In this excerpt from my last full-size book, THE NEXT GREAT WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST:  RUSSIA PREPARES TO FULFILL THE PROPHECY OF GOG AND MAGOG, I explore several pivotal issues that strike at the heart of the Islamic Antichrist Theory, in particular the notion that “The Assyrian” is a reference to a future Antichrist that MUST come from the area once held by the Ottoman Empire…  and why a nuclear war likely precedes the revelation of the Antichrist.

I do NOT make a key point in this excerpt that I make in my most recent book, MISTAKEN IDENTITY: THE CASE AGAINST THE ISLAMIC ANTICHRIST (see photo below). (It’s a companion study to the first book mentioned above). That point being that Assyrians  are hardly likely to be the same peoples as those of Syria.  Geographically, the Assyrian’s capital was Nineveh, today’s Mosul in Iraq.  Islamic Antichrist theorists generally argue Turkey will be the home base for Antichrist in part because Assyria once included parts of Turkey (Anatolia).  

But Assyria and Syria were separated by thousands of years.  The native people of both nations were “Greek” Orthodox Christians long before they were Muslim (The Byzantine Empire with a capital at Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, lasted for 1,000 years until Constantinople was captured by the Turks in 1453). The Ottoman Empire came into play almost 800 years after the Byzantine Empire began, and the Assyrian Empire almost 1,600 years before Byzantium.  Just because Syrians are Muslim today doesn’t make the Assyrians Muslim anymore than Europeans conquering native Americans made the English or Spanish indians.  And as this article conveys, even the “Assyrian” as a name of a place is suspect, and the assumption that the Antichrist comes from this “place” misses the main point of the pejorative label, “the Assyrian” as used in Scripture, which connotes the enemy of God’s people. Don’t let the sound of Assyria and Syria make you think they are the same people or that the Syria as a place name matters because of the Assyrian Empire once occupied the area that Syria occupies today.  The borders of Syria and all the lands of the Middle East were randomly drawn by the English and the French after World War I.

This excerpt moves on to discuss why it is more probable that the War of Gog and Magog is a necessary precondition to the appearance of Antichrist, making the War of Gog and Magog separate from the War of Armageddon, by at least some 3.5  and perhaps as many as 10.5 years.  Islamic Antichrist Theory (IAT) asserts the two wars are one and the same.  Therefore, if it can be shown that the two are separate, a crucial plank of the IAT fails.

Why is this debate important?  For one especially vital reason for America: the U.S. may (and I argue does) face judgment before the Antichrist reveals himself.  IAT doesn’t make room for this possibility and therefore, the warning Americans should heed, doesn’t occur because it would have no basis biblically to bother making the argument.  

This excerpt is but half of the full discussion on the Ottoman Empire in chapter 8 of the book, THE NEXT GREAT WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST, in which I refute the IAT assertion that Turkey forms the core of the “revived empire” and the “head wound healed”.

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DOES A NUCLEAR WAR PAVE THE WAY
FOR ANTICHRIST?

Is the Assyrian the FUTURE Antichrist, and is he from Assyria?

Another theme prominent within this prophetic teaching is the contention that the label “The Assyrian” is not just a reference to Sennacherib in eighth century B.C. or to Nimrod from a 1,200 years before. The Assyrian (who came to judge the Northern Kingdom, circa 706 B.C.), is seen as yet another moniker for the future Antichrist. Amy Van Gerpen, from Tracking Bible Prophecy, states this explicitly in one of her more meaty blogs. The antichrist will rule a region north of Israel in the first part of the Tribulation, as Daniel calls him the “king of the north” and Isaiah and Micah call him the “Assyrian.” Ms. Van Gerpen first points out that oppressors of Israel have been Assyrians before, and this has implications in the future redemption of Israel. To begin with, the Pharaoh who first oppressed Israel was an Assyrian:

Isaiah 52:2-4 – Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion! For thus says the LORD: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” For thus says the Lord GOD: “My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Likewise, Sennacherib the second to oppress Israel was also Assyrian:

2 Kings 18:11-13 – Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them. And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

Van Gerpen points out that a third Assyrian, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, best fits the bill from the standpoint of illustrating the nature and person of the Antichrist. Antiochus was king of Assyria from 175-164 BC. When Antiochus defiled the Jewish temple, his act was considered an “abomination of desolation” which futurists believe will happen again in the last days. For Gerpen, “While there are other foreshadows of the antichrist in Scripture who were not Assyrian, Isaiah and Micah call the antichrist “the Assyrian.” She then cites the following prophetic passages:

Isaiah 10:24-25 – Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.”

