The Islamic Antichrist (25 page)

This group will indisputably be opposed to justice and will never give up their stubborn antagonism against any power. Such people will do anything against the promised Mahdi to protect their vested interests. Moreover, they will do anything within their power to demoralize and combat those who support the Imam [Mahdi]. To crush the negative influence of this group there is no other solution except warfare and bloodshed.
¹

The end, the final victory, which will feel as if it is at arm’s reach, will unquestionably justify the means. Anything, including blatant murder, will be excusable, so long as the goal of Islam’s vindication is finally achieved. The psychology here cannot be underestimated.

A GLOBAL CASE OF THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

But beyond the emotional invigoration that we would expect to see among Muslims, we would also expect to see an equal measure of terror among those who do not wish to become Muslims. This brings us to another very important psychological factor that will likely come into play during the last days—terror. Specifically, it is what psychologists have labeled as “the Stockholm syndrome.” Allow me to explain. Perhaps the oddest quality to the Antichrist’s empire is that it is a religious worship movement and a demonically inspired military machine hell-bent on crushing, devouring, and trampling “the whole earth.” These two elements seem at first like a completely incompatible combination. We in the West with our religious freedom view worship as a voluntary act of reverence and love directed toward the one whom we deem worthy of such worship. We see, however, in the Book of Revelation, a hint of the mentality of the worshippers of Satan
and the beast. It says that “men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, ‘
Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?
’” We see in the worshippers an “if you can’t beat him you may as well join him” mentality motivated by fear and terror. We see a clear example here of the Stockholm syndrome. The Stockholm syndrome essentially refers to the psychological dynamic that has been repeatedly observed in which those held prisoner or abused eventually identify with and support their captors or tormentors. A classic case in the United States was the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army, as a result of which she eventually joined their cause. In the case of the future worshippers of the beast, the trampled down and dominated will eventually give in and worship their dominator. In utter awe, they will ask, “Who is like him?”

Not surprisingly, then, many psychologists equate the behavior of victims of terrorism or other abuses with the behavior of those captives. The comparisons are quite fascinating as they relate to our discussion. In an article entitled “The Stockholm Syndrome: Not Just For Hostages,” we read:

The Stockholm Syndrome is an emotional attachment, a bond of interdependence between captive and captor that develops “when someone threatens your life, deliberates, and doesn’t kill you….”
The relief resulting from the removal of the threat of death generates intense feelings of gratitude and fear
which combine to make the captive reluctant to display negative feelings toward the captor
or terrorist
. “The victim’s need to survive is stronger than his impulse to hate the person who has created his dilemma….” The victim comes to see the captor as a “good guy,”
even a savior
.
²
(emphasis mine)

Should we be surprised then that the Stockholm syndrome is at work in the terrorism-plagued nation of Israel? George E. Rubin, in
Commentary Magazine
, May 2000, sees symptoms of the Stockholm syndrome among many in Israel:

After fifty years of unending conflict, most Israeli Jews seem to have concluded that the burden of maintaining their nation is just too difficult to bear. The country’s secular leftist elites—who control education, culture, the news media, and the government—blame the Jews for the Arabs’ desire to destroy Israel, and the majority seems to be afflicted with the “Stockholm syndrome”: though the victims of Arab hate, they identify with their oppressors.
³

Rubin is not alone in this observation. Aharon Megged, an Israeli novelist, mirrors Rubin’s comments:

We have witnessed a phenomenon which probably has no parallel in history; an emotional and moral identification by the majority of Israel’s
intelligentsia
with people openly committed to our annihilation.
⁴

Even as psychologists and intellectuals have observed the Stockholm syndrome present among victims of Islamic terrorism in Israel and elsewhere, the beast empire led by the Antichrist will likewise inspire a global case of this syndrome. People will be overcome with a terror that will eventually lead to literally worshipping the beast. And the tormentor will become the savior.

HAS IT ALREADY BEGUN?

This dynamic may be one of the primary reasons responsible for the explosion of conversions to Islam among Westerners since 9/11. While common sense would tell us that 9/11 would have caused many to be repulsed by Islam, in many quarters it had just the opposite effect. We see this phenomenon in one young American woman’s testimony of how she converted to Islam. In a story from the
New York Times
about the “thousands” of converts to Islam after 9/11:

Shannon Staloch is not sure why, but upon hearing of the hijackings, she immediately grabbed a book from her backpack and recited the Arabic declaration of belief; she made the conversion official twelve days later.
⁵

The aspect of this story (and many others like it) that amazes me is the complete absence of any intellectual or spiritual reasons that many converts cite when examining their decision to convert. “Not sure why,” this woman simply felt the overwhelming need to convert to Islam upon hearing of the horrific murder of thousands of people in the name of the very religion she converted to. In Ms. Staloch’s case, Islamic “terror” had its desired effect. Certainly that news would please Osama Bin Laden.

