Tuesday 30 September 2014

BRILLIANT VIDEO OF AMERICAN MARINES PRAISING AND WORSHIPPING THE LORD! COULD NOT IMAGINE THIS HAPPENING IN THE UK.

SOME MORE CUTTING EDGE NEWS FROM THE SHOEBAT NEWSLETTER, INCLUDING VIDEO FOOTAGE OF SHI'ITE MUSLIMS EXECUTING ISIS FIGHTERS AND BURNING THEIR BODIES!!



OBAMA, "THE SMARTEST EVER PRESIDENT" ADMITS HE WAS COMPLETELY UNPREPARED TO HANDLE ISIS, WHO HE GREATLY UNDER ESTIMATED!!

New post on Now The End Begins

The “Smartest President Ever” Admits He Was Completely Unprepared To Handle ISIS

by NTEB News Desk

Obama's strange balancing act defending Islam as he tries to battle ISIS

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:8
In 2012, when running against Mitt Romney, Obama gave an interview where he dismissively referred to ISIS as the "JV Team", not even worthy of the time it would take him to even formulate his statement. In 2014, ISIS is calling the shots in the Middle East, and Obama is desperately trying to play catch up. Are we to believe that Obama had absolutely no idea what ISIS was capable of? Or are we to believe that this is a carefully orchestrated plan designed to allow ISIS to come to power like he allowed Iran to go nuclear? You decide.
obama-unprepared-for-isis-il-islamic-state
"The Islamic State is not Islamic"...huh?
President Obama acknowledged that the U.S. underestimated the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and overestimated the ability of the Iraqi military to fend off the militant group in an interview that will air Sunday on 60 Minutes.
The president was asked by 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft about comments from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has said the U.S. not only underestimated ISIS, it also overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi military to fight the extremist group.
"That's true," Mr. Obama said. "That's absolutely true."
NTEB News Desk | September 29, 2014 at 10:17 am | Tags: 60 MinutesISISobama | Categories:Headline NewsISISObama | URL: http://wp.me/p1kFP6-6Z3

PALESTINIANS ARE IRATE AS "THE THIRD TEMPLE WITH UNDERGROUND PARKING" CROWD-FUNDING RAISES TO $105.000.

The Jewish Press » » Palestinians Irate As ‘Third Temple With Underground Parking’ Crowdfunding Raises $105,000

Rebuilding_Temple-underground-parking
Photo Credit: Koby Haraty
Republished from Jewish Business NewsThe new Jewish Temple will offer millions of pilgrims underground parking, according to a new plan that just received the endorsement of hundreds of supporters who put their money where their faith is.An Israeli right wing organization known as the Temple Institute has announced on Sunday that its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to support modern architectural plans for the third Jewish temple in Jerusalem has concluded successfully on Rosh Hashanah, having picked up $104,814 in 60 days. 
The campaign’s goal had been $100,000.The first Jewish temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BCE; the second in 70 CE.The Temple Institute campaign began on August 5, which was the first day of the Jewish month of Av, the time of year associated with the destruction of both temples.According to the Institute press release, nearly 900 pledges have come in from more than 30 countries. The indiegogo campaign page received 10,000 shares on Facebook, and their pitch video, depicting a digital rendition of the way the Temple would look in modern Jerusalem has received 160,458 views.Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, of the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, has told Vice News that the plan is “illegal” according to international law.
“Israel is the only country in the world that considers East Jerusalem to be part of Israeli state territory,” she stated. “Under international law, Israel’s annexation of occupied East Jerusalem is illegal, and no state in the world recognizes Israeli sovereignty there. Numerous UN resolutions affirm that East Jerusalem, including the Old City and its religious sites, are part of the occupied Palestinian territory, where sovereignty belongs to the Palestinian people.”According to Vice News, Gassner called on Indiegogo to remove the campaign from its site. “The project clearly promotes conflict, destruction and hatred, and not peace,” she said. “Indiegogo should be informed that this is an illegal campaign as defined by their terms, violating international law and human rights, resulting in the destruction of property, inciting for religious intolerance, hatred and violence.”
According to the Temple Institute press release, the funds raised via Indiegogo will be used to continue regular research at the Institute, as well as to commission additional architectural plans.“The architects will fuse Jewish law with modern technology to prepare for a fully modern third Temple, Kosher to the letter of the law, but including mod-cons like underground parking, heating and computerized washing stations that minimi

