Holy War!Why Do Some Moslem Hate?Yea, the day cometh, that whosoever killeth
you
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Jackson Snyder Mat 24:37-44 Rev 9, excerpts |
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Revelation 9 excerpts 1. Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven onto the earth, and the angel was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. 2. When he unlocked the shaft of the Abyss, smoke rose out of the Abyss like the smoke from a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss 3. and out of the smoke dropped locusts onto the earth… 9. They had body-armor like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings sounded like the racket of chariots with many horses charging… 11. As their leader they had their king, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon.
13. The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice issuing from the four horns of the golden altar in Elohim's presence. 14. It spoke to the sixth angel with the trumpet, and said, "Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates." 15. These four angels had been ready for this hour of this day of this month of this year, and ready to destroy a third of the human race. 16. I learnt how many there were in their army: twice ten thousand times ten thousand men. 18. It was by the fire, the smoke and the sulphur coming from their mouths, that the one third of the human race was killed. 20. But the rest of the human race, who escaped death by these plagues, refused either to abandon their own handiwork or to stop worshipping devils. 21. Nor did they give up their murdering, or witchcraft, or fornication or stealing.
The RevelationThe book of Revelation is properly called The Revelation of Yahshua Messiah to John. It is a collection of visions, prophecies and letters that were meant to reveal, in the most symbolic terms, signs to help us recognize the time of Messiah’s return to judge. The Revelation speaks on two simultaneous plains of time. It speaks about events happening at the time it was written, in the course of a raging persecution in the first century. The other plain of time extends far beyond, into every century, and students of the Bible in all times have made sense of its symbols for their times. As the Savior’s advent ever nears, we too can make concrete sense of these symbols; they are clearer now than at any other time in history. Today I am going to reveal a major sign to you that will require your full attention for twenty minutes. Ancient Parthia / Modern Muslim NationsWhen Revelation was written, there existed two great empires. Scripture calls these empires “beasts.” One beast is the Roman Empire. The other is the Parthian Empire. These two empires were at constant war for 500 years. Just as the successor to the Roman Empire remains, so does that of the Parthian. Parthia was the block of countries we call Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Arabia and others. Today, prophetic Parthia is unified by the religion called Islam and is one of the end-time beasts. Revelation chapter 9 describes a large, demon-possessed army let loose upon the earth from Parthia, which the chapter identifies in terms of its greatest river, the Euphrates. This is not a national army under a common flag; rather, it is unified by a false prophet the Bible calls Apollyon, the Destroyer. This demonized army flies forth out of spiritual Parthia with the intention of killing as many as possible and destroying as much as possible. The weapons they use to kill consist of fire, smoke and sulfur – the same arsenal used by cowardly terrorists. I’ve taught for years that, in our time, the demonic armies described in Revelation correspond to today’s militant factions of Islam, a religion and political system based primarily in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Arabia and Afghanistan – ancient Parthia. These nations are all based upon the tenets of the Beast and his false prophet, they take everything they can get from us and for it they return terror. Islam and AllahBut let me make an important distinction. The religion of Islam has over one billion adherents called Muslims. Islam claims one out of every six people on earth. There are more Muslims in England than Methodists! Though deceived, most are peace-loving people. So when I speak today of Islam’s demonic hordes, I’m talking about the Shi′ites, a militant minority sect of Islam. There are 200 million Shi′ites worldwide, the exact number of the horde mentioned in Rev 9:16. Islam means
“submission.” One submits to the
dictates of the god Allah as recorded in the Koran, Islam’s holy book, written
by their prophet Mohammed. Political correctness
teaches us that
Islam is one of the
"three great monotheistic religions" and that Islam's Allah is
the same as the Bible's Yahweh . But nothing could be further from the truth.
Why Do Some Moslem Hate?
