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Replacement Theology, Israel And Her Enemies

07/31/2012 1 comment


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By Joel Richardson – “Over the past 2,000 years, among all the various theological errors that have crept into the Christian church, there is no question that replacement theology is one of the most widespread and, I would argue, perverse and vile. Replacement theology essentially holds that because (most) Jews rejected Jesus (Yahshua) as their Messiah, they were thus judged by God in 70 A.D., when their nation and Temple were destroyed. Since that time, replacement theologians argue, God has now replaced Israel with the church, transferring all of his previous promises and purposes from the Jewish people and nation to the entity known as the Christian church.

The fruit of this belief system has been glaringly evident throughout church history. As demonstrated in the book, ‘Our Hands are Stained With Blood,’ by Dr. Michael Brown, replacement theology was among the primary theological and ideological foundations of the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of roughly 150,000 Jews from Spain in 1492, the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Jews during the crusades and, ultimately, the Holocaust.

But replacement theology is not only problematic because of the negative fruit it produces, but also because of the interpretive violence it inflicts onto hundreds of very clear biblical passages. Replacement theology looks to the blessings found throughout the Old Testament promised to Israel and ‘spiritually’ applies them to the church. An open letter issued by Knox Theological Seminary in 2002, entitled, ‘The People of God, the Land of Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel,’ states, ‘The church of Jesus Christ, [is] the true Israel.’ However, when replacement theologians read of any judgment against Israel in the Old Testament, they continue to apply these passages literally to Israel. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Replacement theology denies any future where Jesus will rule the earth from Zion. As the statement words it, ‘Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ’s kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in ‘the land,’ by its constituency, or by its ceremonial institutions and practices.’

When conservative Premillennialists look at the hermeneutical violence inflicted on hundreds of passages committed by these replacement theologians, we shudder to imagine how Read more…

Categories: Anything Else, Theology and Eschatology

Daniel 9:27 And The Confirmation Of The Covenant – A Peace Treaty?

07/28/2012 80 comments

By ICA

Daniel 9:27, “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

Also See: Daniel 9:27 Redux: Will Antichrist Make A False 7-Year Peace Treaty With Israel?

On July 27, 2012, US President Barack Obama signed S. 2165, the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act in the Oval Office. An official posting on The White House Blog revealed that:

President Obama signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act with an eye toward helping to strengthen the military edge Israel currently enjoys.

“I have made it a top priority for my administration to deepen cooperation with Israel across the whole spectrum of security issues — intelligence, military, technology,” the President said. “And, in many ways, what this legislation does is bring together all the outstanding cooperation that we have seen, really, at an unprecedented level between our two countries that underscore our unshakeable commitment to Israel security.”

At the time, some believed it could be the “confirmation of the covenant” that the prophet Daniel spoke about in Daniel 9:27. Of course, I said at the time it was not and that there would likely never be any sort of “peace treaty” between Israel and the Muslim world surrounding her. Here is why.

Daniel’s 70th Week: Fulfilled or Not Yet Fulfilled?

First, we should understand that there are three views regarding the 70th week of Daniel, the time in which Daniel writes about “confirming the covenant”.  These three views state that the 70th Week Read more…

Categories: Anything Else, Theology and Eschatology

Why The Islamic Antichrist Theory Matters

07/25/2012 17 comments

By Joel Richardson – “As a well-known prophecy teacher, my email inbox is frequently full of questions, comments and news articles from those interested in biblical prophecy. While some of these emails are certainly helpful and interesting, there are also many that I would put into the category of ‘biblical prophecy as morbid trivia.’ What I mean is that there are many believers who are overly fixated on discussing the many intricate details concerning the many dark events looming on the horizon. Now, to be clear, I say this as someone who deeply values biblical prophecy, but I will be the first to admit that much of what passes for biblical prophecy today is a mixture of conspiracy theories and extra-biblical concepts with only a thin ribbon of biblical passages intertwined throughout, so as to give it the appearance of credibility. I will also be the first to acknowledge that there are numerous Christians who have lost their way, having become completely distracted from the primary mandate of the Christian church, which is the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom – in both word and deed.

On the other hand, there are many Christians, who have overreacted to the unhealthy emphasis of some and now avoid the subject of biblical prophecy altogether. This is equally grievous. The Lord did not fill the pages of the Bible with prophecy because he wanted us to avoid the subject.

