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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

ISIS: Hatched Out of End of World Beliefs ?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        
Garden of Eden; in the beginning....

End of the world doctrines have been conceived since the early Greeks and people in the ancient Orient..  They are found in Greek literature.  Such doctrines are called ESCHATOLOGY.  One such early view was that on our last day as we know it, the world will suddenly revert back to its pristine condition.  The world was perfect at the time of creation and had been corrupted by human doing the wrong things.
                                                                           
Moses and the 10 Commandments 
Moses came along bringing the laws and ways of behaving and was followed by the great Hebrew prophets and the travails of their people.  A popular conception of the end of the world then became one of the renewed people of Israel who would wreak vengeance on their foes and set up an even greater kingdom  as shown in AMOS.  The ingredient of disaster had been introduced to the absence of real repentance. A great day was foreseen when G-d would reform the world and reign over all people in justice.  A new heaven and earth would be created, and G-d would renew HIS covenant with Israel and establish HIS throne in Zion (Jerusalem.)  This theory shows up in ISAIAH.   There was no difference between this world and the world to come (the future).  They were talking about this world in which we live.  That means that the resuscitation  (revitalization) of the Jewish people and the land of Israel and the Messiah King are now being described.

People are waiting for the Messiah.  For Jews, they are waiting for his first appearance on earth, but for the Christians, they feel it will be Jesus and this will be his 2nd coming.  For Muslims, Jesus also plays an important part in the scenario.  First, let's look at how IS thinks.
                                                                             
"ISIS: Followers of  Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion.   ISIS (Islamic State) thinks it is squatting on exactly the territory it needs to control to fulfill Koranic prophecy about the end of days, particularly the Syrian province of Dabiq, from which the official magazine of ISIS takes its name.  The fields of Dabiq are supposed to host a massive showdown between Muslim armies and the forces of “Rome,” which ISIS propagandists sometimes interpret as a blanket term for all of Christendom, and sometimes interpret as the actual city where the Vatican is located.  (That’s one reason the Italian government is so nervous about the prospect of ISIS capturing Libya and adding it to the Caliphate.)"
"The crucial difference between ISIS and other Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood or the Islamic State’s godfathers in al-Qaeda, is that ISIS dogma is based on seizing and holding territory – the creation of an aggressive nation-state, the “Caliphate,” which is perpetually at war with everything around it.  The head of this religious state, the Caliph, must meet certain criteria, all of which are purportedly filled by ISIS head man Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  Baghdadi says he is a descendant of Mohammad which is a prerequisite, though I have not read of any DNA proof which the king of Jordan has as well as others.  Mohammad died in 632 CE and people were keeping family history records.  He did not have any sons but had a daughter.  
The goal of all extreme terrorists is to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews.  "Their brand of Salafist Islam is apocalyptic.  Al Qaeda is also following the Salafist way and others,   but  ISIS has a constructive agenda for its conquered territory, with an expansive and specific to-do list that must be checked off before the End of Days can get rolling. According to Yoosuf ibn Abdillaah ibn Yoosuf al-Waabil,  before the Day of Judgement, there are major signs:

The Major Signs:
   a.  The Mahdee
   b. The Anti-Christ (Maseeh ud-Dajjal)
   c.  The descent of Eesaa (as)
   d.  Yajooj and Maajooj (Gog and Magog?)
   e.  The 3 great sinkings of the earth
   f.   The appearance of smoke in the sky
   g.   The rising of the sun in the west
   h.  The beast of the earth (Daabbat ul-Ard)
   i.   The fire which brings the people together
The Mahdee seems to be Baghdadi, leader of ISIS.  " The Mahdi will be one of Muhammad's descendants, Al Mahdi (the guided one), which will materialize when the believers are severely oppressed in every corner of the world.  He will fight the oppressors, unite the Muslims, bring peace and justice to the world, rule over the Arabs, and lead a prayer in Mekkah/Mecca  at which Isa (Jesus) will be present."  That's just the beginning. 

"Published on September 22, 2014;  A new group said to be more feared than ISIS is now on the scene.  The Khorasan Group as they are called, have allegedly trecked from Afghanistan to Syria.  This group along with ISIS appear to be fulfilling Islamic Prophecy to usher in the Imam Mahdi.  

Let's look at the prophets in the Tanakh or Old Testament.  As time went on in the day of the prophets and nothing as described for the end of days happened for the Jews, their writings became more glowing and exaggerated with lots of imagination.  They then  threw in apocalyptic beliefs as is read in the book of Ezekiel and the vision of Zechariah.  Then there is the Book of Daniel.  This is thought to have been written in the Maccabean Period from which our holiday, Hanukkah, comes from.

It was back  when Antiochus Epiphanes IV(175 BCE-163 BCE)  was causing so many Jews to be depressed with his cruelty.  It was he who had occupied Jerusalem, plundered the Temple treasure and tried to Hellenize Judea by force in order to convert it into a dependable frontier-province.  This brought about a rebellion which Antiochus suppressed with great cruelty.  Thousands of Jews were killed and many sold into slavery.  He then brought gentile settlers into Jerusalem and fortified the Acra as a stronghold of the Hellenizers to dominate the city  Then he began a fierce religious persecution of the Jews.  He forbid circumcision and the observance of the Sabbath.  He desecrated the Temple altar and set up pagan altars in the provincial towns.  He compelled the Jews to participate in pagan ceremonies.
 Remember, the Romans believed in a whole community of gods living on Mt. Olympus-a place like pie in the sky.  His excesses caused the Hasmonian uprising.