Monday 29 September 2014

ISRAEL ACCUSED OF "NEW WAR OF GENOCIDE" BY MAHMOUD ABBAS AT THE UNITED NOTHINGS!!

ISRAEL ACCUSED OF "NEW WAR OF GENOCIDE" BY MAHMOUD ABBAS AT THE UNITED NOTHINGS!!
“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.” (Proverbs 19:9)PA President Mahmoud Abbas addressing the UN General Assembly. (Photo: YouTube Screenshot)
In what is being viewed as an extremely controversial speech, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking before the UN General Assembly on Friday, Abbas ranted about Israel’s “absolute war crimes” and threatened that he would seek a UN resolution that would terminate Israel’s presence in PA controlled areas.
Abbas told members of the Assembly that 2014 was supposed to mark a new point in Palestinian relations and a year of international solidarity with the Palestinians. However, Abbas blamed Israel for choosing to make it “a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people.”
The Palestinian leader condemned Israel’s actions during the recent 50-day conflict against terrorists in Gaza, saying the resulting “unprecedented” destruction amount to “absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world.”
According to the IDF, Gaza-based terrorists fired some 3,360 rockets into Israel during the conflict and 66 Israeli soldiers and six civilians died during the war. The Hamas Health Ministry claimed that 2,100 Gazans were killed during Operation Protective Edge. However, Israel has proved repeatedly that more than half of those killed were terrorist combatants.
Touching upon collapsed US-led negotiation efforts between Israel and the Palestinians, Abbas stated, “This war came after long, difficult negotiations for more than eight months under the auspices of the United States and the efforts of President Barack Obama and tenacious efforts of his Secretary of State John Kerry.”
“We engaged in this endeavor with open minds, in good faiths and with a positive spirit,” Abbas stated, saying that he received “overwhelming support of the nations of the world.”
While the Palestinians “genuinely respected our commitments and understandings” and believed in the negotiations, Abbas contended, Israel “did not miss the opportunity to undermine the chance for peace” and “once again failed the test of peace.”
Calling for the immediate resumption of peace talks, Abbas pessimistically stated that “it is impossible” to return to any negotiations that do not seek to establish a Palestinian state inside the pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital, making clear that he would no longer abide by Washington’s expectations.
“Israel refuses to end its occupation of the State of Palestinian since 1967, but rather seeks its continuation and entrenchment, and rejects the Palestinian state and refuses to find a just solution to the plight of the Palestine refugees,” Abbas said.
Abbas continued to accuse Israel, “the colonial occupying Power,” of supporting “isolated ghettos for Palestinians” as well as upholding what he called “racist” and apartheid policies.
“Israel has confirmed during the negotiations that it rejects making peace with its victims, the Palestinians people. The time has come to end this settlement occupation,” he declared.
Tying in a hot topic at this year’s General Assembly, Abbas went so far as to say that the international world’s fight against ISIS should also be a fight against “bringing an end to the Israeli occupation of our country.”
Immediately following Abbas’s speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a statement that Abbas showed “he doesn’t want and cannot be a partner for a logical diplomatic resolution.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara before departing for the US to address the UN General Assembly, September 28, 2014. (Photo: Avi Ohayon/ GPO)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara before departing for the US to address the UN General Assembly, September 28, 2014. (Photo: Avi Ohayon/ GPO)
“It’s no coincidence that he joined a government with Hamas,” Liberman said, referring to the Fatah-Hamas unity government. “Abbas complements Hamas when he deals with diplomatic terrorism and slanders Israel with false accusations.”
“As long as he’s chairman of the Palestinian Authority he will continue the conflict. He is the continuation of Arafat through different means,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon asserted that Abbas’s speech “proved for the umpteenth time that he is not a leader who wants peace and strives to advance the lives of his people, but a person who is propagating lies, is engaged in incitement and spreads hate speech against Israel.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to speak before the Assembly on Monday, vowed to “repel the slanders and lies spewed” against the State of Israel by Abbas.
Before departing to the US, Netanyahu stated, “In my address to the UN General Assembly, I will refute all of the lies being directed at us and I will tell the truth about our state and about the heroic soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world.”
He also expressed his outrage over Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech, which Netanyahu said “deceived” the international community into believing that easing sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program would mark “the beginning of a path toward collaboration and cooperation.”
“After the deceitful speech of the Iranian president and Abbas’s inciting words, I will tell the truth of the citizens of Israel to the whole world,” Netanyahu stated.

