August 17, 2025 • 32 mins
Chris White, with Bible Prophecy Talk Podcast, continues his 11-part series on “The Islamic Antichrist Theory” as he discusses, from the biblical text, why he believes this theory is inaccurate. Today, in Part 5, Chris discusses the beast of Revelation with 7 heads and 7 horns. this is the beast that forces people on earth to worship the Antichrist. Beginning in Revelation 17, Chris first presents the more traditional views of the Beast, then follows with the view of the Islamic Antichrist theory as propounded by noted author Joel Richardson. Using a contextual and exegetical approach to scripture, Chris explains why he thinks this view is fatally flawed.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, everybody, It's me Cinderoa Acts. I'm just listening to
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Speaker 2 (02:10):
In the Book of Revelation, we are told of a
monstrous beast with seven heads and ten horns. In the
Last Days. One of the heads of this beast is
said to persecute the saints, force everyone to worship him
and his image, and force people to receive some kind
of mark on their forehead or right hand to show
their allegiance to him. This seven headed beast is almost
(02:31):
universally believed by premillennial scholars to be the Antichrist, the
Antichrist's Kingdom, or both, though I will have much to
say about the interpretation of this beast by those who
subscribe to the Islamic Antichrist theory. I will start with
a particular passage in Revelation seventeen. This passage is primarily
used by proponents of that viewpoint as evidence that the
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seventh head of this beast refers to the Islamic Empire.
In Revelation seventeen, John has a vision of a strange
woman sitting on top of the same seven headed beast
that was first introduced five chapters earlier in Revelation thirteen.
This woman, who we are told represents a city Revelation
seventeen eighteen, is writing on top of the Antichrist, seemingly
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endorsing and promoting the beast and his doctrine. Around verse
seven of this chapter, an angel begins to explain to
John the meaning of this particular vision, and in verses
nine through eleven, the angel tells John the meaning of
the beast's seven heads. It is this section about the
heads of the beast that is so important to the
Islamic Antichrist theory. Revelation nineteen, verses nine through eleven says
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this requires a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also
seven kings. Five have fallen, one is and the other
has not yet come, But whenever he does come, he
must remain for only a brief time. The beast that
was and is not is himself an eighth king, and
(04:05):
yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruction.
Before I begin discussing the Islamic Antichrist theorists interpretation of
this passage, it would be helpful to describe some of
the more traditional interpretations. The early Reformers, who tended to
view the Antichrist and his kingdom as the Roman Catholic Church,
taught that the seven mountains were a reference to the
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seven hills in Rome. On the surface, this sounds plausible,
but an examination of the original Greek in this passage
will reveal that the seven mountains are also seven kings.
They are not just mountains. One of those kings seems
to come back to life, demand worship, and speak blasphemies.
All of this makes it very unlikely that this is
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a reference to a few hills in Rome. A hill
in Rome simply cannot speak, demand worship, or come back
to life in any sense. In addition, there is a
clear reference to fire. Five of these mountain slash kings
having fallen away in John's day, it also says that
one is and one is yet to come. This then
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simply cannot refer to physical hills in Rome, based on
the fact that it cannot be said that five of
the hills in Rome had fallen away in John's day
and only one hill remained, while yet another would show
up later. This view that the seven heads of the
Beast are seven hills in Rome, which was widely believed
and taught in the past few centuries, is no longer
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considered a viable interpretation by the majority of premillennial scholars
because of the underlying Greek and the logical inconsistencies. Most
of the other interpretations of this passage tend to see
the seven heads slash mountains slash kings as being aspects
of the Antichrist and or his kingdom over the centuries.
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For example, they would see the five fallen kings as
historical kings or kingdoms that Satan influenced to do his
bidding in the past. A typical list of the five
fallen kings or kingdoms might look something like this number
one Egypt with Pharaoh number two, Assyria, Senacareb number three, Babylon,
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Nebeconezer number four, Meto, Persia Ahasiras number five Greece antiochis Epiphanes.
When the Angel says one is, it is usually taken
to mean that one of these kings or kingdoms existed
at the time John was writing, So the sixth kingdom
would be Rome, with Nero or Domician being the king
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in view, depending on when the book was written. The
seventh king is the one we are told is not
yet come. This is the one that is typically seen
as the future Antichrist, the one that the Bible has
so much to say about. Of this final head slash
mountain slash king, it says, the beast that was and
is not is himself an eighth king, and yet is
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one of the seventh. I know this is a bit confusing,
but it seems that the idea here is that the
seventh king experiences a kind of death and resurrection which
is described in other places in the book. In effect,
this seventh king rules twice, making it eight kings that
rule in one sense. But since the seventh king is
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the same as the eighth, the angel emphasizes that there
really are only seven in total. Although there are a
huge variety of interpretations of revelations seventeen nine through eleven.
