The Fall of Islam

By Ellis Skolfield

This letter is only a short explanation of the verses in the Bible that predict the fall of Islam during this generation. It is only intended as an overview. For a complete analysis of the subject, please read our e-book, "The False Prophet," the Q&As and the letters and essays on this site. All are free downloads.

First of all, we need to learn what some of the figurative words in Revelation, like "beast," actually mean. The definition for "beast" can be found in an Old Testament book of the prophet Daniel. In Daniel 7, the figurative word "beast" was defined as world empires that existed during and after Daniel’s time.

1. The first beast in Daniel 7 was a Lion. History shows this Lion beast to be a figurative picture of the Babylonian empire. (Babylon controlled the Holy Land from 606 to 536 B.C.)

2. The next beast in his vision was a Bear. History shows this Bear to be a figurative picture of the Medo-Persian empire. (Medo-Persia controlled the Holy Land from 536 B.C. to 332 B.C.)

3. The third beast was a Leopard. History shows this Leopard to be a figurative picture of the Greek empire (Grecian rulers controlled the Holy Land from 332 B.C. to 65 B.C. when Rome took control).

So unless God changes the definition of "beast" later in Scripture, visionary beasts should always be understood as empires. Babylon the Lion, Medo-Persia the Bear and Greece the Leopard. Each of these empires controlled the whole known world, from India to Greece, the Holy Land, and even into North Africa. In other words, the whole Middle East.

Now let’s pan forward to 95 A.D., when John, a New Testament prophet, foretells the future of the Middle East during the Christian Era. In his visions, guess what John sees? Three more beasts: the Leopard-Bear-Lion "beast," a Two Horned "beast" and a Scarlet "beast". These three "beasts" are not real beasts because we now know that "beast" means something other than a wild animal:

Revelation 13:2 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a Bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."

Beasts = Empires, but this beastly empire in Revelation is a composite Leopard-Bear-Lion so it isn’t just one of Daniel’s three empires. It’s all three empires rolled into one. In other words, this new empire is composed of the descendants of those earlier empires, in the same geographic location. Looking back at the history of the Middle East, we can now identify this new empire as the various Islamic powers that have controlled the Holy Land, and particularly Jerusalem since the 1st Jihad (which began in 639 A.D.)

Some might claim that the Islamic states in the Middle East do not constitute a real "empire" because they are not united under one central government, but the God of the Bible is far more concerned with the spiritual realities in a land than He is with how many earthly governments it may have. The reality is this: All Middle Eastern states are united under one religion, Islam, and all Moslems have one central goal: world conquest for their religion. So how should Revelation 13 be understood? Quoted below is part of the chapter, with a few of my words inserted (in parenthesis) to explain the figures. . .

Revelation 13:1-5 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast (an empire) rise up out of the sea (of people Rev 17:15), having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns (various Islamic rulers in the Middle East who controlled the Holy Land), and upon his heads the name of blasphemy (this empire stands against the God of the Bible). And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion (Leopard-Bear-Lion gives the reader a positive ID; it's the Middle East): and the dragon (Satan) gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads (governments) as it were wounded to death (the first Jihad was defeated at the battle of Tours and the battle of Vienna); and his deadly wound was healed (the rise of Islam today and the new Jihad): and all the world wondered after the beast (this Islamic empire). And they (the people of the Middle East) worshipped the dragon (Satan) which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast (the Islamic empire), saying, Who is like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue (controlling Jerusalem) forty and two months."

Those 42 months is how the above interpretation can be proven. 42 months is 1278.34 days. Construction of the Islamic Dome of the Rock began in Jerusalem in 688 A.D.. Jerusalem was freed of Islamic control in 1967 A.D.. Applying the prophetic days of Ezekiel 4:5-6 . . .

1967A.D. - 1278.34 years = 688.66 A. D. An exact historic fit; so the interpretation is correct. But to continue on...

Revelation 13:6-9 "And he (the Leopard-Bear-Lion) opened his mouth in blasphemy against God (by saying "God forbid that He should have a Son"), to blaspheme his name (by trying to change the name of the true God from I AM, to that of a local Arab deity), and his tabernacle (God’s temple mount in Jerusalem), and them that dwell in heaven (Believers are presently seated in heaven with Christ, Eph 2:6). And it was given unto him (the Islamic empire) to make war with the saints (the Christians and Jews), and to overcome them (during the 1st Jihad): and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations (of the Middle East). And all that dwell upon the earth (the known world at the time of John) shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb (Jesus, the Son of God) slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear."

Not many can hear, but it is now apparent that 1.3 billion people are being terribly deceived by Satan. The God of the Bible and the god of Islam are not the same being because the God of the Bible said, "they worship the dragon" (Satan). What’s more, the God of the Bible and the god of Islam are totally different in nature; they have different values and teach people to behave differently . . .

The Quran states: "O ye who believe! fight the unbelievers ... " (Sura 9:123).
The God of the Bible says: "Love your enemies."

The Quran states: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait (ambush) for them in every stratagem (of war)" (Sura 9:5).

The God of the Bible says: "Bless them that curse you."

