March 2025 – The Religion that Will Control the Antichrist

PTNews

P r o p h e tic Truth in the N e w s

March 2025

   Published monthly by Mike Wingfield Ministries

All Bible references are from the KJV   

It may sound strange in the West, but according to the Bible, religion will dominate the final kingdom of this age. According to Revelation 17-18, a very evil and domineering world religion will control the Antichrist and his kingdom. Depicted as a harlot, this false religion will control the reigns of the Antichrist as she rides upon the beast that represents him. See the image on this page.

T he major emphasis of the book of Revelation is the troubling and deadly period known as the Tribulation. The developments that will transpire during this seven-year period are the focal point of Revelation chapters 6-18. That is almost 60 percent of the final book of the Bible. From a human perspective, at the center of the global affairs are the Antichrist and the religion that controls him. The final two chapters in this section of the book of Revelation, chapters 17-18, focus upon the global power structure that controls all facets of life in this brutal and wicked period.

The book of Revelation showcases Jesus’ war against the nations in chapters 6-16. In Revelation 4-5, Jesus is presented as the warring Lion of Judah. During the Tribulation, He dispatches His mighty angels from heaven to deliver His righteous vengeance upon the rebellious and wicked inhabitants of earth. These judgments are presented in three cycles, with seven judgments in each cycle. They are the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and finally the most horrific, the bowl (vial) judgments. In the final judgments, the Apostle John sees a divine scene unfold in heaven. Seven angels are presented with seven bowls that are filled with the wrath of God (Revelation 15:1). At the end of all these deadly judgments, most of earth’s population will die. The death of billions of people will be the direct results of God’s divine judgments and the global war of the Antichrist in the name of his religion.

Therefore, after God’s wrath has been delivered upon the wicked inhabitants of earth for seven years, the Holy Spirit directed John to write about the final act of God’s vengeance as He destroys the Antichrist, his kingdom, and the religion that gives him his power. This is the last thing that happens before Jesus descends to earth in His powerful revelation in Revelation 19.

T his evil power structure will rule over the world during the last three and one-half years. Thus, it should be viewed as the climax of the world’s blasphemous rejection of Jesus Christ and God the Father. This is witnessed in both the political and religious power structure that will control the minds and souls of humanity at the end.

In the book of Revelation, the Lord is seen as achieving two major accomplishments. He will reclaim His ownership and authority over all the earth. Depicting this process, He will receive the scroll of the title deed to the universe from His Father in heaven (Revelation 5:1-5). Finally, during the Millennial Kingdom, He will take His rightful place on the Throne of David and rule over all nations from Jerusalem, Israel.

As the Lord breaks the seven seals on the scroll, He will also unleash His holy, vengeful wrath upon His old adversary, the devil. Notice that Revelation 20:2refers to the devil as “the dragon, that old serpent.”This imagery of Satan takes us back to Satan’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden as the serpent. Furthermore, in the book of the Revelation, the Lord is dealing with His vengeance upon ancient conflicts that Satan used to attack God’s people, Israel. Therefore, it is important to view Revelation 17-18 as God’s final retribution upon a political and religious system that traces its roots back to the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. Thus, the identity of the political and religious systems that are described in these two chapters can be traced back into ancient history, especially in their demonic treatment of the Jewish people. It is clear from Scripture that the Lord promised He would curse and judge the world based on how it treats His people and their land (Genesis 12:3; Matthew 25:31-46).

In the chapters prior to Revelation 17-18, the fall of Babylon is mentioned several times (Revelation 14:8; 16:19). In the Bible, the city of Babylon is mentioned more than any other city, except Jerusalem. The final judgment of God in the Tribulation will be against Babylon during the seventh bowl judgment in Revelation 16:17-21. Revelation 16:19declares, “and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

With this judgment, the Apostle John is shown the identity of this false religion that will control the Antichrist and the world during the Tribulation. In the final chapters of Revelation, Babylon is symbolically depicted as a harlot. She is called “the great whore” (Revelation 17:1; 19:2), and “MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Revelation 17:5).

In the Scriptures, a prostitute is the symbolic description of a false religion. God has called Israel into a covenant relationship with Him. The Jewish people are to exclusively worship and serve God, and God alone (Exodus 20:1-6). In the Old Testament, when Israel departed from their intimate and faithful relationship with God, it was called spiritual adultery (Jeremiah 3:8; Hosea 4:14). God said they were “whoring” after other idols and gods (Judges 2:17). Therefore, the false religion was viewed by God as a whore.