Many follow the basic premise I have outlined. Five kings
or kingdoms have fallen in the past, one was at
the time John wrote, and the seventh and final head
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would experience some kind of resurrection. Some interpreters may see
different kings or kingdoms than the ones I have listed,
or they may see the heads of the beast as
only a reference to kingdoms or nations and not at
all to people or kings, but they do tend to
agree with the basic premiss I have described. With that
background in mind, we can they now fully understand the
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arguments that Islamic Antichrist proponents like Joel Richardson make with
regard to Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. They follow the
basic pattern as above, five past fallen heads, one in
John's day, and one yet to come, who will rule
twice after some kind of resurrection. Richardson begins by making
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a case that the heads slash mountain slash kings should
only be viewed as kingdoms and not as actual kings,
a point I will discuss at length later. After making
his case that only kingdoms and not kings are in view,
he presents the following list of the seven heads of
Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. Number one, Egypt, number two, Assyria,
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number three, Babylon number four, Meto, Persia number five, Greece
number six, Rome, number seven, the Islamic Empire, and number
eight the revived Islamic Empire. The first six kingdoms are
in line with what many scholars believe. However, the final head,
which as we have discussed, is the seventh as well
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as the eighth, he insists is the Islamic Caliphate. His
main argument for this is the Islamic Empire was the
next major empire to follow the Roman Empire, so it
should be listed as the seventh. He then applies the
traditional view of the dying and resurrecting seventh head to
envision a revival of the Islamic Empire in the last
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days as the embodiment of the eighth head. At first glance,
this is not a bad argument. The strength of this
interpretation is the Islamic Empire is chronologically the next great
empire to appear after Rome's demise. It also seems to
correctly understand that the seventh head the one that resurrects
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and becomes the eighth head is not necessarily the same
as the sixth head, which is clearly Rome. As Richardson
notes in his book, many scholars try to make this
passage a reference to the revived Roman Empire, but that
would require putting Rome as the sixth, seventh, and eighth
heads in this list, essentially reviving Rome twice in addition
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to the historical Rome. That interpretation seems forced because it
conflicts with the description of the timing of the resurrection
in verses nine through eleven, as well as the order
of the heads. That being said, I will try to
show you why. Although I think it is a better
interpretation than some, I believe the Islamic Antichrist view of
the seven Heads of Revelation seventeen is fatally flawed. Richardson
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believes he has identified the seventh slash eighth kingdom as
the Islamic Caliphate based solely on the idea that the
Islamic Empire directly followed the Roman Empire chronologically. While it
is true that the Islamic Empire followed the Roman Empire chronologically,
there is nothing whatsoever in the text of Revelation seventeen
that says that the seventh head is supposed to follow
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directly after the sixth Kingdom, the Roman Empire, or that
no other empires will precede the Seventh Head's coming. All
it says with regard to the Seventh Head's chronology are
the words the other has not yet come, but whenever
he does come. This phrase is certainly not telling us
to simply look for the next empire to come on
the scene after Rome and declare it to be the
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final head. It is basically saying that it will come
at some point in the future. The strength of Richardson's
view here is the other empires on the list Egypt, Assyria,
et cetera, did appear more or less chronologically, and so
if there is supposed to be a kind of chronological pattern,
then the Islamic Empire would be the logical choice for
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the seventh Head. The problem with this is there seems
to have been a kind of prophetic pause button pressed
after seventy a d. When the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple.
This period of dispensation and waiting has lasted over two
thousand years so far, and there is little reason to
try to figure in all the empires that have come
and gone. Dear during that time into the prophetic equation.
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For example, very few people are attempting to factor in
the British Empire into this system of ruling empires. Scripture
seems to disregard world politics from the time of the
destruction of the Temple in seventy eight until the future
Antichrist appears on the scene. This is the basic dispensationalist
understanding of the so called seventieth Week of Daniel, in
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which there is a kind of prophetic gap ending with
the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and beginning
again when the Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel Daniel
nine twenty seven. This is why when the Angel says
the Other has not yet come, but whenever he does come,
it is quite natural to assume that the advent of
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the Seventh Head, which we know of as the Antichrist,
will make its first appearance with the start of the
seventieth Week of Daniel, which is a future event. There
is no reason to go hunting for empires that existed
in the last two thousand years during this prophetic no
man's land for fulfillment of this seventh kingdom. So the
best argument that Richardson and other Islamic Antichrist proponents make
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here that the Islamic Empire came after the Roman Empire
chronologically and should thus be considered the Seventh Kingdom. Is
nullified by the fact that scripture in no way tells
us that the Seventh Kingdom is supposed to be the
next empire that shows up after Rome. It is far
more likely, perhaps even obvious, that the first appearance of
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the Seventh Kingdom of the Antichrist coincides with the beginning
of the seventieth Week of Daniel, and therefore we can
easily disregard empires like the Islamic Empire, which appears almost
six hundred years after seventy a d as well as
empires like the British Empire which came after it. These
empires are just not significant to prophecy and are totally
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overlooked in terms of Daniel's seventy week prophetic timetable. The
second problem with this interpretation is that one of the
only descriptive Das details the Angel gives us about the
Seventh Head, besides the fact that it will seem to resurrect,
is it only remains a brief time. Five have fallen
one is, and the other has not yet come, but
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whenever he does come, he must remain for only a
brief time. In another place in his book, Joel Richardson
tells us the Islamic Empire lasted from six thirty two
AD to nineteen twenty three, almost thirteen hundred years. To
put that in perspective, the Islamic Empire lasted longer than
the Babylonian, Assyrian, Meado, Persian and Grecian empires combined. Why
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would the Angel describe the Islamic Empire as only lasting
a brief time when it's one of the longest lasting
empires in the history of the world. I can imagine
that Richardson and others would say they believe this brief
time description is only referring to the Second Manifestation or
the revived version of the Islamic Empire in the last days.
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But all it takes is a simple reading of verse
eleven to see that both the context and grammar of
the passage demand that the Angel is referring to the
seventh Head, or possibly even to the combined seventh and
eighth reigns, as being short. But it does not seem
possible to see this as skipping the seventh head altogether
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and only referring to the second manifestation of the final
or eighth king. There is an unbroken chronology being laid
out in verse eleven that requires us to apply the
brief time description to the seventh head, and therefore cannot
logically be a reference to the incredibly long lasting Islamic Empire.
I will read this passage again so you can see
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what I'm saying. Five have fallen, one the sixth is
and the other the seventh has not yet come. But
whenever he the seventh does come, he the seventh must
remain for only a brief time. Some might argue that
the Bible speaks of things from a larger perspective, and
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so it's okay for it to describe the Islamic Empire
as only lasting a short time, since in the grand
scheme of world history, thirteen hundred years is not that
long of a time. I suppose I would agree with
this if it weren't for the fact that this kingdom
is found in a list of six other kingdoms that
were not described as being short. The angel only singles
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out the seventh as being short. It stands to reason
that the one kingdom in this list that was described
as being short should at least be one of the
shorter ones on the list, if not the shortest. But
as I've already mentioned, the Islamic Empire lasted longer than
the combined length of four kingdoms on the list, and
is easily one of the longest lasting empires in the world.
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There is a very good reason for the angel saying
the seventh kingdom only remains a short time, and it
actually includes the eighth manifestation of the Seventh Head in
the calculation. In other words, the combined seventh and eighth
reigns of the Antichrist are collectively considered to be brief.
