Why did I bother to read this book? In the beginning I was intrigued with the notion that the Muslim Eschatology and its timeline were very similar to that presented in the Christian Bible. The major difference however was the true nature of the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Mr. Joel Richardson goes to great pain to convince the reader that the Biblical Antichrist is the same as their expected spiritual leader, the Mahdi.  This leader is expected to come in the last days to unite all the Muslim nations, become a world power, make a 3 ½ year peace treaty with Israel, allow them to rebuild their Temple, and persecute or kill everyone who refuses to convert to Islam. Essentially, the West and specifically America is no longer a world power (with no reason given) which allows the united Muslim nations under the Leadership of their Mahdi to easily dominate the world.

Most biblical scholars believe that the Biblical Antichrist will arise out of a revived Roman Empire. This proves to be no problem for Mr. Joel Richardson who goes to great length to prove that the true Roman Empire never ended in the West but simply moved to Constantinople in the East during the Church schism. Furthermore, this was eventually taken over by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. I believe his point is that since Rome continued in the East in the Middle of Islamic world that this would prove that the Biblical Antichrist would now come from the East as a Muslim. Personally, I believe that Mr. Joel Richardson is on very shaky ground theologically and a stretch historically. Quite clearly Rome continued as a world Empire for many years in the West. “Eventually the great Empire of Rome was swallowed up by the barbarous northern nations and the city itself was sacked and looted of its treasurers in 410 AD.” (pp. 104, Final Warning, by Rev. Daniel W. Blair).

When the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation while on the Island of Patmos, he clearly saw the Beast (or the Antichrist) in Rome who had a death grip on the world and especially the small fledging community of Christ followers. The Apostle also wrote about the Kings from the East who would attack the Holy City and cause the Biblical Antichrist (or the Beast) to assemble his league of nations to confront them in a large Valley in the modern state of Israel. Furthermore, these kings from the East are actually seen as one of the bowls of God’s wrath against the Antichrist. “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 of the East.” (Rev. 16:12) And why does God allow this to happen, because the Biblical Antichrist has been leading His children astray by requiring them to worship him rather than God. Moreover, if the Antichrist is truly a Muslim from the East why would he now be seen enlisting other nations to fight against himself?

Let’s keep in mind that Biblical eschatology is Christian eschatology. The Biblical Antichrist comes to lead God’s people astray and what better person than someone from the revived Roman Empire in the West. Clearly the Biblical Antichrist will be an individual who will twist the Gospel of Jesus Christ by leading Christians to stop trusting in God exclusively for their salvation. He will lead them to follow Satan in his plan of self improvement rather than following God in His plan of self-denial. (I write about this extensively in my book, “Final Warning.”) The Biblical Antichrist will be assisted by the religious False Prophet perhaps even a respected leader from the Christian community. Mr. Joel Richardson appears to have a good heart for reaching the Muslim community through spreading the good news of salvation. But he would be better served by not accusing their expected spiritual leader for being our anticipated Biblical Antichrist.

Indeed, the Mahdi may well have a role in human history but not as the Biblical Antichrist, but perhaps as an individual used by God to inflict His Wrath on fallen humanity and especially those who follow the Beast or Biblical Antichrist. This would not be the first time that God uses a pagan nation to bring punishment upon His people, to turn them around to serve Him alone. Furthermore, this Muslim leader is expected to come during a period of great turmoil and unrest. I believe we may be seeing the beginning of this turmoil in the Middle East as riots and revolutions spread from country to country. The Biblical Antichrist could very well use this to promote his agenda of world democracy and peace. And then it may well be the Mahdi who will unite all the Muslim Nations to come against the West as the prophesied Kings of the East. But more about this in a later blog.

Copyright © 2011 Rev. Daniel W. Blair – Under the copyright law these articles may be used for nonprofit educational purposes. Please do so to strengthen your fellow believer to remain faithful to Jesus and obedient to His commandments.