"He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints," is this speaking of the Antichrist?

Recently, Joel Richardson, the author of The Islamic Antichrist; The Mideast Beast; When a Jew rules the World, and a few others, posted a true or false question on his twitter account.

This is a close approximation of what he posted.

“He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”

The question was put forth: Is this speaking of the Antichrist; true or false? 

On Joel’s Twitter page, results were indicating an ongoing vote. At the time I saw this message, 90% had voted true.

Have you ever heard the saying, if all your friends were jumping off a bridge to their deaths, would you blindly follow them to their ends? Well, simply because the majority were voting true, does not make it so. I will tell you I voted false; how would you have voted?

I thought about the statement, aware that it was a quotation from somewhere in the Bible, but I wasn’t sure where I could find it at the moment and did not have the time to look it up. I know that one of the major players in end times events are the false prophet; and, I understand how that in Islamic eschatology this man is known as the enforcer of Sharia and therefore commands those who will sever the heads of “Christians.” If there were a moment in time in which I could see a war against believers, I would think this would be it. However, that is not what the scripture tells us, and that alone forces us to do our homework and cross-reference. One of your cross-references will take you to Revelation 13.

"There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." (Revelation 13:5-7 NASB)

The praying church is the one entity that is withstanding and restraining the Antichrist from erupting on the scene in full force. This restraint, we as a church apply, has little or nothing to do with the afflictions Jesus said would come upon the whole earth in the last days. These tribulations include the unpredictable and deadly weather we have been having across the globe.

"You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; all this is but the beginning of the ‘birth-pains.’ At that time, you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. At that time, many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, many false prophets will appear and fool many people, and many people’s love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah. But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. And this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Goyim. It is then that the end will come." (Matthew 24:6-14 CJB)

As the evening progressed and I was thinking about my response, a second post showed up on Joel Richardson’s Twitter account indicating that he had obtained the quote from Daniel 7:25.

I now had something substantial to pursue, and I began to probe the Bible application on my phone.

A short time later, Joel made another post to his Twitter account. This time he asked, if you voted false, briefly describe why. I rarely do anything briefly, but as I began studying Daniel 7:25 in an appropriate manner, I found it to be precisely what he was trying to convey; a description of the Antichrist. Knowing that I had the time I began pursuing this passage in full detail – I can’t stand to give out wrong information, nor do I like to feel like I did an inadequate job of studying.

Rule number one in my book: Unless I am very familiar with a passage, I will never simply allow someone to feed me one verse as though it means something in particular; that means that I look at the context. An example of this is the word “He” in the paragraph in the question above. Let me show you.

In the previous verse, Daniel 7:24, it speaks of ten kings arising. So, ten horns equal ten kingdoms, and perhaps, ten kings, and yet none of them are individualized, that is, until we get to this peculiarity – another will arise after them. We had been talking about kingdoms, but suddenly it becomes a he.

Daniel 7:24 NASB ‘As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

These days, there are very few countries, or nations, that are ruled by kings, and so I cannot cling tightly to a literal kingship. An example could be Britain. Britain is “ruled” by a Queen, but that is not even a true statement; Saudi Arabia is also ruled by a king. Saudi’s religion is considered to be 100% Muslim, while in Britain, you have the right to be a Muslim. Note how different these two kingdoms are.

Joel Richardson’s post tells us that “He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One.” This sounds very similar to Revelation 13:6-7

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." NASB

Revelation chapter 13, it so happens, is a very detailed version of Daniel 7:25.

So what exactly does Daniel 7:25 say?

 " He will speak words against the Most High and try to exhaust the holy ones of the Most High. He will attempt to alter the seasons and the law; and [the holy ones] will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time." ( CJB )

Eugene Peterson’s Message translation, says it straightforwardly,

  “Then he will blaspheme the High God,”

If you find the idea of blasphemy confusing, join the crowd. Many people have come for prayer, whining that they have committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy, and therefore cannot be saved. Jesus explained blasphemy in the simplest of terms in Mark chapter 3. There, the Pharisees and elders had said, He can heal only through the power of Satan. Well, not quite in those words, but you get the idea. You get the sense that Jesus spun around, pointed, and said, NOW you’ve crossed the line with this blasphemy. So, attributing the things of God to Satan does the trick.

Daniel 7:25 also has some properties that are very similar to Daniel chapter 8. In Daniel chapter 8, Daniel is having a rather violent vision of a ram and a goat.

"I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal. Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself. While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath. I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host, and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. And on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper." (Daniel 8:2-12 NASB)

In Daniel 8:15, we find Daniel seeking an explanation of the vision; and, he gets one.

“In the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. “And through his shrewdness, He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency. (Daniel 8:23-25 NASB)

So, again, we see traces of Daniel 7:25.

Here is a familiar passage to students of Eschatology.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 NASB (3) Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (4) who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

I have already shown you Daniel 7:24 where we see ten kingdoms, and yet another comes out of them. Daniel and The Revelation refer to this kingdom as one man and calls it, he. Can you see any potential confusion here? If I am going to analyze passages, then I have to ask if the “he” is a solitary man, or entire kingdom (in this case an ideology?) The answer is both. When it comes to the solitary man, this is definitely speaking of Antichrist’s role. There are strong suspicions as to who this man is, but no one can tell you at this point, who we are looking for. I can say to you with a firm conviction that this man will be a Muslim leader.

As you continue to cross-reference, Daniel is one of those who inform you that the Antichrist will call for peace. We have always assumed that this peace will be with Israel, but look closely, for Israel is not mentioned aside from the destruction it receives.

My “brief” response to Joel Richardson, was a much shorter version of what I have tried to tell you.

So why the lengthy response?

I wrote this because I wanted to point something out; that something, in my case, is that I allowed a false teacher to bring confusion into my life, to the point that I did not trust what I knew was right. Fortunately, this was not a life or death situation and I simply had to reestablish the correct information in my mind and spirit. Some might say, how did you let that happen? It happened because I allowed my religious upbringing, along with a man, who, under the guise of approved religion brought a consistent outpouring of dreadful teachings. The man in question, at his own word, had, at one point, obtained a certification from the Assemblies of God, indicating that he was an approved teacher of God’s word. That might have been the case at some point, but no longer.

I have come to understand that maybe I am not just talking to myself, perhaps this is you, but what if no one had ever pointed any of this information out to you, would you know if the information was true or false?

Can you now distinguish between the Antichrist and the False Prophet, based upon scripture?

Has anyone ever told you that Islam has their own eschatology and it parallels, in many ways, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Revelation?

Has anyone ever effectively told you that we, the Church, are the thing that is holding back the Antichrist from unleashing in full force upon the world? We do that by prayer.

The book that started this journey of understanding for me was The Islamic Antichrist by Joel Richardson. He laid out the information like no other, and I believe that he has been given to us for this moment in time.

If you have eyes and ears, then you are aware that we are in the last days. War with Israel will break out at any moment. Ezekiel 38, 39 tells that God will save Israel, but not without severe damage, by sending a firestorm upon a leader the Bible calls Gog of Magog and the armies amassed with him. Scripture tells us that Gog will be buried in Israel. I feel strongly that this firestorm will open the way for the last temple to be built, and along with that action, the church will be removed from the earth as Jesus calls His bride back home. These are not comfortable times for any of us, as the world is turning its back on morality and common sense. If you are a follower of Christ, then you have probably heard the warning, put on the armor of God daily. Well, I am telling you, NEVER take it off. Learn to sleep in it; wake up with it on, and clang all the way down the aisles at work. The atmosphere has shifted, and it is time for the warriors upon the walls to call out the warning. 

I pray somebody is listening.