But to understand this you need to be willing to
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see the kings in Revelation seventeen as kings and not
just kingdoms. This shouldn't be too hard, since kings is
exactly what the Angel says they are, but more on
that later. The description of the Seventh Head lasting only
a short time and the fact that the Islamic Empire
was unusually long lasting and there is no good reason
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given in the text to necessitate the seventh Head directly
following Rome, combined to form good reasons to doubt Richardson's
interpretation of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. But there is
another reason that I think is even better. As I
mentioned earlier, Richardson holds the position that the seven heads
slash mountains should only be seen as nations or kingdoms
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and not as people or kings. As far as I
can tell from his books and blogs, he does not
allow for this possibility, which I suppose is good for
him because if he did, it would throw a major
monkey wrench into his understanding of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven.
It would mean that there is absolutely no reason to
see the seventh King as having anything to do with Islam.
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Explaining why this is so will take some time, and
it may seem like I'm getting off topic during the
rest of this chapter, but the following discussion will prove
to be significant to the point that the seventh Head
cannot possibly be the Islamic Empire. Richardson makes the point
that since mountains can mean empires or kingdoms in other
places in scripture, the heads are referring to nations and
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not kings. However, his interpretation is very strained due to
the Angel further describing these mountains as kings and not kingdoms.
The verse says this requires a mind that has wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on.
They are also seven kings. In addition, of the seventeen
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Bible translations I checked, every single one of them gives
the pronoun he or himself to the actions of the
seventh king, suggesting it is a person and not just
a kingdom. Again, the verse says, five have fallen, one
is and the other has not yet come. But whenever
he does come, he must remain for only a brief time.
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The beast that was and is not is himself an
eighth king, and yet is one of the seven and
is going to destruction. I should point out here that
many other interpreters and scholars also understand the seven heads
slash mountains as kingdoms. Two. It is true that the
Bible often uses the term interchangeably, in part because the
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actions of a king and his kingdom are usually one
and the same thing when dealing with matters of state.
But these other scholars, when interpreting Revelations seventeen nine through eleven,
all also allow that the head slash mountain slash kings
are referring to human kings in addition to kingdoms. Take
for example, this quote from John Walverd in his commentary
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on Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. Quote, the reference here
is to kings, to mountains of temporal dominion, to empires.
It must therefore take in all of them. The reason
they can be sure that we must also see the
seventh head of the beast as a physical human king
as well as a kingdom is not just because the
grammar and context of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven seems
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to demand it, but because we see the exact same
seven headed, ten horned beast in Revelation thirteen. In that chapter,
it is very clear that the head of the beast
in question is speaking of the person, not just the
kingdom of the Antichrist. In case there is any doubt
that we're dealing with the same beast in Revelation seventeen
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as the one in Revelation thirteen, take a look at
just a few of the character teristics that they both share.
They both had seven heads, ten horns, They both had
names of blasphemy on their heads. They both were referred
to as having been killed yet living. They both have
earth dwellers wonder at them when they see their apparent resurrection.
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They both are worshiped by people whose names were not
written in the Book of Life. Now consider that in
Revelation thirteen, the head of the beast with the mortal
head wound is the same one who has an image
of himself set up as people except a mark that
is the number of his name, persecutes the saints and more.
We cannot say that the head in question is simply
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a kingdom unless we are also willing to say that
there really won't be a man who does any of
the things that we typically understand the Antichrist will do,
since without the details in Revelation thirteen, we would know
very little about the actions of the Antichrist. Joel Richardson
himself would have very little to talk about in his
books if he did not also believe the head of
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the beast in Revelation thirteen was a man, not just
a kingdom. As I said, many other scholars and writers
believe the seven heads are kingdoms, but they are also
forced to agree that they must also be a reference
to human kings. I say they are forced because many
writers and scholars, though they see the necessity of such
an admission, do not like the theological implications that arise
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if they accept that the seventh head of the Beast
in Revelation seventeen is referring to an actual person, i e.
The Antichrist. They tend to downplay the human king aspect
of the heads and focus only on the mountains or
kingdom's aspect, because focusing on the human king aspect of
the final head would mean that the person of the
Antichrist is said to physically die and resurrect Revelation thirteen, three, thirteen, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen,
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and seventeen eleven. They rightly see this as a conflict
with the idea that only God can raise the dead,
so instead, many of them act as if the heads
of the Beast are only about the kingdoms, because it
is theologically more palatable to say a nation will die
in resurrect, even though most of them, if pressed, would
admit that this must also have something to do with
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the Antichrist himself resurrecting. The typical idea they propose is
that the Antichrist doesn't actually die, but only seems to,
and his resurrection is therefore a fake or counterfeit. An
interesting way to demonstrate this problem is by citing an
article put together by Nathan Jones of lamb Lion dot
u S. Jones asked eleven Bible prophecy experts the question
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will the Antichrist be killed and resurrected from the dead.
Of the eleven pold, only two, Arnold Fruchtenbaum and Mark Hitchcock,
said yes without reservation, one was undecided, and the other
eight said no. This would seem to suggest that the
majority of experts, at least the ones polled, do not
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believe the heads of the Beast are kings, but only kingdoms. However,
on closer inspection of the statements of the eight who
answered no, it emerges that they do, in fact believe
the Antichrist himself will fulfill this prophecy of resurrection in
some sense, but that he will only seem to die
or his resurrection will be fake. When you look at
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it this way, there are really only two people in
this poll who believe that the seven heads of the
Beast have nothing to do with the person of the Antichrist,
but only his kingdom, and one of those two has
clearly been influenced by Joe Richardson. Typically, Bible teachers are
deliberately wishy washy on this subject. They usually state their
belief about the heads being kingdoms, with a caveat that
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if it is talking about the Antichrist, then they believe
it has to be a fake resurrection. Take for example,
this quote from David Reagan quote, I side with those
who believe the Antichrist will not be killed and resurrected
from the dead. I think the passage is speaking of
the Roman Empire rising from the dead and not the Antichrist.
But if it is speaking of the Antichrist, I do
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not believe he will be resurrected from the dead. Instead,
I believe his death and resurrection will be a deception
using modern technology. Others like John Walverard confidently state when
commenting on Revelation thirteen three that the deadly wound that
was healed on the beast's head is simply a reference
to the revived Roman Empire and not to the Antichrist himself.
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Yet he continues his commentary referring to the same wounded
and healed head as the person of the Antichrist, seemingly
oblivious of the contradiction that is inherent in his teaching.
