Revelation 13:11-12 (NASB) 11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
I have learned something about language: more can be said between the lines than the actual words used. When the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks the only way you can know what he is saying is if you can read between the lines. In a preliminary interview with the Associated Press (prior to his Wednesday morning talk before the sixty-seventh United Nations General Assembly, 9/26/12), Ahmadinejad used phrases that were pregnant with meaning. An account of the interview, in part, follows:
After an hour of fielding questions about Syria, sanctions and nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had enough. Now, he said, it was his turn to choose the topic — his “new order” which will inevitably replace the current era of what he called U.S. bullying. … Whether it was feigned or sincere, he said he would much rather be talking about his vision of what the next world order might be.
Conveniently, it would be an order in which the U.S. and the traditional powers play a smaller role and every country has equal standing (though the state of Israel, he often predicts, will soon become a historical footnote). “God willing, a new order will come and will do away with … everything that distances us,” Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday, speaking through a translator. “All of the animosity, all of the lack of sincerity will come to an end. It will institute fairness and justice.” He said the world was losing patience with the current state of affairs. “…I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it.”1
Here are the words that have hidden meaning (key words emboldened):
- … He would much rather be talking about his vision of what the next world order might be …
- … it would be an order in which the U.S. and the traditional powers play a smaller role and every country has equal standing …
- … All of the animosity, all of the lack of sincerity will come to an end. It will institute fairness and justice …
- … I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it.
To help us see what Ahmadinejad was really saying, we must compare it to what he said when he spoke before the United Nations in 2005 (9/17/2005). He was addressing the Sixty-First Session of the United Nations General Assembly. He closed his speech with these remarks and a prayer:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
From the beginning of time, humanity has longed for the day when justice, peace, equality and compassion envelop the world. All of us can contribute to the establishment of such a world. When that day comes, the ultimate promise of all Divine religions will be fulfilled with the emergence of a perfect human being who is heir to all prophets and pious men. He will lead the world to justice and absolute peace. … Oh mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.2 (Emphasis supplied)
I have emboldened the key words for you again. Ahmadinejad’s 2012 vision of a “new world order” is the same world order he was speaking of in 2005. In 2005, he referred to it as the day “when justice, peace, equality and compassion [will] envelop the world.” According to Ahmadinejad, this new world order will be one in which the “U.S. and the traditional powers play a smaller role and every country has equal standing” (2012 version). This world order will “institute fairness and justice” (2012) because it will have a new leader, a “perfect human being who is heir to all prophets and pious men. … [He will be] the last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, …” (2005). This “perfect and pure human being” will not serve as an “emperor” (2012) because this one is the “long-awaited one” (2005). In other words, he will be the heir of the prophet Muhammad, the last perfect human being to live, according to Shi’ah Muslims. As such, he will not lead the world as an “empire” because there will be no world empires, only one world order without any competitors among the nations. This “last repository” will “lead the world to justice and absolute peace” (2005 and 2012) because this leader will eliminate the current world powers and replace them with one Islamic world ruled by Sharia law. There will be “peace” because Islam, under the leadership of this perfect one, will have destroyed all those who have opposed it, and thereby gained dominion over the world. Ahmadinejad’s vision that the “U.S. and the traditional powers [will] play a smaller role and every country [will have] equal standing” (2012) is an understatement if there ever was one. There will be no “bullies” in this new world order because, from Ahmadinejad’s perspective, the world will be under the dominion of Islam, and, in Islam, everyone is equal (of course, don’t ask the ladies about that because they don’t have an opinion in Islam; and, don’t ask the dhimmis either, because dhimmis (non-Muslims who submit to their Muslim masters provided they pay the bondage tax and demonstrate servitude to all Muslims) have only rights afforded them by their dhimmi “contract,” and it can be amended at any time by their Muslim master.
Of course, the “perfect human being,” the “last repository, the promised one,” is Shi’ah Islam’s “al-Mahdi” (Ahmadinejad is Twelver Shi’ah). And although there is a Sunni version of the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad does not have the Sunni version in mind, but the Shi’ah version. In the Shi’ah version, al-Mahdi is also known as “al-Qaim,” the “redresser of wrongs.” He is prophesied by Shi’ahs to avenge the Sunni wrongs committed against Shi’ahs ever since the Battle of Karbala, October 6, 680 A.D, as well as force the Sunnis to acknowledge their mistake of not following the bloodlines of Muhammad, through Ali and Fatima, upon Muhammad’s death in 632 AD. 3 The Shi’ah version begins al-Mahdi’s world dominion by first launching it against the Sunnis. Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim nation. Is it any wonder that Saudi Arabia and Iran, although both Muslim countries, are not allies?
What does the above analysis have to do with bible prophecy? Plenty. Notice the text of Revelation 13:11: “… a beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon…” The “beast” has two horns like a lamb because the beast will give the impression that he is harmless; a lamb is anything but dangerous. In fact, peaceful and sublime might be closer to describe a lamb. This is how Ahmadinejad portrays Islamic rule under the Mahdi because the ultimate prophecy of Islam is that the Mahdi will bring peace and justice to a world in chaos. The only problem for the current “bullies” (U.S.A. per Mahmoud) is that the peace and justice don’t take place until all opposing forces have been destroyed or have agreed to submit to Islamic dominion. Ahmadinejad failed to tell us that part. When the text tells us that the “beast” will speak as a “dragon” the text is warning us that the real speaker behind the beast is satan, the dragon (Revelation 12:9; 13:4). The text also tells us that the “beast from the earth” will make the world “and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, …” It is this writer’s interpretation that the first beast is Allah (the “beast from the sea” (Revelation 13:1) who has been given the “authority of the dragon” (Revelation 13:4)). The second beast (the “beast from the earth”) (Revelation 13:11f) is the last false prophet, the Antichrist, and is interpreted by this writer to be Shi’ah Islam’s prophesied al-Mahdi. The biblical prophecy is that the world will come under the dominion of the first beast (Allah) (Revelation 13:7-8), and that the second beast will successfully direct the world to worship the first beast, all except those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 13:8). If Ahmadinejad has anything to do with it, we will submit to Allah and Islam because we want some of his “fairness, justice” and harmony. After all — sounds like a wonderful place to be. Only problem? The beast is prophesied to speak as the dragon (satan). satan (lower case intentional) is a liar (John 8:44).
There is a lot more to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than you think. It is critical that believers in Jesus Christ are informed of the coming difficulty of the end-times. We can best endure when we are assured that God is in control, and regardless of the battles that satan will win, the final battle is ours!
- http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-ahmadinejad-pushes-world-order-235145610.html [↩]
- http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10336.htm [↩]
- Jack Smith, Islam the Cloak of Antichrist, p. 189f and sources cited there [↩]
