Chris Scott

Last night I was watching a Fox News report of the recent drying of the River Euphrates which extends into Iraq and Iran. I thought to myself: well that sounds familiar … where have I heard that before?

One Google search later, I was confronted with a Bible verse from the book of Revelation, 16:12.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.

Interestingly, I also stumbled upon a New York Times article which stated:

The shrinking of the Euphrates, a river so crucial to the birth of civilization that the Book of Revelation prophesied its drying up as a sign of the end times, has decimated farms along its banks, has left fishermen impoverished and has depleted riverside towns as farmers flee to the cities looking for work.

The Times actually got something right. The drying of the Euphrates is a direct and physical fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The context of that chapter — and the entire book for that matter — is a foretelling of the end of times. The book of Revelation is a description of visions by the apostle John, revealed to him by Jesus Christ.

Many Christians, like myself, tend to neglect the book of Revelation because of the complex imagery and metaphors that the apostle John uses to describe his vision. Some define the book as a literal interpretation of the end of times, others a metaphorical; but whatever the case may be, it is clear that we do not have a God’s-eye perspective of this world and must therefore make do with the rational devices we are given.

And so, using our ‘rational devices’, let us examine some of the other prophecies found in God’s word that concern the end of times. There are a heck of a lot I might add. In fact, too many that have been fulfilled for me to elaborate on. But, for the sake of time, I will focus on a select few.

In Matthew 24:3 Jesus was asked by his disciples, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?” Keep in mind that Mathew, Mark, Luke and John are all accounts of the same thing — the life of Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh. The book of Revelation, as I clarified, is John’s vision of the ends of times and the various other books which I will be quoting from are portions of God’s divine revelation through other men.

In Matthew 24:11 Jesus states that “Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.”

False Prophets? The worlds chalk full of em’. And we need not look too deeply into the life of a certain middle-eastern man named Muhammad who, some 500 years after Christ’s death, founded an entire works-based religion, deceiving billions and promoting death and violence as a means to bring about the coming of the messiah. Some people call it Jihad. This is the prescriptive message of Islam which is the antithesis of Christ’s message.

Christianity establishes salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Islam establishes salvation by works alone as defined by the prophet Muhammad. While the religion of Islam spreads through destruction and violence, the redemptive message of Christ spreads through faith and love. Not John Lennon hippie love. Not Buddah love. God love. Love in it’s highest form (John 15:1) which provides for us an escape, not only from the terror and wickedness of this world, but from the consequences of our own sin (Romans 6:23).

Moving on to another end of times prophecy:

Revelation 13:1-2 “And I saw (John speaking) a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”

The book of Revelation is persistent on the appearance of two beings known as the Dragon and the Beast during the end of times.

If you happened to have turned on the news once this year, you’ll know who Ahmadinejad is. As the president of the Islamic state of Iran, he is the current champion of the radical Islamic world and believes that Islam will enforce a bloody reign upon ‘all the mountain tops of the world’. He is responsible for the deaths of thousands (if not millions) in the name of ‘Allah’, the god of Islam. He is a man who, under the Shiite doctrine of taqiyya, is permitted to lie outwardly to achieve the goals of Islam. That includes lying at UN speeches. He is also a man that proclaims ‘Death to Israel!’ at the end of each of his speeches to his Iranian countryman. And a man who will soon have (in a matter of months) nuclear weapons. The following is a portion of an interview between NBC’s Ann Curry and Ahmadinejad. Despite being in the official transcript, this portion of the interview was not televised.

NBC’s Ann Curry: In your speeches, you pray for God to hasten the arrival of the hidden Imam, the Muslim messiah. Would you tell us, as I know you will speak about this at the general assembly, as well. What is your relationship with the hidden Imam, and how soon do you think before the second coming?

