Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” and I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. (Rev 6:1-2)
The first of the seven seals will be broken early in the 70th week of Daniel, soon after the church has disappeared. Liberal scholars often identify the rider of the white horse as the Lord Jesus, pointing to his crown and the fact that he’s a conqueror. I think some part of their conclusion comes from watching all those TV westerns as kids, where the good guys always rode white horses. I say that because this rider is most definitely not Jesus. He’s the anti-Christ.
What Makes You Think So?
In the first place he carries a bow. The Lord’s weapon of choice is a sword. The reason he has no arrows is that he won’t use force to make his initial impact on Earth. He comes as a peacemaker (Daniel 8:25). Since the Book of Revelation is filled with symbolism explained elsewhere in the Bible, I looked for a reference to a man with a bow, hoping to get an additional clue to this rider’s identity. I found it in Genesis 21:20, referring to Ishmael as an archer. It’s the Bible’s first mention of a man with a bow. Earlier God said Ishmael would be a wild donkey of a man with his hand against everyone (Genesis 16:12).
As details of Islamic eschatology become more widely known, prophecy students are discovering a striking similarity between descriptions of al Mahdi, a Messianic figure from the Shiite tradition, and a figure Christians call the anti-Christ. (Please note that I’m not saying al Mahdi is the Moslem anti-Christ, called the Dajjal, but that he resembles the Christian anti-Christ.) Both come on the scene during a time of great turmoil on Earth, both come claiming a desire to restore peace, both have a seven year reign, both head a one world religion and one world government, both claim supernatural origins, and both reigns end in a battle between good and evil that brings about Earth’s final judgment.
The number of similarities between the two defies coincidence and continues to grow as knowledge of al Mahdi increases. Now with the connection between the Bible’s first archer and the man with a bow in Rev. 6, another piece of the puzzle may have fallen into place. Mohammed was descended from Kedar, second son of Ishmael, and Al Mahdi is the 12th Iman, descended from Mohammed. So he’s another son of Ishmael.
After the true Church is gone, those who also call themselves the church, but have been left behind, won’t have much trouble at all accepting Islam. They are already convinced that Islam is a religion of peace, and that Allah is another name for the God of the Bible. And like Paul said, the anti-Christ’s display of “miraculous power” will be all it takes to deceive the whole world. Having refused to believe the truth they’ll be fair game for the lie (2 Thes.2:9-10).
Got Anything Else?
In the second place this guy’s wearing the wrong kind of crown. The Greek word for a king’s crown is diadem. But the rider on the white horse wears a stephanos, or victor’s crown.
Blessings,
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