The Quran states: "Fight those who believe not in God [Allah] and his apostle [Muhammad], nor acknowledge the religion of truth [even if they are] of the people of the book [i.e. Jews and Christians], until they pay jizya [humiliating tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued [enslaved]" (Sura 9:29).

The God of the Bible says: "Do good to them that hate you."

The Quran states: "Therefore when ye meet the unbelievers [in fight] smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly [on them]" (Sura 47:4).

The God of the Bible says: "Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

So you see, the Bible and the Quran teach different thoughts and a different morality. In 1984, Ayatollah Khomeini declared to the entire world: "In order to achieve the victory of Islam in the world, we need to provoke repeated crises, restored value to the idea of death and martyrdom. The important thing is to engulf the world in crises."

The God of the Bible goes on to say: Be ye kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." The point being, the God of the Bible and Allah are not the same being because One teaches man to do good and the other teaches man to do evil. One teaches love and peace, the other teaches war and hatred. One is really the Creator of the Universe and one is not.

So which is a god worthy of worship? The One who teaches man to do good or the one who teaches man to do evil? 


The Quran states: "God forbid that he should have a son." Jesus declared He is the Son of God and in saying, "Before Abraham was, I AM" declared Himself to be God.

Jesus also said: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

We should pray for Moslems, not hate them. If they do not turn to Jesus, their eventual fate could be the greatest tragedy in all human history.

Revelation 13:16 "And he (the Leopard-Bear-Lion) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the (Islamic) beast, or the number of his name."

Like the rest of the church, I used to teach that above verse was a worldwide prophecy, but that doesn’t fit context. The Leopard-Bear-Lion prophecy is about the Middle East and the Islamic control of the Holy Land and nowhere else. Contextually, the mark of the beast is given by the Leopard-Bear-Lion, the Islamic empire. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world now, but do you see that mark on a forehead of any of the servants of the Leopard-Bear-Lion? No? Then that mark must be an invisible Satanic mark, on the forehead of Moslems, seen only in the spiritual world. That "no man might buy or sell" is not about China, Europe or the Americas, it’s about conditions that have existed for Christians and Jews in Islamic countries ever since the 1st Jihad. One only needs to watch the nightly news or read a about the latest beheading to see how accurate that prophecy is.

Revelation 14:9-1 ". . . If any man worship the (Islamic) beast and his image (some eschatologists believe that image to be the Kaaba stone in Mecca), and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand (man thinks evil thoughts in his mind and with his hands he does them), the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb (Jesus): And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the (Leopard-Bear-Lion) beast and his image (the Kaaba stone?), and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

So will Islam fall? The God of the Bible says so. As written earlier, it will be a spiritual tragedy of unimaginable proportions, and it will happen because the followers of the Leopard-Bear-Lion have been deceived into rejecting the Son of God who sacrificed Himself for all mankind on the Cross of Calvary. Scripture goes on to say:

Revelation 13:18 "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the (Leopard-Bear-Lion) beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six," i.e., 666.

Many books have been written about that number, all speculative, but about 20 years ago a former Muslim who could read Arabic told me that 666 was the number of the Koran. I believed him, sort of, and promptly forgot about it. Then about three months ago, another friend told me there were many Islamic sites on the Internet claiming 666 to be the number of the Koran, though Moslems keep changing the addresses which makes those sites harder for us infidels to find. But that did it; by knowing the true identity of 666, the last piece of the Leopard-Bear-Lion puzzle fell into place. We can now see the verse in a new light:

Rev 13:18 "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the (Leopard-Bear-Lion) beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six."

The number of a man! So what man has led a billion and a half people away from the Savior of the world? What man said, "God forbid that he should have a son." Is that not Muhammad, the prophet of the Leopard-Bear-Lion? Of course, and according to the Bible, the end for him and his followers will be grim indeed:

Revelation 19:20 "And the (Leopard-Bear-Lion) beast was taken, and with him the false prophet (Muhammad) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image (the Ka’aba stone?). These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

May our beloved God, who sacrificed His only begotten Son for all mankind, take the blindness from their eyes while there is still time.

Ellis Skolfield

The False Prophet

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QUESTION: Can you explain why in Matthew 24:15-22 Jesus said to leave Judea in haste and flee to the mountains without even taking your belongings. What would the reason for such haste be? Was there something that happened when the Dome of the Rock was built? I always thought this was about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. Please help,I'm perplexed.

ANSWER: Good question and it has a simple answer. Lets look at the passage first:

Mat 24:15-21 "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

The Olivet discourse is Jesus' one chapter picture of the whole Christian Era so we need to stand back and look at that passage in the broadest historic way. Matthew 24:15-22 isn't just about events surrounding the construction of the Dome of the Rock itself, but about the inhuman Islamic persecution of Christians and Jews that began at that time and continues until this day. Following the construction of that Dome, Islamic jihadists traveled throughout the Middle East and North Africa, pillaging, murdering and destroying Christian churches as they went. Islamic jihdists almost completely obliterated the Coptic church. Christians in all the Islamic lands have always been severely persecuted and even killed. Doesn't that fulfill those verses?

Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: The Church calls the Messiah JESUS. His Jewish name is YESHUA. So should we address Jesus by the Hebrew name YESHUA? Please enlightened a non-Jew like me.

ANSWER: At the time the New Testament was written, Greek was the lingua franka, i.e., the generally spoken language in the whole known world, even in Israel. Though there are some Messianics who would like to argue the point, the documentary evidence for the NT's original language is fairly conclusive. The NT does contain many Hebraisms, but the whole New Testament was written in Koine`Greek! Even Matthew, the Gospel for the Jews was written in Greek. Throughout the whole NT, the Lord's name is written "Jesus" (in Greek, Iesous. Don't think the Greek alphebet can be e-mailed, so I transliterated.) and "Jesus the Christ." So do we trust the Bible or don't we?

Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: (in Greek, Iesous) for he shall save his people from their sins.

Luk 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus (in Greek, Iesous).

That's what the Bible says, so here's the question? Did the Creator of the Universe allow His whole church for 20 centuries to call Him by a wrong name or didn't God know what He wanted His Son to be called? The Germans spell Jesus' name Jesu, the Latinos pronounce His name Haysoos, the Karen people of Burma call Him Y'wa, the Incas called Him, "The God who made the Sun" and He has many more revealed names in the Bible. The Lord doesn't care how we believe His name should be pronounced. The Lord cares about the intents of the heart, "for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance (i.e., how we might say His name), but the LORD looketh on the heart," 1Sa 16:7.

That we have to address Him by just one of His many names is just another legalistic error that has crept into the Church. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth," John 4:24.

Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: I had always heard of a Pre-Tribulation rapture but couldn't understand where people were finding it in the Bible. And how about Preterism? Why anyone would think that Revelation was fullfilled by 70AD? Isn't it generally thought that Revelations was written after 70AD?

ANSWER: I just have to smile, it wouldn't have been much of a prophecy if it was fullfilled before it was written, now would it? So you are right. It can be shown with some certainty that Revelation was written between 95 and 105 A.D.

And it's important to understand the origin of these views and the reason why they were brought into the Church. During the Reformation, the Catholic Church commissioned two Jesuit priests to develop doctrines that would keep the reformers from identifying the Roman Church as the "Whore of Babylon" of Revelation 17.

1541AD: The Futurist View, i.e., Dispensationalism, was brought into the church by the Jesuit priest, Ribera. His view claimed that Revelation would not be fulfilled until the end of the Christian Era. Ribera’s view taught a rebuilt Babylon, a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, the restoration of animal sacrifices and a coming Antichrist. Sound familiar? It should, Ribera was the father of the widely accepted eschatology of Dallas Theological Seminary, Moody Bible Institute and most televangelists including Van Empe, Hinn, Lindsey et-al.

1614AD: The Preterist View was created by a Jesuit priest named Alcazar. His view claimed that the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation were fulfilled by the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Praterism, as it is called, spawned "Replacement Theology" (the idea that God broke covenant with the physical Seed of Abraham during the Christian Era and that the Gentile Church is all of Israel that remains). Dispite the evidence of their own eyes, this dubious view is still accepted by many evangelical churches, primarily Presbyterians.

Both views were initiated by Jesuits to derail the Reformation, nevertheless, both views are now considered acceptable doctrine in most Protestant churches. Neither fit history and both go against Scripture.

Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: You answered a question about "Who/what is the man of perdition in Thessalonians?" Your conclusion seems to be that a believer can be demon possessed. How could a believer be possessed by a demon? Didn't Christ come to set us free? You say "Interact with an evil spirit long enough, and you will end up with one in residence," but what about "He who the son sets free is free indeed'? Does JESUS have to free us again and again?

ANSWER: Terrible as it may sound, there is ample documentary evidence that Christians can be demonized. It can happen in several ways: If the believer dabbled in the occult prior to salvation or continues to dabble in it, or by ancestral assignment or because a Christian continues in open sin or has sins that are unconfessed and unrenounced.

Dr. Neil T. Anderson, a professor of theology at Biola University in La Habra, California (a conservative Baptist school) in his book, "The Bondage Breaker," gives several accounts of Christians who were demonized. Dr. Merrill Unger of Moody Bible Institute in a book no longer in print, "What Demons Can Do To Saints" came to the same conclusion. A personal friend, Dr. Paul Culley (now gone to be with the Lord), had a trunkful of letters from Filipino Christians who needed to be freed from demonic oppression. I have personally worked with over 100 MPD sufferers, most of whom were Christians. Almost all were demonized to some degree, many severely so. So read Dr. Anderson's book, it is quite enlightening. I have been using the biblical principles it contains in my own ministry with demonized Christians for over 20 years and have documented a bit of it in my book, "The Shining Man with Hurt Hands," downloadable free from our home site, www.fish-house.com.

Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: In the False Prophet you state that the "times of the Gentiles" ended in 1967 when the Jews took control of Jerusalem. However, only the eastern part of Jerusalem really went into Jewish hands and a large number of Arabs still reside in the city. In a sense then, the Gentiles are still trampling Jerusalem. What am I missing?

