Islam An Instrument of God?

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Did John record anything about Islam in the Apocalypse? What is the role of Islam in the final battle of good and evil? The answer may or may not surprise you. Some excerpts to wet your appetite...

Excerpt 1

To this day, what was once the territory of the Roman Empire remains divided into two large parts differentiated by two religions: Christianity, in Europe, and Islam, in North Africa and the Middle East.  In 13:1, John wrote,

“I saw a beast ascending from the sea...”

and, in 13:11, wrote,

“I saw another beast ascending from the earth…”

Just so will these things come into existence.

The term “the heaven” is an abbreviation of the phrase, “the kingdom of heaven” [Mt. 23:13, 25:1]; and this kingdom is also called “the kingdom of God” [Luke 13:18, 11:20].  In almost every instance throughout the Bible, this term symbolizes the visible organization or body, composed of the people of God: in the Old Testament, Israel; in the New Testament, the Church.  It can also symbolize the spiritual condition or state that qualifies a person as one of God's people.  Since there are those who, by “invincible ignorance,” are outside the visible Church but who qualify, by spiritual condition or state, for membership therein, the term “the heaven” must be discerned most carefully according to its context in the Bible.  

Excerpt 2

Contrary to the opinion asserted about twenty-five years ago in The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsay, the Ten Kings will not have their confederation in Europe, but in southwest Asia, the region that includes the lands around the Black Sea and the Caspian, and those of Iran, Oman, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia; this region holds 70% of the world's known oil reserves and is predominantly Islamic.  That the Confederation of the Ten Kings will not arise in Europe is shown by one salient fact: the Great Harlot will have dominion over “the earth” until the Beast annexes it to his “many waters,” and, thereafter, the False Prophet will be the subordinate ruler of it, not the Ten Kings.

Verse 12 states that the Ten Kings...

“...did not yet receive a kingdom, but authority as kings for one hour they will receive together with the beast.”

Excerpt 3

I cannot cogently argue as to the exact region in which the Confederation of Ten will arise.  However, the reader should bear in mind several things:

(1)    The relationship between the Great Harlot and the Beast will be based on material wealth.
(2)    The Beast will ascend from Islamic countries in “the sea.”
(3)    At present, oil is the great material wealth in Islam.
(4)    All or almost all of the Confederation of Ten will be outside “the sea.”
(5)    If the second plague in 16:3 affects all of “the sea,” then, it is absolutely certain that none of the Ten Kings will be within “the sea,” for the Ten will be together with the Beast “until the words of the God shall be fulfilled” [17:17] at Armageddon.
(6)    If the second plague affects all of “the sea,” then, it is absolutely certain that the “throne of the beast” [fifth plague in 16:10] will be located outside “the sea,” i.e., where the Beast's center or base of power is, namely, the Confederation of Ten.

The Roman Empire, at its greatest extent in 217 AD, included Mesopotamia in the east, where the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers flow, in the land now called Iraq.  The Romans were unable to conquer farther eastward on account of the Parthians; the Parthians inhabited the territory now known as Iran.  Also, the Romans never conquered the Saudi Arabian peninsula.  It is, therefore, exceedingly probable that the Confederation of Ten will arise in the Middle East, constituted of such lands as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (the Uzbek people), Kurgyz (Kyrgyzstan), Tadzhikistan (formerly Tadzhik Soviet Socialist Republic), Turkmenistan (formerly Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia; for most of them are rich in oil, and all of them are predominantly Islamic.

Excerpt 4

The history books have recorded many “beasts,” but John wrote only about those that come or would come into contact with all or almost all of God's people.  This explains why the “Burning Mountain” in Chapter 8 was not depicted as a beast with a head, but it will become a considerable part of the seventh beast, as described in Chapter 17.  Even now, the flame-colored dragon is at work, and the flames of Islam have been growing since World War II.