ISIS IS TURKEY'S TOOL FOR RE-ESTABLISHING THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE!

ISIS, TURKEY’S TOOL FOR RE-ESTABLISHING CALIPHATE

  1. Michael Maloof
WASHINGTON – The release by ISIS of 49 Turkish diplomats under mysterious circumstances raises further concern that Ankara’s cooperation with the jihadist army could be part of a quiet plan to re-establish the Ottoman Empire, according to some Middle East experts, according to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Ankara already has allowed ISIS jihadist fighters to enter Syria, launder millions of dollars a day and sell oil taken from occupied Iraq.
Turkey said that through “diplomacy” and “negotiation” it was able to obtain the release of diplomats captured when ISIS took over Mosul last June. While Ankara initially denied that it paid any ransom or exchanged any prisoners for the diplomats, ISIS now claims Turkey has released 180 of its fighters, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Ankara had used the hostage issue as a reason to deny a U.S. request either to get directly involved in attacking ISIS positions in Syria or to allow the U.S. to use Incirlik Air Base to launch attacks.
With its main excuse removed, some Middle East experts believe Sunni Turkey’s ulterior motive is to quietly work with the Sunni ISIS to reestablish the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey recently encouraged its businesses to invest in ISIS-occupied Iraq.
Energy-hungry Turkey continues to buy oil from ISIS produced from captured Iraqi oil wells for less than half of market value. Much of the ISIS oil goes to Turkish companies, providing ISIS with some $3 million a day to help fund its expansionist activities.
Turkey’s minister of economy, Nihat Zeybekci, is encouraging Turkish businesses to invest in ISIS-occupied portions of Iraq, and ISIS has openly extended invitations to Turkish businesses.