Although there are numerous highly relevant reasons for Christians to study biblical prophecy, I would like to use the remainder of this article to touch on just one deeply relevant reason specifically as to why the emerging Islamic Antichrist theory is so essential for the church to get a hold of. In brief, the answer is because the Read more…

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology Tags:

Does Isaiah Prophesy Civil War In Egypt?

07/11/2012 6 comments

By Joel Richardson – “With all eyes on the upcoming U.S. elections, few are paying attention to an astounding fulfillment of biblical prophecy that is beginning to unfold right in front of us all. With all of the changes taking place in the Middle East and particularly Egypt, many Egyptian Christians are paying very close attention to the prophecies of Daniel 11 and Isaiah 19.

News reports out of Egypt show that despite the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood’s victory in the presidential elections, there is a dark storm brewing that portends a conflict between the old guard military (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: SCAF) and the Brotherhood and her supporters.

Just before the elections, SCAF dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament, claiming that roughly one-third of Egypt’s MPs had been illegally elected, effectively hamstringing the Brotherhood even before they came to power.

But newly elected Islamist President Muhammad Mursi has struck back by issuing a decree overruling the military’s decision. On Monday, MP supporters of Mursi violated a court-ordered decision to uphold the SCAF’s decision and entered parliament.

SCAF immediately convened an emergency meeting to consider its response, and the Supreme Constitutional Court announced that its rulings are final and binding.

The conflict has also lit up the Egyptian social media sites, with politicians and commoners alike lashing out at one another.

In the midst of what looks as though it may become a long-term national conflict, many Egyptian Christians are considering the relevance of a prophecy found in Isaiah 19 concerning the state of Egypt in the last days just before the return of the Messiah. This passage, unlike any other in the Bible, describes in great detail the future sufferings and glories of Egypt in the unfolding of the Lord’s future prophetic calendar.

In the years, and perhaps even months ahead, according to Isaiah’s prophecy, Egypt will experience Read more…

Categories: Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War

Religious Jews In Israel: Only Messiah Can Save Israel During Gog-Magog, ‘The Next Leader Will Be The Messiah’

07/09/2012 3 comments

Luke 13:35b, “… I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Is the Second Coming of Messiah the catalyst that brings about their belief in Yeshua, or will their belief in Yeshua be the catalyst that brings about the Second Coming of Messiah? …

By Aviel Schneider – “On one of Israel’s largest websites Ynet a yellow banner with large letters appeared on Saturday proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. ‘The Messiah is in Israel. This will be the last government of Israel.’ A click on the banner leads directly to the website 871. Here, the religious creators of the site warn about the end of the world. ‘The next leader will be the Messiah Ben David. The situation in the country is getting worse and the government will become more incapable. Only the Messiah can save Israel during the war of Gog and Magog. In the near future the world will witness terrible disasters, like earthquakes and tsunamis. Cities in Europe and the United States will disappear in the sea. The world’s financial system will collapse and God will destroy the Mammon (Yiddish slang for ‘money’). Anti-Semitism in the world will get worse, just like on the eve of World War II. For every inch of land that the government abandons the people of Israel will be punished for, because this is a rebellion against God. Solely because the two-state solution was discussed in Israel we must pay a high price. This land was promised to the people of Israel for eternity and who negotiates about the God-given land will not experience the redemption.’ The ones behind the website, who regularly publish warning signals in the Israel network, are unknown. The majority of Israel’s society does not take such websites seriously, but still they appear on Israel’s largest Internet portals, such as Ynet.” Source – Israel Today Magazine.

Related: What Is The War Of Gog-Magog?

Flashback: Rabbi Reveals Name of the Messiah – “A few months before he died, one of the nation’s most prominent rabbis, Yitzhak Kaduri, supposedly wrote the name of the Messiah on a small note which he requested would remain sealed until now. When the note was unsealed, it revealed what many have known for centuries: Yehoshua, or Yeshua (Jesus), is the Messiah. With the biblical name of Jesus, the Rabbi and kabbalist described the Messiah using six words and hinting that the initial letters form the name of the Messiah.” Read more.

Categories: Anything Else, Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War

Rise Of Islamic Turkey Triggers Warnings Of Biblical Prophecy

07/07/2012 2 comments

WND – “The rumblings stirred by record-setting new film in Turkey are triggering alarm bells with students of biblical prophecy, who warn the world system the Antichrist will use to rise to power is already on the march.

