The Little Book of the End of the World by Ken Mooney Read Free Book Online

the head of a Christian army.
    All of these interpretations agree that Jesus’ Second Coming will be at a time to save humanity from a great threat, whether that threat is created by mankind itself, or whether it comes from an external source. After all, if Jesus is to lead mankind in a battle, he needs a force to fight against.
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    ISLAM
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    The Islamic faith has been subject to a lot of misinformation: the origins that it shares with Judaism and Christianity are often forgotten in favour of politics and scaremongering, turning Islam into a terrifying alternative that opposes Christianity. It’s a situation that has led to wars and acts of violence around the world for hundreds of years, violence that is still seen today.
    In reality, Islam has close ties to Christianity and Judaism, with many locations and prayers important to all three faiths. The Islamic holy book, the Quran, builds upon the teachings of the Jewish and Christian faiths, adding the teachings of Muhammad as written in the sixth century. Saints and prophets are common to all three faiths: although Jesus is not at the heart of Islam, as in Christianity, he continues to be a key figure with an important role to play in both the religion and the salvation of mankind.
    Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but they do believe he was the Messiah and was sent to teach humanity how to better follow God’s teachings. The circumstances of Jesus’ life remain the same as in the Christian Bible. However, certain Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified at the end of his life but rather that one of Jesus’ disciples posed as him in order to save Jesus.
    For Muslims, Jesus fulfils the role of a prophet, sent to prepare the world for the coming of the ‘Mahdi’, the redeemer and saviour: when Mahdi arrives, it is Jesus who will call attention to him and acknowledge him as the saviour. As such, Jesus fulfils a role roughly equivalent to John the Baptist in the Christian faith.
    Most of the Muslim beliefs about Jesus (or ‘Isa’) portray Jesus as the right hand of Mahdi and therefore instrumental in the events of the Endtimes.
    Mahdi himself is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran, but is revered throughout the Muslim tradition. Like the Messiah, there are different beliefs as to how and when Mahdiwill appear, whether he will be born of humanity like Jesus, or if he will descend from Heaven alongside Jesus’ Second Coming.
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    THE FORCES OF EVIL
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    Just as the classical religions and mythologies pitted gods against each other, giving enemies to our heroes and saviours, the Abrahamic religions have done the same thing.
    In fact, most of these enemies are descended from the gods of ancient religions, being the embodiments of some natural event that mankind doesn’t fully comprehend. In other cases, this evil is the embodiment of some sin, attempting to corrupt humanity.
    With these enemies in mind, the idea of an Antichrist was born, a figure that will stand against the Messiah and saviour. Different religions have different interpretations of the Antichrist, from a sinister evil to a simple nuisance, but he is a common figure throughout Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
    Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that all things were created by God, who continues to have power over all things: evil becomes a complicated concept, something that was once affiliated with God but is now a force or an individual that works against God’s will.
    Like the Messiah, the different versions of the Antichrist have been coloured by politics and location. In some cases, the Antichrist is a false Messiah who will corrupt humanity and lead them astray, taking a back seat in the final events of the Apocalypse; others describe him as a Man of Sin with unnatural powers who will be brought into direct conflict with the Messiah.
    This vision of the Antichrist is unique to the religions we have been discussing: typically, evil beings in other religions were