As far as I know, he never attempts to explain
why the same head is a nation in every verse
that talks about it having a deadly wound, and a
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person in every other verse. I believe there is a
simple solution to this problem. An Appendix two of this book,
I include a detailed explanation of this issue, but I
will also include a summary of it here, and I
will recommend a paper by Gregory Harris, professor of Bible
Exposition at the Master's Seminary, called Can Satan Raise the Dead?
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Toward a Biblical view of the Beast's wound. In essence,
the idea that whether the Antichrist really dies or only
gets a severe wound that would have caused death if
he had not been miraculously healed is open to some debate.
But when you consider all five verses in Revelation that
speak of this wound and its healing, it seems he
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really does die and really is brought back to life. This, however,
poses no theological problem, because based on Second Thessalonians two
nine through twelve, it is God, not Satan who sends
the strong delusion that eventually causes the world to worship
the beast. Second, Thessalonians two nine through twelve says, the
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coming of the lawless one is according to the working
of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and
with all unrighteous disas perception among those who perish because
they did not receive the love of the Truth, that
they might be saved. And for this reason God will
send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
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that they all might be condemned who did not believe
the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. When you cross
reference this idea with the verses that speak of the
beast's woond being healed in Revelation, you will find the
reason the world ultimately gives their allegiance to the beast
and thus damn themselves for eternity, is because of the
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beast's wound being healed. I e. The strong delusion Revelation
thirteen two through four, Revelation seventeen eight. The healing of
the beast's wound seems to be the pivotal moment when
the world begins to follow the beast and worship him.
And that is why I believe Paul and second Thessalonians
speaks of the strong delusion that God himself sends the
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same way. Now we have full circle, and as promised,
I will attempt to quickly explain how this fits into
Revelation seventeen nine through eleven, and why it is a
strong argument against the Islamic antichrist theorist's understanding of this passage.
I will quote it again here so you won't have
to flip back to the previous page to get the context.
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This requires a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also
seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other
has not yet come. But whenever he does come, he
must remain for only a brief time. The beast that
was and is not is himself an eighth king, and
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yet is one of the seven and is going to destruction.
When verse nine says the beast that was and is not,
it is actually a reference to verse eight before it.
Revelation seventeen, verse eight says the beast you saw was
and is not, but is about to come up from
the abyss and then go to destruction. The inhabitants of
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the earth, all those whose names have not been written
in the Book of Life since the foundation of the world,
will be astounded when they see that the beast was
and is not but is to come. The phrases in
this verse the beast you saw was and is not,
but is about to come up from the Abyss and
then go to destruction. And the beast was and is
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not are another way to say that this beast lives, dies,
seems to rise again, and will ultimately go to destruction
or perdition. It's sort of a chronology of the Antichrist's
entire career on Earth. This aspect of the Antichrist functions
as a title on several occasions in the Book of Revelation,
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such as Revelation thirteen, twelve, and fourteen, but by Revelation seventeen,
this idea of him living, dying, coming back to life,
and going to destruction is a very firm title of
the Antichrist. Even the idea of his quote coming up
from the Abyss is a reference to his resurrection, which
(30:03):
can be demonstrated by showing how Jesus' resurrection is described
as coming up from the Abyss as well Romans ten
six through seven see Appendix two. For more on this.
By the time we get to verse eleven, which says
the Beast that was and is not is himself an
eighth king, and is yet one of the seven, and
is going to destruction, we can see that when it
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says the beast that was and is not, it is
an established title of the Antichrist that refers to his
apparent death and resurrection. First. This shows us that the
reason for describing the Antichrist as the seventh and eighth
King is because he essentially has two aspects of his reign,
one before he dies and one after he is resurrected.
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One aspect probably begins when he makes a covenant at
the start of the last seven years of the seventieth
Week of Daniel, and the other aspect of his reign
i e. The eighth king aspect occurs at the midpoint.
One can assume that the boundaries and nature of his
kingdom after the midpoint will be substantially different as well.
This also means we can make sense of the grammar
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and context of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven, when it
seems to suggest that the combined seventh and eighth rule
of the Antichrist is short or brief, because at only
seven years total, three and a half for each, it
is by far one of the shortest empires of all time,
certainly the shortest of the other six kings or kingdoms
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on the list. The third thing this means for us
is there is absolutely no reason to see the seventh
king slash kingdom as being a previously existing kingdom, because
both the seventh and eighth aspects of the final Head,
who we are told are actually the same person, have
not come on the scene yet, so the idea that
(31:49):
this is the Islamic Empire or any other ancient empire
is unnecessary. I have given several reasons in this chapter
as to why the seventh Head of the Beast in
revelation in seventeen nine through eleven is not the Islamic Empire.
Number One, the text is not telling us to simply
look for the next empire after Rome. Number two. The
(32:11):
Islamic Empire is one of the longest lasting empires in history,
and therefore would not be described by the angel as
lasting only a short time. Number three. Identifying the seventh
head as the one yet to come is not just
more grammatically and contextually accurate, it is also what one
would expect based on the usual understanding of the seventieth
(32:33):
Week of Daniel and number four. By limiting the mountains
heads kings of Revelation seventeen to only kingdoms, despite scripture
clearly telling us that kings are in view, Richardson contradicts
himself and makes it impossible to see that the seventh
and eighth Kings are speaking of the Antichrist himself. This
(32:54):
means there is no reason to understand the seventh King
as the Islamic Empire
Hi, everybody, It's me Cinderoa Acts. I'm just listening to
the Fringe Radio Network while I clean these chimneys with
my cass livers. Anyway, so Chad White, the fringe cowboy,
I mean, he's like he took a leave of absence
or whatever, and so the guys asked me to do
(00:27):
the network. I D So you're listening to the Fringe
Radio Network. I know, I was gonna say it, Fringe
Radio Network dot com? What oh chat? Oh yeah? Do
you have the app? It's the best way to listen
to the Fringe Radio Network. I mean it's so great.
