Subtleties

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

Matthew 24:24-25

What if you had a great chasm to cross between two large mountains, what would you do?  Most would build a bridge of course.  Satan is no dummy and that is exactly what he would do.  Let's say that the large mountains were Judeo-Christian belief on a continent that has always had a history as such, and that the other mountain is a group of continents being controlled by Islam.  What will Satan do?  He needs to link the two into one false religion in the last days and also convince Jews worldwide that the main objective is peace and safety.  I think he would build a bridge that seemed to contain elements of both religions as a way of uniting them. It would be a subtle, close parallel to both.  

My wife and I watched a movie a few nights back that troubled me for a few days, and even today I was dwelling on it in prayer.  The movie is called The 19th Wife.  It is a story about a Mormon man that is murdered who had written in an e-mail that his nineteenth wife had just entered the room slightly prior to the moment he was killed.  This wife is then arrested for the murder while the local "prophet" and community seek to quickly close the case.  The murdered man had twenty-five wives.  The story also shares elements of the true life testimony of Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's nineteenth wife.  She actually divorced Brigham Young and toured the US protesting polygamy.  After sharing her story, she just simply disappeared one day with the speculation that she was abducted and killed to quiet her.  Our nation then enacted laws forbidding the practice of polygamy. This movie then brought about the question, which other world religion had "prophets" who were polygamists?  Islam!

Do you know how many parallels there are between these two religions?  Their founders both claimed visitations from angels who dictated their perspective "revelations".  Both claimed that true Christianity had failed, even though Jesus said hell could not conquer His true church.  The efforts of both teachings are to restore a long lost true faith to the world due to the failure of Christianity and Judaism.  Both founders claimed to be given their inspiration though they were illiterate.  They both teach that the Bible has been corrupted.  Both claimed that they were the persecuted believers of a true faith.  Both had teachings that were abrogated--God change his mind at a later date and gave new, contradictory information.  Both had sections of text that were removed:  Islam's Satanic verses and Joseph Smith's order that mandated polygamy. Both believed that they were the final great prophet sent by God.  Both taught that their new teaching was the actual teaching recorded in heaven.  Both teach that multiple marriages are legal and that heaven will be a place of eternal sex.  There are just too many strange parallels to continue listing, but I hope you get the point.  

However, it is their similar teachings on Jesus that are amazing.  Islam and Mormonism hold that Jesus was a great prophet of God.  Yet, their versions of Jesus are not the orthodox version of Christ.  Both also hold Mary as a special chosen vessel of God.  It is these and other "Christian" concepts that seem to offer the bridge to link them all.  Why would you need this?

  

There is another strange parallel between the two.  Both religions are awaiting a messiah type messenger and a prophet that proclaims the messiah figure.  Most of Islam is awaiting the Mahdi and Isa (Jesus) to return.  Isa proclaims that he was not God's only begotten and then calls the world to worship Allah, while proclaiming the one true prophet, Mohammed.  The Mahdi brings war between East and West but then brings peace that will eventually cause Islam to take over the world.  

Mormonism has a much smaller vision.  Joseph Smith's "White Horse Prophecy" claims that a Mormon savior riding a metaphorical white horse will save the US Constitution as it is hanging on by a thread, so it is more about the US only.  (Therein is another similarity, the Mahdi is said to ride a white horse as well. Funny, the Antichrist rides a white horse too.  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. 1 John 4:3)  

Here is a commentary on that prophecy.  "LDS attachment to the Constitution has been further encouraged by an important oral tradition deriving from a statement attributed to Joseph Smith, according to which the Constitution would "hang by a thread" and be rescued, if at all, only with the help of the Saints. Church President John Taylor seemed to go further when he prophesied, "When the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men" (JD 21:8). To defend the principles of the Constitution under circumstances where the "iniquity," or moral decay, of the people has torn it to shreds might well require wisdom at least equal to that of the men raised up to found it. In particular, it would require great insight into the relationship between freedom and virtue in a political embodiment of moral agency. (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.1, 1992)"

Isn't it interesting that we have a Mormon candidate running for the Presidency?  He is a bit behind in the polls, so what he needs is another public figure that has been an advocate for a new moral America and has even held out an olive branch of peace and support for Israel to speak up for him--such a "Christian" thing to do.  Most Christians are not as much interested in a true Holy Ghost, soul saving revival where the truth of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, being the ONLY way to God is preached, so a good moral man that aids in restoring the nation to a more conservative position may be what is needed.  The well known possible mouthpiece of the candidate once said, "I feel the Constitution is hanging in the balance right now, hanging by a thread unless the good Americans wake up."  Wow!  How prophetic--if you believe in the White Horse Prophecy! 

My friend, I too want a return to conservative Christian values in America!  Yet, I do not want that revival of values with the  exclusion of the work and person of Jesus Christ.  Revival in America will not come by the hand of a religion that denies He is God's ONLY Begotten Son filled with grace and truth.  Revival will come when Messiah's blood bought redeemed ones return to their prayer closets with all of their hearts.  A revival of morals makes no sense if the source of that morality is not God's whole counsel of truth rightly divided and found exclusively in the Bible.  All a Christless morality will do is cause complacent believers to fulfill Christ's other warning that they will be not watching when He comes as a thief in the night. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.  1 Thessalonians 5:2-4  

   

As a final note, the only white horse Rider worthy of special note is not the Mahdi nor the metaphorical rider of Smith's prophecy.   The ONLY One of any consequence is described below!

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 

Revelation 19:11-13