This false religion in Revelation 17-18 is not just any false religion. It is “the great whore” (Revelation 17:1), and “the mother of harlots” (Revelation 17:5). This false religion is the fountain head or beginning of all false religions. This religion has plagued the world and the Jewish people for millenniums. Revelation 18:24 declares, “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

After examining the context of the entire Bible, I have concluded that there is only one false religion that describes this harlot in Revelation 17-18. It is the religion of the crescent moon god of Islam. Islam is the current representative of the ancient worship of the moon god that was most popular throughout the Middle East preceding the time of Abraham. The most recognized symbol of Islam today is the crescent moon. It appears on Islamic flags and is at the top of Islamic minarets and mosques. Obviously, it traces its origin back to the revival of this ancient religion in the days of Muhammed at Mecca around 600 A.D.

When Muhammed came to Mecca, the Arabs were worshipping 365 idols or gods at their shrine. Muhammed rejected all the other gods and elevated the moon god to a new status of being the only god. He called his god “Allah,” which is a compound Arabic word that means “the god.”

According to archaeologists, and many historical scholars, there is much evidence to support the fact that Allah and the worship of the crescent moon god was a popular pagan worship in pre-Islamic times. In the Bible, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars were forbidden by God (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3). The beginning of this cult worship of the hosts of heaven began at the time of the global rebellion against God in Genesis 11:1-11. The first great global rebellion began with the gathering of the inhabitants of the earth to defy God and build a tower and city as directed by their leader, Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-10). The name “Nimrod” means “rebel.” This city and tower were built in the plains of Shinar (Iraq), near the Euphrates River (Genesis 10:10; 11:2). The purpose of this tower was to chart the stars, sun, moon, and planets for cultist worship purposes.

Hundreds of years later, the Lord spoke though the prophet Isaiah to rebuke this rebellion at Babel. In Isaiah 47, God declared that what happen at Babylon was the beginning place of all false religions. What happened in Genesis 11 was declared to be the youthful days of sorcery (verses 9and12), enchantments [magic] (verse 9), and the arrangement of the zodiac to predict the future (verse 13). A study of Genesis 11:1-6, Isaiah 47andRevelation 17-18 will demonstrate that they are all referring to the religion that began in Genesis 11 and will be destroyed by God in Revelation 18. That is why the harlot of this religion is designated as “the mother of harlots” (Revelation 17:5). The origin of all false religions, including the crescent moon god, began at Babylon and will end in the same location. Notice that Isaiah 47:9 declares that the desolation that will come upon Babylon will come “in a moment in one day.”This desolation, as described in Jeremiah 50-51, did not take place at the fall of Babylon in Old Testament times. That is why Revelation 14:8 and 18:2 says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.”There are two incidents of destruction of this geographical area. One in the Old Testament and the final one at the end of the Tribulation. John wrote that in the final destruction of Babylon it will be “utterly burned with fire” (Revelation 18:8), “in one hour” (Revelation 18:10, 17, 19). Unlike the fall of Babylon in the Old Testament, the final fall of Babylon will“be thrown down, and shall be found no more”(Revelation 18:21). Compare this to Jeremiah 51:62-64. A detailed study of Isaiah 13, 47, and Jeremiah 50-51 will show that the final destruction of Babylon will occur in the last days. The quotes and allusions by the Apostle John in Revelation 17-18 to these four chapters in Isaiah and Jeremiah are speaking about the destruction of the same Babylon.

Archaeological evidence of the ancient worship of the crescent moon god is found throughout the Middle East. The center of this worship was in Babylon. The two major centers were in Ur and Haran. According to Genesis 11:31- 12:4, these were the two cities connected to Abraham and his father, Terah. It seems that the Bible and archaeology confirm that the religion that Abraham was called out of was the worship of the crescent moon god. This worship of the crescent moon god was the dominate religion in the Middle East and plagued Israel throughout the Old Testament period.

