“Messianic Gentile Rabbi”, can this identity be really true?
If you're speaking of a poster.
And I know a Pakistani Messianic Gentile Rabbi and professor Simon Altaf, who was originally a Muslim. On his web site he said:” Islam is a way of no salvation, but God of Abraham is the way, the truth and bring salvation. One of his writings is <<Islam, Peace or Beast>>.He thought the most powerful end time beast (in Daniel the two legs and toes of the huge Image )referred to Islam but not revived Roman Empire. It is a pity that now we can not view his web site “Arahamic Faith” for unknown reason.
That's is the right of that individual to see it as such, as do others. Demonstrating such, however, is another matter entirely. To be clear, there've been MULTIPLE cases of others saying that certain groups or demoninations were the End-Times Beast in every generation---and it was often debunked. Be it with others thinking the aggressive Communist Regime of the U.S.S.R (which was atheistic and persecuting Christians, more
here /
here ) was the End-Times BEast, or others thinking the even the U.S.A was the End-Times BEast (especially when looking at many of the Rapture/"Left Behind" narratives,
more here and
here)...or
others assuming that it was somehow the entire Catholic Church around the world that was the End-Times Beast...and many others with a wide range of views that started to come into existence decades ago. One man did a good job of addressing the many fallacies involved in trying to assume that the End-Times Beast will somehow be either Islam or Muslim (
as seen here), although I still disagree with many of his other conclusions.
One good resource on the issue:
16 Reasons why Islam is Not the Kingdom of The Antichrist-
Preterism, with its differing camps, has an entirely different perspective in seeing the ways that many of the descriptions of things such as "anti-Christ" or "end-times" needs to be seen within the 1st century perspective that early believers had...for as another said best,
“It is unbiblical to use the term ‘Antichrist’ for a present-day or future political ruler. The proper context is theological and pre-A. D. 70” (Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness, p.204).
What of the apostles’ prediction of departure from the faith in the last days in II Thessalonians 2:3; II Timothy 3, 4; II Peter 2; and I John 2:18, 19? What of the apostle’s warning of a coming Antichrist in II Thessalonians 2? What of the apostle’s alerting the saints to an impending tribulation as an element of those things that must shortly come to pass before the coming of the Lord, in the book of Revelation, e.g., 3:10; 6:9-11; 7:9-17; 11:1-12; 12:17; 13; 14:9-13;15:2; 16; 17; 19:2, 19-21; and 20:4, 7-10? The answer given by the postmillennialist, particularly the “Christian Reconstructionist” (such as Gary DeMar, who asked for this biblical defense of amillennialism), to all of these astonished questions by the Christian is that all of the prophecies of apostasy, Antichrist, and tribulation have already been fulfilled in many ways. Many feel that all was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70. Again, postmillennialist Gary DeMar writes, “
It is unbiblical to use the term ‘Antichrist’ for a present-day or future political ruler. The proper context is theological and pre-A. D. 70” (Last Days Madness, p.204).
IMHO, I think it's best to remember that not all aspects of the NEW Covenant have been fulfilled in our own liftetime, of course...as it concerns Christ rulling over the world/reigning and the enemy being destroyed fully from existence---and for those saying ALL aspects of the NEW Covenant have taken place, there needs to be some reconsideration (IMHO). I think there's validity in saying many things Yeshua prophesied have occurred, in line with the view known as Preterism (as discussed in #
54 and #
74 )...but there are variations of that, with some feeling that many things have taken place while other things are yet to come.
If interested, this is a debate on the issue that was very informative...from Messianc Jew, Dr. Michael Brown.
Dr. Brown is a Messianic Jewish apologist and one of the foremost scholars on the subject of Jewish culture/thought, as well as one who's a Futurist...whereas Dr.Demar is a Preterist (Partial Preterist) who is has long had an issue with much of what's discussed within the "Left Behind"/End Times eschatology. Dr Brown is someone whom many of my friends/family have either known or worked with personally...whereas Dr. Demar is someone who used to teach at my highschool when I was a freshman.
