5 Responses

1. Hi Joel I’m glad that, whilst mentioning Muslims coming to Christ because of dreams etc, but also because of evangelisation. All too often the attitude to Islam is burying head in the sand hoping the big scary monster will disappear and “leaving it to the experts” or “a move of the Spirit -like a Wesleyan Revival”.

2. Exactly. Good old fashioned proclamation is still numero uno.

3. Joel, regarding Daniel 9:26 (“…the people of the prince who is to come…”), do you think that the Septuagint might preserve an earlier reading that would render the argument against an Islamic antichrist from this passage useless?

   Here’s an English translation of Daniel 9:26 from the Septuagint:

   “And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him: and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed he shall appoint the city to desolations.” (http://www.ecmarsh.com/lxx/Daniel/index.htm)

   Also, do you know of any helpful resources which argue against the ‘ethnically Jewish antichrist’ theory? It seems that idea was somewhat prevalent in the writings of the ante-nicene church from what I understand.

   Thanks.

4. Hi James,

   Some of the early Church Fathers believed that the Antichrist would be Jewish. But they equally believed in Replacement Theology. With regard to the ECFs, there are some ideas which are easily identified as a corruption of the Apostolic/biblical witness. These two ideas are most certainly among them. Both should rightly be cast into the trash. The Biblical witness thoroughly militates against a Jewish Antichrist.

   I would have to look into the LXX a bit more to sufficiently answer your question on that issue.

   Blessings,
   Joel

5. I thought to myself I am going to post and tell Joel that I REALLY appreciated the fact that he promoted the use of traditional evangelical methods. Then I read the first two posts! Praying for you Joel…