What is the fate of Islam in light of Bible prophecy?
Does the Bible prophesy that Islam will conquer the entire world and usher in Sharia law on a global scale? Or will this violent ideology, which has brought so much suffering and death to billions over the centuries, and sent millions to Hell, be, at last, reaching its final hour?
To answer these questions, Tim Moore and Nathan Jones traveled to the annual Pre-Trib Study Group Conference held every December in the Dallas, Texas area. You won’t find a larger gathering of experts in Bible prophecy than the one where these professors of prophecy meet to share their research on eschatology.
Destroyed by the Antichrist
Don Perkins: I don’t see Islam taking over the entire world, even though they are taking ground through population jihad. Throughout the world, Muslims are buying up land and property. Countries are allowing them to buy property and build Islamic-only communities, even right here in America. They’re building one in Dallas, but thank God for Texas’s governor shutting things down. Islam has a silent agenda by taking ground piece by piece.
I do believe that Islam will be dealt with by God when the Antichrist comes on the scene. The Bible prophesies that the Antichrist will worship no god but the god of munitions. Islam, then, will have a problem with the Antichrist, or let’s say this: the Antichrist will have a problem with Islam. Whatever kind of ground they’ve gained, it’s going to be short-lived because the Antichrist will not allow any other religion other than the worship of himself. A lot of people have different ideas about that, but I believe that Islam will not be a world conqueror, for that’s not how Scripture reads.
Joe Hawkins: I definitely do not see an Islamic takeover of the world. I believe that there’s going to come a point when people, especially here in America, will refuse to become Islamized. Sections may, yes, but not the entire world.
Christians are going to be taken out of here at the Rapture. Islam will refuse to fall in line with the Antichrist’s Beast system. They’re not going to fall in line with worshipping the Antichrist, and so he will cause Islam to cease to exist. But, on this side of the Rapture, Muslims are certainly going to do their best to try to take control of all the land they can in Allah’s name. That’s what Islam does. Islam is a religion of control and submission.
Destroyed by God
While our last two prophecy experts saw the fate of Islam being at the bloody hands of the coming one-world ruler, the Antichrist, our next few panelists look to Islam’s potential defeat in the coming war of Gog and Magog, followed by Islam’s remnants being absorbed into the Babylonian one-world religion that will dominate the first half of the Tribulation.
Pete Garcia: This is my opinion on how I read Ezekiel 38–39 concerning the Gog-Magog War. I see God pulling Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, from all directions, to come against Israel. Islam is going to take advantage of a crisis led by Gog. I think it’s going to happen because of the Rapture, as that would cause a global crisis that will destabilize the U.S., or at least take us out of the picture for a while. We won’t be there to support Israel militarily or politically, economically, or in any other way.
The Islamic world is going to take advantage of that crisis to march against Israel. It’ll be like the Crusades, but in reverse. The Islamic coalition, though, will be wiped out by God supernaturally. By the end of that supernatural defeat, Islam is going to have lost a lot of its militant power and forces. Muslims will then roll into whatever the final iteration of the final world religion will be.
Lee Brainard: Bible prophecy teachers are somewhat divided on whether Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38–39 are two distinct events. I tend to put them as one big event, but with two different motives coming together. A confederation of the Russian-led juggernaut and the Arab nations will join to come against Israel. When the fire descends from the heavens to bring judgment on the Gog and Magog juggernaut, that is not only going to destroy that gathered army, but the Scriptures are very clear that the fire is also going to fall on those nations that dwell in Magog and live carelessly in the isles.
The result of this war is the decimation of the two most powerful forces in the Middle East outside of America and her Western allies, which would be Russia and its allies, fundamentalist Islam. This war is going to leave a vacuum in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Europe, which the revived Roman Empire will step into. So Islam’s militant force is going to be largely erased by the Gog-Magog War. Islam is going to be largely smashed by the fire that falls from the heavens.
As a result, a lot of Muslims are going to be awakened to the falsity of Islam and instead embrace the God of Israel because the God of Israel had defended the Jewish people. But then whoever is not killed or converted is going to be molded into the one-world whore religion. Muslims will face the same choice that everybody else in the Tribulation will face. You can either lose your head, or you’re going to worship the Antichrist. Every religion on Earth is going to come down that road.
Mondo Gonzales: I’ve encountered a lot of different perspectives, including everything from an Islamic Antichrist to Ezekiel 38, where God judges the invading hordes, and fire from heaven incinerates the coastlines to subdue the Islamic religion.
When you think about the Harlot from the book of Revelation, it is a religious system. Islam is kind of this enigmatic topic, for where does it end up in the last days? It’s hard to believe that even if Islam was humbled by God before the start of the Tribulation, should Ezekiel 38 happen then, that Islam would still not become a part of the Harlot system during at least the first three and a half years, because the Harlot is going to become a worldwide religious system. But, by the midpoint of the Tribulation, as we know, the Harlot religion is going to be burned with fire so that there’s no room for any competition with the Antichrist’s desire to be worshipped alone.
Carl Broggi: We do know that there’s going to be a one-world religion during the first half of the Tribulation. It’ll be a collection of all the world’s religions. Then, in the middle of the Tribulation, when the Antichrist is miraculously healed, he’ll want exclusive worship and demand singular worship towards him.
Islam is part of that whole prophetic plan. Number one, we know it’s a core group of Islamic nations that are going to attack Israel, according to Ezekiel, which I suspect will wipe out so many Muslims. Islam’s defeat at the hands of God will allow for the Temple to be rebuilt.
Then there’s the connection between Roman Catholicism and Islam. These two religious systems share many commonalities that people sometimes haven’t considered. Even the recent decision by the Pope to officially deny certain things that they still practice, butts up to Islam. As we can see, prophetic events are falling into place in that realm.
Turning to Faith in Jesus Christ
Tom Hughes rightly pointed to the fact that no matter how prophetic events finally play out, all false religions, including Islam, will end at last upon the return of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are happy to say that one and only one religion will define the Millennial Kingdom—the worship of King Jesus.
Tom Hughes: In Islam, there are the Shiites and the Sunni factions. The Muslim nations are not getting along with each other, so you have that dynamic. I think it was Jack Kinsella who used to say, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” So, Israel is still the enemy, and yet the Muslims can’t get along. If they’re not attacking Israel, they are attacking each other.
Prophetically, the day of Islam’s demise is coming. We learn from Isaiah 19 that Israel will turn to the Lord. Isaiah 19 reveals that Egypt and what would’ve been the former land of Assyria, meaning the predominantly Arab-slash-Muslim territories right now, are going to have a “coming to Jesus” moment. Likewise, Daniel 11 specifies that the area that is currently modern-day Jordan will come to faith in God’s son. Currently, Jordanians definitely have no love for Israel. Even when you’re talking to those who claim to be Christians over in Jordan, they do not love Israel and the Jews.
And yet, the day is coming when those predominantly Muslim territories will turn to Yeshua. Does that transition happen during the Tribulation or by the end of the Tribulation? I’m thinking it does. But in the meantime, I also don’t see Islam as being the religion of the last days that the Antichrist is going to rise out of, either.
Resource
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