ANSWER: You are missing the cultural setting. To understand that verse, we need to place ourselves in the shoes of the prophet and recognize what happened to a conquered monarch at the time of his defeat. We need to know what "trodden down" meant to people in Bible times. When an Old Testament king conquered a new land, he made the conquered king fall on his face before him. The victorious king would then place his foot on the neck of the defeated king, graphically showing that his land was now "trodden down." You can see examples of this custom in various ancient bas-reliefs.

"Time of the Gentiles" was a phrase used by Jesus in His final discourse to His disciples to describe what would happen to Jerusalem following His death and resurrection. I quote the verse . . .

Luk 21:24 "And they (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

From 606 B.C. to 1967 A.D., Jerusalem was under various Gentile governments. It was governmentally "trodden down" of Gentiles. As of the 1967 war, that is no longer the case. Jerusalem and much of the Holy Land is now under Jewish governmental control for the first time in 2573 years. You are correct that many Arabs still live in Jerusalem, nevertheless they do not control it governmentally, thus Jerusalem is no longer governmentally "trodden down" of the Gentiles.

Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: I read your book " False Prophet". I understood the '1290 days' of Daniel12:11 but am unable to understand '1335 days' of Daniel12:12. Please explain this to me.

ANSWER: The 1290 days (1271 solar years) that began in 583 B.C. were fulfilled in 688 A.D. by the construction of the Islamic Dome of the Rock on the temple mount in Jerusalem. The 1335 days (1315 solar years) are parallel to the 1290 days, having the same starting date of 583 B.C..

583 B.C. + 1315 solar years = 732 A.D.

In 732 A.D., and Islamic cavalry army 300,000 man strong, invaded France. They were defeated at the Battle of Tours by Charles Martel. Martel's little army was composed of a few thousand knights and some local farmers armed only with the sythes they used to reap their grain. It was an impossible battle for Martel to win, but if the Lord had not granted the Church that victory, the whole Western world would now be speaking Arabic and bowing to Mecca. Below is a contemporary account of the battle.

Chronicle of St. Denis: "The Moslems planned to go to Tours to destroy the Church of St. Martin, the city, and the whole country. Then came against them the glorious Prince Charles, at the head of his whole force. He drew up his host, and he fought as fiercely as the hungry wolf falls upon the stag. By the grace of Our Lord, he wrought a great slaughter upon the enemies of Christian faith, so that -– as history bears witness -– he slew in that battle 300,000 men, likewise their king by name Abderrahman. Then was he [Charles] first called "Martel," for as a hammer of iron, of steel, and of every other metal, even so he dashed: and smote in the battle all his enemies. And what was the greatest marvel of all, he only lost in that battle 1500 men." From: William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. 362-364

How blessed indeed is he "waits and attains" to the time when God, by his sovereign grace, prevented the Church from being wiped from the face of the earth, as it surely would have been if the Moslems had won.

Kindest regards;
Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: Wasn't the decree given to Ezra in Ezra 7:13, which was confirmed by him in Ezra 9:9? Nehemiah was just given permission to go and do the work he needed to do to rebuild the walls, etc., but wasn't the actual decree given in Ezra 7:13? Is this the right way to look at it? How would this affect the timeframe of the 69 weeks?

ANSWER: Four decrees were given by the Medo-Persian Empire for the restoration of the Jews to their homeland, so the question has always been, to which decree is Daniel 9:25 referring?

Dan 9:25 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."

The timeline for the 69 weeks is not affected at all. Please read the above verse carefully, particularly about the rebuilding of the wall. Then read Darius's decree in Ezra 6 and 7. No permission was given by Darius to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, even though the Jews assumed they could in Ezra 9:9. Furthermore, Daniel prophecied "the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times," so Daniel wasn't prophecying about decrees, but about the wall actually being built. From Nehemiah we know the wall had not been built by his time, Neh 4:1. However, the decree that Artaxerxes 1 gave to Nehemiah was specifically about rebuilding the city's defenses, which Nehemiah did, and we can pretty solidly date that decree to 444-445 B.C..

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QUESTION: Regarding the two witnesses, Revelation 11:6 "These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Is this figurative again? If so, what in the world could this be talking about?

ANSWER: Of course it's figurative just like it's context. Most of Rev 11 is figurative. We read elsewhere in Scripture, "Is not my word like a fire," Jer 23:29, fire is figuratively the word of God, it is also used to symbolize purification. The fire of the two witnesses is the gospel. Water is also a figure for the Word of God, Eph 5:26. So the turning the water to blood is about the false doctrines that have polluted the church ever since its inception.

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QUESTION: What does it mean in Revelation 13:17 that no one could buy or sell without the mark??

ANSWER: Here is the versae you reference: Revelation 13:16 "And he (the Leopard-Bear-Lion) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the (Islamic) beast, or the number of his name."

Like the rest of the church, I used to teach that above verse was a worldwide prophecy. It isn't worldwide because it doesn’t fit context. The whole Leopard-Bear-Lion prophecy, from Rev 13:1 through Rev 14:12, is about the Islamic empire in the Middle East and the Beast with Two Horns that twice invaded it. "That no man might buy or sell" is within that prophecy so it is about conditions that have existed for Christians and Jews in the Middle East, including the Holy land, since the 1st Jihad. One only needs to watch the nightly news or read a newspaper to be made aware of the deplorable conditions Christians and Jews must live under in Islamic states. I quote a bit of the early history of Islam from M. Ali's book, "Islam Reviewed." M. Ali is a well educated former Moslem who is now an Christian evangelist to Moslems . . .