(00:49):
I mean it's clean and simple, and you have all
the shows, all the episodes, and you have the live chat,
and it's it's safe and it won't hurt your phone
and it sounds beautiful and it won't track you or
trace you and you don't have to log in to
use it. How do you get it fringeradionetwork dot com
(01:13):
right at the top of the page. So anyway, so
we're just gonna go back to cleaning these chimneys and
listening to the Fringe Radio Network. And so I guess
you know, I mean, I guess we're listening together, So
I mean, I know, I mean well, I mean, I
guess you might be listening to a different episode or whatever,
(01:33):
or or maybe maybe you're listening maybe you're listening to it,
like at a different time than we are. But I mean, well,
I mean, if you accidentally just downloaded this, no, I
guess you'd be Okay, I'm rambling. Okay, Okay, you're listening
to the Fringe Radio Network Fringe radionetwork dot com. There
(01:57):
are you happy? Okay, let's clean these chemneys.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
In the Book of Revelation, we are told of a
monstrous beast with seven heads and ten horns. In the
Last Days. One of the heads of this beast is
said to persecute the saints, force everyone to worship him
and his image, and force people to receive some kind
of mark on their forehead or right hand to show
their allegiance to him. This seven headed beast is almost
(02:31):
universally believed by premillennial scholars to be the Antichrist, the
Antichrist's Kingdom, or both, though I will have much to
say about the interpretation of this beast by those who
subscribe to the Islamic Antichrist theory. I will start with
a particular passage in Revelation seventeen. This passage is primarily
used by proponents of that viewpoint as evidence that the
(02:53):
seventh head of this beast refers to the Islamic Empire.
In Revelation seventeen, John has a vision of a strange
woman sitting on top of the same seven headed beast
that was first introduced five chapters earlier in Revelation thirteen.
This woman, who we are told represents a city Revelation
seventeen eighteen, is writing on top of the Antichrist, seemingly
(03:17):
endorsing and promoting the beast and his doctrine. Around verse
seven of this chapter, an angel begins to explain to
John the meaning of this particular vision, and in verses
nine through eleven, the angel tells John the meaning of
the beast's seven heads. It is this section about the
heads of the beast that is so important to the
Islamic Antichrist theory. Revelation nineteen, verses nine through eleven says
(03:43):
this requires a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also
seven kings. Five have fallen, one is and the other
has not yet come, But whenever he does come, he
must remain for only a brief time. The beast that
was and is not is himself an eighth king, and
(04:05):
yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruction.
Before I begin discussing the Islamic Antichrist theorists interpretation of
this passage, it would be helpful to describe some of
the more traditional interpretations. The early Reformers, who tended to
view the Antichrist and his kingdom as the Roman Catholic Church,
taught that the seven mountains were a reference to the
(04:27):
seven hills in Rome. On the surface, this sounds plausible,
but an examination of the original Greek in this passage
will reveal that the seven mountains are also seven kings.
They are not just mountains. One of those kings seems
to come back to life, demand worship, and speak blasphemies.
All of this makes it very unlikely that this is
(04:49):
a reference to a few hills in Rome. A hill
in Rome simply cannot speak, demand worship, or come back
to life in any sense. In addition, there is a
clear reference to fire. Five of these mountain slash kings
having fallen away in John's day, it also says that
one is and one is yet to come. This then
(05:10):
simply cannot refer to physical hills in Rome, based on
the fact that it cannot be said that five of
the hills in Rome had fallen away in John's day
and only one hill remained, while yet another would show
up later. This view that the seven heads of the
Beast are seven hills in Rome, which was widely believed
and taught in the past few centuries, is no longer
(05:32):
considered a viable interpretation by the majority of premillennial scholars
because of the underlying Greek and the logical inconsistencies. Most
of the other interpretations of this passage tend to see
the seven heads slash mountains slash kings as being aspects
of the Antichrist and or his kingdom over the centuries.
(05:52):
For example, they would see the five fallen kings as
historical kings or kingdoms that Satan influenced to do his
bidding in the past. A typical list of the five
fallen kings or kingdoms might look something like this number
one Egypt with Pharaoh number two, Assyria, Senacareb number three, Babylon,
(06:14):
Nebeconezer number four, Meto, Persia Ahasiras number five Greece antiochis Epiphanes.
When the Angel says one is, it is usually taken
to mean that one of these kings or kingdoms existed
at the time John was writing, So the sixth kingdom
would be Rome, with Nero or Domician being the king
(06:35):
in view, depending on when the book was written. The
seventh king is the one we are told is not
yet come. This is the one that is typically seen
as the future Antichrist, the one that the Bible has
so much to say about. Of this final head slash
mountain slash king, it says, the beast that was and
is not is himself an eighth king, and yet is
(06:59):
one of the seventh. I know this is a bit confusing,
but it seems that the idea here is that the
seventh king experiences a kind of death and resurrection which
is described in other places in the book. In effect,
this seventh king rules twice, making it eight kings that
rule in one sense. But since the seventh king is
(07:20):
the same as the eighth, the angel emphasizes that there
really are only seven in total. Although there are a
huge variety of interpretations of revelations seventeen nine through eleven.
