Mistaken Identity

ISLAMIC JIHAD: IMAGES OF TERRORISM, BOMBINGS, DECAPITATIONS, AND DESTRUCTION. Americans, Europeans, and Israelis share a strong sense of foreboding that Western Civilization stands on the cusp of collapse due to insidious individuals radicalized by Salafist and Wahhabist doctrine pledged to strike down infidels. The violence of the Middle East continues unabated driving many Muslims north to Europe seeking peace, safety, and a better life. However, citizens of Western civilizations can't help but fear that lurking within the million plus immigrants crossing into Europe (with others destined for the U.S.) are vast numbers of jihadis pledged to murder Christians, Jews, secular humanists, and moderate Muslims - all in Allah's name. Combined with this turbulent situation churns the apocalyptic conviction many Evangelicals hold that the Apocalypse lies just ahead. Could radical Islam be the catalyst to trigger last days' events? What's more, might the dreaded Antichrist predicted by Biblical prophecy be energized by radical jihadist thinking? Could Islam become a dominant one-world religion foreseen by biblical prophets? Many who study eschatology have concluded this view comprises the most likely scenario. The idea that Antichrist will arise amidst radical Islam has been successfully promoted for a decade. It has altered the conventional perspective of a large segment of those who adhere to Futurism, the position that large portions of Holy Scripture (passages within Daniel, Isaiah, Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Revelation) await future fulfillment. Known as The Islamic Antichrist Theory, much more has been conjectured than the religious sentiment of the Antichrist - the most essential viewpoints of the conventional prophetic scenario have been unseated. Many are unaware this has happened. In short, the theory proposes that Antichrist, Gog, the Mahdi, and Daniel's "king of the north" are all one and the same. Likewise, the theory conflates the last days war of Gog/Magog with Armageddon making the two only one event. Lastly, Islamic Antichrist Theory "regionalizes" the scope of Bible prophecy dismissing the longstanding fear that Antichrist superintends a Luciferian New World Order in which all nations are assimilated into a single government limiting human freedom. This alternate prophetic view obscures other prominent threats that we overlook to our peril.