President Ahmadinejad: Yes, that’s true. I prayed for the arrival of the 12th Imam. The owner of the age, as we call him. Because the owner of the age is the symbol of the – justice and brotherly love prevailing around the world. When the Imam arrives, all of these problems will be resolved. And a prayer for the owner of the age is nothing but a wish for justice and brotherly love to prevail around the world. And it’s an obligation a person takes upon himself to always think about brotherly love. And also to treating others as equals. All people can establish such a connection with the Imam of the age. It’s roughly the same as the relationship which exists between Christians and the Christ. They speak with Jesus Christ and they are sure that Christ hears them. And responds. Therefore, this is not limited to us only. Any person can talk with the Imam.

The Antichrist — described not only in the imagery of Revelation, but also in the prophecies of Daniel and other old testament books — is characterized as a world uniter and global peace keeper. I like the explanation at prca.org:

A little word study may help to understand the prefix “anti” in the name Antichrist. Just as antivenom is given to counteract the venom of a snake bite, and antiseptic is used against infection, so Antichrist is against, is opposed to, Jesus Christ. This tells us the essence of what Antichrist is: he is opposition to God’s Christ. He is opposition to Christ personally; he is against Christ’s Church; he is against Christ’s Word, Holy Scripture. Furthermore, because Christ’s mission is to show the name of Jehovah God to men by showing Himself to them (see John 17:6, John 14:8,9, and Revelation 13:6), Antichrist is opposed to God Himself.

So, although the Antichrist will leave the impression that his motivating force is love, concern for humanity, and pity for the oppressed, what drives Antichrist is not love but hatred. The one motivating force in his life is opposition to Jesus Christ, opposition to all that He stands for, and to all that stand for Him.

So with that in mind, let’s look at some more of Ahmadinejad’s word’s during the NBC interview with Ann Curry:

Ahmadinejad: What is being said about an apocalyptic war and – global war, things of that nature. This is what the Zionists are claiming. Imam…will come with logic, with culture, with science. He will come so that there is no more war. No more enmity, hatred. No more conflict. He will call on everyone to enter a brotherly love. Of course, he will return with Jesus Christ. The two will come back together. And working together, they would fill this world with love. The stories that have been disseminated around the world about extensive war, apocalyptic wars, so on and so forth, these are false.

Could it be that this ‘Imam’ and the christ (or rather who Ahmadinejad believes is christ) who returns are the Dragon and Beast described in the Bible? The word Antichrist means just that — an entity opposite the charector of Christ in every virtue. But he or it (some people believe the Antichrist to be a political power such as a new world order) will not only stand opposite to Christ in virtue, but will also attempt to replace him. I like the explanation by Barry Gritters at nrca.org.

The name Antichrist also indicates substitution. Antichrist opposes Jesus in order to supplant Him, to take His place as Christ. Although the English language does not often use the prefix “anti” to mean substitution, it is a common use of the preposition in the Greek language. When Scripture says that Jesus died “for His people,” one of the prepositions used is anti indicating that He died as a substitute for His people. This is the secondary meaning of the preposition anti. Antichrist purposes to be “in the place of,” or “a substitute for” Jesus the Christ.

II Thessalonians 2 points out how Antichrist comes as an impostor of the Christ from God, and how there is a striking outward similarity between Antichrist and Christ. Will Jesus Christ be revealed some day? So will Antichrist (Vss 3,8). Will Christ be in God’s temple? Antichrist will sit there also (Vs 4). Is Christ God? Antichrist will claim to be (Vs 4). Did Christ support His claim to be God with signs and wonders? Antichrist, too, will perform signs and wonders (Vs 9). Christ has a kingdom; so will Antichrist. Christ comes by the power of the Spirit; Antichrist will come by the power of a spirit, who is the devil himself.

Does it surprise anyone, then, that in the Middle Ages Antichrist was called the “ape of Christ”? He comes in the place of Christ, making himself out to be Christ. In every way mimicking Christ, Antichrist will propose to be Christ. Antichrist is Satan’s counterpart to Christ. Jesus was God’s choice to establish His kingdom, redeem His people, renew creation; Antichrist is Satan’s choice to establish his kingdom, gather in as many people as he can, and subject all to himself. All of God’s plan hinges on the works of Jesus, the Christ; all of Satan’s plans hinge on the working and success of Antichrist.