“Our exports to Iraq are now down to 35 percent, but Iraq cannot easily substitute other sources,” Neybekci said. “We think there will be a boom in demand soon. We also know that [ISIS] is contacting individual Turkish businessmen and telling them, ‘Come back, we won’t interfere.’ That is not easy, of course. But when the future Iraq is rebuilt, it will be Turkey doing it.”
‘Spirit of the Seljuks’
Middle East expert Nawaf Qadimi has provided further evidence of the subtle cooperation between Turkey and ISIS.
“We have witnessed the severity of the [ISIS] organization in demolishing all the shrines, temples and tombs, even those that are attributed to the prophets and the companions, as being a manifestation of shirk (polytheism), as said by them,” Qadimi said.
“However, when it comes to the shrine of the grandfather of the Turkish Ottomans, Suleiman Pasha, inside Syria and in the areas under [ISIS] control, not only did [ISIS] refrain from destroying it but facilitated the entry of Turkish troops to such shrines and protected them,” he said. “The ISIS forces are to date protecting it and did not destroy it.”
Further underscoring Turkey’s quest to reestablish the Ottoman Empire, which dissolved after some 500 years after the end of World War I, Turkish President Recep Tayyeb Erdogan, a devout Muslim, made a telling comment in July 2012 before an audience of his Justice and Development Party.
Erdogan, who at that time was prime minister, made the statement to justify efforts to overthrow the government of Shiite-Alawite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and openly allow jihadist fighters to use Turkey to train and to stage attacks in Syria.
“The Justice and Development Party is a party in which the spirit of the Seljuks and the Ottomans is deeply rooted,” Erdogan said.
He regards the Turkish people as the Seljuks, remnants of the Ottoman Empire.
Historically, the Seljuk state was a medieval Turko-Persian empire extending from eastern Anatolia – the old name for Turkey – and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf into the Khorasan area.
An affiliate of al-Qaida, called Khorasan, is seeking to influence the area.
The Khorasan al-Qaida affiliate is led by Muhsin al-Fadhli, 33, who has been known to the U.S. for some time. It is comprised of other senior al-Qaida operatives who seek to conduct attacks on the U.S. and its allies. Located in Pakistan, they also have fighters in Syria and are closely linked with the al-Qaida affiliate there, Jabhat al-Nusra, which is often at odds with ISIS.

Sunday 28 September 2014

THE WEEKEND REVIEW FROM JERUSALEM FROM THE SPLENDID "BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS" TEAM.

An Extension of God's Hand
View this email in your browser

The Jihadists' Promise: Power Over Death

By: Louis René Beres
Jihadi violence serves not only to advance the terrorist’s delusion of immortality, but also to add, however perversely, an apparent and desperately needed erotic satisfaction, using religion as the justification.

When Sounding the Shofar Was a Crime in Jerusalem

By: Rabbi Naphtali “Tuly” Weisz
There is no more powerful sound than the blast of the Shofar. To the Jewish people, the Shofar is not some primitive trumpet; rather, it is the instrument which accompanied our most glorious national episodes.

Read »

Europe Proves One-State Solution is an Illusion

By: Ben-Dror Yemini
The idea of a “new Middle East” drew a significant part of its power from the processes taking place in Europe. If it works over there, why can’t it work between Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel as well? But the joy was premature.

An Extension of God's Hand

By: Jonathan Feldstein
We pray to God for a year of happiness, health, and prosperity, and stand humbly before Him, putting our faith and trust in Him, and our lives in His loving hands. Ultimately, He is the Judge who decides our fate.

Britain's Female Jihadists

By: Soeren Kern
British female jihadists are now in charge of guarding as many as 3,000 non-Muslim Iraqi women and girls held captive as sex slaves...
As many as 60 Muslim women between the ages of 18 and 24 are believed to have left Britain to join the jihadist group ISIS during the past twelve months alone.

Why Rouhani Loves NY

By: Caroline Glick
​Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to New York next week will be a welcome relief for the Iranian leader. Finally, he’ll be somewhere where he’s appreciated, even loved.

Saturday 27 September 2014

BRITAIN MOVES A STEP CLOSER TO RECOGNISING A NEW STATE FOR "PALESTINE"! PLEASE READ THIS VITAL AND URGENT MATERIAL!

Proposed October 13th Debate on Palestinian Statehood
View this email in your browser
It has been brought to our attention that a debate is being organised in the Westminster Parliament on October 13th, with the intent to pressure the UK government to officially recognise a Palestinian State.

Immediately below is a very recent article from the Jerusalem Post on this matter:

British MPs to vote on motion calling for Palestinian State
The debate will offer the MPs the first-ever opportunity to vote on the vexed issue
(by Jerry Lewis - The Jerusalem Post - online edition - September 23rd, 2014)

British MPs will have an unprecedented opportunity to vote on whether there should be a Palestinian state when the House of Commons resumes after its current party conference break on October 13.

