The sons of Abraham

[theophilus]

Moses was a descendant of Abraham.  He gave the world the Torah, which he said was based on revelations given to him by God.  Judaism is based on the teachings contained in this book.

Muhammad was a descendant of Abraham.  He gave the world the Koran, which he said was based on revelations given to him by God.  Islam is based on the teachings contained in this book.

The similarity between these two men isn’t just a coincidence.

Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael.  Moses was a descendent of Isaac and Muhammad was a descendent of Ishmael.

The Bible’s record of Abraham’s life begins in Genesis 12.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3 ESV

God promised to make a great nation of Abraham.  In order for this promise to be fulfilled Abraham would have to have children and for a long time his wife Sarah remained childless.  Abraham  had a son by Sarah’s servant Hagar and named him Ishmael but God told him that Sarah herself would have a son and that the promises God had made to Abraham would be fulfilled through him.

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Genesis 17:15-16 ESV

Sarah eventually had the promised son and named him Isaac.  She then demanded that Abraham send Ishmael and his mother away.

Sarah said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
Genesis 21:10-12 ESV

God here confirmed what he had said earlier, that the promises he made to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac, not Ishmael.  This proves that Moses, the descendant of Isaac, and not Muhammad, the descendant of Ishmael, was the true messenger of God.

The Jews were chosen by God to prepare the way for the Messiah.  He would die as a sacrifice for people’s sins and then rise from the dead.  He would also be the king of the Jews and establish a worldwide kingdom in which everyone would worship God.

Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah.  When he came he did die as a sacrifice for our sins and as a result anyone who repents and puts his faith in him can be forgiven.  But the Jews refused to accept him as their king.  As a result he turned from the Jews and established a new body, the church, which is made up of all, both Jews and gentiles, who put their faith in him.

God will fulfill all of his promises to the Jews despite their rejection of the Messiah.  In order for this to happen Jesus must return.  But before that time the Jews will be deceived by a false Messiah who is also known as the Antichrist.  Jesus said,

I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
John 5:43 ESV

The Antichrist will be an agent of Satan and Satan tries to deceive people by imitating God.  God chose Abraham’s son Isaac to be the ancestor of the Messiah.  Satan chose Abraham’s other son Ishmael to be the ancestor of the Antichrist.  Muhammad and the Koran play the same role in Satan’s plan that Moses and the Torah do in God’s plan.  Just as Jews look forward to the coming of a Messiah, Muslims are waiting for a man known as the Mahdi, who will cause the whole world to be converted to Islam.  Many Bible students believe the Mahdi is the Antichrist who is foretold in the New Testament.

Jews believe the Messiah will be a Jew and Muslims believe the Mahdi will be an Arab.  At first it appears that this makes it impossible that the Antichrist and the Mahdi can be the same person.  Jews consider anyone born of a Jewish mother to be Jewish and Arabs consider anyone born of an Arab father to be Arab.  If the Antichrist has an Arab father and a Jewish mother he will be both an Arab and a Jew and can claim to be both Mahdi and Messiah.

He will come as a peacemaker and will establish a treaty between the Jews and their enemies.

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
Daniel 9:27 ESV

This treaty will enable the Jews to resume the sacrifices commanded by the law of Moses but in the last half of the seven year treaty they will be forced to stop the sacrifices.  Second Thessalonians 2:3,4 describes how he will do this.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

When the Antichrist demands that he be worshipped the Jews will realize he isn’t the Messiah.  But how will Muslims react?  The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about this but since they reject the idea of worshipping a man as strongly as the Jews do they will probably realize that he isn’t their Mahdi and like the Jews will refuse to worship him.  It is even possible that when Jesus returns the Muslims as well as the Jews will come to believe in him.

When told that Ishmael would not be the one through whom God would fulfill his promises Abraham prayed, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”  Muslims are the spiritual descendants of Ishmael so their conversion would be an answer to that prayer.

 

[rsc2a]

But what about the creepy apache helicopter locust things?

 

[prophet]

[quote author=qwerty]I am sure you are against

And I'm sure you're quite clueless.  It is not a news article.  This is written for your level. Educate yourself:
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/researchandreference/a/newspaper.htm

Newspaper Sections and Terms
Tips for Reading and Using the Newspaper for Research

News Article

A news article is a report on an event that has taken place. Articles may include a byline, body text, photo, and caption.

Typically, newspaper articles that appear closest to the front page or within the first section are those that editors consider to be the most important and relevant to their readers.
[...]
Editorials

An editorial is an article written by the editorial staff from a specific perspective. The editorial will offer the newspaper's view of an issue. Editorials should not be used as a main source of a research paper, because they are not objective reports.

Your first post in the thread is "It's not an article, it's an op-ed"

From the link you referenced: " An editorial is an article written by the editorial staff from a specific perspective."

It IS an article even using your own sources.

Now you are trying to change your tune in an attempt to win your weak argument and interject "news article" into the conversation.

Liberal 101, change your story and blame someone else, like your messiah Obama said today: Obama on SOLYNDRA: 'This Was Not Our Program'...http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/22/obama-tries-to-spread-blame-on-solyndra-keystone/
[/quote]There are some good points here, thanks.

I would counter 1 thing.
Namely: there is not 1 shred of a hint of an idea that the Jews will not follow the Man of Sin.

144,000  virgin men won't.

That is all, end of story.

Everyone else will take the mark, hunt the Christians, and be tortured by the Wrath to come.

The Restoration begins, when Christ returns, to establish His Kingdom, and not a moment sooner.

Anishinaabe

 

[subllibrm]

But what about the creepy apache helicopter locust things?

I met the father of the author of that book! Went to our church for a while.

 

[S.T.Ranger]

The belief that the Mahdi will be the Antichrist has become very popular in recent years, but there is more a probability that Antichrist will be from among the Political arena, and a member of a nation that is not hostile towards all other nations that do not embrace their religion.

Antichrist will likely be someone very much like Obama...adored by many people in many nations for the liberal (and deceitful) agendas he promotes.

The simple point being that while Antichrist will come across as the "friend of the world" when he begins to gain power (which includes a friend to Israel), Islam is not likely to become the friend of Israel, particularly in regards to religious practice. Revelation makes it clear there will be a Temple in the Tribulation, and Daniel suggests that antichrist will strengthen the Covenant of Law, so, if we do see Islam suddenly reverse their course, and instead of seeking world domination by force, they validate the religious practice of Jews (as well as all others), then we may have cause to think Antichrist will come from Islam, and that this Muslim leader will be embraced by the majority of the population of the earth.

The Tribulation begins with great catastrophe, and Antichrist will step in and have a solution which will endear him to those unbelievers who are desperate. He will, in my view, gain power steadily, until at the mid-point of the Tribulation he unmasks himself. This stands in direct contradiction with Islam, because Antichrist declares himself to be God, which would, even for Muslims, be in contradiction with their beliefs. The Apostasy in the Tribulation will be a stepping away from Christ...not the Mahdi. So we would have to imagine that Muslims themselves would be in conformance to this radical change to the teachings of Islam, and I just don't see that as likely.

I think Muslims will likely react as they have historically, and side with Antichrist and become part of the Final Empire. But, I also think that all nations of preceding Empires will also be part of that last one.

I think that many Muslims are sincere in their beliefs, and a Muslim leader declaring himself to be (a) god would be blasphemous to many Muslims, if not most, and that the general population would embrace a Muslim leader unlikely as well. We would have to see a radical change in the doctrine and practice of Islam before that would occur, I believe.


God bless.