Evangelicals Strike Again!

Christian Evangelicals provide their take on the Battle of Armageddon in the film Meggido

To assist them in their eschatological machinations, more enterprising Christian evangelicals have turned to the media to get their message out. At the forefront of this effort is the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Home to such personalities as Benny Hinn, John Hagee, Creflo Dollar, T.D. Jakes, Robert Schuller, Jack Van Impe and Hal Lindsey, TBN's tentacles are reaching more and more people via the media each day.

In recent years, TBN has also teamed with Gener8Xtion Entertainment to produce high quality feature films on religious themes. Their latest production Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, focuses once again on end time prophecy and the need for Christians to prepare themselves for the imminent demise of life as we know it.

In Meggido, audiences are re-introduced to the maniacal Stone Alexander, once the head of the European Union and now the leader of the World Union. Those familiar with current Christian evangelical eschatology will see the significance of this, as they believe that the anti-Christ will arise from the so-called "Revived Roman Empire", which is construed to mean the European Union.

Alexander, who is really the anti-Christ, is moving to strategically secure his position as a dictatorial world leader. He performs what appear to be miracles and dazzles people with his ability to bring peace and harmony to the world. But these efforts only mask a more sinister plan – to make all mankind turn away from God and worship him.

In this effort he is largely successful, except for the few holdouts that include the United States, Mexico and China.

In the movie's climactic sequence, these three rebel nations join forces to fight Alexander in the battle of Armageddon, which takes place on the plain of Meggido in Palestine. As one would expect, good triumphs over evil.

What is most interesting about this film and some of TBN's other productions, is the way in which nationalism and religious righteousness converge. Hal Lindsey, who provides additional commentary on the DVD version of the film, has for years used his ministry to forward the idea that the United States is somehow the last bastion of true Christianity that will stand against the forces of evil in the last days.

This line of thinking is convenient for anyone wishing to avoid the more than apparent conflicts of interest that exist between Christianity and the forces of western, secular, capitalist rule. It is a line of thinking that is quite consistent amongst many evangelicals and even Pat Robertson has expressed some of his views on end time theory in the national cable television news media.

Most of this theoretical prophecy is based on the biblical book of Daniel. While Daniel is an interesting read, it can be interpreted in many ways, and indeed Muslim scholars have refuted some of what the evangelicals claim by reinterpreting the book of Daniel. One such scholar is Saudi Arabia's Safar al-Hawali who, in his book The Day of Wrath, devotes an entire chapter to the prophecies of Daniel. His conclusion is that the Christians misinterpret the book of Daniel and ignore the clear references therein to Muslims.

In the final tally, it is all speculation. The book of Daniel is non-specific in many places, while the ahadeeth (sayings) of the Prophet Muhammad (saaws) on the issue of the end time are clear as is the Holy Qur'an.

When the end will come, only Allah (swt) knows. But it is nonetheless interesting to watch Christians continue to try to make a guess at when that will be. And since there are devout Christians running around the White these days, Muslims might want to understand where their eschatology stands.