Isaiah 14:25-26 – That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

Micah 5:3-6 – Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men. They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders.

Van Gerpen points out that “the head of gold represents the Babylonian Empire, the chest and arms of silver represent the Medo-Persian Empire, the belly and thighs of bronze represent the Greek Empire, and the legs of iron represent the Roman Empire.” [which is a different argument than what Joel Richardson makes as he identifies the fourth empire as the Ottoman Empire]. She also makes an interesting point with potentially significant prophetic implications:

The historic Roman Empire became divided because it became too large to govern effectively. The western leg eventually fell, but the eastern leg continued as the Byzantine Empire for almost 1000 more years, with the kingdom centered in Turkey. The Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire near the turn of the 14th century, and ruled until the 1920s. Therefore, the two legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream represent the divided empire… (Daniel 2:33): [1]

That the Roman Empire is the empire identified by John the Revelator (and the empire from which Antichrist arises), comprises the essence of the conventional view. However, the supposed breakthrough that the esteemed Chuck Missler proposed a number of years before, was that the Antichrist might come from the “eastern leg” of the Roman Empire (western Asia), and not the “western leg” (Europe) as Van Gerpen indicates. As mentioned earlier, this supposition has buttressed the premise that the Antichrist originates from Turkey. When combined with the supposition that “the Assyrian” is a veiled reference to a future personage from Anatolia (Turkey), the argument certainly appears to be a strong one. However, all is not necessarily what it seems at first glance. We must raise several questions: “Is the Assyrian a reference to a future Turk? Should the translation of the Assyrian actually imply a person? Does it name a person or a place? Does it relate to a present day personage? Or does it merely prefigure an antichrist “type”? Furthermore, could it be a case of reincarnation (the only place the Bible seems to sanction this possibility), where a previous person possessed by the spirit of Antichrist returns to live again?

The Second Coming of the Antichrist

My friend Peter Goodgame wrote extensively on this topic in his book, The Second Coming of Antichrist. From an abbreviated study Peter did for Tom Horn’s Raiders News site several years ago, Peter provides a careful study of “the Assyrian” that merits mention here.[2]

Peter crafts an intriguing presentation on what could be the most unusual yet compelling proposal for the meaning of the Assyrian concluding with the identification of the Antichrist. He begins by explaining that the word translated Assyrian should be translated as a name of a person, not a designation. The word is Asshur. It first appears in the Old Testament in Genesis 10 (as mentioned before, the “Table of Nations” so-called)…

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. (Genesis 10:8-12, KJV)

“The conclusion that I have arrived at is that Asshur is simply another name for Nimrod.” Peter then asks,

Will the Antichrist come from Iraq?” and the answer is, “Yes! The Antichrist founded Iraq!” Nimrod’s kingdom began in southern Mesopotamia with the cities of Babel and Erech (Uruk/Iraq), but then he invaded north and built Ninevah and the other cities that became the foundation of the kingdom of Asshur (Assyria). This view that Asshur is Nimrod is rather straightforward but there are several arguments against it that must be addressed.”

Peter explains that both the King James Version and the Septuagint (LXX) translate the word Asshur as an individual while modern versions translate it as Assyria, a place. Genesis indicates that Asshur built both Babylon and Ninevah. It was Asshur (aka Nimrod) who built the cities from which invasions of Israel were launched and Israel and Judea conquered.

The KJV and Septuagint (LXX) translations of Genesis 10:11 give the impression that “Asshur” is an individual, but in most modern Bible versions “Asshur” is translated as “Assyria”—a place. They generally read, “From that land he (Nimrod) went to Assyria, where he built Ninevah…” The fact is that “Asshur” can be read either as an individual or as the region of Assyria—we just don’t know for sure and the text alone does not prove either case. However, because the name “Asshur” is not modified by the preposition el or the directional heh (thus giving either “el Asshur” or “Asshurah”), which would confirm “Asshur” as a place, it remains a distinct possibility that Asshur is meant to be understood as an individual and as another name for Nimrod. [3]

Consequently, Peter associates the assertion most expert writers and teachers sustain that the Antichrist will be resurrected from the Abyss:

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8)