I believe that in Psalm 83 the psalmist prophetically spoke about the final battle against Israel, the battle of Armageddon. In this psalm he wrote about the nations from the east that will gather against Israel. He names them in verses 6-8. Then he asked God to defeat these enemies as He did Sisera, and the princes and kings mentioned in verse 11. These battles all took place in the Valley of Jezreel, the Valley of Armageddon. In verse 11 the psalmist refers to a battle that took place in the time of Gideon in Judges 6-8, 3,200 years ago.

I have noted the amazing parallels to these chapters with the future battle of Armageddon. Israel’s battle was with the Midianites (Saudi Arabia). Judges 6:1 says the Midianites ruled over Israel for seven years. In the days of Gideon, the Midianites gathered a massive coalition of nations from the east (Judges 7:12) against Israel in the Valley of Jezreel [Armageddon] (Judges 6:33). God supernaturally defeated the coalition of nations that outnumbered Israel. When Gideon killed the two kings of the Midianites, the Bible says that he “took away the ornaments that were on their camel’s necks” (Judges 8:21). The Hebrew word for ornaments is “saharon,” which means these emblems were in shape of a crescent moon. Then Gideon called for his warriors to surrender all the gold earrings they had taken off the dead bodies of the men of Midian. Judges 8:24 says that these men were Ishmaelites. [Islam claims that they are descendants of Ishmael.] Perhaps these earrings were also the shape of the crescent moon. Judges 8:26 says that the weight of these golden crescent ornaments and earrings weighed 1,700 shekels, which is about 43 pounds. This demonstrates that the religion of the crescent moon god was prominent in Saudi Arabia 3,200 years ago. This was 1,800 years before Islam was founded.

The big picture that we must not overlook is that Israel has been plagued by enemies from the east before it entered the Promised Land. One of the predominate religions of these men of the east was the crescent moon god, especially in Saudi Arabia. History demonstrates that the worship of this crescent moon god eventually produced the religion of Islam in Saudi Arabia 600 years after the time of Christ and the writing of the Book of Revelation. There is no doubt in my mind that the harlot [false religion] of Revelation 17-18 is Islam.

Notice several other clues in Revelation 17, 18. This religion “sits upon many waters” (Revelation 17:1, compare with Jeremiah 51:13). This is symbolic of the religion that rules over many nations (see Revelation 17:15). This religion is “in the wilderness”(Revelation 17:3). The Greek word wilderness is the same as desert. So, this religion is in the deserts east of Israel. This religion has great influence over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:2; 18:3), the merchants of the earth (Revelation 18:3, 15), and the commercial transporters of the seas (Revelation 18:17). This religion has resources that have made the kings, merchants, and transporters rich (Revelation 18:15). So, when this area is destroyed, they will weep over the loss of their wealth. The inhabitants of the earth, including the kings of the earth have been intoxicated and mesmerized by this religion that produces vast wealth for them (Revelation 17:2; 18:3, 9).

Islam is the only religion that fulfills all these clues in Revelation 17-18. It is a religion in the desert that has a resource [oil] that makes kings, merchants, and transporters of the sea wealthy. Notice that when God destroys this area, “the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch … burning pitch” (Isaiah 34:9). Islam has mesmerized the leadership of the world. Leaders in the west and in the east bow down to Muslim leaders in the Persian Gulf. The 57 Islamic nations wield massive control over the United Nations. Islam is the only religion that is protected from any derogatory statements by citizens of all countries.

Muslims claim that Allah is the God of the Bible. They believe that in the days of Muhammed, the church had corrupted religion with the worship of Jesus. They firmly rejected the truth that God is a triune God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe that Islam is the revival of the true religion that traces its roots back to the apostles and prophets. However, there is overwhelming evidence that Islam is the revival of an ancient pagan religion of the moon god cult. The holy books of this religion are in direct contrast to the message of the Bible!

It is a fact that the Roman Catholic church, like Islam, incorporated pagan ideas to attract new converts. Many Christians today believe that the harlot of Revelation 17-18 is a religion that will appear after the Rapture of the church. They believe that this false apostate church, will be headed by the Roman Catholic Church. They see this as the one-world religion that will support the rise of the Antichrist during the Tribulation Period. However, this does not agree with all the context of Scripture.

According to the Apostle John, before he wrote the Book of Revelation, he spoke about the spirit of Antichrist in the book of 1 John. In 1 John 2:22, he wrote that at the heart of the spirit of the Antichrist is the denial of the deity of Jesus Christ and the vehement rejection of the Trinity. While the Catholic Church is guilty of incorporating many pagan ideas in its doctrine and practice, Catholics do pay lip service to the doctrine of the deity of Christ and that He is a part of the divine trinity. Therefore, the Catholic Church does not meet the Biblical criteria of the false religion of the Antichrist.

