Prophecy about Twelvers? Genesis 17:20 [God to Abraham:] “As for Ishmael , I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers , and I will make him into a great nation.”

The Antichrist

Introduction

This page discusses all the various Bible scriptures that are associated with the antichrist,

and uses history and current events to explain why that person comes from Iran.

The antichrist is an intriguing topic because most people associate him with end times and

a one-world government that will initiate the ‘mark of the beast’, so people can’t buy or sell

unless they have the mark. Of course, anyone who accepts the mark will be condemned to

eternity in a lake of burning sulfur. Yuck. Post-tribs use that concept to scare people into

buying a book or something, when in reality, the antichrist comes after the rapture, so

Christians who know Jesus don’t have anything to worry about.

Post-tribs twist Revelation’s timeline by overlapping the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls, in

Revelation 6, 8, and 16, so that the 6th Seal rapture, in Rev 6, which matches Jesus’ coming

in Matthew 24:29-31, will be at the ‘end’, and coincide with Armageddon. That’s just not right.

No one should overlap the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls because it creates contradictions

which inevitably leaves some things out of Revelation. There’s a fatal warning for omitting

things from God’s prophecy in Revelation, so don’t do it. (Rev. 22:19) On the contrary, if the

Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls left in order, as written, then the antichrist (Rev. 13) must come

after the 6 th Seal rapture, when the multitude arrives in heaven (Rev. 7).

By the way, Seals 1-5 are done , so the 6th Seal is the next event to happen in Revelation.

One world government? Maybe so, but not until after the rapture.

It’s hard to believe that every nation on earth will band together and follow one person, but

the rapture will be a major shock to the world and many things will change. Thus, anything is

possible, but the changes won’t be instant. The antichrist will reveal himself by his actions, and

grow in power over time, following the abomination and rapture. [see also Man of Lawlessness

In general, the beast and antichrist are two different things. The beast is a group of nations,

with 10 leaders at first, until the antichrist (little horn) uproots 3 leaders as he takes power.

The antichrist will lead the beast into battle, in the 6th Trumpet War , when Israel is invaded and

the two witnesses are killed. In the following passage, the beast is the empire, or group of

nations, and the antichrist is the “mouth”, who is the leader or spokesman for the group.

Revelation 13:5-8

“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise

his authority for forty-two months . 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God , and

to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven . 7 He was

given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given

authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will

worship the beast-all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging

to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

It certainly sounds like the antichrist will be given ‘authority over every nation’ and “all

inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.” Yet, I’m not sure if that constitutes a one-world

government, or if the beast just has some kind of authority over the other governments, such as

with currency (discussed below). Either way, the beast undoubtedly has massive influence over

the world, but since it develops after the rapture, there’s nothing for Christians to worry about.

There are several clues above to indicate that the 42-months are after the rapture. For one,

it corresponds to the 1260-days that the two witnesses will prophesy, in Rev 11, which is also

after the rapture. That’s easy to show because the Trumpet plagues start in Revelation 8, after

the 7th Seal, but end when the two witnesses ascend to heaven, after being killed by the beast.

(Rev. 11:7-15) Therefore, the 42-months that the antichrist rises is the same as the 1260-days

that the two witnesses prophesy. Since the Trumpets can’t start until the 7th Seal is done

(Rev. 8), which is obviously after the 6th Seal, then the Trumpets, two witnesses, and antichrist

all take place within the first 3.5 years after the rapture. In fact, when the above passage says,

“He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them”, it’s most likely

referring to the two witnesses (and possibly the 144,000 from Rev 7), but only after they finish

prophesying, because no one has the power to touch them before they are done. (Rev. 11:5)

Another clue that the 42-months are post-rapture is that the antichrist slanders “those who live

in heaven.” Why would he do that, unless millions of people were already gone, in the rapture,

so he knows that they’re living in heaven? Plus, notice that the inhabitants of the earth that

worship the beast will be those whose “names are not in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” That’s

because the ones whose names ARE in the Lamb’s Book of Life are already in heaven.

Another clue that the antichrist is ‘post-rapture’ is that the abomination occurs in Daniel 11:31,

which is when the rapture occurs (see also Matthew 24 ), but the antichrist reaches peak power

and exalts himself in Daniel 11:36, below. In general, verse 36 is well after verse 31.