Many follow the basic premise I have outlined. Five kings
or kingdoms have fallen in the past, one was at
the time John wrote, and the seventh and final head
(07:41):
would experience some kind of resurrection. Some interpreters may see
different kings or kingdoms than the ones I have listed,
or they may see the heads of the beast as
only a reference to kingdoms or nations and not at
all to people or kings, but they do tend to
agree with the basic premiss I have described. With that
background in mind, we can they now fully understand the
(08:01):
arguments that Islamic Antichrist proponents like Joel Richardson make with
regard to Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. They follow the
basic pattern as above, five past fallen heads, one in
John's day, and one yet to come, who will rule
twice after some kind of resurrection. Richardson begins by making
(08:23):
a case that the heads slash mountain slash kings should
only be viewed as kingdoms and not as actual kings,
a point I will discuss at length later. After making
his case that only kingdoms and not kings are in view,
he presents the following list of the seven heads of
Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. Number one, Egypt, number two, Assyria,
(08:46):
number three, Babylon number four, Meto, Persia number five, Greece
number six, Rome, number seven, the Islamic Empire, and number
eight the revived Islamic Empire. The first six kingdoms are
in line with what many scholars believe. However, the final head,
which as we have discussed, is the seventh as well
(09:08):
as the eighth, he insists is the Islamic Caliphate. His
main argument for this is the Islamic Empire was the
next major empire to follow the Roman Empire, so it
should be listed as the seventh. He then applies the
traditional view of the dying and resurrecting seventh head to
envision a revival of the Islamic Empire in the last
(09:29):
days as the embodiment of the eighth head. At first glance,
this is not a bad argument. The strength of this
interpretation is the Islamic Empire is chronologically the next great
empire to appear after Rome's demise. It also seems to
correctly understand that the seventh head the one that resurrects
(09:49):
and becomes the eighth head is not necessarily the same
as the sixth head, which is clearly Rome. As Richardson
notes in his book, many scholars try to make this
passage a reference to the revived Roman Empire, but that
would require putting Rome as the sixth, seventh, and eighth
heads in this list, essentially reviving Rome twice in addition
(10:11):
to the historical Rome. That interpretation seems forced because it
conflicts with the description of the timing of the resurrection
in verses nine through eleven, as well as the order
of the heads. That being said, I will try to
show you why. Although I think it is a better
interpretation than some, I believe the Islamic Antichrist view of
the seven Heads of Revelation seventeen is fatally flawed. Richardson
(10:35):
believes he has identified the seventh slash eighth kingdom as
the Islamic Caliphate based solely on the idea that the
Islamic Empire directly followed the Roman Empire chronologically. While it
is true that the Islamic Empire followed the Roman Empire chronologically,
there is nothing whatsoever in the text of Revelation seventeen
that says that the seventh head is supposed to follow
(10:57):
directly after the sixth Kingdom, the Roman Empire, or that
no other empires will precede the Seventh Head's coming. All
it says with regard to the Seventh Head's chronology are
the words the other has not yet come, but whenever
he does come. This phrase is certainly not telling us
to simply look for the next empire to come on
the scene after Rome and declare it to be the
(11:18):
final head. It is basically saying that it will come
at some point in the future. The strength of Richardson's
view here is the other empires on the list Egypt, Assyria,
et cetera, did appear more or less chronologically, and so
if there is supposed to be a kind of chronological pattern,
then the Islamic Empire would be the logical choice for
(11:39):
the seventh Head. The problem with this is there seems
to have been a kind of prophetic pause button pressed
after seventy a d. When the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple.
This period of dispensation and waiting has lasted over two
thousand years so far, and there is little reason to
try to figure in all the empires that have come
and gone. Dear during that time into the prophetic equation.
(12:02):
For example, very few people are attempting to factor in
the British Empire into this system of ruling empires. Scripture
seems to disregard world politics from the time of the
destruction of the Temple in seventy eight until the future
Antichrist appears on the scene. This is the basic dispensationalist
understanding of the so called seventieth Week of Daniel, in
(12:26):
which there is a kind of prophetic gap ending with
the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and beginning
again when the Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel Daniel
nine twenty seven. This is why when the Angel says
the Other has not yet come, but whenever he does come,
it is quite natural to assume that the advent of
(12:46):
the Seventh Head, which we know of as the Antichrist,
will make its first appearance with the start of the
seventieth Week of Daniel, which is a future event. There
is no reason to go hunting for empires that existed
in the last two thousand years during this prophetic no
man's land for fulfillment of this seventh kingdom. So the
best argument that Richardson and other Islamic Antichrist proponents make
(13:09):
here that the Islamic Empire came after the Roman Empire
chronologically and should thus be considered the Seventh Kingdom. Is
nullified by the fact that scripture in no way tells
us that the Seventh Kingdom is supposed to be the
next empire that shows up after Rome. It is far
more likely, perhaps even obvious, that the first appearance of
(13:29):
the Seventh Kingdom of the Antichrist coincides with the beginning
of the seventieth Week of Daniel, and therefore we can
easily disregard empires like the Islamic Empire, which appears almost
six hundred years after seventy a d as well as
empires like the British Empire which came after it. These
empires are just not significant to prophecy and are totally
(13:51):
overlooked in terms of Daniel's seventy week prophetic timetable. The
second problem with this interpretation is that one of the
only descriptive Das details the Angel gives us about the
Seventh Head, besides the fact that it will seem to resurrect,
is it only remains a brief time. Five have fallen
one is, and the other has not yet come, but
(14:13):
whenever he does come, he must remain for only a
brief time. In another place in his book, Joel Richardson
tells us the Islamic Empire lasted from six thirty two
AD to nineteen twenty three, almost thirteen hundred years. To
put that in perspective, the Islamic Empire lasted longer than
the Babylonian, Assyrian, Meado, Persian and Grecian empires combined. Why
(14:39):
would the Angel describe the Islamic Empire as only lasting
a brief time when it's one of the longest lasting
empires in the history of the world. I can imagine
that Richardson and others would say they believe this brief
time description is only referring to the Second Manifestation or
the revived version of the Islamic Empire in the last days.
(15:01):
But all it takes is a simple reading of verse
eleven to see that both the context and grammar of
the passage demand that the Angel is referring to the
seventh Head, or possibly even to the combined seventh and
eighth reigns, as being short. But it does not seem
possible to see this as skipping the seventh head altogether
(15:22):
and only referring to the second manifestation of the final
or eighth king. There is an unbroken chronology being laid
out in verse eleven that requires us to apply the
brief time description to the seventh head, and therefore cannot
logically be a reference to the incredibly long lasting Islamic Empire.
I will read this passage again so you can see
(15:43):
what I'm saying. Five have fallen, one the sixth is
and the other the seventh has not yet come. But
whenever he the seventh does come, he the seventh must
remain for only a brief time. Some might argue that
the Bible speaks of things from a larger perspective, and
(16:05):
so it's okay for it to describe the Islamic Empire
as only lasting a short time, since in the grand
scheme of world history, thirteen hundred years is not that
long of a time. I suppose I would agree with
this if it weren't for the fact that this kingdom
is found in a list of six other kingdoms that
were not described as being short. The angel only singles
(16:27):
out the seventh as being short. It stands to reason
that the one kingdom in this list that was described
as being short should at least be one of the
shorter ones on the list, if not the shortest. But
as I've already mentioned, the Islamic Empire lasted longer than
the combined length of four kingdoms on the list, and
is easily one of the longest lasting empires in the world.
(16:49):
There is a very good reason for the angel saying
the seventh kingdom only remains a short time, and it
actually includes the eighth manifestation of the Seventh Head in
the calculation. In other words, the combined seventh and eighth
reigns of the Antichrist are collectively considered to be brief.
