The Setup

I've always been a bit confused by Daniel 11:42-45 and the antichrist's military campaigns in Libya, Egypt, and what appears to be Sudan.  

I think it now makes sense with a current, real-world scenario involving President Obama.  

Consider the Obama/UN doctrine of R2P (Right To Protect), which envisions the world invading countries that assault other countries and/or their own people.  This doctrine was developed for and used in Libya recently.

Suppose for a moment, that the antichrist's grand scheme involves the 7-year "covenant with many" of Daniel 9... its purpose would be a "setup".

The antichrist, whoever he is, goes to Israel and makes a "firm covenant" with Israel and many others, under the auspices of "peace" and promises that the antichrist's military will serve as Israel's immediate defense.  The antichrist knows full well that with the right "hook" he can get the surrounding nations to attack.  Israel's leaders, though, think that no one would dare attack Israel... thus Israel puts its guard down and accepts this covenant.

All the while the antichrist has set the stage in the Middle East for radical Islamic regimes to strike Israel.  Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Iran are all firmly in Islamist hands.  When the nations surrounding Israel attack in unison, the antichrist uses R2P, with full backing of the United Nations to invade these countries just as Daniel 11 describes.  He "sweeps through" these countries like a flood.

...Only thing is... he intends to occupy and dominate rather than simply push back.  With his enemies lured in and defeated, he is able to claim worldwide military dominance, with the possible exception of Russia and China.  However, if Ezekiel 38-39 describes the lured in nations, then perhaps Russia, too, will be militarily decimated.

Now that the secular Middle Eastern governments have been toppled all that remains is the proper "trigger".  The "straw that breaks the camel's back".

...And guess what the trigger could be?  THE THIRD TEMPLE.

As part of the antichrist's covenant, he fully sponsors the reconstruction of the Third Temple.  Its existence on the Temple Mount proves to agitate the Islamic nations to the point of military intervention.

Once the antichrist's foes are lured in and defeated (perhaps he knows that their assault on Israel will call down God's wrath, thus eliminating his opposition) he then consolidates worldwide power, desecrates the Third Temple and declares himself to be god.  The Mark is instituted and the Great Tribulation begins.

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