Much has been written of late concerning the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that he had a mystical vision of the return of the 12th Islamic Imam, a child who disappeared in the year 941, who will be the Mahdi, the Islamic Messiah. When this Mahdi returns, he will reign for 7 years and then bring final judgment and the end of the world. Many Christians believe that he actually will be what the New Testament calls the Antichrist who will rule and reign for seven years during the Tribulation. It makes us all see more clearly not only how those left behind after the harpazo (rapture) will be deceived to believe that those Christians who disappeared to be with Jesus in the clouds were actually abducted by the mass of UFOs all over the skies, but also how those left behind will believe that the Antichrist who appears is actually the Messiah. False prophets and messiahs have always been with us and the Bible warns us to be aware of them whether they are a Jim Jones or a David Koresh or the great Matraiya, or a Rev. Moon or the Lubuvitcher Rabbi Shneerson or the coming Mahdi. This warning is however especially important when it comes to Islam and Judaism because these are the very people who have rejected Christ and will be left behind to suffer together through these terrible yet deceptive times of Jacob's trouble, the so called Tribulation. Satan has deceived the Muslims to believe that their Messiah will come in the end times and rule for seven years and then will bring final judgment and the end of the world. We know from the word of God that it will be the Antichrist that will rule for 7 years and then be defeated by the return of Jesus Christ who will bring final judgment and the end of the world. Muslim doctrine on this Mahdi, which is not part of the Koran but actually is part of oral tradition, is the work of Satan to deceive them and not bring them to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Satan is alive and well in the mosques of today as he once was in the Catholic Church of the Inquisition and pogroms and the Lutheran Church of the Nazis. In both instances, Satan convinced the willing to persecute God's chosen people and to try and destroy them. Satan hates the Jews because the Messiah came through them and the word of God was written by them. Also, if he can destroy Israel then where will the end time Temple be rebuilt and where will Jesus Christ return to rule and reign for 1000 years? Islam speaks of the prophet Isa (Jesus) returning in the last days to help the Mahdi defeat the evil one. Thus Islam has the two major players involved in the end times, Christ and the Antichrist, but has them terribly mixed up and jumbled. They will be deceived.
Unfortunately, this discussion of the Messiah (Christ) and the Antichrist is not only limited to Christians and Muslims. Jewish tradition also speaks very clearly about the person called the antichrist. Neither most Christians nor most Jews have ever heard of this concept. An excellent summary of all the Jewish literature relating to this concept can be found in the Encyclopedia Judaica under the name Armilus. Armilus was the legendary Jewish name of the Messianic antagonist or anti Messiah.
According to the apocalyptic Midrashim, Sefer Zerubbavel, and the medieval sage Saadia Gaon's Midrash Ge'ullah and well as the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan there will arise a Messiah ben Joseph (the first of two Jewish Messiahs) who will be slain (pierced) by Armilus in the end times war of Gog and Magog prior to the time of redemption. He in turn will be killed by Messiah ben David the second Messiah. Jews say there are two Messiahs but it is actually one Messiah coming twice.
Midrash Ge'ullah states that "Satan Armilus is whom the Gentiles call antichrist but there is no proof of Christian influence." Imagine, the Jews claiming the antichrist for themselves and denying any Christian influence? That is amazing and ultimately so sad. The name Armilus is thought to come from the Roman name Romulus because the Jews hated Rome for destroying the Second Temple and decimating Jerusalem. The Encyclopedia Judaica states that Satan Armilus will have hold of the terrestrial world but Messiah will have control of heaven and eternal kingdom. Armilus's evil deeds are described in the Midrash Ge'ullah. He will be "the least of kings, son a bondwoman, monstrous in appearance". He will be born of a beautiful virgin, born of a stone. This was probably from a Roman legend by Virgil that in Rome a marble statue of a beautiful maiden formed not by human hands but by God was defiled by the wicked sons of Belial and would come and lie with her and impregnate the stone and thus create Satan Armilus. He will be 12 cubits tall and two cubits broad with a space between his eyes which are crooked and red. His hair is golden and the soles of his feet are green. He also will have two heads.
In my novel, Invasion: Israel, I created a fictional representative of this Jewish Antichrist, Satan Armilus, as a Dr. Sam Armilus, who embodied many of these characteristics.
My Dr.Armilus was of Jewish ancestry and was also a homosexual as the Prophet Daniel intimated. He will deceive the entire world into believing that He is God and will reign over the entire world. He will come with 10 kings together and fight over Jerusalem. He will slay Messiah ben Joseph and many other righteous men. Armilus will banish Israel to the wilderness and there be great distress for them and they will have to hide in caves. He will take the stone from which he was born and make her the chief of all idolatry. All will bow down to her and pour out libations to her. No one can look on her face for any reason. Is this the abomination of desolation mentioned in the Bible?
This marble virgin motif was a result of Virgil's story popular in Rome coupled with the Christianity story of the Immaculate Conception and the worship of images both of which the Jews rejected. At the end, Messiah ben David will come and defeat Armilus's 500,000 hosts and bring deliverance for Israel and the kingdom of heaven will come over the entire earth.
Once again this concept of the Antichrist in Jewish lore is one which is foreign to most Jews let alone most Christians. It is akin to the Jew who says that Jesus never existed because there is no record of him other than the New Testament. When it is pointed out that not only does the Talmud speak of Him but it talks of His being put to death for blasphemy and sorcery. "Jesus of Nazareth was going to be stoned for sorcery. A plea went out for anyone to plead on his behalf and nobody responded so he was hanged on a tree on the eve of Passover" (b.sanhedrin 43a. t.sanhedrin 10:11, g.sanhedrin 7:16. 67a). Moses Maimonides the medieval Jewish sage also spoke of Jesus in his Mishneh Torah where he spoke of "Jesus of Nazareth who aspired to be the Messiah and was executed by the court (Sanhedrin)". So the Jewish person must be shown that his assumptions about Jesus and probably likewise the Jewish Antichrist are false. Most Christians as well, will not believe that Jewish extra biblical Midrashim and legends speak of Satan Armilus as the Antichrist and that they claimed that it was not a result of Christian influence.
These medieval Jewish storytellers spoke of two Messiahs. The first Messiah, son of Joseph who will be pierced by Satan Armilus (sounds like Jesus doesn't it?), in the end time battle of Gog and Magog and then Armilus would be defeated by Messiah son of David (Second coming of Christ,) who would usher in Kingdom of God.
Many Jews will be deceived to believe that the appearance of Armilus, the Jewish Antichrist, is actually their Messiah. The Muslims will also be deceived to believe that the return of the Mahdi is their Messianic savior rather than the antichrist. Ironically both the Muslims and the Jews will be deceived in the end of days.
In my novel, Invasion: Israel, Dr. Sam Armilus (my character representing the Antichrist) works hand in hand with Azazel, the fallen angel extraterrestrial in his UFO, to not only keep the Jews and Muslims deceived as to the truth concerning the disappearance of the Christians into the air to be kept from harm by Jesus, but also to kill the witness of those who call out to Jesus by beheading them. Armilus and Azazel also collaborate to convince the world that the Israelis (Jews) are vermin that need to be eradicated by a massive tank invasion.
No matter what Ahmadinejad or Bush or Olmert or Putin choose to do, remember that the Persian-Russian invasion of Israel was spelled out 2500 years ago by the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel. "When these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near", Luke 21:28.
Stephen Yulish PhD
February 16, 2007
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