A group of MPs from all major political parties, headed by Labour’s Grahame Morris – including Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, Liberal Democrat Sir Bob Russell, and Green Party former leader Caroline Lucas – have secured a debate under a relatively new procedure for a full-scale, whole day’s debate in the Commons chamber.

The motion reads: “This House believes that the government should recognise the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.’’ With those proposing the motion appearing determined to push the issue to a vote, seasoned Westminster observers fear a vote in favour of immediate recognition of a Palestinian state could cause a substantial shift in public opinion and lead to added pressures on the government to change its current policy, which favours securing an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians before considering granting Palestinians recognition.

The debate will offer the MPs the first-ever opportunity to vote on the vexed issue. As the topic for debate has been chosen by backbenchers, it is very unlikely party whips will order MPs to attend or advise them how to vote, so predicting any possible outcome is virtually impossible.

However, The Jerusalem Post understands that the pro-Palestinian lobby will not have it entirely its own way. Several pro-Israel MPs from across the political divide in the Commons have just tabled an amendment that in effect insists that any call for establishing a Palestinian State should come about only “on the conclusion of successful peace negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.”

Those associated with the amendment include former Conservative Friends of Israel Chairman James Arbuthnot, the highly regarded former Middle East Minister, Alistair Burt, Labour Friends of Israel Chairwoman Anne McGuire, and LFI vice chairwoman Louise Ellman.

After working very hard behind the scenes to ensure an amendment was tabled, Conservative Friends of Israel’s energetic director, Stuart Polak, told the Post: “It’s comforting to know that there are backbench MPs who understand the reality of the situation and were able to amend Grahame Morris’s motion. Calling for two states for two peoples after the resumption of successful peace negotiations is something all MPs should support.”

Without indicating which way the government minister – who will participate in the debate – will advise MPs on how to cast their vote, a Foreign Office spokesman told the Post in scarcely coded language that the government would not be endorsing a call favouring the recognition of a Palestinian State.

The spokesman made clear that the government “reserved the right to bilaterally recognise a Palestinian State at a moment of our choosing and when it can best help bring about peace,’’ before crucially adding that the government continues to believe that negotiations toward a two-state solution are “the best route to meeting Palestinian aspirations in reality and on the ground.”

Ellman told the Post that a negotiated two-state solution is required to give Israel security, and “that is the only way mutual recognition between the Palestinians and Israelis can be achieved with an agreement on sensitive issues including border and security arrangements.”

She added that the debate under the terms proposed by Morris and his colleagues is a clear attempt to bypass these requirements and would not require a Palestinian State to recognise Israel’s borders.


We here at CFI-UK are very grateful to our former UK Director, Roy Thurley, for putting together some briefing notes on how we would suggest that you, as a CFI-UK Advocate, might respond to this in any communication you might have with your local MP.

Recognising the Palestinian Authority as a State
A back-bench debate has been secured by Grahame Morris MP (Labour, Easington) to discuss “Palestine and Israel”. This debate will be held in the Chamber of the House of Commons on Monday 13th October, the day that MPs return from the Conference Recess. Although we do not have the exact text of the motion, we understand that it will be similar to: “This House recognises a Palestinian State alongside Israel”.  Members of Conservative Friends of Israel have tabled an Amendment, which has been accepted for debate, that this recognition should occur after the successful completion of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Normally back-bench sponsored debates are not ‘whipped’ by the political parties. That is, there is no obligation upon the party members to be present or to vote in a particular way. If the amendment were to be defeated, and the original motion passed, it would mean that the UK Parliament had voted to recognise a Palestinian State now, which would put Parliament at odds with the current Government, whose declared position is that such a state should only come about at the conclusion of successful negotiations. The Government’s Chief Whip has therefore been requested by some Conservative MPs to enforce the whip for this debate, so that those MPs will vote for the amendment (or against the motion) in line with the Government’s position.

