PROPHETIC FORESHADOW - ISLAMIC STATE AND AL BAGHDADI
There are many prophetic types and shadows regarding current events surrounding the Middle East. One of them is the declaration of the Islamic State as a caliphate to conquer the world and establish Sharia Law--the peace of Islam. It is behaving as like the Bible describes "to take a spoil" (Ezekiel 37:9, Isaiah 10:6) and beheading those who will not convert to Islam so they can live, eat, and trade (Revelation 20:4). This is an organization that in actuality was al Qaeda Iraq and the occupant of the Oval Office supported as a "moderate" proxy to overthrow Syria's Bashar Assad. It has rapidly grown in support, stature and recruits throughout the region. Even its leader appears to meet certain prophetic end times criteria.
End time prophecy is full of foreshadowing, partial fulfillments and precursors. Throughout history, there has been rise and fall of those who were types of the end time apocalyptic figure--what Christians call the "antichrist," what Holy Scripture calls the "beast" or, more specifically, the "Assyrian." This antichrist figure is alluded to as the Assyrian in Isaiah 10:5,10:24,14:25, 19:23, 30:31, 31:8, Micah 5:5-6, and Hosea 11:5. Ezekiel refers to him as Gog, chief Prince of Magog. The Lord speaks of the Assyrian or Gog in Ezekiel 38:17, "Art you he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring ye against them?"
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State. He claims he is a descendent of Mohammad and holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies. He was reportedly released from the Bucca prison in Iraq when it was closed by the United States in 2009. Significantly, he was born in Samarra, Iraq. Samarra is home of the al Askari Mosque, housing the 10th and 11th Imams and where the 12th Imam, the Mahdi, went into occultation, according to Islamic eschatology. Ancient Samarra was re-founded by the Assyrian King Sennacherib, who is described in Isaiah 10 as a type of the antichrist and whose army was destroyed by the Angel of the Lord when it came against Judah and Jerusalem (2 Kings 19, 2 Chronicles 32). Samarra was part of the Assyrian Empire and al Baghdadi's birth there means he could be considered Assyrian.
Al Baghdadi is not likely the beast, but rather a prophetic likeness of what is to come. While the Islamic State could be the beginnings of the prophetic "beast" empire, al Baghdadi does not appear to fit the complete prophetic criteria. We are living in amazing prophetic times. Watch, discern, and pray.
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