Mohammed was very familiar with Christianity and Judaism. He mentions
Yahshua a number of times in the Koran, often
favorably. Still, Shi′ites
hate Christians and Jews, and are dedicated to our extermination. Why? Let's
find out from the words of Allah in the Koran:
The Christians call Messiah the Son of Elohim. That is a saying from their mouth. They imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Elohim's curse upon them. (Sura at-taubah, 30)
This verse alone distances Allah from the Elohim of our Bible, who sent his Son to love and save sinners, not to curse them. Yet, in the minds of radical Muslims, we who call Yahshua the Son are already cursed, thus fuel for their fire. When Mohammed tried to promote his teachings peacefully, he was severely persecuted. But when he took up the sword, things began to change (Sura 2:216). At first, Muslims resisted violence (Sura 4:73ff). But the allure of plunder and the unlimited use of captive women became too tempting for men of violence to resist. Finally, Mohammed and his band ambushed a defenseless caravan. Allah then offered his divine approval in these words:
Allah
promised you many gains that ye will acquire, and hath given you this in
advance, and withheld men's hand from you, that it may be a token for the
believers and that he may guide you in the right path. (Sura 48:20)
Although this kind of Holy War or jihad began as a means of acquiring wealth for warfare, it soon became the religion's accepted method of winning converts. Many Koran chapters teach Holy War:
Fight
and slay the pagans wherever ye
find them, and seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them in every
stratagem; but if they repent ... then open a way for them. (Sura 9:123)
It was a short step from persecuting pagans to going after Christians and Jews.
Fight
those who believe not in Allah and his apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of
truth [even if they are [Jews
and Christians (people of the book) until they pay with willing
submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Sura 9:29)
When he promoted Islam by peacefully, Mohammed made about 100 converts. But after Allah commanded him to kill and destroy, offering wealth for all joiners, Mohammed became a successful religious terrorist. Later, the Holy War was expanded, and the Middle East and much of Europe and Asia were conquered over a period of centuries. Now Islam is still making great conquests all over the world. Iranian President Akbar Rafsanjani recently made the goals of Shi′ite Islam clear when he stated,
"Our
plan is to overthrow all Western influence in the Middle East and then
overthrow the Judea-Messiahian world order.”
Millions have been
killed in Holy War for Allah and his prophet Mohammed; tens of thousands of
innocent people became victims last week.
Public Enemy Number One Most of us first heard the term jihad,
which is translated struggle or “holy war,” in 1979 when the American
Embassy in Teheran, Iran was stormed by Shi′ites and all non-Muslims were taken captive for a year. At that time, the name that conjured up evil
in every American mind was Ayatollah Khomeini, who was the first Shi′ite
cleric to take power over a nation. But
there is a new name that has come to the fore in regards to terrorism. I want to talk about that name now. Rev 9:11 says that the great demonic army will have a king over them, the fallen angel Apollyon, which means “Destroyer.” Down through the years there have been many Apollyons. The Ayatollah Khomeini was certainly a demon-possessed person. We’ve heard the name of the most recent Apollyon this week, Osama bin Laden. For some, it’s a new name, though it’s been at the top of the FBI’s most wanted list for years. Bin Laden is a 44-year-old Arabian multimillionaire who lives in a secret mountainous enclave in Afghanistan, so they say. He personally declared war on the United States in 1990, when US troops used Saudi Arabia as a base for striking at Iraq. He believes that the US military presence in Arabia, consisting of American Christians and Jews, was a desecration of Islam’s Holy Land. This is why he declared war. Now Bin Laden has a huge following in the Islamic world. Not just the few caught on videotape are cheering our destruction, but multiple millions of militant Muslims follow him. Among many other cowardly acts, he bombed our two embassies in Africa in 1998, which killed or injured over 4000. Yet no action whatsoever was taken against him or his demonic army of terror. In a rare interview, Time Magazine (1999) quoted bin Laden as saying,
"America has been trying ever since [1993] to
tighten its economic blockade against us and to arrest me. It has failed. Our job is to instigate
(terrorize) and, by the grace of Allah, we did that and certain people
responded to this instigation. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews
and Americans is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a
criminal.
We expect to be rewarded by
Allah.”
This Destroyer is the prime suspect in the recent destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Spokesmen in Washington say that only Osama bin Laden has the money and connections to bring about such a coordinated effort. But where did his money and military training come from? Three hundred million dollars of it is from an inheritance. The rest came from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. We trained him and financed him, and that is a fact that, as far as I know, has not yet come out in the press but soon will.