What you can do:
Write to your MP asking him/her to attend this debate and to vote for the amendment. It is the policy of both the UK and USA governments that Israel and the Palestinian Authority must negotiate the future status of the disputed territories in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967. The USA, in particular, have tried many times to encourage ‘peace talks’ between Israel and the PA, but these talks have never reached a successful conclusion. Recognition of a Palestinian State in advance gives no reason for the PA to be brought back to the negotiating table, and is likely to make them less willing to do so. If they can gain recognition without negotiation, why negotiate?

The most recent negotiations were broken off because of the unity agreement between the PA and HAMAS, recognised here and in many other countries as a terrorist organisation. The policy of Israel in refusing to negotiate with a terrorist organisation is the same as that of Britain and USA.

If you have a Conservative MP, you could ask him/her in addition to ask the Chief Whip to ensure that Conservative MPs are ‘whipped’ for this debate, to ensure that the policy of the Government is not undermined by a vote in Parliament.

NB. It may be your understanding from the Bible and International Law that Israel is entitled to the whole of the Land of Israel, including Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Whether they exercise their right or not is a matter for the Israeli Government, and not for us – though we can pray. Israel has already withdrawn from the Gaza Strip (2005) but did not renounce her sovereignty over that part of the Land. It is up to them how to deal with the PA in any negotiations, and not up to any other country or the United Nations to impose a settlement. That includes a unilateral recognition by the UK Parliament, which is why a defeat of this motion is important for Britain as well as for Israel.

___________________________________

On a very different tack altogether, one of our CFI-UK Area Reps has made us aware that an advocacy group called Fair Reporting is back in action once more, and is asking for support for an online petition which seeks for the BBC to release its infamous Balen Report.

We are taking this opportunity to make all our email-based Advocates aware and giving you the opportunity to be involved...if you so choose.

Fair Reporting writes:

Fair Reporting is back in action again with a very urgent and important petition requesting :
  • The complete publication of the Balen Report that was commissioned in 2004 and which the BBC buried.
  • Also requesting an independent investigation of BBC reporting on Israel to expose anti Israel bias since the Balen Report to date.
The purpose of the Petition is to determine if the BBC has, and is, acting within its Charter and to expose biased media reporting.

Please click on the link below to read further and then sign (ie fill in the form on the right hand side with your name and email address and, if you wish, also a comment)

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fair-reporting-requests-the-bbc-to-release-the

On behalf of CFI-UK, thank you in advance for any support you can give to these two matters,

ROBIN BENSON
Head of Communication, CFI-UK

"THE ANTICHRIST AND THE MUSLIM MAHDI, PART ONE" BY THE EXCELLENT MICHAEL YOUSSEF.

The Antichrist and the Muslim Mahdi (Part 1)