But to understand this you need to be willing to
(17:11):
see the kings in Revelation seventeen as kings and not
just kingdoms. This shouldn't be too hard, since kings is
exactly what the Angel says they are, but more on
that later. The description of the Seventh Head lasting only
a short time and the fact that the Islamic Empire
was unusually long lasting and there is no good reason
(17:34):
given in the text to necessitate the seventh Head directly
following Rome, combined to form good reasons to doubt Richardson's
interpretation of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. But there is
another reason that I think is even better. As I
mentioned earlier, Richardson holds the position that the seven heads
slash mountains should only be seen as nations or kingdoms
(17:56):
and not as people or kings. As far as I
can tell from his books and blogs, he does not
allow for this possibility, which I suppose is good for
him because if he did, it would throw a major
monkey wrench into his understanding of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven.
It would mean that there is absolutely no reason to
see the seventh King as having anything to do with Islam.
(18:19):
Explaining why this is so will take some time, and
it may seem like I'm getting off topic during the
rest of this chapter, but the following discussion will prove
to be significant to the point that the seventh Head
cannot possibly be the Islamic Empire. Richardson makes the point
that since mountains can mean empires or kingdoms in other
places in scripture, the heads are referring to nations and
(18:43):
not kings. However, his interpretation is very strained due to
the Angel further describing these mountains as kings and not kingdoms.
The verse says this requires a mind that has wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on.
They are also seven kings. In addition, of the seventeen
(19:06):
Bible translations I checked, every single one of them gives
the pronoun he or himself to the actions of the
seventh king, suggesting it is a person and not just
a kingdom. Again, the verse says, five have fallen, one
is and the other has not yet come. But whenever
he does come, he must remain for only a brief time.
(19:28):
The beast that was and is not is himself an
eighth king, and yet is one of the seven and
is going to destruction. I should point out here that
many other interpreters and scholars also understand the seven heads
slash mountains as kingdoms. Two. It is true that the
Bible often uses the term interchangeably, in part because the
(19:49):
actions of a king and his kingdom are usually one
and the same thing when dealing with matters of state.
But these other scholars, when interpreting Revelations seventeen nine through eleven,
all also allow that the head slash mountain slash kings
are referring to human kings in addition to kingdoms. Take
for example, this quote from John Walverd in his commentary
(20:10):
on Revelation seventeen nine through eleven. Quote, the reference here
is to kings, to mountains of temporal dominion, to empires.
It must therefore take in all of them. The reason
they can be sure that we must also see the
seventh head of the beast as a physical human king
as well as a kingdom is not just because the
grammar and context of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven seems
(20:34):
to demand it, but because we see the exact same
seven headed, ten horned beast in Revelation thirteen. In that chapter,
it is very clear that the head of the beast
in question is speaking of the person, not just the
kingdom of the Antichrist. In case there is any doubt
that we're dealing with the same beast in Revelation seventeen
(20:56):
as the one in Revelation thirteen, take a look at
just a few of the character teristics that they both share.
They both had seven heads, ten horns, They both had
names of blasphemy on their heads. They both were referred
to as having been killed yet living. They both have
earth dwellers wonder at them when they see their apparent resurrection.
(21:17):
They both are worshiped by people whose names were not
written in the Book of Life. Now consider that in
Revelation thirteen, the head of the beast with the mortal
head wound is the same one who has an image
of himself set up as people except a mark that
is the number of his name, persecutes the saints and more.
We cannot say that the head in question is simply
(21:39):
a kingdom unless we are also willing to say that
there really won't be a man who does any of
the things that we typically understand the Antichrist will do,
since without the details in Revelation thirteen, we would know
very little about the actions of the Antichrist. Joel Richardson
himself would have very little to talk about in his
books if he did not also believe the head of
(22:00):
the beast in Revelation thirteen was a man, not just
a kingdom. As I said, many other scholars and writers
believe the seven heads are kingdoms, but they are also
forced to agree that they must also be a reference
to human kings. I say they are forced because many
writers and scholars, though they see the necessity of such
an admission, do not like the theological implications that arise
(22:24):
if they accept that the seventh head of the Beast
in Revelation seventeen is referring to an actual person, i e.
The Antichrist. They tend to downplay the human king aspect
of the heads and focus only on the mountains or
kingdom's aspect, because focusing on the human king aspect of
the final head would mean that the person of the
Antichrist is said to physically die and resurrect Revelation thirteen, three, thirteen, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen,
(22:53):
and seventeen eleven. They rightly see this as a conflict
with the idea that only God can raise the dead,
so instead, many of them act as if the heads
of the Beast are only about the kingdoms, because it
is theologically more palatable to say a nation will die
in resurrect, even though most of them, if pressed, would
admit that this must also have something to do with
(23:15):
the Antichrist himself resurrecting. The typical idea they propose is
that the Antichrist doesn't actually die, but only seems to,
and his resurrection is therefore a fake or counterfeit. An
interesting way to demonstrate this problem is by citing an
article put together by Nathan Jones of lamb Lion dot
u S. Jones asked eleven Bible prophecy experts the question
(23:39):
will the Antichrist be killed and resurrected from the dead.
Of the eleven pold, only two, Arnold Fruchtenbaum and Mark Hitchcock,
said yes without reservation, one was undecided, and the other
eight said no. This would seem to suggest that the
majority of experts, at least the ones polled, do not
(24:01):
believe the heads of the Beast are kings, but only kingdoms. However,
on closer inspection of the statements of the eight who
answered no, it emerges that they do, in fact believe
the Antichrist himself will fulfill this prophecy of resurrection in
some sense, but that he will only seem to die
or his resurrection will be fake. When you look at
(24:23):
it this way, there are really only two people in
this poll who believe that the seven heads of the
Beast have nothing to do with the person of the Antichrist,
but only his kingdom, and one of those two has
clearly been influenced by Joe Richardson. Typically, Bible teachers are
deliberately wishy washy on this subject. They usually state their
belief about the heads being kingdoms, with a caveat that
(24:46):
if it is talking about the Antichrist, then they believe
it has to be a fake resurrection. Take for example,
this quote from David Reagan quote, I side with those
who believe the Antichrist will not be killed and resurrected
from the dead. I think the passage is speaking of
the Roman Empire rising from the dead and not the Antichrist.
