Mark Davidson - Daniel Revisited: Discovering the Four Mideast Signs Leading to the Antichrist

Copyright 2013, 2015 Mark Davidson.

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Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The NIV and NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.

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Scripture references marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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Scripture references marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-0-7180-8113-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-0-7180-8115-7 (e)

CONTENTS

SECTION ONE
THE BIBLE SHOWS US THE ANTICHRIST COMES FROM ISLAM RATHER THAN ROME

SECTION TWO
SEEING WHAT MUST HAPPEN BEFORE THE TRIBULATION COMES

SECTION THREE
THE FOUR SIGNPOSTS REVEALED

FIGURES

TABLES

I N NOVEMBER 1997, AFTER YEARS OF ATTENDING CHURCH BUT not having surrendered everything to Him, the Lord showed me that He had to be my God, and He chose me as one of His. In relationship with Him, He revealed to me who He is and how He works. Following Him and obeying Him became all-important. I had been a student of end-time prophecy most of my life, but at that time did not care about it. But after September 11 I felt in my soul like I was missing somethingthat I was missing knowing Gods plan for this world, and that what we thought was supposed to happen in the end times wasnt happening.

What started as a question in the days after September 11, 2001, became a prayer to God asking for wisdom. It was He who set me on a path for a major research project delving into history and Holy Scripture. My research led me to discovering the Four Signposts in 2003 and resulted in the self-publishing of Daniel Revisited with WestBow Press in January 2014.

The message of Daniel Revisited is a fresh and new look at Daniel 7 (the vision of the four beasts) and 8 (the vision of the ram and goat) that yields a series of four great events, which, if true, must occur in the Middle East prior to the Rapture and Tribulation. I call these four events the Four Signposts. In Matthew 24 our Lord called these events the beginning of birth pains.

This new interpretation of Daniel is a plain reading of Scripture illuminated by documented world, ancient, and medieval history. This simple reading of Scripture includes straightforward meanings of verses like Daniel 8:17, which says in the NIV, understand that the vision concerns the time of the end. Such a reading forces us to disregard all the traditional meanings given us by commentaries over the last eighteen centuries. These commentaries tell us that Daniel 8 is about Alexander the Great and the ancient Persian Empire. But this cannot be so. Such a reading can be hard for some, but it is straightforward; and from what events in the Middle East are telling us, it is slowly showing itself to be the truth.

Since this message is so unlike any other end-time message, it must overcome many hurdles. Tradition and momentum must be reversed. Most of us have heard that the Rapture and Tribulation are all that remain between us and the glorious return of Jesus Christ. And most of us have heard this all our lives! What comes as a surprise to people is that four events must occur first over several years. So instead of waiting only for the Rapture, we must go through troubles as the Middle East descends into a chaos that will astound us all and deleteriously affect the economy of the world.

In other words, the idea that the Rapture is imminent is wrongnot because of the Rapture being before or after the Tribulation, but because there are four previously unrecognized events that must occur first: the Four Signposts.

Like any good theory, the Signpost interpretation yields predictions: events to happen in Gods timeline in the end times. The first eventthe First Signpostwas that Iraqs government would have to be changed. The Bible was not saying how it would be changed or from what form to what formonly that it would be changed. The imagery in Daniel 7 of changing a lions mind to a mans mind suggested the change would be from a more savage form of government to a more civil form of government. I remember that at the time I discovered the Signposts, President George W. Bush announced that American forces were going into Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power and install a democratic form of government. I was astounded.

Incredible as all this was, it was the ominous Second Signpost that was the biggest motivator for me to write this book and get the message out. I realized the Lord was placing me in the position of watchman, and having discovered this terrible event to come, I had to tell the church.

Since discovering the Signposts in 2003, I have felt out of place and perhaps a bit like an alien in many churches. While churches talk about blessings and the Rapture, I see that the next event is Irans terrible invasion of the Middle East. Most of the church is expecting an end times very different than the one I discovered and wrote about in this book. This next event is going to change the world.

Since the first publication of Daniel Revisited in early 2014, two major news events have appeared. They further prove that the Second Signpost is approaching like an unstoppable train. They are enablers for the Second Signpost. The first is the Iran Nuclear Deal. The second is the emergence of the Islamic State (IS).

The very presence of an agreed nuclear deal with Iran will result in silence from most of the international community as Iran completes its nuclear arsenal. The devil is in the details of the specific points of the Iran Nuclear Deal. These details include the fact that inspectors can only be from countries with diplomatic relations with Iran (read Russia and China but not the US), and that Iran has up to twenty-four days to hide whatever it wants to keep from any inspectors who might object. Also, the inspections are restricted to uranium enrichment facilities instead of weapons facilities. With the bomb in its possession, Daniel 8:4 will be fulfilled: the Persian ram gets to do all it wants.

And then there is the Islamic State (IS). IS has a twofold significance: it is both a preview of the Second Signpost and a catalyst for its arrival.

IS is a preview due to three conditions that exist within the territory of IS that will also exist across the entire Middle East during the Second Signpost. The first condition is the erasure of the old European-created boundary between Iraq and Syria. During the Second Signpost, most of the old boundaries in the Middle East will be erased. The second condition is the butchery that IS fighters exhibit. The way they kill is tortuous and bloody. The second horseman, who embodies and signals the start of the Second Signpost, is given power to allow men to