3. False Messiahs

America, as Edward Said says, is more occupied with religion than any other nation, and in America there is a totally mad fundamentalist current that seeks to hasten the second-coming of Christ, and who are prepared to do the stupidest thing in the world in order to achieve it.

And what could be stupider than attempting to infiltrate nuclear bases and dispatch nuclear devastation on the entire world? What more proof do we need when we have seen them commit mass suicide, and bomb federal installations, as well as forming militias and troops prepared for the coming day?

The problem is that they are increasing in number and not decreasing. They follow no system of logic or reason, but fantasies, visions and the prompting of devils that they believe to be the Holy Spirit. Moreover, there are numerous individuals who claim to be Christ, or that Christ speaks through him, or to him.

Among their beliefs are:

  1. The establishment of the state of Israel as a precursor of the coming of Christ.
  2. The peace process delays the promise of God.
  3. All of Jerusalem must be under Israeli control.
  4. Israel is blessed. Blessed are they who bless it, and cursed are they who curse it.
  5. The Palestinians (and the Arabs in general) are a pagan scum, and the party of Gog and Magog..
  6. The Millennial reign will soon commence, but only after believers are suddenly caught up into heaven to meet the Lord while all the pagans are destroyed in the battle of Armageddon.

But these fundamentalists are not monks cloistered away from the world as they were in the early centuries of Christianity. Rather, they exercise remarkable influence on society, as well as an effective media arsenal, and high-level government positions.

The prophecies of the Bible with the addition of fortune-telling and summoning spirit(s) are the most important of their rituals. Their political and social theories depend on these prophecies, as does their interaction with other people.

Secular thinkers in America know that it is nearly impossible to change the backwards beliefs of these people, since their intellectual foundation has been totally destroyed, and their psychology is extremely complex and peculiar. Secular politicians pretend to support them due to their influence on public opinion, and in the financial sectors and media. The Arabic media rarely speak about them since they are preoccupied with their war against Islamic extremists and terrorists and have no time to discuss these Western extremists who, as long as they are not Muslims, cannot be terrorists.

They and the Western intellectuals are total opposites, but the problem is that the moderate bloc is gradually decreasing, and more people are tending to the fundamentalist camp rather than the secular grouping, fleeing from the confusion and spiritual drought of modern culture. For this reason, visionary fundamentalism has penetrated into all aspects of society and destroyed all barriers.

The forces of destiny seem to have been mobilized for fundamentalist strife in our age as never before, and doubtlessly there is divine wisdom behind it. This is due to two circumstances which have never combined before:

  1. The large Jewish presence in Palestine which has not been seen in two thousand years. Hal Lindsey says in The Late Great Planet Earth that before the establishment of the State of Israel none of the future events were clearly understood, but now that that has occurred, the countdown has begun for the occurrence of the indicator events connected to all of the types of prophecy, and on the basis of the prophecies, the entire world will focus on the middle-east, and especially Israel in the last days.
  2. The advent of the millennium, or more accurately, the year two thousand, which to them means the beginning of the end of our world, and the beginning of the coming of the new world, the world of the millennium of Christ, which is similar to the concept of the hereafter or paradise to Muslims.

In the commotion of the flood of enthusiasm over the approach of the millennium, the fundamentalists were activated to a formidable extent in the last two decades of the twentieth century in every field. Except that they especially focused on studying and writing, and the media clamor concerning the Second Coming of Christ and the millennial reign, in which they hastened to force every current event into their frightening apocalyptic scenarios, all of which are based on one assumption: the occurrence of miracles which could not possibly agree with the logical succession of historical events in any manner.

They discovered that they could not possibly conceive of the inauguration of Christ's millennial reign in accordance with the objective conditions of time, place and the present-day political situation. Therefore, there would have to be a great external interference to completely overturn the world order. Thus, the easiest means of realizing it would be a nuclear disaster that would terminate the present-day civilization, and bring the world back to conditions more closely resembling the world during Christ's first advent, in preparation for his second-coming. They found their answer in the ominous events of Armageddon. Reagan and Nixon both agreed about destroying the 'Evil Empire' of the Soviet Union because they supposed that the Russians were Gog and Magog. Then after the Gulf War began, they decided that Sadam Hussein is the Assyrian, and that Gog and Magog are the Arabs, or the Arabs and Iranians, and that there is no escaping nuclear conflict.

After the Oslo agreement they calmed down a bit –rather, they were in disarray. But when the latest intifadha began they breathed a sigh of relief, especially since it occurred in the year two thousand. Because of this many Western intellectuals and scholars are holding their breath out of fear of one of these madmen venturing some stupid stunt that would end in an unthinkable catastrophe. Even the Israeli authorities have been adamant in restricting the entry of these Christian extremists into Israel, fearing that they would attempt something of that type. As for the great catastrophe which disturbs the sleep of observers of the situation, it is the possibility of them gaining entry into a nuclear facility and lighting a fire which the world cannot extinguish.

People must understand that the passing of the year two thousand without incident does not mean the end of these ideas. All they will do is reexamine their calculations, and Satan will reveal to them a new mirage to lead them astray, and with which to raise the fears of the world, and with which they will remain a source of threat to all of humanity.

Because I am convinced that they lack reason, I believe that it is necessary for reasonable people to destroy the doctrinal foundation of their fantasies and error. If the Christians and Jews are unable or unwilling to do so, it is not possible for us to forsake or neglect it when we possess the infallible revelation of truth, which Allah would cause humanity to accept, if we were to present it to the world.

Therefore, confirmation that there is no connection whatsoever between the existing State of Israel, and the Messiah, and that the second millennium shall pass as the first with nothing new, is the defense against their evil, not only for the sake of Muslims, but for all humanity. This is one of the causes behind the writing of this brief research. The other cause especially concerns Muslims, which we will shortly discuss.

Their coreligionists who have doubts about the soundness of their doctrines need only read the twenty-third and twenty-fourth chapters of Matthew, especially the discussion of the prophecy of Daniel, and to carefully contemplate Christ's warning against false Messiahs and those who spread rumors at the time of the setting up of the 'abomination of desolation' in Jerusalem, then ask themselves who they believe fit that description, and what their position should be concerning such people? They will then –we believe- arrive at the right conclusion, if not, then they need only continue on with us as we shed complete light on the subject – Allah willing.