Peter’s conclusion is that the Antichrist is a reincarnated Nimrod. He was the first antichrist figure of Scripture. Antichrist is not just the “spirit” of Apollyon or Abaddon (as referenced in Revelation 9:11 – “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon”), but will literally be a resurrected Nimrod.[4]

Peter’s conclusion builds upon excavations at the Great Pyramid and the possible discovery of the Tomb of Osiris there. Others have speculated that Nimrod’s tomb may have been maintained in Iraq, at Babylon, or in the antiquities museum in Bagdad that some wildly speculate  might have been the target of American forces for reasons not fully made clear by the speculators. While this conjecture goes beyond the scope of this book (see Goodgames’s The Second Coming of the Antichrist to pursue this further), the point here: there are a number of possible explanations for the meaning of the Assyrian. The speculation that it relates to the Ottoman Empire, to a revived Ottoman Empire in the guise of modern-day Turkey, and identifying antichrist with the [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey’s existing government, seems to be a case of “special pleadings” (pressing for a verdict that either intentionally or unknowingly ignores logical if not obvious counter-arguments).  The case of arguing for the Ottoman Empire and Turkey as the “Gog” of Ezekiel (and denying Gog is a distinct figure from the Antichrist of Daniel and Revelation), builds upon a suspicious premise that Islam is the antichrist religion of the last days. It explains away contradictory elements of Bible prophecy that don’t fit the Islamic scenario. And it ignores other possible empires that equally if not more logically, fulfill of the biblical prophecy that antichrist will come from an empire that opposes the LORD.

Which Empire? Which Antichrist?

The pivotal question, especially as it relates to the Ottoman Empire Shoebat and Richardson (and Van Gerpen) promote is whether this particular empire constitutes what the Bible prophetically identifies as most significant and whether it qualifies as the one from which Antichrist will come. Could the empire be the Ottoman Empire? Could it be the English Empire that figures so prominently in the real powers of today, Europe and the United States? Better yet, why not the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from 800 A.D. at the coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas Day, to the defeat of Napoleon on June 18, 1815?  The reader may not know the curious fact that Otto I of Germany (emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, from 962 to his death 973) exhumed the body of Charlemagne fearing that Karl would be revived at the end of the Millennium (1000 AD approached!) and become John’s Antichrist!  It seems that Otto wanted to keep an eye on Karl the Great’s body!

Also, the sixteenth century prophet Nostradamus regarded Napoleon as the first Antichrist who would be followed by two others. Nostradamus saw the next antichrist coming from Europe as well. Nostradamus’ students believe the prophet made a precise prediction of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Recall that Charlemagne represented the First Reich, The German Kaiser (Caesar) Wilhelm the Second Reich from 1871 to 1919 (and the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War), and then Hitler would become the antichrist of the Third Reich, a short-lived span of time too, from 1933 to 1945. Many propose that there will be a Fourth Reich, also with ties to the royal families of Europe. This notion seems much more historically viable than does the notion that the empire of Antichrist would arise from the old Ottoman Empire. It fits with the legacy of “the kings of the earth”, the “illuminated ones”, the 13 leading occult families of the world, and other members of a shadow government commanding a final and ultimate world government.

But to return to the Bible’s specific prediction, citing Revelation 17:10-11: “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” There are seven kingdoms or empires that the Bible recognizes as concurrent with its scope of revelation. Most scholars recognize these kingdoms below as those which the Bible regards pertinent through the prophecies of Daniel and John:

1. Egypt (Pharaoh) “FALLEN”
2. Assyria (Sennacharib) “FALLEN”
3. Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) “FALLEN”
4. Media-Persia (Cyrus) “FALLEN”
5. Greece (Alexander) “FALLEN”
6. Rome “IS” (when Revelation was written)
7. The Mystery Empire  “NOT YET COME”
8. The Beast “REALLY OF THE SEVEN”

Shoebat and Richardson contend that the seventh empire is not a revival of the Roman Empire, western leg, but a revived Roman Empire, eastern leg. They incorporate the “Assyrian” scriptures to reinforce their position. But what other empire might comprise the seventh to which John refers? Could it be the Ottoman Empire? Perhaps. But might it be Babylon, the iconic symbol of the Kingdom that opposes the Kingdom of God? Could the Mystery Empire be Mystery Babylon? Could it be the Daughter of Babylon? This author has written extensively on the topic of the United States as the fulfillment of the prophecy regarding the daughter of Babylon, and has been joined by, among others, John Price author of The End of America, and Benjamin Baruch and J.R. Nyquist in their book, The New Tactics of Global War, asserting that the United States will likely be neutralized by a nuclear first strike by Russia. Regardless, the Antichrist may combine elements of all the empires (“be of the seven”). The visions of Daniel and John suggest this amalgamation. See Daniel 2:37-45, Daniel 7:1-11, Revelation 13:1-6.) A true mystery, indeed.