"When Islam was so persecuted that the eighty-three Moslims had to flee for safety to Abyssinia, a Christian country (now Ethiopia), the Negus and his Christian subjects protected Muhammad and his followers and lavished love on them. When the Meccan persecutors demanded their repatriation, the Christians refused to hand them over.

However, Muhammad’s accommodation with Christians was short-lived. After Islam became fully established, it revealed itself as a rabid anti-Christian religion and the blotting out of Christianity from under heaven has been a major aim of Islam ever since. Muhammad’s successors, the Khalifahs, launched a Jihad against Christendom – in Mesopotamia, Asia minor, central Asia, and in Egypt – killing millions and forcing the rest to embrace Islam. Then they attacked and occupied Jerusalem.

The Moslims undid most of the achievements of the early apostles, virtually destroying the Coptoic Church, invading Christian populated North Africa, slaughtering many, and forcing the rest to Islam at the point of the sword. Even today it is a crime to preach Christ in most of the Middle Eastern countries. In Arabia, for instance, if a Saudi national is found to be a Christian, he is beheaded. The battle-hardened Islamic "missionaries" swept over Palestine, drove on to Persia, continued their drive into northwest India, and settled finally on the southern steps of Russia. They overran Spain and invaded France. If it had not been for Charles Martel who halted their advance into Europe, Islam could have overrun the whole continent. Sadly enough, Islam is now using the West's petrol dollars to achieve what they could not accomplish earlier through the sword. Through its control of oil, Islam is now expanding at the expense of the Christian world."

M. Ali, Islam Reviewed (Fish House Publishing, Ft Myers, FL, 1999) pp 88-89.

Ellis Skolfield

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QUESTION: What are your thoughts about Rev 8:10-11 where a great star fell from heaven and made the waters bitter.

ANSWER: Sorry for a rather lengthy preamble, but some ground rules need to be in place before your question can be properly answered. Bible prophecy is primarily about Jerusalem, Judea and the rest of the world as known to the prophet. It is not about the Americas, the Orient or Australia.

Since the establishment of the Israeli nation in 1948 and the freeing of Jerusalem from Gentile control in 1967, the seven-year tribulation, so beloved by futurists, can no longer be supported scripturally or historically. The church is indeed taken to be with the Lord in Revelation 4:1, but the Church is also taken to be with the Lord in Rev 11:13, and 14:16, showing the repetative nature of the book. Revelation's prophecies are parallel and concurrent and all (with the exception of those passages about the eternal kingdom of God) are fulfilled in during the Christian Era. Revelation 5:1-8 is about the time of the Cross. So is Revelation 8:2-4, which I now quote because those verses are the introduction to the Seven Trumpets. My explanatory comments are inserted (in parenthesis).

Revelation 8:2-4 "And I saw the seven angels (angel = aggelos in Greek, a messenger, could be holy angels, satanic angels, human messengers, the Holy Spirit or Jesus. A messenger's identity must be determined by context) which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel (from context this angel is Jesus) came and stood at the altar (the Old Testament brazen altar was a symbol of the Cross), having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense (symbolic of prayer), that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints (Jesus never ceases to make intercession for us) upon the golden altar (His Cross) which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense (Jesus' intercession), which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's (Jesus') hand."

Everything in the above quote is about the Lord Jesus and His crucifixion. But to prove it, please note the tense of the verbs in the following verse :

Revelation 1:19 "Write the things which thou hast seen (events before John's time), and the things which are(events taking place during John's time), and the things which shall be hereafter (events after John's time)."

So Revelation 1:19 states that Revelation is about the past, present and future from the time of John. Since everything in Rev 8:2-4 is about the Lord Jesus and His crucifixion, we can conclude that those verses place us at the time of the Cross, and the very next verse clinches the argument:

Revelation 8:5 "And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."

Luke 12:49 "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"

The brazen altar is a symbol of the Cross and fire a symbol for purification. In both verses, "cast (or send) fire on the earth" is about the Crucifixion so we are scripturally placed at the time of the Cross. The Seven Trumpets begin to blow right after that, so these trumpets must be figururative pictures of events that will take place during the Christian Era. I again take the liberty of adding my comments (in parenthesis).

Rev 8:10-11 And the third angel sounded, and there fell, (Jesus ascended and descended, He did not fall, so this is not Jesus) a great star (stars are messengers, probably Satan) from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part (the church had three branches, the Western Church, the Byzantine Church, and the Coptic church.) of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters (many places in Scripture water is used as a figurative picture of any word of God so this messenger is going to make changes to accepted doctrines); And the name of the star is called Wormwood (wormwood is poisonous so the truth of God's word will be poisoned by false doctrine): and the third part of the waters became wormwood (one third of the Church, the Coptic, which spread from India to Morocco was virtually destroyed by Islam); and many men died (a spiritual death), of the waters (the false doctrine of Islam) because they were made bitter (the doctrines taught were undrinkable and could not lead to salvation).