These things have everything to do with my belief that the religion of Islam, and the doctrine that sustains it (the Qur’an and the Hadith) are in fact doctrines of demons. The evidence to support this, I believe, is insurmountable. I have laid out all of this evidence (or at least a portion of what exists) right here.

1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”

*Sigh* Good Lord, I have only scantily covered 3 prophecies and three hours have passed. I often fail to realize how deep and intricate the evidence is that exists in support of even just a few historical presuppositions found in the Bible.

Next verse.

Matthew 24:6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.”

Wars and rumors of wars? This of course can be used to describe virtually any time period. Men make war. But let’s look in the next verse.

Matthew 24:7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”

“Nation rising up against nation” does not sound to me like some guys throwing spears around in North Africa. Christ was certainly talking about a global war, involving many nations. This has happened at least twice in history (WWI and WWII), but is a third world war possible?

With a tyrannical holocaust-denying mass-murderer, who will soon have access to nuclear weapons — anything is possible. And I don’t think I can stress that enough. I don’t think people fully realize what a war with Iran would entail. With a conscriptable army of over 20 million, the Iranian military is no push-over. Even with the best case scenario — a full frontal war on Iraq before any nuclear missiles are launched — the confrontation would be many times more devastating than anything we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, as has been made apparent in recent headlines, our president cares more about his own political agenda than the welfare of any country.

In respect to the second part of the above verse (“and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes”) I think with a global economic meltdown, a Tsunami (caused by an earthquake) today that ravaged Samoa and barely evaded the island state of Hawaii in addition to the Tsunami that took place off the coast of India in 04′ which claimed the lives of over 100,000, one could certainly make an argument there. O yes, and the world has seen no great shortage in the appearance of general non-Tsunami earthquakes. But I still think this is a prophecy that may not have been fulfilled yet or is still in the process of fulfillment.

Next prophetic verse.

II Timothy 3:1-5,7 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

If you would like to find evidence for the deterioration of morals in our society, refer to you television, or ask Roman Polaski and nearly the entire Hollywood conglomerate — who would have us believe that skipping bail 30 years ago after being arrested for drugging and then raping a 13 year old girl is all just water under the bridge. My favorite is the NYT ‘news’ article which, lined with quotes from friends and co-workers who speak glowingly of Polaski’s character, rushes to Polaski’s defense. Of course the article neglects to mention what it was Polaski actually committed until the last paragraph! You gotta give the Times credit though, they make good use of the inverted pyramid. But even more delightful is the subsequent op-ed column which neglects to even mention the rape charges and concludes in this way:

But Ms. Geimer wants it dropped, to shield her family from distress, and Mr. Polanski’s own young children, to whom he is a doting father, want him home. He is no threat to the public. The original judicial procedure was undeniably murky. So cui bono, as the Romans used to say — who benefits?

Since when did justice become about ‘who benefits’? Sickening.

Aside from my incessant current issues side-ranting, the above is a quick glance at a few end of times prophecies that were fulfilled, or are in the process of being fulfilled. I cannot hope to lay out even a fifth of the EOT prophecies in the time I can afford tonight. Perhaps I will come back and add to this list a few more observations when I have time.

I heavily suggest reading a study conducted by a group of secular research scientists which, after examining old testament prophecies which came true, concludes that Bible is vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics. Summary:

Since these thirteen prophecies cover mostly separate and independent events, the probability of chance occurrence for all thirteen is about 1 in 10138 (138 equals the sum of all the exponents of 10 in the probability estimates above). For the sake of putting the figure into perspective, this probability can be compared to the statistical chance that the second law of thermodynamics will be reversed in a given situation (for example, that a gasoline engine will refrigerate itself during its combustion cycle or that heat will flow from a cold body to a hot body)—that chance = 1 in 1080. Stating it simply, based on these thirteen prophecies alone, the Bible record may be said to be vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics. Each reader should feel free to make his own reasonable estimates of probability for the chance fulfillment of the prophecies cited here. In any case, the probabilities deduced still will be absurdly remote.