Could Germany Become the Fourth Reich?

Could it be a rebirth of Germany as the dominant power? Today, Germany has already become the leader of Europe once more. It is the world’s fourth largest economy. In 2014, it recorded the largest trade surplus in the world ($285 billion). In 2015, Time Magazine named German Prime Minister Angela Merkel “Person of the Year”. Merkel has established positive relationships with Vladimir Putin, Putin having served with the Russian KGB in East Germany for many years. And if any empire were to have a mortal head wound healed causing the entire world to wonder after it, surely it would be Germany. If there were to be a Fourth Reich to become the powerbase of the Antichrist, would any single country seem more logical than Germany? I am not saying Germany will be the nation from which the antichrist arises, but I am saying it is more logical and historically so than Turkey. Geopolitically, in today’s world, Germany bears watching very closely.

Joseph P. Farrell, in his recent book, The Third Way: The Nazi International, the European Union, and Corporate Fascism, hypothesizes that Germany is quietly, but steadily, moving itself back into the status of a world power – not just economically, but politically and even militarily:

While Germany is not categorized officially as a nuclear power, it produces nuclear warheads for the French Navy. It stockpiles nuclear warheads (made in America) and it has the capabilities of delivering nuclear weapons. Moreover, The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company— EADS, a Franco-German-Spanish joint venture, controlled by Deutsche Aerospace and the powerful Daimler Group is Europe’s second largest military producer, supplying France’s M51 nuclear missile. Germany imports and deploys nuclear weapons from the US. It also produces nuclear warheads which are exported to France. Yet it is classified as a non-nuclear state. [5]

One wonders, should the prospective war disclosed in Ezekiel involve a nuclear exchange between Gog and the Merchants of Tarshish (England) and its young lions (the United States), how the political landscape of the world would appear. It would not require fanciful speculation to suppose Germany could emerge as the Western World’s powerhouse, uniting Europe and the adopting the antiquated if not totally anachronistic moniker “Leader of the Free World.” A post-U.S./Russian world would leave Germany and the “kings of the East” (China, Japan, perhaps India) as the “last men standing”. Going further in this scenario, the covenant to protect Israel from its remaining enemies commencing the seven-year covenant of Daniel’s Seventieth Week would be none other than Germany! “Poetic justice” perhaps, but ultimately the greatest of deception, eventually becoming the treaty of death and hell (Isaiah 28:15) when the antichrist, having first confirmed the covenant with many, breaks the covenant, mounting an attack on the Jews to annihilate them once and for all!

Douglas Berner, whose research on the Battle of Gog and Magog we will consider carefully in the chapters following, cites the venerable John F. Walvoord (1910 – 2002), late President of Dallas Theological Seminary and noted prophecy author, who asserted that the United States and Russia would not be party to the treaty between Antichrist and Israel. Walvoord’s argumentum e silentio (argument from silence) doesn’t share the same exact rationale; nevertheless, Berner recaps Walvoord’s worthy assessment:

I agree with Walvoord that there is no direct scriptural evidence pointing to the involvement of either Russia or the U.S. in the “final” peace covenant that Israel will enter – a peace covenant with the Antichrist which will initiate the end-time period of Daniel’s 70^th Week. I also believe that the strength and ambitions of both Russia and the U.S. serve as obstacles, hindering the emergence of the world leader who will ultimately initiate the “final” covenant of peace with Israel. But, if neither of these two large nations is to be involved in the “final” peace covenant, then something must happen to take them out of the picture – out of their present positions of power and influence. Some event must neutralize the massive military capabilities of both nations. The most likely candidate for that event is Ezekiel’s War of Gog and Magog.[6]

And specifically, as this author has previously asserted, Berner proposes the cause is nuclear war between the two countries. Berner confirms he shares this author’s conviction on this topic in numerous other passages. In the first, Berner dismisses the supposition that Ezekiel’s use of language referencing ancient weapons (“bows and arrows”) suggests that modern weapons will not be used in Gog’s attack on Israel:

[That] is an inconsistent and very unrealistic view. Conventional military disarmament will not even be imaginable to the world prior to a massive global catastrophe, which probably involves large-scale nuclear warfare. Ironically, we see the very potential for that nuclear war accompanied by a global catastrophe of unprecedented proportions in Ezekiel’s prophecy of Gog and Magog. [7]

Berner contends,

As long as the U.S. and Russia maintain their military capabilities, and as long as Islam promotes a violent holy war or jihad against the nations of the West for control of the Middle East and the direction of the world, a single leader or nation will never gain control of a one-world government and the world will not see large-scale disarmament.[8]

And then later, Berner acknowledges that many people throughout the world look for the dominating presence of a powerful leader that could solve the world’s problems, but “it will take the shock of a massive global catastrophe to give a potential one-world leader his mandate for power.”  More to the point:

The most likely catastrophe that could produce this global effect is a massive nuclear war. The use of nuclear weapons by one or more nations against other nations is not that unforeseeable: Israel against Syria or Iran; Russia against the U.S.’ North Korea against South Korea or the U.S.’ Pakistan against India, or India against Pakistan; China against any perceived threat or as a tactic to gain total control over Taiwan; a nuclear terrorist strike against the U.S. or another Western nation, Iran’s present quest for nuclear weapons, supported by Russian technology and political backing, presents an extreme threat to the safety and stability of the Middle East and the entire world. The prospect for nuclear war is a very real threat.[9]

In regards to the correlation of the War of Gog and Magog with the Sixth Seal of Revelation, Berner examines considerable material. In this context, Berner states:

It is very interesting that the specific descriptions of the sixth seal judgment, the destruction caused by God in conjunction with the invasion of Gog and Magog, and the first four trumpet judgments are so descriptive of thermonuclear warfare. If the invasion of Israel by Gog and Magog is accompanied by the release of nuclear weapons, possibly through the exchange of nuclear missiles between the armies and navies of Russia and the United States, then the resulting destruction may well be responsible for the decimation of one fourth of the population of the world as depicted by the opening of the fourth seal judgment by Christ (Revelation 6:7-8). That will make the survival of Israel even more miraculous. [10]

The Two Enemies of Israel are Not the Same

The War of Gog and Magog must become a geopolitical necessity if the Antichrist and his one-world government are to come to fruition. The greatest obstacles to this world government and its singular leader are these:

• Russia’s drive to restore its empire (its nationalist agenda), which opposes globalism as currently led by the United States;
• Islam’s goal of a global caliphate, along with the implicit destruction of all other religions and governments opposing Islam.
• The voice of the American people who oppose globalism, the abrogation of the U.S. constitution, and stand for individual liberty and freedom that those seeking a one-world government will never allow.

The Battle [War] of Gog and Magog will eliminate all three of these obstacles:

• The lands of Sheba and Dedan (Saudi Arabia), the Merchants of Tarshish (England), and its young lions (the United States and perhaps Canada) will be attacked by a great power from the north. Unless an unexpected and unforeseen transformation occurs, the U.S. and perhaps England as well awaits a destiny likened to “Sodom and Gomorrah”.
• The principal powers of Islam that team with Russia, (primarily Iran, but perhaps Turkey even though at this moment it is on the outs with Russia due to its downing of a Russian fighter plan on November 24, 2015) would all likely share Gog’s fate. If they join the confederation, they will be destroyed on the mountains of Israel along with Gog’s military mustered for battle.
• And then God will judge Russia (Gog) for its attack on Israel and upon the daughter of Babylon. “And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 39:6).

The timing of the scenario will be detailed in the final chapter of this book [The Next Great War in the Middle East, chapter 10].

So to recap: in this chapter we have examined the possibility that an Islamic Antichrist might be the predicted final enemy of Israel. We have noted that the advocates of this view not only reject the conventional view of a “Western Antichrist” but also reject two other major apocalyptic axioms:

• Axiom One: the Battle of Gog and Magog are separate and distinct end time’s battles. In contrast, I argue the first battle must precede the second for the second cannot happen geopolitically until the first battle has taken place.
• Axiom Two: Gog and Antichrist are entirely different persons. Allow me to conclude this chapter presenting a table that underscores why Gog and Antichrist are, as the conventional view states, two distinct personages. [Below] If we attempt to conflate the two, we twist other prophetic truths that scholars have taught for centuries.

