Christianity and Islam: The Final Clash

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 368 pages
• Published by: Pleasant Word-A Division of WinePress Publishing December 16, 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1414102623
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1414102627
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1 pounds

Product Description
Former missionary to Muslims, Robert Livingston uncovers a credible connection between Islam, America, and the Church in End-times Bible prophecy. He challenges the reader to examine their priorities in view of the reality of Christ's return.

Reader Reviews
Author Robert Livingston clearly shares Christ's love for people trapped in the bondage of Islam. The last part of his book does present the Gospel and offers many resources for Christians who will answer the Lord's call to bring to Muslims the good news of eternal life through faith in Jesus. Livingston is also not deceived by the claim that Islam is peaceful or that "moderate" Muslims can restrain those who follow what Koran and Hadith truly teach. That said, serious Bible students - regardless of their eschatological beliefs - will find Final Clash fatally flawed. The first 270 pages are basically a rant arguing for a late Trib Rapture. Livingston supports his argument with verses cherry-picked from Scripture. Many verses with great significance to the end times, such as the feet and toes of iron and clay in Daniel 2:40-43 or the miraculous second Exodus of the Jews in Jeremiah 23:7-8 are simply ignored. Other verses are twisted, so in 2Thes.2:4 the anti-Christ does not stand in the temple showing himself as God but a Muslim terrorist turned politician who claims to be Jesus returned from the dead (in accordance with Islamic prophecy) stands in the Dome of the Rock telling people to worship Allah. In Livingston's defense, he admits he originally held a post-millenial or preterist view and believed major portions of prophecy had already been fulfilled. Evidently, he got on the mission field and discovered that Koran and Hadith present a description of the end times that coincides remarkably well with Bible prophecy but from the point of view of those who reject Jesus and follow the anti-Christ. Since, by his background, Livingston disavowed the idea that God will rapture the Church before the Tribulation and shift His focus back to Israel for the last seven years, he was left to come up with the novel interpretation of prophecy he presents in Final Clash. And that interpretation is truly novel. In Final Clash, the woman astride the beast is the Statue of Liberty and the anti-Christ's Babylon is New York City, or the U.S., or maybe Jerusalem. The first 3.5 years of the Tribulation took place from A.D. 66 to seventy and there will be no rebuilt third Temple and the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of no stone left upon another awaits the destruction of the Wailing Wall. Livingston's reasons for viewing the U.S. as the Babylon of Revelation seem to come as much from ignorance as to how the Reformation impacted political, legal, and economic thought - particularly in the founding of the U.S. - as from a misreading of Scripture. He presents withouta document that claims the Declaration of Independence rests on Libertarianism - the idea that consent is the basis of morality. Like many Christians today, he appears unable to explain that the U.S. was founded on Biblical principles or that institutions like capitalism and democracy derive directly from Biblical moral rules like don't steal and don't murder. Most importantly, Livingston fails to emphasize the point that the greatest threat from Islam in the immediate future - and the threat that seems to coincide most closely with Bible prophecy - is not terrorism but "peaceful Jihad." Peaceful Jihad is the steady growth in the political influence of Islam that results naturally as Muslims make up an increasing share of the population. We see this playing out around the world today but particularly in Europe, a location to which Bible scholars have traditionally attached much greater prophetic significance than does Livingston. History shows that the light of Christianity is extinguished in lands that fall subject to Islam. The key characteristic of the modern age is that Islamic domination can come about through the ballot box today much more easily than it could in the past by violent conquest. Final Clash IS worth reading for its explanation of Islamic eschatology and - especially - for Chapter 15 "What will America Do?" that is a chilling account of how easily an Islamic anti-Christ could conquer the world with the twin threats of nuclear war or internal revolution for nations that fail to submit. "Who can wage war against him?" Bible students wanting to search the Scripture to be sure of what they believe will also find the book useful, if a little tedious, but don't look for an exegesis of prophecy that includes all the relevant portions of Scripture in Livingston's Final Clash. Other titles available at amazon that relate to subjects touched on in Final Clash include: 1. Paul Sperry's Infiltration - the growth of Islam's influence in the U.S. today. 2. Bill Musk's The Unseen Face of Islam - an eye-opening, heart-rending description of the spiritual bondage of Islam and how missionaries wage spiritual warfare 3. George Otis, Jr.'s The Last of the Giants - on the spiritual warfare underlying the Church's efforts to complete the Great Commission 4. Andrew C. McLaughlin's The Foundations of American Constitutionalism - on the role of religion in the American founding 5. William Wagner's How Islam Plans to Change the World - also only three stars, but noteworthy for how God is intervening directly on the mission field.