Behold, Ye Are of Nothing
Behold, Ye Are of Nothing
By Jack Kinsella
Of all the world’s major religious texts, only the Bible makes the claim of being able to foretell the future with 100% accuracy, 100% of the time.
History (so far) has been unable to dispute that claim. Every prophecy of Scripture (accounting for some 27% of the entire text) has either been fulfilled precisely as detailed, or remains yet unfulfilled.
Those that remain unfulfilled are in complete harmony with current secularist futurist predictions. That is to say, events relied on by secular forecasters to develop long-term geopolitical or environmental trends suggest the same outcomes predicted by Scripture.
The Bible predicts ethnic unrest and wars between rival ethnic groups. Washington predicts a generational war with Islam and the Arab world.
The Bible predicts unusual weather patterns. Weather forecasters say the trend that saw nine of the hottest years on record occurring since 1995 will continue.
The Bible predicts signs in the sun, moon and stars. NASA predicts major shifts in the 11 year solar cycles that will raise the surface temperature of the earth.
The Bible predicts the sun will be given the power to “scorch men with fire” causing great sores. (Revelation 14:8-11)
NASA says changes in the ozone layers and increasing ultraviolet light is responsible for most skin cancers.
God Himself issues a challenge to other so-called ‘gods’ to predict the future:
“Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.” (Isaiah 41:21-22)
Only God is omniscient, or all-knowing. God not only reveals the future, but He foretells the circumstances that conspire together to bring them about.
And, unlike false prophets like Nostradamus or Edgar Cayce, God reveals the outcomes. False prophecies might contain astonishing details about a single event, since Satan knows what he has planned. But Satan is not omniscient.
The best he can do is detail what he has planned in advance to one of his ‘prophets’. He doesn’t know how those plans will turn out. He had a plan to defeat Jesus by having Him killed by His Chosen People. Had he known the outcome, he would have planned things differently:
“Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1st Corinthians 2:8)
Assessment
God continues His challenge to the gods of this world, saying,
“Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.” (Isaiah 41:23)
God issued His challenge because He knows there are no other gods. He alone is God, and therefore, it stands to reason, that He alone is the only one who could accurately and consistently declare the end from the beginning.
“Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.” (Isaiah 41:24)
Although Islam does profess a kind of end-time prophecy, the prophecies of Islam for the last days are simply reworked versions of Bible prophecy.
Islamic expectations of a messiah-figure riding a white horse at the head of a vast Islamic army of conquest are drawn from Revelation 6:3‘s depiction of the rider on the white horse that Christians identify as the antichrist.
There are no Islamic prophecies foretelling the coming of Mohammed. None concerning his life, his ministry or his death. While the Shia’s ‘Twelver’ sect believes the Mahdi has remained alive and in hiding since 860, Mohammed himself is as dead as everybody else.
Islam expects their version of Jesus (Isa) to return at the end of the age, (although they think Him a prophet and not God) to link up with the Mahdi after Islam has subjugated the earth in a war that kills a third of mankind.
Again, this is drawn from New Testament prophecy, although the Islamic version has the Mahdi and Isa fulfilling the roles assigned the false prophet and antichrist by the Book of the Revelation.
As noted in Volume 53, Issue 16 of the Omegaletter, in their book, “Al Mahdi and the End of Time”, Muhammad Ibn ‘Izzat and Muhammad ‘Arif, two well-known Egyptian authors, identify the Mahdi from the Book of the Revelation:
“I find the Mahdi recorded in the books of the Prophets… For instance, the Book of Revelation says: “And I saw and behold a white horse. He that sat on him…went forth conquering and to conquer.”
‘Izzat and ‘Arif then go on to say:
“It is clear that this man is the Mahdi who will ride the white horse and judge by the Qur’an (with justice) and with whom will be men with MARKS of prostration on their FOREHEADS.”