	ATTRIBUTES OF GOG	ATTRIBUTES OF ANTICHRIST
1	His motivation: seize plunder from the “land of unwalled villages” and destroy Israel.	His motivation: annihilate the people of God in Israel and from any and all lands of the world.
2	No indication Gog ever seeks to protect Israel.	He presents himself as a covenant protector of Israel for 3.5 years.
3	He has no authority to rule over Israel for any period.	He is granted authority to rule over Israel and dominate it.
4	Gog is killed in the invasion of Israel and buried with his troops (Ezekiel 39:11) – he has no memorial, no tomb. He is buried at Hamongog.	Jesus Christ disposes of the Antichrist and he is seen by the world as a spectacle. He is cast alive into the lake of fire along with the False Prophet forever and ever.
5	It is not specified that Satan empowers Gog.	It is evident that Satan empowers the Antichrist.
6	God hooks Gog and drags him to Israel – God controls Gog.	Satan empowers and motivates Antichrist, not God.
7	No indication that Gog revers or worships Satan. But Gog may be empowered by “a principality or power”.	It is extremely clear that Antichrist exalts Satan. It is also expressly stated that he is the son of perdition and seed of Satan.
8	Gog is the sole leader of many armies pitted against God.	Antichrist leads with an associate – the False Prophet.
9	After Gog is killed, the dead are buried for seven months and weapons burned by Israel for seven years.	After Antichrist and False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire, no mention is made of the dead; the Kingdom of God commences.
10	Gog seeks to conquer only the region of the Middle East through the War of Gog and Magog.	Antichrist seeks to conquer the entire world through the elimination of God’s people and the Battle of Armageddon.

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S. Douglas Woodward is author of 12 books, the most recent THE NEXT GREAT WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST, and is announcing with this posting his next book, MISTAKEN IDENTITY:  THE CAST AGAINST THE ISLAMIC ANTICHRIST which should be available this upcoming weekend (April 3, 2016).   “Like” Doug’s Facebook page at http://facebook.com/sdouglaswoodward and select “Follow”.  Doug posts both short and long pieces like this excerpt several days each week.

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NOTES

[1] See http://www.trackingbibleprophecy.com/antichrist.php

[2] All the citations are from the web site studies in multiple parts. These quotations are from the third such segment of the study. Read all at: http://www.redmoonrising.com/Giza/raiders3.htm.

[3] Peter goes on to explain away another objection, that he is misidentifying who Asshur is because there are two Asshurs listed.

Another objection that is raised against equating Asshur with Nimrod is that this would mean that there are two “Asshurs” in Genesis 10—one a descendent of Ham and the other a descendent of Shem. However, this is a superficial objection. Just because Asshur is named as a descendent of Shem does not mean that Ham could not have had a descendent with the same name. The fact is there are many such cases in Genesis 10. There are two Meshechs—one from the line of Japheth and one from the line of Shem; there are two Shebas—one from Ham and one from Shem; and there are two Havilahs—again one from Ham and one from Shem. There is also the curious case of the Ludites descending from Ham, but Lud himself descending from Shem. The truth is that the descendants of Shem and the descendants of Ham shared several names in common and Asshur is simply another one of these cases.

From http://www.redmoonrising.com/Giza/raiders3.htm.

[4] Tom Horn has explored the connection between Nimrod, Apollo, Osiris, and Orion, extensively in his most important book, Apollyon Rising 2012. My conclusion is that there is absolutely a connection of their personages (both real and mythical) to the spirit of antichrist. Peter’s conclusion – that the Antichrist is resurrected perhaps from DNA of the ancient Nimrod – may be going a step too far. However, this is no longer a scientific impossibility and is a breathtaking theory. Peter is another wonderful brother and I count it a privilege to have worked with him on occasion at conferences.

[5] Farrell, Joseph P. (2015-07-30). The Third Way: The Nazi International, European Union, and Corporate Fascism (Kindle Locations 2205-2210). Adventures Unlimited Press. Kindle Edition. Farrell’s study deserves considerable attention, more than the scope of this book will allow.

[6] Douglas Berner, The Silence is Broken, God Hooks Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog (2006), pp. 88-89.

[7] Ibid., p. 82.

[8] Ibid., p. 81.

[9] Ibid., p. 81.

[10] Ibid. p. 208.