Daily WATCH! Volume 3 Issue 15 Wednesday, October 22, 2003

BEWARE OF THE MAHDI

By Randy Loudenslager

It is no mistake that I write this article about the Mahdi today. After all, I have been in frequent discussions with several of you about him and the LORD will not let the subject rest in my heart.
Just what or, more appropriately, who is the Mahdi? Let me begin by explaining that this is an Islamic name. It is a name that exclusively deals with the end times. The Islamists believe in an end-times? Yes, and they have their own prophecies about them as well. There are four main characters played out in Islamic end-time prophecy. There is Al-Dajjal, who you might say is viewed in Islam as a coming antichrist type. Islam also teaches that Jesus will come down and defeat Al-Dajjal and rule for a time and then die. The third person is Mahdi and the fourth is Al-Harith ibn Hirath. It is these last two that this article will address.

I want to point out very clearly and deliberately that Islamic prophecy is false prophecy. I am pointing to Islamic prophecy to illustrate what 1 billion people on earth are looking forward to and how it relates to the truth of the Bible.

Very literally the Islamists believe that a man will come from the east in the end-times as a conquering hero at the head of a great army. It is believed he will be raised up to power by their god Allah in one day. He will be a man who will bear the full name of Islam's prophet, Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah, as will his father. He will be descended from Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. He will act and talk like Muhammad, but will not look like him. He will have a high forehead and hooked nose. Islam believes he will rule for seven years and bring peace and distribute great wealth to those who serve him. This is the Mahdi.
Al-Harith ibn Hirath is of interest to us because he will come with an army of his own, according to Islam. He will establish the government of Mahdi and cause all to serve the Mahdi.
You may be wondering what these two men have in common with Bible prophecy of the end-times. I propose to you that the person that 1 billion Muslims look to as some form of messiah is actually the antichrist of the Bible. Let us look at the various details ascribed to the Mahdi in the Koran and compare them to the true prophecies of the Bible.

The Mahdi will be a great warrior and lead a vast army. Daniel 11:22 shows the antichrist sweeping away an overwhelming army arrayed against him. Verse 24 shows him invading other nations. Verse 25, he heads a large army. Verse 31 shows how his armed forces serve him. Verse 38 shows him honoring a god of fortresses. Verse 39 he attacks the mightiest of fortresses. Verse 40 he heads a huge military force against the king of the South. Verses 41-44 continue to depict his conquests to the end.

Islam believes the Mahdi will be raised up to power by their god Allah in one day. Daniel 8:24, 11:39, & many others show that the power he possesses is not his own but that of a "foreign god."

Islam believes the Mahdi will rule for seven years. Daniel 9:27 shows the antichrist making a covenant with many for one seven year period. In the middle of the seven years he sets up the abomination that causes desolation.

Islam believes the Mahdi will bring peace and security to the world. We know from Ezekiel 38 that the antichrist will act militarily after Israel and the world are convinced peace and security have come to the world. Daniel 11:23 shows us that after coming to agreements of peace the antichrist will act deceitfully against the nations that feel secure.

Islam believes the Mahdi will distribute great wealth. Daniel 11:24 shows the antichrist distributing plunder, loot and wealth to his followers. Verse 39 shows how the antichrist will distribute lands as rewards and make those that acknowledge him as a god into rulers over many people.

The Mahdi will have a helper according to Islam. He is known by Islam as Al-Harith ibn Hirath and his mission is to establish the Mahdi's world government and cause all to submit to the Mahdi. Here we see the false prophet of Revelation 13:11-18.

Based on what prophecy shows us in the Bible, the messianic type figure expected by 1 billion Muslims is none other than the antichrist. This belief in the Mahdi is unquestionable in Islam. The religion of Islam embodies the spirit of the antichrist. When true believers recognize the man who seats himself in the Temple, as if he is god, to be the antichrist, Islam will proclaim him to be the Mahdi.

How did Islam get such detail in their false prophecies? Remember that Islam came much later than Judaism or Christianity. It started in approximately 500 A.D. If one were to skim over the Koran then you would find many verses like those found in the Bible. In fact the Koran acknowledges the Bible within its text. Satan has done a masterful job at manipulating the Islamic peoples. It is a true work of his genius to make the antichrist of the Bible into the hero, Mahdi in the Koran.

Satan is a clever foe, but we have the LORD God Almighty to guide and protect us.
A word of caution my brothers and sisters. Because of the nature of newsletter articles I have not done an exhaustive treatise on this subject. I know many of you are diligent in your searching of scripture, as you should be, and so I must warn you. Because the Koran contains many verses that are like those found in the Bible and because it also contains end-time scenarios that appear similar to those in the Bible, the possibility of inadvertently blending Islamic theology with Christian beliefs becomes a danger. One must be very careful when reading the Koran to not lose sight of the fact that you are reading a lie based on truths borrowed from the Bible. It will appear like it is in agreement with the Bible, but in fact it uses one of Satan's favorite strategies. He loves to create a lie based on a thread of truth to give it a perceived legitimacy.
If you are an immature Christian then please do not read the Koran without the guidance of a mature Christian.

Islam will tell you that our God is the same god as Allah. This is absolutely false.
The following is a quote by Dr. Saleem Almahdy.*
Although the average Muslim believes that Islam, Allah, and the Koran are new concepts revealed to Mohammed from heaven through the angel Gabriel, the answer is yes, Islam, Allah, and a large part of the Koran did exist before Mohammed. Mohammad's father was named Abed Allah, which means the "slave of Allah."
The Encyclopedia of Islam tells us that pre-Islamic Arabs knew Allah as one of the Mecca deities. There also existed the black stone in Mecca to which people made a pilgrimage, kissing it and worshipping Allah by it. According to Chamber's Encyclopedia, "The community in which Mohammed grew up was pagan, different localities having their own gods, often represented by stones. In many places there were sanctuaries to which pilgrimage was made. Mecca contained one of the most important, the Kaaba, in which was placed the black stone, long an object of worship."
Allah was the moon god. Muslims still use the crescent shape of the moon over their mosques. Not one single Muslim can give a good reason or explanation for that. In Arabia, there was a female goddess who was the sun god and a male god was the moon god. It is said that they got married and produced three goddesses called "the daughters of Allah," named Allat, Al Oza, and Manat. Allah, his daughters and the sun god were known as the high gods. Allah, Allat, Al Oza, and Akhbar were some of the pagan gods. In the beginning, Mohammed allowed his followers to worship Allah, the most high, and ask for the intercession of Allat and Al Oza and Manat. When he became well armed and strong, he ordered them to worship Allah alone.

* The Voice of the Martyrs December 1997