The above answer may appear unsupportable unless you have already read "The False Prophet," book and the "Bifid & Chiasms" essay on the site. Both contain keys to the correct interpretation of Revelation's trumpets. The linear-historic view of Revelation is an empirical argument that can be likened to a giant jigsaw puzzle. As we study, one piece after another falls into place until a totally new prophetic picture appears.

Ellis Skolfield

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Question: Who is "he" in Daniel 12:7 ? Also, you say that Daniel 11:36-45 is fulfilled prophecy. Who was the king of the north, and when did all of events listed take place?

Answer: I didn't say Daniel 11:36-45 was fulfilled on my own, the Bible states it in the very verse you reference:

Dan 12:7 "And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."

To understand this verse, we have view it from the historic position of the prophet. In Daniel's time, the Jews were the holy people so this prophecy is about the Jews. The power of the Jewish people was no longer "scattered" or "shattered" depending on translation (both fit the definition of the Hebrew word) as of 1967 A.D.. Therefore, this last prophecy of Daniel in it's entirety, from Chapter 10 to 12 was fulfilled by 1967. So regardless who we believe the figures in this prophecy to be, they are in our past, not in our future.

In Daniel 11:31 the abomination that makes desolate is set up. From the day-years in both Daniel and Revelation, we can now prove with certainty that the abomination on God's temple mount is the Islamic Dome of the Rock (For documentation. please read chapters 3-6 of "The False Prophet," downloadable from www.ellisskolfield.com). IMHO, correctly identifying that abomination is the key to understanding the "he" of v.36 because just five versus later we read:

Dan 11:36-39 "Neither shall he (Muhammad, deceived by visions he saw of an angel in a cave, probably Satan) regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women (read how Islamic woman are deprived of esteem and self-worth in "Islam Reviewed," also downloadable from our site), nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces (the bloody history of Islam has ample documentation): and a god whom his fathers knew not (Allah) shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (Islam seized control of the whole Middle East, plus Indonesia and all North Africa) with a strange god (Allah), whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain (the Moslem armies pillaged, raped and plundered all they conquered and continue to do so today in Indonesia, the Sudan and Nigeria)."

3. The man clother in linen is Jesus. Dan 10:5 "Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz" (the low girding). Jesus did not receive authority to wear the high girding or become our great High Priest until after the Cross. After Jesus was glorified: Rev 1:13 "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle" (the high girding). Also compare with Rev 5:1-5 and Eph 1:19-23.

4. The "he" Dan 12:7 is either a satanic prince or Satan himself, please compare with Daniel 7:25, fulfilled in 1948.

I'd rather not have to write another book here (smile), so for documentation please read Chapter 7, "Time, Times, & a Half" in the "False Prophet." All files on our site are downloadable for FREE.

Ellis Skolfield

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Question: I am a Messianic Jew. We believe the 70th week is a Seven-year Tribulation at the end of this age. You claim the 70th week is about the total time Gentile Nations controlled the Holy Land. You base your claim on the Hebrew word for seven in Daniel 9 being different than anywhere else in the Bible. I checked Strong’s dictionary and can’t find the word you are talking about; so it sounds like your whole idea is based on a mistake.

Answer: A Messianic Jew himself, Dr. David Lurie authored The Covenant, The Holocast, & The 70th Week published by Messianic Century, Coral Gables, FL, 1989. In his work, Dr. Lurie states on pp 83-84 that shavuim appears only five times in the Old Testament, all in Daniel. Below are pages 83-86 of Dr. Lurie's book. Though I have not been in touch with Dr. Lurie for some time, I knew the man well enough to recognize that he was not a careless scholar. It is inconceivable to me that he would make the monumental error you suggest, particularly when it was one of the central points in his book. I have taken the liberty of putting the concept you questioned in red. The rest of his thesis is also quite interesting.

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In Chapter 3, I suggested that Daniel's weeks are periods of an integer multiple of seven years. Nevertheless all commentaries on Daniel 9:24-27 conclude that Daniel's weeks are seven years long. Let's trace the reasoning which is normally followed in reaching this conclusion and determine whether the suggestion that the weeks are integer multiple of seven years might be a reasonable alternative to the conventional wisdom.

The Hebrew word which the King James Version translates as "weeks" and the N1V translates as "sevens" is shavuim. Now shavuim is the masculine plural form of shavua, and shavua is the word used in both biblical and modern Hebrew to denote an ordinary 7 day week. The King James translators rendered shavuim as "weeks" and let it go at that, but the NIV translators recognized that shavuim is a rather peculiar form and so they rendered it as "sevens". What is peculiar about shavuim is the fact the usual plural form of shavua is shavuot.

That's the feminine plural form and it's the form used throughout the entire Hebrew Bible whenever an ordinary 7 day week is intended. Obviously then, the shavuimpan are not ordinary 7 day weeks. If a 7 day weeks had been intended, the form shavuot would have been used, not shavuim.