‘Constantinople will surely be conquered one day. The commander who conquerors it is a blessed commander. His soldiers are blessed soldiers’ – thus opens the film ‘Fetih 1453.’

‘Fetih’ (meaning ‘conquest’) begins in 7th century Arabia with Muhammad, who is presented off camera lest pious Muslims be offended by his physical portrayal, declaring the quote above. The film tells the story of the conquest of the Christian East Roman Empire and its capital Constantinople by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, thereafter known as Mehmet Fatih, or the Conqueror.

Director Faruk Aksoy’s film is the now the most watched and highest grossing movie in Turkish history, earning more than $60 million worldwide.

But Joel Richardson, author New York Times best-selling ‘The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth About the Real Nature of the Beast’ and ‘Mideast Beast: The Scriptural Case for an Islamic Antichrist,’ just released by WND Books, views the release of ‘Fetih 1453’ and the rise of Turkey as a world power as confirming biblical prophecy.

‘In my book ‘Mideast Beast,’ I walk the reader through several key biblical texts that also point to a renewed Turkish power in the last days,’ Richardson told WND. ‘As the Obama administration is openly getting behind the Islamist government in Turkey, numerous world events are all aligning with what the biblical prophets spoke. For those who take biblical prophecy seriously, awaiting the return of Jesus, the events now unfolding in Turkey and the region – the days in which we are now living – are absolutely profound.’

Christian prophecy teachers are reexamining previous dogma regarding the empire of the Antichrist. Until recently North American prophecy teachers almost exclusively held to the European Antichrist theory

Read more…
Categories: Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War

The Truth About Gog And Magog

06/23/2012 2 comments

By Joel Richardson – “The prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39, often referred to as the Battle of Gog and Magog, is hands-down one of the most important and influential end-time prophecies in all of Scripture. But it is also one of the most controversial and widely misunderstood prophecies. Throughout the Church today, a vast number of Christians believe that Ezekiel 38 and 39 predicts a Russian-led invasion of Israel in the last days. Ever since the release of the Scofield Reference Bible, this view has been echoed in dozens upon dozens of prophecy books, in thousands of end-time sermons, and today in countless online end-time discussion forums and articles. I cannot understate how well-established and influential the Russian-Gog view is. Consider for example, the comments made by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1971, to a room full of state legislators:

‘Ezekiel tells us that Gog, the nation that will lead all of the other powers against Israel, will come out of the north. Biblical scholars have been saying for generations that Gog must be Russia. What other powerful nation is to the north of Israel? None.’

But how do so many many Christians arrive at this idea? What is the primary basis for such a belief? This view is rooted in the fact that ‘Gog,’ the leader of the Ezekiel’s prophesied invasion, is from the land of ‘Magog,’ which is most-often claimed as a reference to Russia.

If one Googles the terms ‘Gog and Magog’ and ‘map,’ numerous maps created by various prophecy ministries or teachers will pop up. I’ve included several below. Take note of where Magog is always located…” Read more.

Related: What is the War of Gog-Magog? – “One common misconception, in my view, is that the war described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 — often referred to as the War of Gog-Magog — is a war that happens either just before or immediately after the start of ‘Daniel’s 70th week’. If we take the time to closely examine the text, however, I believe that we can ascertain that Gog-Magog is a battle that, without a doubt, can only culminate at Armageddon.” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War Tags:

Official Full Trailer for Joel Richardson’s New Book ‘Mideast Beast’

06/11/2012 6 comments

For those of you who haven’t yet purchased the book, Joel’s limited time introductory offer is still in effect. Click here if you would like to order a copy for yourself, or for someone you know …


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Mike Huckabee interviews Joel Richardson and Daniel Pipes:

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology Tags:

Will The United States Stand With The Antichrist Or Israel In The End-Times?