Daniel 11:36

“The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and

will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time

of wrath is completed , for what has been determined must take place.”

Obviously, the antichrist is an agent of Satan, but God will use him for His own purposes.

In other words, the antichrist will be ‘successful’ only because God allows him to be, and for

a limited time. God’s “time of wrath” is during the Trumpet and Bowl plagues, Rev 8 & 16, at

which time the antichrist and false prophet will play their roles, at least until the 7th Bowl is done

(Armageddon), when Jesus will cast them into the “fiery lake of burning sulfur.” (Rev. 19:20)

Where will the antichrist come from?

There are several reasons why I think the antichrist will come from Iran . First of all, the

final empire, which started in Daniel 11:21 describes the Islamic Revolution of Iran, in 1979.

The rest of the verses in Daniel 11 either help Iran directly or indirectly. For example,

Daniel 11:22 removed Saddam, which helped Iran gain influence in Iraq. Daniel 11:23, which

was the nuclear agreement, helped Iran financially, so they could gain even more influence.

Daniel 11:24 described ISIS , which ultimately allowed Iran to move militarily into Iraq and Syria,

by sponsoring the Shia militias or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). Daniel 11:25 describes the

‘south’ (Saudi Arabia) waging war on the Houthis in Yemen, which Iran is believed to be helping.

Daniel 11:26-27 describes the attempted coup in Turkey, which ultimately turned him into an

ally of the ‘north’ (Iran, Russia, and Assad) rather than Saudi Arabia. Daniel 11:28 , which

specifically mentions the “king of the north” refers to Iran’s actions at the UN General Assembly

in 2016, where Rouhani complained to the P5+1 and got the US to release most of their

remaining wealth. In other words, Iran is the only country that either satisfies or benefits from

all the verses of Daniel 11, leading to the abomination in verse 31. Plus, Iran seems to be the

arch-enemy of Israel, which is where you would expect the antichrist to come from.

Secondly, Iran satisfies the riddle of ‘7 kings’, in Rev 17:10, because Iran has had seven

presidents, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which fulfilled Daniel 11:21. “They are also

seven kings . Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come,

he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king.

He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” (Revelation 17:10-11) Riddles are

meant to be difficult but it clearly emphasizes the 6th king or president, which I talk about later.

Notice that the 7th king remains for a “little while”, insinuating that his presidency will be

cut short, probably due to the rapture. The “beast” is the 8th king (perhaps meaning antichrist,

in this context), but he “belongs to the seven” , which means he belongs to Iran .

Protests in Iran -2018

6-days of violent protests Dec 28 th to Jan 2 nd , which shows how quickly Iran had, from, which shows how quickly

and unexpectedly things can occur. The protesters were mainly from the poorer population,

as opposed to the 2009 protesters, who were primarily from the middle class and students.

reconsider They prompted Iran’s parliament tolast month’s welfare budget-cuts and energy

price hikes. It remains to be seen if that’s the only change from the 6-days of violence.

increased animosity One consequence of the protests wastowards Trump because he tweeted

numerous times in support of the protesters and made clear that he supported regime change.

pulled the United States out of the nuclear agreement May 8, 2018 , and Since then, Trump, and

started re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran.

Update June 25, 2018 - Protests broke out in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran , which are the

biggest protests since 2012. Of course, the protests in 2012 eventually led to the election of a

moderate president, Rouhani, in 2013, who orchestrated the nuclear deal that eased sanctions.

Now that Trump has broke the deal and re-imposed sanctions, the Iranian currency has dropped

to record low-levels. Per BBC News, “ A dollar is currently worth as much as 90,000 rials,

compared with 65,000 rials, just before Trump's announcement, and 42,890 at the end of

2017.” We must see if the protests endure, since tear gas was used today (6-25), but they

are already more serious than the protests in Dec/Jan because those were in rural areas, and

now it has reached Tehran.

