Having lived in Bahrain for three years, I clearly believe it can only be Islam because scripture says its HQ will be in Babylon (in Iraq) (where it all started). Consider their beliefs while remembering Scripture:
- they behead non-believers
- they await a mark on their foreheads by their messiah by using the rod of Moses
- they can raise an army of 200 million (more like a 700 million) if needed when a caliphate is established
- they worship the moon-god Allah (aka Baal from the Hebrew Scriptures)
- “Lucifer” in Hebrew, the same word in Arabic means “crescent” as in “crescent moon” and Jesus said He saw “him” fall like a star
- they worship a meteorite (the black stone in Mecca) in the desert where John was taken and seeing the beast (Islam) rise up out of the sand (Mecca)
- the world drinks the wine of her fornication – oil – the world will do anything to keep the oil flowing
- Islam is the #1 killer of Christians within their borders
- All nations of Daniel’s statue were/are Islamic (Rome controlled most of the modern Islamic nations)
- John’s 5 kingdoms are fallen were all countries that ruled Israel and they all worship Baal – today Allah, 1 “is” = Rome, one to come – Ottoman, is wounded (1924 the caliphate was disbanded), and raises again where the little horn comes, is the 8th which comes from the 7th – Ottoman Empire
- the antichrist is called the Assyrian – search “the Assyrian” in the Scriptures and think antichrist and Islam and you’ll see it
- they deny Jesus’ work on the cross and say that Judas was crucified instead of Jesus
- they believe Jesus will return to point the lost “Christians” to the correct religion of Islam
- their messiah (Mahdi) will come in his own name – everything they do begins with “in the name of Allah” in Arabic is Bismillah and is the two right letters written in Greek in Revelation 13:18 (see “Mark of the Beast” from my book at http://www.abdicate.net/book.aspx)
- they reject any requests (desires) of women (since they’re 2nd class citizens, inferior, and have only 1/2 a brain), this is why Wahhabism doesn’t allow women to vote, drive a car, be seen in public without a male relative, and must be covered up as the tempter is worse than the “victim” of the temptation
- they are a religion of war
- they wish to change all laws to sharia’a law
- they would force anyone under their control to convert to Islam
- they would remove the Gregorian calendar for the Islamic calendar
- they would remove the “weekend” from Sat-Sun to Fri-Sat as Friday is their holy day
- they wish to “free” Jerusalem from the oppression of the Jews
- they “must” kill all Jews
- the Mahdi (aka antichrist) will set the caliphate in Jerusalem
- they claim Revelation 6:2 as being their messiah – yes, they believe the Scriptures, but the Quran “fixes” the mistakes in Scriptures
- their messiah will make a 7-year peace treaty with a Levite
- they occupy all religious buildings and claim them for Allah – remember the tall Buddhas in Afghanistan they blew up? The main mosque in Istanbul used to be a Greek Orthodox church
- they believe the Dejjal – their “anti-messiah”, our Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus Christ) – will come and fight the Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus
- U.S. Department of State (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/171751.pdf) proclaims that there are no longer any churches in Afghanistan, just as Islam’s holy book, the Quran, commands (http://quran.com/2/191) – I guess Iraq is next as well as Egypt
- when Jesus returns, who does He fight according to Scriptures? All Islamic countries and although “Rome” is mentioned 15 times in the Scriptures, never in judgement
There is so much more, and in my 33 years as a Christian, I never could see this until my eyes were opened – I believe that this is the fulfillment of:
II Thessalonians 2:11 “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”
What “is” the lie? That Islam is a peaceful religion.
You must study Islam and reread and believe what the text says – no allegories, no substitutions.