05/08/2012 8 comments

Sometimes in order to have the right answers, we need to be asking the right questions. Here is a good article by Jack Smith that tackles one of the questions that many students of prophecy have asked. Although we don’t always need to necessarily agree in every aspect, we should always feel the need to openly discuss pertinent questions such as this and how it fits in Biblical eschatology …

By Jack Smith

President Obama, back to camera, “bows” before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, April 1, 2009 (AP Photo/John Stillwell/pool)

President Obama, back to camera, “bows” before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, April 1, 2009 (AP Photo/John Stillwell/pool)

This post is partly in response to a post made by respected author and brother in Christ, Walid Shoebat. I came across his post as a subscriber to MidnightWatcher’s Blogspot. I posted replies there, but couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the question raised by Brother Shoebat: Where is America in Bible Prophecy?  Brother Shoebat’s question was in the context of Revelation 13:7 which prophesies of a “world” dominion by the beast from the sea (interpreted to be Allah and Islam), and whether or not America will come under this “world” dominion. This post addresses a related but different question. Will the United Stand stand with the antichrist or with Israel in the end-times?

The relationship between America and Israel is quite relevant to our modern times. Rarely a day goes by that the news is not filled with news of Israel or her neighbors. Also, with America in the throes of the election of a new president, the answer to this specific question can even give us a hint as to who the next president might be — Obama or Romney? Publicly, both Obama and Romney have the similar positions on Israel — that is, they fully support Israel (although Romney’s position grants Israel greater sovereignty in decisions regarding its borders). Nevertheless, in the “back-halls” of Obama’s White House, I really wonder what is said outside the public eye. Recently, Obama and French president Nicolas Sarkozy were caught in an unmuted mic conversation about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu:  “the French leader told Barack Obama: ‘Netanyahu, I can’t stand him. He’s a liar.’ To make matters worse, the U.S. President replied: ‘You are sick of him, but I have to deal with him every day.’ Read more…

Categories: Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War Tags:

Where is America in Bible Prophecy?

04/18/2012 75 comments

Islam will seek to entrench itself across American cities and states, but it will never fully dominate the Land of the Free …

CAIR Co-Founder: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Quran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”

See: Antichrist: Leader Of A One-World Government?
See: The People Of The Prince To Come: A Roman-European Antichrist?
See: The Qur’anic Con: How Revelation’s Predictive Biblical Prophecy Foresaw Islamic Teachings

By Walid Shoebat – “For many years, it has been taught that in the Last-Days literally every nation of the earth – including the United States – will be utterly dominated by the Antichrist; there will be no place to escape from the dreaded Mark of the Beast; every last nation of the world will come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12 is usually used to validate the theory, as is the Apostle John. After all, the Antichrist will be given ‘authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation,’ (Revelation 13:7).

This would seem like an ironclad case for the Antichrist ruling the globe, including the United States, which he uses in his march against Jerusalem. It is this dilemma that caused many to believe that the United States will be taken over by Antichrist.

Before we attempt to solve this issue, it is necessary to clarify the dilemma. For this, we can ask a Jesus-style question: does the usage of the phrase, ‘the whole earth’ and ‘every tribe, tongue and nation’ in the Bible mean ‘the entire globe’? If so, then did Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:1 send his letter to every nation, tribe and tongue in the ‘entire globe’?

‘Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.’ (Daniel 4:1)

‘O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him,’ (Daniel 5:18, 19).

How about…

‘Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom,’ (I Kings 4:34)

Did anyone visit Solomon from China?

How about…

‘Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt,’ (2 Kings 17:29).

Did the inhabitants of every last nation of the earth have Samaritan gods in their homes?

How about…

‘the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries.’ Isaiah 37:18

Did King Sennacherib of Assyria actually destroy all nations on the face of the earth?

How about…

‘As I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth,’ (Daniel 8:5).

Did Alexander the Great occupy the whole earth?

So then, let us offer a new perspective regarding the end-times verses

Read more…
Categories: Theology and Eschatology

Intriguing Dead Sea Scroll Says Messiah to Come, Die, and Rise on Third Day

04/17/2012 1 comment

Matthew 1:21, “She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name YESHUA, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Isaiah 12:2-4, “Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD, the LORD, is my strength and song; and he has become my YESHU’AH.  Therefore with joy you shall draw water out of the wells of YESHU’AH.  In that day you will say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD! Call on HIS NAME. Declare his doings among the peoples. Proclaim that HIS NAME is exalted!’”

