MIDEAST BEAST

First of all, I have to apologize for being so inactive on this blog for the last year.  Patti was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall.  This past year has been very overwhelming for both of us, although Patti was allergic to chemo-therapy, the Lord gave her divine healing, and she is now cancer free.  I’ll let her tell you about her miracle in another blog.  As a cancer survivor, she still has a few lower dose treatments, and follow up.  God is faithful.

 I have just completed a very interesting book.  The book is entitled “MIDEAST BEAST” and the author is Joel Richardson.  According to the cover, it is “The Scriptural Case for an Islamic Antichrist”.  This book is a somewhat sequel to his earlier book entitled “THE ISLAMIC ANTICHIST” where he endeavors to prove that our antichrist and the Muslim Mahdi are the same person.   To be honest, I was pretty skeptical when I first started reading.  I first heard about the Roman antichrist in 1972 when I read Hal Lindsey’s book. “THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH”.  But being a student of Dake, and studying Daniel 11:40 (KJV) ⁴⁰  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.,  we learn that the anti-christ comes from the Syrian division of the Grecian Empire.  He endeavored to prove thru scripture that the 4th empire of the statue in Daniel 2, “the legs of iron”, is not Rome that most modern bible teachers teach, but in fact the Islamic Caliphate.  He goes on to say that the mixture of iron and clay that can’t mix is the Shite and Sunni branches of Islam, who have been killing each other for many centuries. 

I digress here, I don’t mean to get off on a tangent, but the historical and scriptural proof that Richardson brings to light is quite impressive.  But I noticed a couple of obvious scriptures that he had to have purposely overlooked, because they go against what he is trying to prove. Revelation 17:10 (KJV) ¹⁰  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.   The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to John in about 95 AD.  The 6^th kingdom at the time was Rome.  The Islamic Caliphate won’t come around for another couple hundred years.

 He also ignores the Whore of Babylon in Revelation 17.  He is trying to prove that the religion of the anti-christ is Islam, but it is obvious from this "Mystery Babylon" portrayed by the harlot riding seven empires, not just the one.   Revelation 17:6 (KJV) ⁶  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. I get from this verse, that the harlot is a religion, and I firmly believe that the persecution of Israel and the Saints in the the first 3 1/2 years of the Great Tribulation will be from Islam, and or some form such as Chrislam...a mix of Islam and Christianity that some of the most popular evangelists are working towards these days.  But this verse, Revelation 17:15-17 (KJV) ¹⁵  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. ¹⁶  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
¹⁷  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.   We read from this scripture that the harlot, whether it's Islam, Chrislam or  New Age, wil be destroyed to set up beast worship.…Revelation 13:11-15 (KJV) ¹¹  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
¹²  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
¹³  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
¹⁴  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
¹⁵  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. This beast worship sounds much more than just Islam. Richardson minimizes these verses on page 135.  “These verses in Rev 13 that state that the Antichrist will receive worship could simply indicate that the people of the earth will display utter submission to him and his empire.”  Come on Joel…give me a break here.  On page 50 you discuss the term "hyper allegorical approach" to identifying Israel's ancient enemies, aren't you doing basically the same thing here trying to explain away these scriptures?   This is much more than a middle east religion.                                                               

Revelation 13:3 (KJV) ³  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.  Richardson somehow misses the fact that nations are controlled by very powerful princes, fallen angels and good angels.  (Study Daniel 10).  Daniel learns of the Prince of Persia, and Michael, Israel's prince. Richardson indicates that it is not the Prince of Grecia, but the whole empire will be resurrected from the abyss to form the 8^th empire… wait a minute, how can an empire be sent to the abyss?  ( See pages 154 and 155 of his book).    

Richardson also goes on to discuss the “Manchild” in the Book of Revelation is Jesus, (page 164)  not the 144,000, the 1^st fruits of Israel.  Finis Dake proves in his book ,”REVELATION EXPOUNDED”,  that the 144,000 is the “Manchild”, but y’all need to read Dakes book to find the answer…it’s too deep to portray here.     I could ‘copy and paste’, but you’d all be pretty bored by the time you’d get thru it.  It’s like 3 chapters of proof.  Very detailed. 

All in all though, Richardson does a great job in his exposition of Ezek 38 and 39, proving that the so-called “War of Gog and Magog” is the same war portrayed in Revelation as “Armeggedon”.  John Hagee and Perry Stone will disagree vehemently here, but   “Oh well” as my boys used to say.   Sorry to say Mr. Hagee, the president of Russia is not the anti-christ..   Richardson also does a great  job discussing  “hyperbole”  in proving that the 10 kingdoms of the anti-christ won’t be global. 

So in conclusion, even though Richardson comes up with a few details that are diametrically opposed to what is written in the “Word”, I would still have to recommend this book to everyone, not just the students of eschatology.   It is truly a book worth reading.  I’m reading it for the 3^rd time.…  Dave Theisen