What value is there in identifying the anti-christ or the religion that he will institute?
If there were no value in identifying him then prophecy would never have been prophecy written about him. When we are in tribulation, some will still be waiting for a pre-trib rapture so to them the man of sin has not yet been revealed. Some like you are expecting a Pope and European and most are expecting a one world government, monetary system, and religion and a peace treaty with Israel and a temple to be rebuilt. So when none of this comes to pass and the earth is in tribulation, and the anti-christ is here and he doesn't fulfill any of the things I just mentioned...UH! Get my point!
When I say that the anti-christ can come from the church, I'm speaking of the visible organization, not the body of Christ
It's not up to us to determine who in the church is or is not part of the body of Christ and the world doesn't differentiate between the two.
Show me a verse that implies that the man of sin would come from within the church! Just one!
And show me one that implies that Rome would produce the men of sin in the last days in any way!
The bow is symbolic of several things and an entire thread of it's own. I believe it's symbolic of the decendents of Ishmael and evil conquest and designs.
I give credit to the author for this page because I don't know who he is.
It's called Ishmael origin of Hate.
With Imperialistic Islam, though collateral damage frequently kills their own, the focus of their attacks are consistently on non-Islamic peoples - 'infidels,' as defined by the Qur'an.
To better understand the hate fueling modern day Islam, one must first look back to its roots. From Ishmael, whose birthright was denied, to Esau and Jacob - rivaling twins, the seed of hate was sewn.
What evolved thereafter was a bitter, jealousy that has been passed down to every Arab generation since. By the 7th century, this ancient hatred made its way into the heart and mind of a common-criminal named Mohammed - an Arab and descendant of Ishmael, who founded a religion and used it to justify his countless, criminal acts of murder.
Both the western media and the Arab press routinely offer biased, politicized answers to what they believe drives this Islamic hatred for the west. From 'US support for Israel' to 'US secularism,' we've heard them all, and despite attempts to justify their inhumane acts, the truth is, Muslims have been committing terrorist acts for some 1,300 years - long before 'western culturalism' or 'US support for Israel' ever existed. And despite such history, we continue to ignorantly look elsewhere for the reasons.
From the early days of Islam to today's globally televised beheadings, Muslims are simply acting-out what Mohammed believed, and what the Qur'an teaches. And when Qur'anic Law was given the opportunity to govern, its violent, 7th century intolerance was seen through the eyes of Afghanistan's Taliban - a view of converting and uniting the Arab world under Islamic Law by sword first, and everyone else second.
What truly is at the heart of the Islamists hatred today is no different than that which fueled Mohammed's hatred as he wrote the Qur'an. It is the belief and goal of a one-world, global Islamic empire run by Qur'anic Law whereby everyone must, in the end, convert to their fundamentalist ideology or face beheading. The hatred that fuels this theocracy dates back to Ishmael and his son-in-law Esau, and from there, compounded to form the foundations of Islamicism which is the reason why most of the world conflicts today involve Muslims.
The Origins of Hatred
Ishmael and Isaac;
In 1910 bc, Abraham's wife, Sarah, frustrated with her inability to have a child and impatient with God's timing, asked Abraham to give her a child through their Egyptian maidservant 'Hagar'.
Gen 16:1 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name [was] Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
Hagar, servant that she was, submitted to being used this way. But her pregnancy gave birth to strong feelings of superiority toward Sarah. During Hagar's pregnancy, friction began to develop between Sarah and Hagar and when Hagar could no longer endure it, she fled into the desert. There God instructed her to return to Sarah;
Gen 16:10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
Into this tense, atmosphere Ishmael was born and for 13 years Abraham thought Ishmael's birth had fulfilled God's promise (Ishmael would become the progenitor of today's Arab world - the Arabs are an Ishmaelite race).
When Abraham reached 99 years of age, God appeared to him and announced that his wife Sarah would bear him a son and that they would call him Isaac. And it would be through Isaac that God would establish His covenant (Isaac became the father of the Israelites). Abraham struggled with this because he loved Ishmael dearly and desired that he be his heir and receive the birthright blessings.
Gen 17:18 O that Ishmael might live before thee!..
But the birthright was denied to Ishmael.
Gen 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, [and] with his seed after him.
After the birth of Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away at Sarah's insistence,
Gen 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, [even] with Isaac.
Sarah was adamant that Ishmael should not inherit along with Isaac. God instructed Abraham to do as Sarah desired, but he reassured Abraham that,
Gen 21:13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he [is] thy seed.
But God also knew what kind of people Ishmael's descendants would be when He spoke prophetically to Hagar saying,
Genesis 16:12 And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren
[literally, "he shall defy all his kinsmen"]."
Genesis 25:18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
And to this day Arab hands have "lived in hostility toward all their brothers.."
Ishmael was not a spirit of implacable hatred and murder against Isaac, but rather one of envy and rivalry. Ishmael's position in the family had been radically altered by Isaac's birth. This had wounded his proud spirit, and provoked him into a jealousy. And time has not softened this spirit of envy either. Attitudes and historical perspectives are often transmitted from father to son and from generation to generation. The effects of the domestic rivalry in the household of Abraham are still being felt to this day in the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict.
In time, Ishmael became the father of 12 sons (his descendants are called Ishmaelites) whose names are recorded in Genesis 25:13-16. Ishmael also had a daughter named Mahalath (Bashemath), who would later marry his half-brother Isaac's eldest son, Esau4 (Esau's descendants were known as Edomites).
Ishmalites were marauding nomads who traded with Egypt (Jacob's son Joseph would later be sold by his brothers to a passing band of Ishmaelites - Genesis 37:25-28). They led an untamed existence in the deserts south and east of Canaan and were known for their wandering, lawlessness, and freebooting lifestyle. Ishmael died at the age of 137 (Genesis 25:17) and just as God had promised, his 12 sons grew into "a great nation" with he as clearly the preeminent forefather of the Arab world (The Arab peoples today number over 140 million and are destined to play a significant role in the development of prophetic events).
The relationship between the Ishmaelite Arabs and the Biblical Israelites is thus clear: Ishmael was the elder half-brother of Isaac, son of Abraham, by way of Hagar, who settled in central and northern Arabia. Isaac in turn, had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. From Jacob - later renamed Israel - descended the Jews and the other tribes of Israel.
The Israelis and the Arabs are cousins!