DSmitty
Posts: 52
Joined: 7/2/2008
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It looks like I'm getting in late on a conversation that has been going on for a while, and I admit I haven't read all of the posts, so please bear with me. But I do have some thoughts in this vein...
For many years I have heard people opine that Catholicism would be the religion of the antichrist kingdom. I had a pastor who had gotten saved out of hinduism, and he tended to think that hinduism would be the religion of the antichrist kingdom. Sometime within the last seven or eight years I have come to believe that Islaam would be it.
Islaam is the fastest growing religion in the world - particularly in Europe. Not growing so much via "evangelism" so much as breeding. Osama bin Laden, for example, is one of something like 50 children. But that aside...
The mistake that people generally make in their perception of the antichrist is an over-emphasis on the devil. The devil is definitely involved, as he and his cohorts are always involved in human rebellion. But the antichrist is a man, he's not the devil. He may be a man possessed, but he is a man. In the Omen (book and movies) they made it into a thing where Damien was the child of a Jackal... ie, not human. But the antichrist will absolutely be human.
Six is the number of man and three is the number of fulness and 666 represents the fulness of man apart from God. The antichrist is the ultimate conclusion of the choice made by Adam to disobey God and to live by his own created life rather than by the life of the creator.
So how does Islaam fit into that scenario? Islaam claims to inherit the Abrahamic blessings through Ishmael. Isaac was the child of promise; Ishmael was the child of the flesh. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof", Islaam claims belief in and service to God but is really a man-centered religion as ultimately are all false religions. Ishmael was the result of Abraham's attempt to secure the promises of God through his own effort apart from God: God did not tell Abraham to have a child by Hagar.
Earlier in this thread someone pointed out the significance of the mark being in the head and in the hand as being symbolic of how we think and what we do. I share this view, although I suspect that ultimately there will be a literal fulfillment of the prophecy as well. I've found that God's Word works on many levels. But I do find the symbology interesting... no one can buy or sell - ie, partake in the world system unless they think and act like a child of the flesh.
Something else about the buying and selling where that is concerned. The economy of this world is based on buying and selling; the economy of the Kingdom of God is based on freely receiving and freely giving. I once heard a preacher liken not putting money into the offering to stealing groceries from the grocery store. While I appreciate the sentiment that Christians should be financially supportive of the ministry that feeds them spiritually, I believe that the analogy is wrong. Peter said to Simon the sorcerer, "Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God could be bought with money". You don't put money in the offering to pay for what you're getting; but rather you freely give because you have freely received. That's a side note, but it ties into the whole antichrist thing  .
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Men are God's methods. And while men are looking for better methods, God is looking for better men. -AW Tozer
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RE: 666 and Islam - The Mark of the Beast - 
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