Rushing for a PewTo summarize our findings: Rev 9:7 tells us that our end-time enemies will be demons with human faces – a demon-possessed army. They have a dark angel over them known as “Destroyer” to whom they will be religiously faithful. They will be from the old Parthian Empire, around the Euphrates River in Iraq. Their mission will be to kill as many people as possible and leave terror and horror in their wake. They will use smoke, fire and sulfuric fumes to kill. And they will kill and kill and kill, and they will not be stopped by any means until the Son of Man comes. You would think that we would be scared to death. Since everyone in this country has multiple Bibles, you would think they would have been read, and this terror recognized and averted by keeping the commandments of Yahweh and the witness of Yahshua. You would think we would want to turn back to make monumental corrections in our own lifestyles and thought processes. You might think we would be willing to plead with family members to get right now. You would think that members of Byrneville Church would be driven to get out of the world and into the pews. You would think that when we call a memorial prayer service for the thousands killed in terrorist attacks in the last week, the whole church would show up. But this is not the case.
Signs of the TimesListen to what the prophet tells us at the end of the 9th chapter of the Revelation:
Rev 9:20. But the rest of the people who escaped death … refused to abandon their own handiwork and to stop worshipping idols … 21. They did not give up their murdering, or witchcraft, or fornication or stealing.
Signs in the heavens and earth bring fearful reactions, but those reactions do not include reformation or conversion. “They refused to give up their handiwork.” Yahshua said,
Mat 24:37. `As it was in Noah's day, so will it be when the Son of man comes. 38. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, 39. and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept them all away. This is what it will be like when the Son of man comes. 44. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’
Though the world comes crashing down, people persist in intentional blindness toward the warnings of Elohim. And these warnings are not general anymore, but specific fulfillments of biblical prophecy, unmistakable signs of His soon coming and the amelioration of the world. And you must stand ready at all times, especially now.
A Difficult PositionFriends! One sign follows another after another after another, confirmed again and again. Stop! Look and Listen! Yahweh our Elohim is trying to tell certain people things that are essential to their future welfare. He is saying here that, despite the signs and the interpretation of preachers like myself sent here to you, nobody heeds the commandments of Yahweh; nobody pays attention to the prophetic ramifications of current events; nobody turns to Yahshua for conversion. Many of the signs found in Revelation have come to pass in the last seven years. We study these signs on Thursday nights. And this evening I’ll reveal to you several indelible events that have come to pass in just the last seven years that undeniably point to Yahshua’ presence on earth. These studies are open to you. Your pastor is an expert in Bible, history and prophecy. There is no reason for you to remain ignorant of where your world is going. You are invited to take time to learn. A great deal of effort has been put forth to help you understand the present and future. There is no excuse for you not to know, none whatsoever. If there is no excuse now, there will certainly be no excuse then. I am in a difficult position. The Bible says teachers will be strictly judged. I have a responsibility to present to you the truth as the Holy Spirit has revealed it to me. Some of you pay me to go to the throne room and that is exactly what I do. I’ve spent long years in study and prayer to make the grade. And I must be honest with you in times such as these. What makes it complicated is that I like you and want you to like me. I want to succeed in this church; it’s not my intention fail. I hate to ruffle feathers. So I pray today that what I say to you under the anointing of the Holy Spirit will take root and that neither you nor I leave room for the Apollyon to march in.
The ChallengeWe have come to the end of the world as we have known the world. But it’s not time to give up and hide, nor is it time to call for the rocks to fall upon us. It is time for you people to get militant for Messiah – that means making a complete commitment to your church and the good for which it stands. Although popular preaching today likes to tell us that we’re all under the blood therefore won’t be required to make an accounting of our whereabouts in the end-time, I assure you that you most certainly will be held accountable. And not just for your own slothfulness, but also for the spiritual condition of your youth, who have no spiritual leadership here in Byrneville whatsoever. What takes a greater priority than spiritual education? Nothing, not even secular education. You and your children need Messiah, the Bible and church more than anything else in the world. Your enemy is dedicated enough to give his life to destroy you and everything you love. But how dedicated are you to what you believe? I challenge you to be converted and take up the responsibility of being a real Messiahian, not just a pew pretender. Messiah died for you and demands that you now die for him. One final note. I mentioned the fact that there are more Muslims in England, the home of Wesley, than Methodists. There are also over 600 major Islamic centers in the United States and thousands more mosques. And where is Shi′ite Islam, the religion of holy war, the religion of terrorism and destruction, growing the fastest in the world? Let me tell you. It is growing fastest in the American prison system and among poor young black people! That fact alone should be sign enough for us. All who love and serve your city, all who bear its daily
stress, Let us pray:
Risen Master, shall yet the city be the city of despair? Come today, our Judge, our Esteem, be its name, “The King is there!” adapted from Erik Routley, 1966, UMH 433
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