Does Hollywood have guts to glorify this messiah?

LOS ANGELES – Iran says Hollywood has welcomed a proposal to produce a documentary about the anticipated coming of an Islamic messianic figure known as "the Mahdi."

The disclosure comes in a commentary piece today in WND by Joel Richardson, best-selling author of "The Islamic Antichrist," which shows the similarities between this Muslim figure and the Bible's descriptions of the Beast of Revelation.

Richardson points out the U.S. movie production company Cineast has "welcomed the proposal," according to a close friend of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The purpose of the documentary will be "to prepare for the appearance of Imam Mahdi as the savior of humanity," said an article in the Tehran Times.

Understand
the significance of the Muslim's Mahdi 'messiah' in Joel Richardson's
new book, "The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real
Nature of the Beast," autographed by the author at WND. Note: The book is also available in electronic form at reduced price through Scribd.

Richardson's book is turning the prophecy world upside down.

The first edition of his book has sold out and it is now into its second printing after only one month after its release, where it debuted at the top of the top of the religious charts at Amazon and among all books at Scribd – an online e-booker retailer.

Richardson, a student of Islam and the Middle East, says that after decades of reading popular prophecy books and even best-selling fiction like the "Left Behind" series, millions of evangelical Christians around the world are expecting the Antichrist to emerge from a revived Roman Empire, which many have assumed is associated with the Roman Catholic Church and the European Union.

Not so, argues Richardson. His book makes the case that the biblical Antichrist is one and the same as the Quran's Muslim Mahdi.

"The Bible abounds with proofs that the Antichrist's empire will consist only of nations that are, today, Islamic," says Richardson. "Despite the numerous prevailing arguments for the emergence of a revived European Roman empire as the Antichrist's power base, the specific nations the Bible identifies as comprising his empire are today all Muslim."

Richardson believes the key error of many previous prophecy scholars involves the misinterpretation of a prediction by Daniel to Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel describes the rise and fall of empires of the future, leading to the end times. Western Christians have viewed one of those empires as Rome, when, claims Richardson, Rome never actually conquered Babylon and was thus disqualified as a possibility.

It had to be another empire that rose and fell and rose again that would lead to rule of this "man of sin," described in the Bible. That empire, he says, is the Islamic Empire, which did conquer Babylon and, in fact, rules over it even today.

Many evangelical Christians believe the Bible predicts a charismatic ruler, the Antichrist, will arise in the last days, before the return of Jesus. The Quran also predicts that a man, called the Mahdi, will rise up to lead the nations, pledging to usher in an era of peace. Richardson makes the case these two men are, in fact, one in the same.

Richardson is the co-author with Walid Shoebat of "God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible" and co-editor of "Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out."
"The Islamic Antichrist" is published by WND Books and is available autographed in the WND Superstore.

Read the commentary.