaring that Israel should be wiped off the map. Inside Iran, the Persian Journal reports that some of his recent religious statements are causing quite a stir. He has repeatedly been making statements that Iran needs to prepare itself for the second coming of the Shi’ite Muslims hidden 12th imam, also known as the Mahdi.

This Mahdi is a messianic Islamic figure who is believed to be coming to establish world-wide Islam. Furthermore, many Muslims believe Jesus will come back to assist him in this undertaking. Many Shi’ites believe that the Mahdi is the 12th Imam who mysteriously went missing and is believed to be hiding on the earth awaiting the appropriate time to return.

Ahmadinejad stated recently, “Our revolution’s main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi.” The Mahdi and the prophet Jesus (who Muslims believe was a Muslim) are central figures in the End-time beliefs of many Muslims. Once the Mahdi comes he will unify the Islamic world and ultimately eliminate all other political and religious systems. This will supposedly usher in a millenniel Islamic reign to be followed by Allah’s judgment.

Robert Livingston is author of Christianity and Islam: The Final Clash.

In centuries past, great church leaders such as St. Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther felt certain Islam had great importance in end-times Bible prophecy. Only in the last few hundred years, as Islam’s power waned, have such views receded into obscurity. But could it be they were on to something? Could it be the revived Beast of Revelation 13:4 is a revival of an Islamic Empire? And if so, what can we do about it? Three writers, Robert Livingston, author of Christianity and Islam: The Final Clash, Ralph Stice, author of From 911 to 666 and Joel Richardson, author of Antichrist: Islam’s Long Awaited Messiah all tackle these questions head-on, with a love for Muslims, but also with clear insight and straight talk. These are the very definition of timely books for genuine Christians.

Radical Islam’s Rising Star

Consider the backdrop against which they write. On October 6, President Bush declared that radical Islamists are seeking to acquire power in Islamic nations and “unite them into an Empire spanning from Spain to Indonesia”. What he neglected to add is that once they have united the Muslim world their intention is to take over the rest of the planet. If that sounds farfetched, don’t tell that to your visionary jihadist because he won’t believe you. As one radical Muslim philosopher stated, “Islam requires the earth, not just a portion, but the whole planet…”- Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi. Read the rest of this entry »

The fifth and final connection we will write about in this series linking Islam with the end-times has to do with the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as mandatory in Islam.

Revelation also says the world will ask, “Who can wage war against him?” (Rev. 13:4b). While some in the west see nuclear weapons as a great deterrent to world war, devout Muslims see things quite differently. Most people want to preserve life after birth and are horrified by the thought of nuclear annihilation. However, the radical Muslim can find many verses in the Koran commanding him to use any and all weapons at his disposal to advance Islam. As it states, “Whether unarmed or well-equipped, march on and fight for the cause of Allah…” (Surah 9:41). What greater weapon of power can well-equip radical Muslims than nuclear weapons? Read the rest of this entry »

Islamic Sharia law actually uses something with an uncanny resemblance to the mark of the beast.

Under Islamic law, when Muslims took over a territory, all non-Muslims had to convert to Islam or show subservience to Islam. If they chose not to convert, they could pay the jizzya tax, a sort of infidel tax. Non-compliance meant punishment and potentially death. This tax was punishment for not converting to Islam. It was also essentially protection money, allowing non-Muslims to pay for protection from other Muslims. When paying the tax, the infidel had to wear a ribbon or a special robe marking him out as being non-Muslim. It also identified him as a jizzya tax payer submitted to Islamic authority. Read the rest of this entry »

Many Sunnis and Shiites believe in a coming Mahdi. He is a Messianic type figure. Many believe this Mahdi will work together with the Islamic Jesus to establish worldwide Islam. Some Shiites believe he is already on earth waiting for just the right time to be revealed. Of course, Revelation 13 refers to both the Beast and a second beast, the false prophet, working together. Read the rest of this entry »

That’s right! Muslims also believe and wait expectantly for Jesus’ second coming. Yet they believe when Jesus returns he will help establish Islam as the one-world religion. This belief that Islam will one day conquer and rule the world is mentioned in both the Koran and Muhammad’s sayings outside the Koran (Hadith). “It is He (Allah) who has sent His apostle with guidance and the Faith of Truth, so that He may exult it above all religions…” (Surah 61:9). “Fight against such of those who… do not embrace the true faith (Islam), until they pay tribute out of hand or are utterly subdued” (Surah 9:29). Read the rest of this entry »

As a missionary to Muslims, my growing knowledge of Islam ultimately led me face to face with an uncomfortable, but startlingly credible scenario. By the late 1990’s my study of Islam meshed with my study of End-times Bible prophecy revealing a prophetic jigsaw puzzle with an unmistakably Islamic component. Goals of radical Islam fit the anti-Christ’s and False Prophet’s agenda like a custom-made glove. Not unlike a perfectly timed grandfather clock, these cogs fit together with amazing precision. Over the next several weeks, we’ll look at just 5 of the many pieces pointing unswervingly in Islam’s direction. Here’s the first: Read the rest of this entry »