He had a son, Antiochus V (164 BCE-162 BCE) who  continued the war against
the Jews until 163 BCE when he granted them religious and some political autonomy in return for their acceptance of his rule.
                                                                       
We celebrate Hanukkah for 8 days to remember the victory of Judah the Maccabee over Antiochus Epiphanes and the rededication of the Temple and altar.  Judah and his brothers assigned this period to praising the Lord and thanksgiving and the miracle of the oil which burned for 8 days.

 The family of Antiochus continued on until they came to an Antiochus IX who reigned on and off from 125 to 95 BCE and was severely defeated in 107 BCE when they were helping those in Samaria which was under siege by a Jewish army who were trying to regain it.

The prophets saw the messianic kingdom receding from this world to a kingdom beyond human reality as they could imagine it.  This was symbolized with the introduction of the "son of man" who descends from the heavens and proclaims the nearness of the kingdom of G-d.  Then there would be the resurrection of the dead and there would be a Judgement Day when evil would be outlawed and the wise would receive a reward.

Writings in the APOCRYPHA AND AGGADAH have information on eschatological outlooks during and after the 2nd Temple times which include all levels of religious opinions.  They. were developed under Antiochus Epiphanes and were used by the early people developing Christianity.

Those that thought along eschatological beliefs accepted that the end would be an era of suffering and catastrophes under the rule of the Anti-Christ.  THE BOOK OF DANIEL provided much information for them to use as this was to be a sign of the MESSIAH's coming.  It was to be a terrible last war; the war of God and Magog ranging over Jerusalem.

One view was that the Messiah was the SON OF JOSEPH.  Now, we have had 2 famous Josephs in our history.  The first one was the son of Jacob, one of the 12 sons that became tribes, and the other is found in Christian literature of the New Testament as the husband of Mary who was the mother of Jesus but not accepted as his father.  This was accepted to be Joseph the son of David who will fall in this war.  However, the forces of evil will be defeated and ELIJAH  will appear and announce the advent of the Messiah and this will be the signal for the ingathering of the Diaspora and the freedom of Israel from subjection to gentile kingdoms.

The miracle of all miracles is that Israel has already been revived-created again on May 14, 1948.  All the nations of the earth just about have gone against us in one way or the other as shown in the UN decrees.  The Jews in the diaspora have been returning to change the population from 1948s 650,000 to 6 million Jews and 1.7 million Arabs.  They are still returning and lost tribal members are also being found and are returning.  Israel has been under the assistance and the subjection of the USA, and we have that friendship  strained right now by the president.
                                                                       
Old Jerusalem
According to prophecy in our Tanakh, a new Jerusalem will arise.  It already has.  We still have the Old Jerusalem (original ) but have built up more to the city creating a beautiful new Jerusalem.  Israel's glory will be easily understood and recognized by the world.  instead of a place to be chastised  which the UN constantly does.    .
French Hill-Part of New east Jerusalem Neighborhood
The Messianic kingdom's period of time is to be restricted.  Following these days will be Judgement Day when the just and wise including all of Israel will receive their reward and the wicked, those who have oppressed Israel, will descend to Gehinnom to everlasting abhorrence (hateful, unagreeable,  repugnant, not agreeable to their philosophy).  Use your imagination.  For some it might be being fed broccoli constantly or for others, the theories of hell as found in medieval literature.   Jews really don't believe in hell.  Gehenna was a valley SW of Jerusalem and opposite the City of David.  Children were sacrificed there to Moloch at a site called Topheth by the Canaanites before Joshua and the children of Israel made Canaan their home.  This was one reason why the followers of Moses were to live there and replace the Canaanites who  believed in human sacrifice.  Gehinnom/Gehenna became synonymous with hell---the place where the wicked are condemned after death.

For Jews, when the Messiah comes, Jews will finally have peace in this world.  So far, we have not experienced that.  This is why Jews could not accept Jesus as the Messiah.  They lost their land of Israel and Judah and Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple in 70 CE to the very strong Romans  and were homeless as a people, depending on the good humor of other countries to allow them to live there.  It's been going on for 2,000 years.
                                                                         
1941 meeting with Muslim Husseini and Atheist Hitler
 They were a family, then a people who had brought to the world a way of life to live in peace and have not been given it in return; only hatred like what Hitler explained.  "He didn't believe in morality and hated Jews for bringing it."  The Hitler Youth's line in a song was "We want to be pagans once again.” " They refer to me as an uneducated barbarian.  Yes, we are barbarians.  We want to be barbarians, it is an honored title to us.  We shall rejuvenate the world.  This world is near its end.”  

Also read:  http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
Resource: http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/02/17/the-truth-about-the-islamic-state-and-end-of-days-prophecy/
 The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
***http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-is-to-happen-at-end-of-days.html Read this for Muslim beliefs of end of world
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-end-before-messiah-ezekials.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-jewish-messiah-coming-from-davidic.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_jihadism
http://www.salafipublications.com/sps/sp.cfm?subsecID=AQD08&articleID=AQD080001&articlePages=1
http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-trouble-with-islam.html
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/hitler-quotes/
http://www.irshad.org/islam/prophecy/mahdi.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGvNfPhtLGM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Hill

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