In fact the word shavuim appears only in the prophecy of the seventy weeks and in one other place, Daniel 10:2,3. It appears nowhere else in the Old Testament. In Daniel 10:2,3 we read that Daniel mourned for three shavuim yamim or literally for three "sevens" of days. Now in this context it's clear that shavuim means just ordinary weeks. But the point is that this is the only other place in the entire Hebrew Bible where the word shavuim appears and in this one instance, because the word is intended to denote ordinary 7 day weeks, Daniel takes care to put the qualifier yamim (meaning "days") after it. There is more than a hint here that when the word shavuim appears without a qualifier, as it does in Daniel 9:24-27, it has a more general meaning. What that meaning might be has to be discovered either from the context or from other considerations.

The next step is to argue from the context of the prophecy that the shavuim or "sevens" must refer to "sevens" of years rather than days. That's because the context was Daniel's study of God's word to Jeremiah to the effect that the Babylonian captivity would last seventy years. To quote from Alva McClain's study of the seventy weeks,

"In the first place, the prophet Daniel had been thinking not only in terms of years rather than days, but also in a definite multiple of "sevens" (10 x 7) of years (Dan. 9:1-2). Second, Daniel also knew that the very length of the Babylonian captivity had been based on Jewish violations of the divine law of the Sabbatic year ...according to 2 Chronicles 36:21 the Jews had been removed from off the land in order that it might rest for seventy years."

There's no doubt that the context of the prophecy shows that Daniel had been thinking in terms of years rather than days and that the "sevens" must refer somehow to "sevens" of years. And it is at this juncture that the standard line of reasoning jumps directly to the conclusion that the "sevens" are periods of seven years. To quote again from McClain's study,

"The form is really a participle meaning besevened, i.e. computed by sevens.. .and here gives evidence of the fact that the word was originally masculine. What led Daniel to employ the masculine instead of the feminine however, is not clear unless it was for the deliberate purpose of calling attention to the fact that the word "sevens" is employed in an unusual sense. The word means divided into sevens..."

In this key passage, E.J. Young has pointed us toward the answer to the puzzle. The shavuim or "sevens" are periods of time that are computed by sevens or, even more explicitly, divided into sevens. Something that is "computed by sevens" or "divided into sevens" is the same as something that is an integer multiple of seven. The meaning is the same. But seven what? Days? Months? Years? Here we fall back on the analysis of the context of the prophecy. Daniel was thinking in terms of years, the seventy years of captivity. Hence the shavuim are periods that are divided into seven years or, equivalently, they are periods that are integer multiples of seven years.

Young did not follow through on his insight. Instead he reached the conclusion that the "sevens" were "symbolical" periods of indefinite length. As a result Young's entire approach has been called into question by writers who, naturally enough, insist on taking Daniel's numbers at face value. Leon Wood, for example, has written, "The only view which calls for rebuttal is that "weeks" is figurative of periods of indefinite length; as held, for instance, by ...Young. This view makes the definite numbers, seven, sixty-two and one...hard to understand. Why should definite numbers be applied to periods of indefinite length?"

But Young did nail down the key point that the "sevens" are periods that are "divided into sevens" and it is this which opens the way to understanding the "sevens" as integer multiples of seven years.

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As stated earlier, I do not agree with Dr. Luria's prophetic conclusions, but do agree that the 70th week speaks of a far longer time than the rather simplistic seven years supported by dispensationalists. If you read "An End Time Myth" on this site you'll see the origin of that rather questionable doctrine.

Well anyway, the major point being: The 70th week linguistically requires a multiplier. The Hebrew 360 day-year multiplier fits both Scripture and history. 7x360=2520, or 2484 of our solar years. It was exactly 2484 years from the Decree of Darius to the new nation of Israel, with the Dome of the Rock in the middle. Those are the historic realities.

Ellis Skolfield

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Question: About Rev. 9:13-16 that you referenced in chapter 17. I don't remember an explanation for the destruction of 1/3 of mankind, and the 200 million man army."

Answer: Lets look at the passage in question.

Rev 9:14-16 "Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."

Whew, the trouble with questions like yours is that it requires pages to answer properly. I don't really have the time, but if I give you the short answer you might think me heretical. (smile) Having said that, the basis for understanding the identity of that two hundred thousand thousand man army is the subject of chapter 17 in The False Prophet. The hour, and a day, and a month and year were fulfilled in the Islamic control of Jerusalem, ergo, that vast army must be composed of the various Islamic armies that attacked the West ever since the first Jihad. There was a 300,000 man Islamic army at the battle of Tours and an additional 300,000 man army at the Battle of Vienna. That's 600,000 of the 2 million in those two battles alone, and there have been hundreds of thousands of Moslems involved in many battles before and since.

Ellis Skolfield

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Question: Nor Jews, nor Christians are infidels according to the Koran. Both are legitimate paths that can lead direct to god.

Answer:That is not true. The God of the Bible and Allah are not the same beings. They have different attitudes and different goals as the writings of each show . . .

The Koran states: "O ye who believe! fight the unbelievers ... " (Sura 9:123).

The God of the Bible says: "Love your enemies."

The Koran states: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait (ambush) for them in every stratagem (of war)" (Sura 9:5).