The discussion was very cordial and it was wonderful to see how they discussed many differing issues that are often not acknowledged in certain circles, making clear that not everything with Preterism is automatically to be shunned and deemed "heresy"/deception. For there are many variations of Preterism---and other Preterists have often denounced some forms of it as an issue.
For other articles that may be of interest to you, one can go online/investigate the following--as they deal with many scriptures on the subject that are good for study:
Of late, I have tended to find the Preterist view compelling..and personally, I am very much against much of the sensationalism being witnessed within the world due to a Futurist mindset of End Times. Thus, I tend to combine some parts of Preterism with other viewpoints at times---though I'm still debating the Futurist Mindset when it comes to the tribulation/other events. For many, the fact that many CHristians are being persecuted around the world still in GREAT numbers is evidence that a tribulation has already occurred. Many are of the mindset that we already have a world one government---and a GLOBAL Anti-Christ system established through the media/t.v. When seeing how much destruction has occurred with human trafficking and child sex slaves, as well as wars of many kinds, I think it'd be safe to say that we're definately in the end..
But techincally, the end has already been in place since Jesus rose and went to Heaven. Every generation thought they were the end--and that's something I have to square with.
A good place to go for review would be
"Jewish and Christian Biblical Studies @ PreteristArchive.com" ( "
http://www.preteristarchive.com/Bibl...lls/index.html ). Learned of it awhile ago, concerning how believing that one generation was the last one was something that was present in the Jewish culture---especially in the group known as the Essenes since they felt that they were God's Chosen and that the Lord would come to redeem them as they waited out for him. Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time), it was the Esscenes from whom the Dead Sea Scrolls were written from—-as they fled the corruption they saw rampant in Jerusalem/the religious groups of their day as they fought one another—and in an effort to avoid corruption, they fled the “politics”/went into the desert of Quarman. Similar to the Pharisees, the Essenes saw themselves as God’s elect in whom He was secretly working and whom He will vindicate when He finally cleanses the Temple, fulfilling His promises & restoring true worship while also putting back the right people in power and bringing redemption to unredeemed Israel. However, they had differing views on socio-political actions.
For whereas the Sadducees believed in seizing/maintaining political power for themselves…while the Pharisees were somewhat similar, the Esscenes lived very simple/communal lifestyles………proclaiming by their actions that, though they longed for the liberation of Israel, they were simply going to wait and allow the Lord to bring it to pass in His own time. They felt God will act in His own ways and was, in fact, already acting secretly through them and their quiet devotional practices rather than as other parties acted. When the resurrection happened, the Essenes—seeing themselves as the recipients of God’s future eschatological benefits, naturally believed that having shown their faithfulness to God during the exile/not engaging in either hatred of others or violence, they would be reestablished as the true Israel.
One of his writings is <<Islam, Peace or Beast>>.He thought the most powerful end time beast (in Daniel the two legs and toes of the huge Image )referred to Islam but not revived Roman Empire.
Interestingly enough, it's interesting considering the the similarities between Islamic prophecies of al Mahdi and Christian prophecies of the anti-Christ. Both are said to 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 in both cases their reign is prophesied to end in a battle between good and evil that brings Earth’s final judgment. It almost sounds as if they’re the same person.
Ultimately, the central thing that often gets left out is addressing how believers should respond at ALL times. Sadly, many people tend to go with the mistaken ideology that walking in peace/fellowship equates to giving ground to others---and yet, there's a blantant double-standard of ignoring the example of Christ (as well as the apostles) who did the same when it came to the explict command to love others/seek to walk in peace
Luke 6:31
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Romans 12:16
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone
Titus 3
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.
Hebrews 12:13
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
That is an explicit command of Christ and what was lived out/documented within the early church, many feeling that the current Roman Empire was the "beast" in their time...and yet that didn't change their own actions toward their neighbors when it came to walking respectfully/seeking peace with others. If we're going to follow Yeshua, we need to follow Yeshua and stop with the fear-mongering..be it in the claims of saying all Muslims/followers in Islam are inherently violent by nature (which is slanderous) or saying that all freedoms given to believers are being taken away in the U.S in favor of Muslims (which is also untrue and without a shred of credibe evidence) or claiming that working within governments that are Islamic/being a believer in that context means that one cannot follow Christ.