Contrary to the Catholic Church, Islam openly rejects the deity of Jesus Christ and the Trinity. Muslims are adamant that their god has no son. History demonstrates that in many Islamic wars during and since the time of Muhammed, Muslims have broken crosses, burned churches, and killed those who were followers of Jesus Christ. The Bible and history demonstrate that Islam has been at war with Christians and Jews since its beginning 1,400 years ago. In Revelation 17:6, John wrote that the false religion of the last days will be drunk “with the blood of the saints, and with the martyrs of Jesus.” Furthermore, in Revelation 20:4, the martyrs of Jesus will be “beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God.” This open war against Christians will be the trademark of the Antichrist’s global war at the beginning of the Tribulation Period. Daniel 7:21 says the Antichrist will “[make] war with the saints, and [prevail] against them.”

When the Tribulation Period begins in Revelation 6, the Antichrist will be the rider on the white horse that will declare war on the world, taking peace from the earth. The Antichrist is given “a great sword” and his warriors will cause people to kill one another (Revelation 6:4). [See image above of Saudi Arabia’s flag.] I am convinced that this sword is the “sword of Allah.” Historical records demonstrate that more people have been killed by Islamic jihad than by any other group, including the Communist nations. At the heart of the goal of Islam since the death of Muhammed has been their desire to control the nations and establish a global Islamic kingdom.

At the heart of the agenda of the Antichrist will be the removal of all Christians and Jews from the earth. Revelation 6:9-11 and 7:9-17 focus upon those who will come “out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). The forces of the Antichrist will especially target the Jewish people who place their faith in Jesus during the first half of the Tribulation Period. This is symbolically depicted in Revelation 12. Satan will move in the mind of the Antichrist to target Jewish believers in Jesus. Revelation 12:17 says that Satan will “make war with the remnant of [Israel’s] seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

The Bible indicates that the Antichrist will deceive many people with the talk of peace with Israel (Daniel 8:23-25) and will desire to “divide the land [of Israel] for gain”(Daniel 11:39). He will especially desire to control the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (Psalm 83:12; Daniel 11:45; Matthew 24:15; and 2 Thessalonians 2:4). The only people on the planet who are passionately locked into a struggle over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem are the Jews and Muslims! Anyone who has followed the war between the Arab Muslims and Israel knows that this war is passionately driven by Islamic doctrine. The struggle for Israel is a conflict that pits the god of Islam against the God of Israel. This is what drives Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian groups, and all the other Arab Muslims.

Friends, everything is in place. A king in Saudi Arabia is talking about making peace with Israel. President Donald Trump wants to make this happen soon. I believe we are watching the final pieces of the puzzle that will fall into place very soon. According to Daniel 9:27, the signing of a false peace covenant between the Antichrist and Israel will usher the world into the Tribulation Period.

“Get ready for the shout that will take us out!”

China’s Threat to the U.S.

Recently, I read a troubling report in Gatestone Institute. I have found that this online publication is a very conservative and reliable source. Because of many troubling events like this, we need to pray for our president and leaders as they deal with very serious threats.

“China is not done killing with disease. Researchers at the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology are now studying Ebola, undoubtedly to weaponize it. Try as Americans might, they will never have amicable relations with China as long as it is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. There can be only one survivor, either the People’s Republic of China or the United States of America.

“President Trump, according to reports, wants to go to Beijing in his first hundred days and reach a bargain with China. Unfortunately, an enduring accommodation with the Chinese regime is not possible.

“Why not?

“For one thing, the Communist Party of China (CCP) appears determined to kill every person in the United States. A quarter-century ago, General Chi Haotian, China’s defense minister and vice chairman of the CCP’s Central Military Commission, reportedly gave a secret speech advocating the extermination of Americans.

“It is indeed brutal to kill one or two hundred million Americans,” he said. “But that is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the Communist Party leads the world.”

Chi’s plan was to use disease to clear out the vast spaces of North America so that the Chinese people could settle in the areas left uninhabited” (Gordon Chang, The Gatestone Institute, February 12, 2025).