There are a couple of distinct differences with 2012. First, an election was due, the following

year, so they waited, and the presidency went from a hardliner, Ahmadinejah, who was against

the US, to a moderate, Rouhani, who embraced the US. Thanks to Trump and Netanyahu, that

strategy has backfired on Rouhani, but an election isn’t due for about three years. It will be

interesting to see what happens because Revelation 17:10-11 indicates that the “7th king”

will be removed early, and Rouhani is the 7th president. With the breaking of the agreement,

the situation is reversed and chances are: They will go back to a hardliner president, just in

time for the rapture and revealing of the antichrist, who could be the 8th president. ( see above)

The Religion of the Beast

Iran’s primary religion is “Twelver Islam”, which is a branch of Shia Islam, which believes that

the 12th Imam (or Mahdi) will return before Jesus to unite the world into one Islamic community.

When Jesus appears in the sky, and gathers the Christians to heaven, before the Mahdi arrives,

then the Shiites will know that their religion was false, thus inspiring the antichrist to abandon

his religion and blaspheme God.

For background, the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Māhdī, from the line of Husayn, was born

in 869 and assumed the title of Imam, at age five, when his father died. However, he

disappeared after leading the prayer at his father’s funeral. Legion has it that he did not

die but was rather ‘hidden by God’ (called the Occultation), and he will eventually return.

According to scholar, Moojan Momen, traditions report that al-Mahdi will announce himself

in Mecca, and then travel to Kufa. At that time, he will fight an apocalyptic battle against the

evil forces of the Dajjal and Sufyani (false religions or false messiahs). There are differing

opinions on how that epic battle will take place. One account says that al-Mahdi will prevail and

rule the earth for a number of years before Jesus’ return. Another account describes Jesus’

descent over Syria where he joins al-Mahdi and slays the Dajjal. Either way, al-Mahdi arrives

before Jesus, and the world unites into one Islamic community.

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, Jesus is supposed to assume leadership, after

the death of al-Mahdi, and rule for about forty years. Then, he dies and gets buried next to

Muhammad. Obviously, Biblical end times doesn’t fit this scenario, so Jesus’ arrival will

show that the Shiites’ religion was false. That stark jolt of reality is about the only thing

that could make the antichrist turn from Islam and blaspheme God like Daniel 11:36 says.

After turning from God (or Allah), the kingdom of the beast will honor a “god of fortresses;

a god unknown to his fathers” (Daniel 11:38), which I believe to be Marduk, the patron god

of ancient Babylon (as mentioned in the previous section). For one reason, Marduk is depicted

on the walls (fortresses) of ancient Babylon. (That’s discussed more on another page .)

God’s timeline of 37’s

Another indication that points to Iran is God’s “Timeline of 37’s” , which is a whole series of

significant events that happened in multiples of 37-years apart, starting with the year that

Daniel received God’s “Book of Truth” (Daniel 11). The main connection to the Bible is that

God’s riddle of 666 results in 37. The Bible says, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight,

let him calculate the number of the beast , for it is man's number. His number is 666.”

(Revelation 13:18) As it turns out, the ‘calculation’ is simple because the number ‘666’ is

divided by the sum of its digits. [666 / (6+6+6) or 666 / 18 = 37 ] The timeline of 37’s is proof

that this is indeed the ‘calculation’ because only God could coordinate so many events on specific

years, in multiples of 37. The thing that points to Iran is the fact that Muhammad’s original

vision, which basically started Islam in Daniel 11:5, was in 610AD. The Islamic Revolution of

Iran, which started the final empire in Daniel 11:21, was in 1979. Well, those two events are

exactly “37 x 37” years apart [610AD + 1369 = 1979], which means that the ‘number of the

beast’, squared, perfectly points to Iran , the final empire in Daniel 11.

The riddle shows that God knew what He was planning, long ago, and He’s executing that plan

perfectly. Granted, we just went past Iran’s 37th anniversary, in 2016, but that was an eventful

year. Daniel 11:26-29 were fulfilled and Trump was elected, who is fulfilling prophecy, in his

own way, by emboldening Israel to do as it pleases and antagonizing Iran. It will eventually

lead to the uprising and abomination in Daniel 11:31, but God is taking His time. After all,

Matthew 25:5 says, “The Bridegroom was a long time in coming.” Yet, I think it’s already

been a long time, since we are past the 37th anniversary, and the abomination is very close.