In the last days, terror will increase a thousandfold. And the Bible makes it clear that terror will have its desired effect upon the inhabitants of the earth. “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him? Why resist him? He is simply too powerful,” they will say. And the Bible says, “every tribe, people, language, and nation—all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.”

The budding trends that we see today—the conversion of the terrorized to the religion of the terrorists—will come to fruition in the days to come as the beast and his kingdom terrorize the whole earth in the name of his religion. So once again we see that the methods of terror utilized by the Antichrist and the methods of terror used by Islam are the same. The parallels and the psychology cannot be ignored.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A SUMMARY OF COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE ISLAMIC AND BIBLICAL NARRATIVES OF THE END TIMES

I
n summary we conclude this section
with a final review of the many startling similarities that exist between the biblical narrative of the last days and the Islamic narrative of the same period.

• Bible: The Antichrist is an unparalleled political, military, and religious leader that will emerge in the last days.

• Islam: The Mahdi is an unparalleled political, military, and religious leader that will emerge in the last days.

• Bible: The False Prophet is a secondary prominent figure that will emerge in the last days who will support the Antichrist.

• Islam: The Muslim Jesus is a secondary prominent figure that will emerge in the last days to support the Mahdi.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet together will have a powerful army that will do great damage to the earth in an effort to subdue every nation and dominate the world.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will have a powerful army that will attempt to control every nation of the earth and dominate the world.

• Bible: The False Prophet is described essentially as a dragon in lamb’s clothing.

• Islam: The Muslim Jesus comes bearing the name of the one that the world knows as “the Lamb of God,” Jesus Christ. Yet the Muslim Jesus comes to murder all those who do not submit to Islam.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet establish a new world order.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus establish a new world order.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet institute new laws for the whole earth.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus institute Islamic law all over the earth.

• Bible: The Antichrist is said to “change the times.”

• Islam: It is quite certain that if the Mahdi established Islam all over the earth, he would discontinue the use of Saturday and Sunday as the weekend or days of rest, changing to Friday, the holy day of Islam. Also, he would most certainly eliminate the Gregorian calendar and replace it with the Islamic calendar currently used in every Islamic country.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet will both be powerful religious leaders who will attempt to institute a universal world religion.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will institute Islam as the only religion on the earth.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet will execute anyone who does not submit to their world religion.

• Islam: Likewise, the Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will execute anyone who does not submit to Islam.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet will specifically use beheading as the primary means of execution for nonconformists.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will use the Islamic practice of beheading for executions.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet will have a specific agenda to kill as many Jews as possible.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will kill as many Jews as possible, until only a few are left hiding behind rocks and trees.

• Bible: The Antichrist and the False Prophet will attack to conquer and seize Jerusalem.

• Islam: The Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus will attack to reconquer and seize Jerusalem for Islam.

• Bible: The Antichrist will set himself up in the Jewish Temple as his seat of authority.

• Islam: The Mahdi will establish the Islamic caliphate from Jerusalem.

• Bible: The False Prophet is said to do many miracles to deceive as many as possible into supporting the Antichrist.

• Islam: The Mahdi himself is said to control the weather and the crops. His face is said to glow. We can also assume that since Jesus is viewed as having been empowered by Allah to work miracles when He was here on earth the first time, He will most likely be expected to continue to do so when He returns.

• Bible: The Antichrist is described as riding on a white horse in the Book of Revelation.

• Islam: The Mahdi is described as riding on a white horse (ironically in the same verse).

• Bible: The Antichrist is said to make a peace treaty with Israel for seven years.

• Islam: The Mahdi is said to make a peace treaty through a Jew (specifically a Levite) for exactly seven years.

• Bible: Jesus the Jewish Messiah will return to defend the Jews in Israel from a military attack from a vast coalition of nations led by the Antichrist and the False Prophet.

• Islam: The Dajjal, the Islamic Antichrist, will gain a great Jewish following and claim to be Jesus Christ; he will fight against the Mahdi and the Muslim Jesus.

• Bible: The spirit of antichrist specifically denies the most unique and central doctrines of Christianity, namely the Trinity, the incarnation, and the substitutionary death of Jesus on the Cross.

• Islam: Islam doctrinally and spiritually specifically denies the most unique and central doctrines of Christianity, namely the Trinity, the incarnation, and the substitutionary death of Jesus on the Cross.

• Bible: The primary warning of Jesus and the Apostle Paul was to warn Christians of the abundance of deceit and deception in the last days.