- Here we go again Keith, more of the never ending circles, and as you are not retired like me, why do you take the time to get involved in this discussion which will bear no fruitful conclusion?
BTW, you still did not tell me what type of church you attend, and which part of the UK you live, so you do have a very distinct advantage over me in this area.
If "The Assyrian" is just ONE of the names afforded to The Antichrist, can I ask you why The Holy Scriptures describe him as such in several places if indeed he is NOT an Assyrian?
We are dealing with Holy Writ here, God does not lie, and unless you "spiritualise" this away as do many (I think you claim to be a Biblical Literalist) - then he MUST BE AN ASSYRIAN!!
The Antichrist CANNOT POSSIBLY BE A WORLD LEADER AND RULER, for as I have pointed out several times recently he is worried about bad tidings from the east and the north, and also the Seven Shepherd Powers and Eight Commanders" of Micah's prophecy come against him in total war! If he ruled THE WORLD as you claim, this would NOT be possible!
He is the RULER AND LEADER OF THE LAND, the Land of The Middle East which dominates and saturates the Bible (no mention of Western powers in The End Times), and it is the people in THE LAND who will not be able to buy, sell, eat, etc without bowing to Allah and taking the mark of the Muslim Beast or Antichrist!
This will NEVER happen in Britain, America, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, Japan, India, Russia or any nation or power which refuses to bow the knee to The Islamic Antichrist. They will be "protected" by the Lord in my humble opinion!
You say that The Antichrist MUST come from the west and you quote Rev 13:1 and Daniel 7:3. I suggest you read these passages again Keith, for there is NO MENTION OF THE WEST in either of this Scriptures!
And the "final Roman Empire" which you refer to is Middle Eastern and NOT Roman or Western! The Eastern leg of the Roman Empire went on for over a thousand more years than the earlier defeated western leg of the empire!
Most Bible Prophecy buffs tend to look for "The Revived Roman Empire" and with their biased westernised eyes, they only see Rome, Italy, or Europe!!
Nebuchadnezzar's Statue had TWO LEGS, and the Eastern one was far stronger than the western one, and had longevity to prove it.
And it has never really gone away thru the Turks, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, and now The Muslims - so this is where we should be looking for him to emerge.
He will be "The King Of The North" from the the former Assyrian Empire as prophesied in Daniel. When Alexander The Great died young, his vast empire was split into four and given to his four commanding generals, namely Cassander, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus.
After several wars and land take-overs, the kingdom eventually became dominated by the Northern Power of Seleucid (which produced a prototype of the Antichrist in Antiochus Epiphanes), and the Ptolemy Empire of the South with Egypt as its main centre.
And it is very obvious from the prophesies contained in Daniel that it is The King Of The North who prevails and dominates at The Time Of The End, and from this empire will arise The Antichrist. And he will be of the former Assyrian Empire, just as Antiochus Ephinanes was!
BTW there does not have to be just 1260 days from The Rapture to the Time Of Jabob's Trouble. There could well be a gap of months (or even years) between "The Great Catching Away" and the start of the seven year Tribulation period, for nowhere does it say in Scriptures that it follows on IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS!
Maranatha Blessings,
Nev.
K.W.7 July 2016 at 00:49
Sorry for not replying yesterday, unlike you, I am not retired but currently working, and have to fit in these matters of greater importance in with those of lesser importance! Rather it were otherwise! But I go on...
Certainly the "Assyrian" is one of many names attributed to the coming Antichrist, who MUST come BEFORE Jesus Christ, after which, Jesus will destroy him by the "brightness of His Coming." (This should hopefully shed light on what I will now advance).
Antichrist WILL rule the whole world, in the sense that he has TOTAL control over the banking/financial system; thereby controlling things to the extent that "no man may buy or sell, save he..."
Antichrist will certainly NOT worship the Allah of Islam, most certainly NOT! The "Allah of Islam" is but one one of MANY false religions doing Satan's current bidding at the present moment. Granted that Islam seems to be the prominent system of false worship currently leading the world astray, but, I believe Islam has peaked, it's sway on the world is now RAPIDLY falling away, before our very eyes (Just like Romanism did before it).
Antichrist will NOT "turn on all religion that confess that God is in heaven." as you say; on the contrary Satan is currently in heaven, albeit not in the "third heaven" or highest heaven. He (Satan) is the"prince of the power of the air", he would have us all believe that he rules from the third heaven.
Antichrist cannot possibly be Muslim, as he rises from the west-Revelation 13.1, Daniel 7.3, out of which culminates the final Roman empire.
To say that Antichrist will be a Muslim, is the same as saying that he will worship Allah (Islam means submission, Muslim means one who submits thereto!)-absolutely and totally IMPOSSIBLE! We both agree that Islam is satanic, so why would Antichrist knowingly worship ONLY ONE strand of his god Satan's COUNTLESS false religions, deceptions, cults, sects, philosophies? (that is-anything to take us from the Saviour Jesus Christ). Satan's false prophet Mohammed, is but ONE of Satan's MANY dupes! Yes only ONE, bigger than Baha'ullah at the present, certainly, but maybe Baha'ullah will be bigger tomorrow? (I cite Baha'ullah as an example only).
Having said the above, there is much truth in your 3-part reply, much that I believe stacks up with Bible prophecy. Dubai was built seemingly overnight, and the 'new' Babylon will be built on a far grander scale in half the time!
The 1260 days (half of the 2520 days of Daniel's 70th week) that I refer to, equate to the three and one half years of great tribulation, in other words, if the rapture were to happen tomorrow (which it WON'T), this would then give us a timescale as to the Second Advent of the Lord; in respect of all His dealings with Babylon, in other words, if we agree that literal Babylon MUST be literally rebuilt before she can be literally destroyed as per Revelation 18, then a great trading nation has to rise to prominence and achieve worldwide status and do ALL those things prophesied of her in the space of three and a half years! Currently in Babylon/Iraq suicide attacks and bombings dispel any notion of a grand scale rebuild project anytime soon-do they not? Remember that Antichrist stops the temple worship in the middle of the week, showing his true colours? Therefore the whole rebuilding project (if we believe false pre-trib theology) MUST take part in the FIRST 1260 days, because, is not Antichrist is doing his worst in the second 1260 days?
Blessings
KW