This is an excerpt of an article we wrote back in 2008 debunking the European Antichrist theory and it is now starting to make sense with events in the Middle East. Click this link to read the article or download the free 18 page PDF report: Debunking the European Antichrist
The increasing popularity of the Assyrian Antichrist is causing some prophecy authors to rise furiously against the proponents of this view. Recently a certain prophecy author published an article in which he criticizes some prophecy writers who believe the Assyrian Antichrist connection. You can read the article at: http://www.beastfromtheeast.org/Lamplighter_JanFeb09_ACMuslim.pdf In criticizing the view of Walid Shoebat and Joel Richardson in his article, this author writes: “A good example of Shoebat’s tortuous logic can be found in his attempt to explain away the meaning of Daniel 9:26. The plain sense meaning of this passage is that the Antichrist will come from the people who will destroy the Temple. Shoebat and Richardson argue that the Roman legions that carried out the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD were composed primarily of Arabs, mainly Syrians and Turks. They therefore conclude that the Antichrist will arise from the Syrians or Turks and will be a Muslim. This is really grasping at straws in the wind! It doesn’t matter whether or not the legions were composed of Australian Aborigines, it was the Roman government that decided to destroy Jerusalem, it was the Roman government that gave the orders, and it was Roman generals who carried out the destruction. Rome was the rod of God’s judgment and it is from the Roman people that the Antichrist will arise.” The author says it does not matter whether the legions were composed of soldiers who were not Roman because it was the Roman government that decided to destroy Jerusalem. Another author makes a very similar statement: “Historical precedence typically dictated that the subservient soldiers of any ruling kingdom or empire became the subjects of that kingdom or empire. In this instance, even though the Roman Empire was known to employ non-Roman troops within its ranks, such as defeated Assyrians, these troops operated solely under the command of their Roman leadership. The legions that destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish temple did not do so out of their own independent accord, but acted solely under the direct authority and instruction of the Roman Empire.” Read full article here: http://prophecydepot.blogspot.com/2009/01/does-daniel-debunk-assyrianantichrist.html In fact, the opposite is true. In his work, The Wars of the Jews book 6 chapter 4, Josephus who most likely was an eyewitness to these events says that the Roman government DID NOT want the Temple to be destroyed. The Roman soldiers did it out of disobedience to the Roman government simply because they hated the Jews. Josephus writes:
The Coming Bible Prophecy Reformation 