The God of the Bible says: "Bless them that curse you."

The Koran states: "Fight those who believe not in God [Allah] and his apostle [Muhammad], nor acknowledge the religion of truth [even if they are] of the people of the book [i.e. Jews and Christians], until they pay jizya [humiliating tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued [enslaved]" (Sura 9:29).

The God of the Bible says: "Do good to them that hate you."

The Koran states: "Therefore when ye meet the unbelievers [in fight] smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly [on them]" (Sura 47:4).

The God of the Bible says: "Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

The God of the Bible goes on to say: "Be ye kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

So you see, the God of the Bible and Allah are not the same beings because One teaches man to do good and the other teaches man to do evil. One teaches love and peace, the other teaches war and hatred. One really is the Creator of the Universe and one is not.

So which one should we worship, the one that teaches man to do good or one that teaches man to do evil? None of us is ever good enough to satisfy a perfect God. That is why we need a Redeemer. Here is a prophecy about the only Redeemer there will ever be. It was written by the Prophet Isaiah almost 800 years before Jesus was born . . .

Isaiah 53:6-9 "All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living (i.e., crucified); For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked — But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin."

No one can redeem himself by good works, not even by giving one's life as a martyr in Jihad. Only a sinless Redeemer can take away sins, so everyone needs to know that Jesus is the only Redeemer and the only offering for sin.

The Koran says: "God forbid that he should have a son."

Jesus Himself said: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

The Bible says, "Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."

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Question: Please tell me where in the Bible does Jesus say that he is the son of GOD?

Answer:Jesus declared Himself to be the Son of God many times. The quotes below are the words of Jesus Himself and there are many more:

Matthew 11:27-28 "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Luke 10:22 "All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."

John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

John 6:40 "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

John 9:36-38 "Jesus . . . said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him."

John 14:8-9 "Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

There are many more. The prophet John also declared Jesus to be "the only begotten of the Father," so there are no other Sons of God, only Jesus. Jesus also said,

"I and My Father are One," in other words Jesus is saying that He and God are one being.

There is only one God.

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Question: Who/what is the man of perdition in Thessalonians?"

Answer: These must be the verses you’re referring to . . .

2Th 2:3-4 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

To answer your question correctly, we first need to ask, "Where is the temple of God during the Christian Era?" Paul states categorically that the temple of God is in the human heart and nowhere else! As a result, this "man of sin" has to be a spirit because "he takes his seat in the temple of God declaring himself to be God."

Frightening, because the phenomenon is widespread in the church today. People claiming to be prophets or claiming to have some other spiritual gift, which indeed they may have, but that was given them by a false spirit. In 1st John 4:1 we are not asked, but commanded to test spirits and the apostle gives us the only sure-fire test for demonic activity.

1 John 4:1 "Test the spirits. By this you know the spirit of God; every spirit that declares Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God but is the spirit of the antichrist."

But do we obey that command? It doesn’t seem so. I have been in hundreds of churches and heard a zillion spiritual phenomena. In not one, and I mean zero, did I hear of a spirit being tested. That oversight has allowed demons to deceive believers into believing their spiritual phenomena to be of the Holy Spirit of God. Though I could cite other examples, Mari Beth of Naples, Florida was counseling a young Baptist lady who was in spiritual turmoil. Here is what Mari Meth told me about her experience with Rachael . . .

"Rachel loves the Lord, reads her Bible, and could speak in tongues. I asked Rachel if she had ever had her "tongue" spirit tested as commanded by 1John 4:1-3:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God . . . Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

"Rachel conceded that she had not had her spirit tested in that way, that she would like to have it done, so we met a couple of days later in a prayer room at the 1st Baptist Church. After a short time of prayer, I asked Rachel to start speaking in tongues.

"While Rachel was doing so, I said in a quiet voice, ‘Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, declare that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.’ The spirit did not respond directly, but Rachel started speaking louder in tongues.

"Again I said, ‘Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, declare that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.’

Again, the spirit did not acknowledge Jesus. Now does it not strike you as strange, that a spirit (supposedly of God) would not confess Jesus? It did me, so I said, "Don't you see, Rachel, this spirit cannot be of the Lord? It refuses to confess Jesus."

"To which Rachel replied, ‘But in my mind this spirit is saying, `I am lord.'’ "

"I was almost deceived by that declaration, but just last night an elder brother warned me demons were cunning and could say something like that. So I pressed that spirit with, ‘Spirit, are you the Lord who died on the Cross, was buried, rose again on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of Authority on high?’

"The spirit within Rachel shrieked out, ‘Nooooooooo!’

"Rachel's face contorted. Hissing and snarling, she fell off her chair. Her hands twisted into unnatural claw-like shapes. She curled into a fetal position and whimpered, ‘Please help me get rid of this thing.’ I phoned some elder brethren and asked them to come help me and within an hour Rachel was freed of that demon."

I could give other examples, but that one should suffice. Brethren with a ministry in deliverance will uniformly attest to one truth: Interact with an evil spirit long enough, and you will end up with one in residence! You say it couldn't happen to you? If you are exercising a spiritual "gift" and don’t have that spirit properly tested, it certainly could.

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