By Joel C. Rosenberg – “A respected Israeli scholar and professor at Hebrew University is making an intriguing and compelling case that it is a distinctly Jewish notion to expect the Messiah to come, die as a ‘suffering servant’” as an atonement for sins and the redemption of Israel, and then to rise from the dead on the third day. Based on his many years of research, and fairly recently analyzed archaeological evidence — including a previously unstudied Dead Sea Scroll – the scholar is also arguing that this notion of the Messiah rising on the third day is a pre-Christian concept that dates back to before the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem Ephratah. The case made by Dr. Israel Knohl has attracted significant attention, including a major article in the New York Times and several articles in Biblical Archaeology Review — see here, and here, and here.

The Times story, which ran under the headline, Ancient Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection, begins as follows: ‘A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time. The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.’ The tablet  has been named by scholars as ‘Gabriel’s Revelation’ because it suggests that the angel Gabriel was instructed by God to direct that the Messiah be raised from the dead on the third day.

Admittedly, this isn’t news. The stone tablet was discovered about fifteen years ago and is owned by a Israeli-Swiss Jewish man by the name of David Jeselsohn who didn’t understand its significance when he purchased it. The Times article was published in 2008. Dr. Knohl then published a book about all this in 2009 entitled, Messiahs and Resurrection in ‘The Gabriel Revelation.’  That was a follow up to his previous book, The Messiah Before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls (first published in Hebrew in 2000 and then in English in 2002). In the book, Dr. Knohl explains the various Jewish theories about the Messiah, including the idea of a ‘Messiah son of David’ who will be a reigning king on the earth like King David was, and a ‘Messiah son of Joseph’ who will be rejected by his brothers, mistreated, left for dead but will eventually reappear and save not only the nation of Israel but the world like Joseph did in the book of Genesis.

Why do I bring it up now? Because it absolutely  Read more…

Categories: Anything Else, Good News, Theology and Eschatology

The Christian Era In The Middle East Is Over, ‘Will Be Completely Green, The Colour Of Islam’

04/06/2012 7 comments

Revelation 6:8, “And I looked, and behold a chlōros [green] horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the thērion [brutal, savage men] of the earth.”

In Revelation 6:8 John describes the “fourth horseman of the Apocalypse” as being “chlōros”, literally translated as “green”. Green is the official color of Islam and is believed to have been Mohammed’s favorite. The “fourth horseman” is described as having power over the fourth part of the earth. I don’t believe that it is a mere coincidence that Islam today has dominion over a fourth part of the earth. John describes the “fourth horseman” as having the power to “kill with sword.” Islam is spread through Jihad, the “Sword of Islam.”  The “fourth horseman” also kills with hunger/famine. Spiritual destitution aside, Islamists would even prefer to see children starve to death than have them receive life-saving aid from the “Christian West.” The “fourth horseman” kills with “death”, and the love of death in suicide and martyrdom operations against men, women and children for the cause of “Allah” permeates Islamic culture, so much that they openly declare to “love death more than you love life.” Lastly, the “fourth horseman” is described as killing with “the beasts of the earth.” The Greek word “thērion” here is, I believe, being used metaphorically to refer to “savage”, “brutal” and “bestial” men, a perfect description of what we see today in the radical world of Islam’s death seekers …

By Giulio Meotti, INN – “Ramallah was 90% Christian before the 1948 War of Independence and Bethlehem was 80% Christian. Today Ramallah is a large Islamic city and Bethlehem’s Christians are near extinction. Arab Christianity joined evil forces to buy temporary security.

Israel has become the only safe haven for Christians in the Middle East, Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, wrote in a recent op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.

‘As 800,000 Jews were once expelled from Arab countries, so are Christians being forced from lands they’ve inhabited for centuries’, Ambassador Oren stated, comparing the expulsion of Jews after the establishment of the state of Israel with the Arab countries’ current treatment of their Christian minorities.

The numbers are telling. Today there is only one Middle Eastern country where the number of Christians has grown: Israel. As documented in the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the Christian community that numbered 34,000 people in 1949 is now 163,000-strong, and will reach 187,000 in 2020.

In the rest of the Middle East, the drive for Islamic purity is going to banish all traces of pre-Islamic pasts. When the Islamists will have prevailed, the Middle East will be completely green, the colour of Islam.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Bloody’: Christian Persecution is ‘Coursing Through Muslim-Majority Nations from One End of the Globe to the Other’ – “We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm… The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.” Read more.

Categories: Anything Else, Radical Islam, Theology and Eschatology, Wars and Rumors of War Tags: