The Moslem and Islamic World in Bible Prophecy!
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The Moslem World in Prophecy! [Islam, Arab].
“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” [Rev.9:1]
The fifth trumpet.-For an exposition of this trumpet, we shall draw from the writings of Alexander Keith: “There is scarcely so uniform an agreement among interpreters concerning any other part of the Apocalypse as respecting the application of the fifth and sixth trumpets, or the first and second woes, to the Saracens and the Turks.-3rd ed.,The Signs of the Times. Edingburgh, William Whyte and Co.,1833.
The Roman Empire declined, as it arose, by conquest; but the Saracenes and the Turks were the instruments by which a false religion became the scourge of an apostate church; and hence, instead of the fifth and sixth trumpets, like the former, being marked by that name alone, they are called woes.
Constantinople was besieged for the first time after the extinction of the Western Empire by Chosroes II, the king of Persia.
The prophet said: “I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.”
The historian Edward Gibbon writes, “While the Persian monarch [Chosroes] contemplated the wonders of his art and power, he received an epistle from an obscure citizen of Mecca, inviting him to acknowledge Muhammad as the apostle of God. He rejected the invitation, and tore the epistle. “It is thus,” exclaimed the Arabian prophet, ’that god will tear the kingdom, and reject the supplication of Chosroes.’
Placed on the verge of the two great Empires of the East,
Mahomet observed with secret joy the progress of their mutual destruction; and
in the midst of the Persian triumphs, he ventured to foretell, that before many
years should elapse, victory should again return to the banners of the Romans.
At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered, no prophecy
could be more distant from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years of
Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the Empire.”--- The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire.” Vol.IV,ch.46,pp.463,464.
It was not on a single spot that this star fell, as did the one that designated Attila, but upon the earth. The Provinces of the empire in Asia and Africa were subdued by Chosroes II, and “The Roman Empire was reduced to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnants of Greece, Italy and Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to Trebizond, of the Asiatic coast………..The experience of six years at length persuaded the Persian monarch to renounce the conquest of Constantinople, and to specify the annual tribute or ransom of the Roman Empire; a thousand talents of gold etc.
The Persian and Roman monarchies exhausted each other’s strength. And before a sword was put into the hands of the false prophet, it was smitten from the hands of those who would have checked his career and crushed his power.
The bottomless pit needed a key to open it, and that was the fall of Chosroes. He had torn the letter of an obscure citizen of Mecca. Chosroes was murdered in 628 A.D. and the year 629 is marked by “The conquest of Arabia” and the first war of the Mohammedans against the Roman Empire.
The bottomless pit. The meaning of this term may be learned from the Greek Abyssos, which is defined “deep, bottomless, profound,” and may refer to any waste, desolate, and uncultivated place. It is applied to the earth in its original state of chaos [Gen.1:2].
In this instance it may appropriately refer to the unknown wastes of the Arabian desert, from the borders of which issued the hordes of Saracens, like swarms of locusts.
“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” [v.2].
“like the noxious and even deadly vapors which the winds, particularly from the southwest, diffuse in Arabia, Mohammedanism spread from hence its pestilential influence-arose as suddenly and spread as widely as smoke arising out of a pit, the smoke of a great furnace. Such is a suitable symbol of the religion of Mahomet, of itself, or as compared with the pure light of the gospel of JESUS. It was not like the latter, a light from heaven, but a smoke out of the bottomless pit.
“And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” [v.3].
“A false religion was set up, which, although a scourge of transgressions and idolatry, filled the world with darkness and delusions; and swarms of Saracens, like locusts, overspread the earth, and speedily extended their ravages over the Roman Empire from east to west.
The hail descended from the frozen shores of the Baltic; the burning mountains fell upon the sea of Africa; and the locusts [a fit symbol of the Arabs] issued from Arabia, their native region. The deadly venom can be seen on the quarrels of the Arab world. For 25 years Iraq and Iran warred each other. Only an incident, a contemptuous word, can only be expiated by the blood of the offender. Blasphemy charges are common against westerners also.
“Ánd it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” [v.4].
How fittingly this was fulfilled, when after the death of Muhammad, he was succeeded in command by Abu-bekr in 632 A.D. gathering all Arab tribes for conquest and gave these instructions:
When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women and children. Destroy no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you need to eat.
When you make any covenant, or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to serve God that way; let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries: and you’ll find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure to cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mohammedans or pay tribute.---Ed. Gibbons
“And it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five month: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.” [v.5].
Using the solid and proven old Protestant method of prophetic time interpretation, a day for a year [Ezek.4:6 Numb.14:34] the five month are 30 days X 5, or 150 years of Arab aggression.
In 1838 A.D., Josiah Litch, a member of the Millerites, worked out from this prophecy that the Ottoman Empire, which was formed on July 27, 1299 A.D., the Greek part of the Roman Empire, would come to an end in 1449 A.D. under the succeeding trumpet, completing the five prophetic month or 150 literal years when Othman planted his seat in Constantinople.
“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” [v.6].
Men were weary of life, when life was spared only for a renewal of woe, and when all that they held dear and sacred was violated and constantly endangered, and when the savage Saracens domineered over them, or left them only a momentary repose, ever liable to be suddenly or violently interrupted, as if by a sting of a scorpion.
“And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were faces of men.” [v.7].
The Arabian horses take the lead throughout the world; and skill in horsemanship is the art and science of Arabia. The turban is the miters they wore. The gravity and firmness of the mind [of the Arab]…is the stroking of his beard, the venerable symbol of manhood……which honor was easily wounded.—Ed.Gibbons ch.50,p.68-88
“And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.” [v.8].
Long hair is esteemed an ornament of women. The Arabs, unlike to other men of their time, had their hair as the hair of women, or uncut, as their practice is recorded by Pliny and others. But there was nothing effeminate in their character; for,, as denoting their ferocity and strength to devour, their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
“And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.” [v.9].
The cuirass, or breastplate, was in use among the Arabs in the days of Mahomet. In his second battle which he fought at Ohud with the Koreish of Mecca, seven hundred of them were armed with cuirasses.
“And they had tails like unto scorpions, and they were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men 5 month. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue has his name Apollyon.” [v.10,11].
The same 5 month as above, undoubtedly the same they were afterwards to slay [see v.15], the third part of men, or the third of the Roman Empire---the Greek division of it. When were they to begin their torment? The 11th verse answers the question: “They had a king over them.” From the death of Mohammed until the 13th century, they were divided into various factions until Othman founded the Ottoman Empire consolidating them into one grand monarchy.
“One woe is past; and behold, there comes two woes more hereafter. And the 6th angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the 6th angel which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosened, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” [vv.12-15].
The Sixth Trumpet.--- The first woe was to continue from the rise of Mohammedanism until the end, and the second begin. And when the sixth angel sounded, it was commanded to take off the restraint which had been imposed on the nation, by which they were restricted to the work of ‘tormenting’ men, and their commission extended to slay the third part of men. This commission came from the four horns of the golden altar.
The four angels.---These are the four principal sultanies of which the Ottoman Empire was composed, located in the country watered by the Euphrates, Aleppo, Iconium, Damascus, and Bagdad. Previously they had been restrained; but GOD commanded, and they were loosed. Loosened for a prophetic year or 360 days of years, a month of 30 days or 30 literal years,=390 plus one prophetic day is another year=391 and an hour is 15 days= 391 years and 15 literal days.
Commencing when the 150 years ended in 1449 A.D. the second woe and the sixth angel sounded, this period would end August 11, 1840 when the Ottoman Turks put themselves under the protectorate of the western powers and came to an end.
Note: The Swiss Reformer Heinrich Bullinger [1575 A.D.] was one of the first Biblical Expositor to identify the Turks as the power under the sixth trumpet. In 1838 A.D. Josiah Litch set July 27, 1299 as the first attack by the Ottoman Turks on the Byzantine Empire under the fifth trumpet. 150 years, constituted the time in which the Ottoman Turks tormented the Byzantine Empire, brought us to July 27, 1449 for the beginning of the sixth trumpet. Adding 391 years brought us to July 27, 1840. The extra 15 days carried over to August 11 the exact date, when the Turks had thought and found help from the western allies Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia, who all had interests in the Near East. On the 15th of July these powers signed the treaty of London.
The Turkish emissary Rifat Bey arrived on August 11 at Alexandria with the terms of the London convention.
Here comes a major point. Revelation chapter nine brings us to 1840. The little prophetic book in the angel’s hand of Revelation chapter 10 brought the great and bitter disappointment of 1844 at the end of the 2300 days of years when Jesus would enter the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to cleanse and justify it.
Remembering that in the original there were no chapter divisions and so we see that chapter 11 speaks of the heavenly Temple Sanctuary cleansing, measuring, judgment hour also reflected by Rev.14:6-12. And the angel swore by heaven’s Creator GOD that prophetic time would all end at the great and bitter disappointment, namely 1844 A.D.
Note:
The starting point for the 2300 days of years in Daniel 8:14 is the same as that of Daniel 9:24-27 given by King Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. arriving at 408 B.C., 27 A.D., 31 A.D., 34 A.D. and 1844 A.D. given by the Scribe Ezra in chapter seven.
I welcome any discussion to clarify some points even further. The four angels above, were not holy unfallen, but evil angels used by GOD as a scourge for a fallen and apostate Christian Church.
Note: The London Morning Chronicle of August 12,1840, reported that the ultimatum reached Alexandria yesterday, August 11, 1840 and the plans of the four powers which details had yet to be worked out. The ultimatum was to the Pacha of Agypt to release the Ottoman fleet within 10 days before deliberating it by force.
Muslims imported by Queen Victoria
Her most Christian Majesty Queen Victoria, proud of her official title as "Defender Of The Faith" with one fourth of the world's population under the 'Union Jack' was unwittingly one of the most effective propagators of the Moslem faith in the whole history of Islam.
As a direct result of her governments' actions, the teachings of the prophet were spread to the remote areas of the globe. In her time, Muslims from India were hired as indentured servants to South Africa, West Indonesia and Fiji. Even that outpost of the empire, Australia, received its first small injection of Islam when some 3.000 Afghans were invited by the British colonial authorities around the 1860's, as camel drivers and labourers on the railways and telegraph stations.
The first Mosque was built in Adelaide, by the same Afghan immigrants, more than 100 years ago. Today it is estimated that in Australia's 16 million population there are more than 250.000 Muslims. This means that every 60's Australian is worshipping in the direction of Mecca. World-wide, Islam claims one billion adherents. The latest and largest influx of muslim immigrants to Australia has come within the last 25 years as a result of unrest in different parts of the Middle East. Although few in numbers, the immigrants have made an impact on Australian Society. Their religious beliefs and practices, although rooted in Judaism, seem somewhat strange to Christians.
What it means to be a Muslim
Muslim means 'surrender' with the implication
of 'surrender to Allah'. The religion was first taught by the Islamic
prophet Muhammad, between 610 A.D. and 632 A.D. in what is now called Saudi
Arabia. An adherent to Islam is called a Muslim [not a Mohammedans], which
means 'one who has surrendered to Allah'. Allah is one supreme God.
The Koran [Quran], the holy book of Islam, is regarded as the direct word of
God, revealed to Muhammad in vision.
The five pillars of Islam
These are the basis for the religion and
comprise the Shahadah, affirming that 'there is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah'; The Salah, the five times daily
ritual prayer; The Zakah, giving alms; The Sawn, fasting in the
month of Ramadan; and the Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca once in a life time.
Suddenly these Muslims people in
relatively large numbers have arrived in our traditionally Christian countries.
Some of them have not revealed any serious attempt to integrate into the new
society. Their dietary rules, polygamy and funeral rites, have often
brought conflict with existing Christians order and culture. These hundred
of thousands of adherents to the most gospel-resistant world religion have
become our closest Neighbours that we can show our love in CHRIST.
about the same time. The Papacy influenced the Western part of the
Roman empire, while Islam during the 100 years of conquest from 632
to 732, conquered the Eastern part of the Roman empire, extending its
dominion from North Africa until the Far East (Agfanistan, Pakistan,
etc.).
Both the Papacy and Islam persecuted God's people.
The Muslim were even more brutal than the papacy by radically
uprooting Christianity from many countries. The North African
countries of Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, were all flourishing
Christian countries. Today you can count the number of Christians
with the fingers.
Both promoted the false worship of God through the
intercession of human beings (Mary, venerated also by the Moslem,
Mohammed, the Saints). Both changed God's Holy Sabbath Day: the
Papacy changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and Mohammed changed the
Sabbath to Friday.
When we look at the total picture, it would seem to
me that expanding the prophetic role of the Little Horn Antichrist,
by including Islam in addition to the papacy, is a reasonable
proposal.
Do Moslems believe in JESUS CHRIST?
This question is asked most. The answer is yes and no. The Qur'an
contradicts itself. Sura Maryam 19:33 speaks of the death and the
resurrection of Jesus. And so does Sura Al-Imran 3:55 in the original
Arabic but has been distorted in the English translation.
Yet in Sura An-Nisa 4:157 all this is being contradicted. First the Qur'an says that Christ died, then it says that he did not die. It says that he was crucified and than it says that he wasn't. Muslim scholars can give no answer concerning these contradictions. Muhammad's first wife was a Christian and so was his uncle Reverend Waraqa from which he learned most of the Bible. But the would be prophet learned also how to distort the facts and how to contradict himself.
The Israel-Palestinian conflict is the very centre of the
Middle East crisis in every respect, beginning with Islamic terrorism around the
world down to the local catastrophes in every Middle East conflict.
This is so because the sides are fighting for religious principle. The Muslim
side is fighting the "Crusaders", who are the "Big Satan", the US, which gives
power to the "Little Satan", Israel. The acts of world wide terrorism are
interpreted as acts of liberation and revenge in support of the suffering
Palestinians. Thus the killing and maiming of innocents in London is seen as
justified revenge for Israeli aggression against Palestinians and Lebanese.
And the blend of Al Qaeda and Taliban on the Pakistan border is motivated by
precisely this kind of logic. They are fighting a holy war for the recovery of
their holy city Jerusalem, and IN AFGHANISTAN.
www.haaretz.
Who was Muhammad?
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We plead with any follower of Islam to study their literature
and not remain ignorant and see that their religion was founded the same time as
the religion of Rome and have much in common including Fatima but very far
removed from the religion of JESUS CHRIST.
FATWA is not just a killing licence, but a command to kill issued by a
Moslem Leader! Fear keeps their worshippers in their religion. They are not
allowed freedom to choose CHRIST because they will be ostracized not only by
their families but by the nation itself.
Islamic Africa is the home of the hideous practice of female circumcision
or genital mutilation, the precious pink bits belonging to vulnerable
Youngsters.
Sudan-Darfur- they are called Janjaweed demons on horseback - and
there favoured tactic is to attack villages at dawn, shooting the men, raping
the women and burning the children alive in their huts. They are the Arab
militia of Darfur in western Sudan where it is estimated that 200,000 people
have been killed and 2.5 Million left homeless in a four year conflict which
continues to fester as rival groups battle to control the oil rich region.
Backed by the Sudanese government. Arabs are slaughtering black Africans with a
ferocity which U.S. President George W. Bush has called genocidal. Unfortunately
for those being shot, hack ed, raped and crucified -- another Arab speciality
--....source, Mike O'Connor, The Courier Mail.
Mecca:In Mecca during Muhammad's day there was a temple containing
360 idols, one of which was Al-ilah or Allah, which had been recognized as the
chief god
of Muhammad's tribe for centuries. It was the moon god, and the sign of the
crescent moon that is so prominent in Islam "harks back to the early Arab
worship of Allah as the moon god" . Muhammad received revelations that Allah was
not merely a chief tribal god but the only true God and that Muhammad was his
chosen and exclusive prophet.
Surah 2:256 in the Koran says, "Let there be no compulsion
in religion. Truth stands out clear from Error." When that plan failed, he
picked up the sword, and for the rest of his life he used the sword to force
adherence to Islam. Many of the prophecies Mohammed gave during this later
period contradict the earlier prophecies and demand war against unbelievers.