But if it is speaking of the Antichrist, I do
(25:06):
not believe he will be resurrected from the dead. Instead,
I believe his death and resurrection will be a deception
using modern technology. Others like John Walverard confidently state when
commenting on Revelation thirteen three that the deadly wound that
was healed on the beast's head is simply a reference
to the revived Roman Empire and not to the Antichrist himself.
(25:28):
Yet he continues his commentary referring to the same wounded
and healed head as the person of the Antichrist, seemingly
oblivious of the contradiction that is inherent in his teaching.
As far as I know, he never attempts to explain
why the same head is a nation in every verse
that talks about it having a deadly wound, and a
(25:48):
person in every other verse. I believe there is a
simple solution to this problem. An Appendix two of this book,
I include a detailed explanation of this issue, but I
will also include a summary of it here, and I
will recommend a paper by Gregory Harris, professor of Bible
Exposition at the Master's Seminary, called Can Satan Raise the Dead?
(26:09):
Toward a Biblical view of the Beast's wound. In essence,
the idea that whether the Antichrist really dies or only
gets a severe wound that would have caused death if
he had not been miraculously healed is open to some debate.
But when you consider all five verses in Revelation that
speak of this wound and its healing, it seems he
(26:30):
really does die and really is brought back to life. This, however,
poses no theological problem, because based on Second Thessalonians two
nine through twelve, it is God, not Satan who sends
the strong delusion that eventually causes the world to worship
the beast. Second, Thessalonians two nine through twelve says, the
(26:52):
coming of the lawless one is according to the working
of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and
with all unrighteous disas perception among those who perish because
they did not receive the love of the Truth, that
they might be saved. And for this reason God will
send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
(27:13):
that they all might be condemned who did not believe
the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. When you cross
reference this idea with the verses that speak of the
beast's woond being healed in Revelation, you will find the
reason the world ultimately gives their allegiance to the beast
and thus damn themselves for eternity, is because of the
(27:34):
beast's wound being healed. I e. The strong delusion Revelation
thirteen two through four, Revelation seventeen eight. The healing of
the beast's wound seems to be the pivotal moment when
the world begins to follow the beast and worship him.
And that is why I believe Paul and second Thessalonians
speaks of the strong delusion that God himself sends the
(27:58):
same way. Now we have full circle, and as promised,
I will attempt to quickly explain how this fits into
Revelation seventeen nine through eleven, and why it is a
strong argument against the Islamic antichrist theorist's understanding of this passage.
I will quote it again here so you won't have
to flip back to the previous page to get the context.
(28:19):
This requires a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also
seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other
has not yet come. But whenever he does come, he
must remain for only a brief time. The beast that
was and is not is himself an eighth king, and
(28:39):
yet is one of the seven and is going to destruction.
When verse nine says the beast that was and is not,
it is actually a reference to verse eight before it.
Revelation seventeen, verse eight says the beast you saw was
and is not, but is about to come up from
the abyss and then go to destruction. The inhabitants of
(29:01):
the earth, all those whose names have not been written
in the Book of Life since the foundation of the world,
will be astounded when they see that the beast was
and is not but is to come. The phrases in
this verse the beast you saw was and is not,
but is about to come up from the Abyss and
then go to destruction. And the beast was and is
(29:21):
not are another way to say that this beast lives, dies,
seems to rise again, and will ultimately go to destruction
or perdition. It's sort of a chronology of the Antichrist's
entire career on Earth. This aspect of the Antichrist functions
as a title on several occasions in the Book of Revelation,
(29:43):
such as Revelation thirteen, twelve, and fourteen, but by Revelation seventeen,
this idea of him living, dying, coming back to life,
and going to destruction is a very firm title of
the Antichrist. Even the idea of his quote coming up
from the Abyss is a reference to his resurrection, which
(30:03):
can be demonstrated by showing how Jesus' resurrection is described
as coming up from the Abyss as well Romans ten
six through seven see Appendix two. For more on this.
By the time we get to verse eleven, which says
the Beast that was and is not is himself an
eighth king, and is yet one of the seven, and
is going to destruction, we can see that when it
(30:25):
says the beast that was and is not, it is
an established title of the Antichrist that refers to his
apparent death and resurrection. First. This shows us that the
reason for describing the Antichrist as the seventh and eighth
King is because he essentially has two aspects of his reign,
one before he dies and one after he is resurrected.
(30:46):
One aspect probably begins when he makes a covenant at
the start of the last seven years of the seventieth
Week of Daniel, and the other aspect of his reign
i e. The eighth king aspect occurs at the midpoint.
One can assume that the boundaries and nature of his
kingdom after the midpoint will be substantially different as well.
This also means we can make sense of the grammar
(31:08):
and context of Revelation seventeen nine through eleven, when it
seems to suggest that the combined seventh and eighth rule
of the Antichrist is short or brief, because at only
seven years total, three and a half for each, it
is by far one of the shortest empires of all time,
certainly the shortest of the other six kings or kingdoms
(31:29):
on the list. The third thing this means for us
is there is absolutely no reason to see the seventh
king slash kingdom as being a previously existing kingdom, because
both the seventh and eighth aspects of the final Head,
who we are told are actually the same person, have
not come on the scene yet, so the idea that
(31:49):
this is the Islamic Empire or any other ancient empire
is unnecessary. I have given several reasons in this chapter
as to why the seventh Head of the Beast in
revelation in seventeen nine through eleven is not the Islamic Empire.
Number One, the text is not telling us to simply
look for the next empire after Rome. Number two. The
(32:11):
Islamic Empire is one of the longest lasting empires in history,
and therefore would not be described by the angel as
lasting only a short time. Number three. Identifying the seventh
head as the one yet to come is not just
more grammatically and contextually accurate, it is also what one
would expect based on the usual understanding of the seventieth
(32:33):
Week of Daniel and number four. By limiting the mountains
heads kings of Revelation seventeen to only kingdoms, despite scripture
clearly telling us that kings are in view, Richardson contradicts
himself and makes it impossible to see that the seventh
and eighth Kings are speaking of the Antichrist himself. This
(32:54):
means there is no reason to understand the seventh King
as the Islamic Empire
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