Compare Islam’s prophecy with that of John’s (made six hundred years earlier):
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a MARK in their right hand, or in their FOREHEADS.” (Revelation 13:16-17)
The Bible says of the false prophet:
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” (Revelation 13:11)
The religion of the false prophet will claim Jesus (the Lamb) but it promotes Satan’s religion.
Islam claims to be the third Testament of Scripture, the completed work of Allah, whom they believe wrote the Old and New Testaments which were then corrupted by Christians and Jews. According to Islam, Moses (Musa) and Jesus (Isa) were both Muslims.
In this way, Islam can lay claim to predating Judaism and Christianity, despite being invented six hundred years after Christ. It has its own form of Christology that denies Jesus’ Deity:
“the Messiah, Isa (Jesus) son of Marium (Mary) is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector.” (“The Women” Sura 4:171)
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (1st John 4:3)
Islam is currently the world’s fastest-growing religion, as well as being among the fastest growing religions in the United States.
Although it admits that the terrorists are Islamic fundamentalists, it denies that Islamic teachings inspire war and violence, claiming instead to be a religion of ‘peace and love’.
Although there is no evidence of Islamic peace and love anywhere in Islamic world, and precious little denunciation of terror by the allegedly ‘moderate Muslim majority’ it is a fiction that is repeated throughout the Western world.
Back in 2006 George Bush categorically claimed Islam to be the third religion of God, and officially pronounced it a ‘religion of peace and love’. So did the Pope, the European Union, most liberal mainstream media outlets and mainstream media commentaries.
Despite the total lack of supporting evidence, the global conventional wisdom is Islamic terrorists are ‘fundamentalists’ but that they aren’t following ‘true’ Islam.
“True’ Islam, they argue, doesn’t believe the Koran’s teachings about jihad and subjugation and dhimmitude. It is hard to imagine a more delusional assessment.
That is like arguing fundamental New Testament doctrines don’t represent ‘true’ Christianity. “True” Christianity would therefore be a form of Christianity that claims Christ but denies His teachings.
The Bible says of the religious system of antichrist;
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (2nd Thessalonians 2:11)
And John described the false prophet’s religion the way the secular West describes ‘true’ Islam and ‘true’ Christianity.
“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” (Revelation 13:18)
For centuries, Bible scholars have been trying to crack the ‘666’ code, counting the letters in prominent politicians names; (Ronald Wilson Reagan = 666, the inscription in the papal tiara “Vicarius Filius Dei” = 666, etc.)
I am not about to ‘crack’ the code, but I am going to throw out some thoughts for discussion. The Prophet Daniel says of the antichrist’s system;
“By peace he shall destroy many.” (Daniel 11:36)
Islam claims to be a peaceful religion, despite its fundamental doctrines as outlined in the Koran.
The Koran’s apologists often support this argument by pointing out that the word ‘peace’ or its derivatives occurs in the Koran 666 times.
In addition, the Islamic holy book, the Koran, is precisely 6,666 verses long. Islam was born in the 6th century.
Islamic fundamentalists claim the Six Pillars of Islam; Confession (shahada) Prayers (salat) Almsgiving (zakat) Fasting (sawm) Pilgrimage (hajj) and finally, “Jihad” — defined as “the struggle to propagate the faith of Islam throughout the world.”
Fundamentalist Muslims adhere to the Six Islamic Articles of Faith: The first is that “there is no God but Allah.” The second Article of Faith is belief in a hierarchy of angels. The third Article of Faith is belief in 104 holy books, with the Koran as the final revelation. The fourth is belief in the prophets. The fifth Article of Faith is belief in predestination. The sixth Article of Faith is the day of judgment.
6 Articles of Faith, 6 Pillars of Islam, developed in the 6th century from a holy book containing exactly 6,666 verses (according to the Washington Times – I haven’t counted them personally) and 666 references to the ‘peace’ Daniel says the antichrist will use as a weapon ‘to destroy many’.
But Daniel also forecasts the outcome:
“he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Daniel 8:25)
This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on March 10, 2006.