Many people—religious and non-religious—are asking questions about a word they hear the media use when referring to ISIS and other Islamist jihadists. That word isapocalyptic, which is used when specifically referring to the fatalism of Islamists.
People wonder, why do so many Muslims (both Sunni and Shiite) operate with such an “apocalyptic,” end-of-world mindset?
Our secular society, however, coupled with the media’s carelessness, is bandying about words like apocalyptic without using them properly and without explanation. That creates a great deal of confusion for some, many of which just throw up their hands in resignation and say, “I don’t understand this.”
But for those who want to understand, I am offering this 2-part column, taking excerpts from my newest book, Jesus, Jihad, and Peace. I hope this will put things into perspective, so when the media says that an Islamist entity (such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, Iran, etc.) operate with an apocalyptic vision, you can make sense of it.
The word apocalypse does not, in fact, refer to a disastrous, catastrophic, end-of-world event. It’s a Greek word, the root of which means revelation, or revealing things that are hidden. For instance, we know the last book of the Bible asRevelation, but in the original Greek language, it is Apokalupsae. It reveals what is happening in the heavenly realm, as well as events in the future.
The Concept of the Antichrist
Both the Old Testament and New Testament spoke of an end-times figure, theAntichrist, some six hundred years or more before Islam came on the scene. That timing will be important when I explain Islam’s “end of time” coming of a Mahdi in my next column.
The Antichrist is known by various names. Paul calls him “the lawless one,”  “the man of lawlessness,” and “the man doomed to destruction” who “will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). The most detailed description of the Antichrist is in Revelation 13, where the Apostle John refers to the Antichrist as “the beast.” The Old Testament prophet Daniel describes the abominable works of the Antichrist, but gives him no name or title (Daniel 9:27).
Who, then, is the Antichrist, whose brief but terrible reign is predicted in both the Old and New Testaments? He will be a world leader of unparalleled political, military, and religious power. He will be charming, persuasive, and popular beyond measure. The world will not know him as the “Antichrist,” but by some attractive name and appealing title. But just as the word “Antichrist” suggests, he will be the opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ in every way. Everything Christ is, the Antichrist is not; everything Christ is not, the Antichrist is.
Jesus came from heaven (John 6:38); the Antichrist comes from the Abyss, the spiritual domain of evil (Revelation 11:7). Jesus came in the name of the Father; the Antichrist comes in his own name (John 5:43). Jesus was despised by the world (Isaiah 53:3); the Antichrist is worshiped by the world (Revelation 13:3-4). Jesus came in humility as a servant (Philippians 2:7-8); the Antichrist comes in pride, claiming to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Daniel 11:36). Jesus is the truth (John 14:6); the Antichrist is the lie (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). Jesus is the Son of God (Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35); the Antichrist is the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV).
The Apostle Paul tells us that the mystery (or secret) of godliness is that God Himself has appeared to us in human flesh (1 Timothy 3:16)—and that the mystery (or secret) of lawlessness is that Satan has produced a counterfeit Christ, the Antichrist, Satan wrapped in human flesh (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). Jesus is the true Shepherd; Satan will have his evil shepherd, the Antichrist. Jesus is the Holy One of God; the Antichrist will be the lawless one of Satan. Jesus is the Man of Sorrows; the Antichrist will be the man of sin.
One Antichrist and many antichrists
First of all, the Antichrist is coming—a lawless man who will come in Satan’s power, demanding to be worshiped as God, destroying all those who love God. But John tells us that there are many other antichrists, lesser deceivers who are also self-exalting, evil, and destructive. They are antichrists, but they are not the Antichrist.
Jesus tells us that, shortly before His return, the Antichrist will arise during a time of global chaos and confusion, when the world is in political, social, financial, and ecological upheaval. The terrified people of the world, desperate for a strong leader, will turn to this man and give him control of the governments of the world.
Daniel tells us that the Antichrist will speak “boastfully” (Daniel 7:8), yet it is clear that these will not be empty boasts. The Antichrist will appear to possess superhuman brilliance. He’ll be the ultimate smooth talker, the greatest con-man who ever lived, and he’ll unite the nations under his rule. At first, he’ll seem to be a wise and benevolent dictator, bringing peace, prosperity, and hope. But once he is firmly in control of the gears and levers of power, he’ll reveal his true intentions.
The way has been paved for such a leader. Atheists, humanists, New Age mystics, Hindus, Buddhists, and Islamists have little in common with each other—but they all share in the belief that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. There are even many self-styled “Christians” who deny the Lord’s claim to be the only way to God. So it will be easy for the Antichrist to establish himself to many as an acceptable alternative.
In these days of muddled and confused worldviews, it is vitally important to know the truth. After all, Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” As events unfold, we need to see them not only through the cameraman’s lens, but also through the lens of biblical revelation.
That the Antichrist is coming is known—only the timing is unknown. Although we know not the hour of night that the thief comes, we must be prepared nonetheless.
In next week’s article (Part 2), we’ll take a look at the striking parallels between the Antichrist and Islam’s Mahdi (savior).