American Pastors Network's Sam Rohrer on Islam and the End Times

Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors Network and the Pennsylvania Pastors Network, appeared on a recent edition of Focus Today. Hosted by Perry Atkinson, Focus Today is a talk show offered by the Dove, a Christian media network. During their chat, Rohrer veered into talk of the End Times and called Islam a "counterfeit" religion born from the "lies of the Devil". Rohrer and Atkinson's strange conversation reminds us how fundamentalist religion can prevent observers from making sound observations about world events.

At the 1:02 mark, Rohrer complained that only a "remnant" of people still cling to Christian faith, and that world leaders have ignored "the authority of God".

All of those who I call part of the remnant, all of those still hold to the concept that there is God, that he is the creator, that there is such a thing as the fall and sin, and there is redemption through Jesus Christ, that is what I just said, a true biblical worldview.

For those who hold to a biblical world view, it's very clear that as a culture, that as a world, as the world leaders as we watch them, there is a marked departure from the authority of who God is, the reality of who God is, the fact that God is a judge, that there is, in fact, sin, and in fact, have embraced this--we call postmodern mindset ... It really is what Romans 1 talks about, people really having knowledge of God, have purposely denied it, rejected it, and in fact, done what the Devil himself did way back in the beginning, and that is they believe themselves to become little gods.

The discussion turned to global events and how developments in Russia, China, and Iran are "reflective" of Ezekiel 38 and 39. At the 2:49 mark, Rohrer and Atkinson wondered if current events were portents of the End Times.

ATKINSON: Part of [the problem that] ... Christians are wrestling with is the condition of the world now part, literally part of the End Times, which suggests that it's fulfilling Bible prophesy and Bible signs by everything going crazy, so why try to interrupt it? Why try to change it? Has that nullified us? Has that put us in neutral?

ROHRER: Well, you know what? I think that's a great question, Perry, because in reality, what we say is it's not possible to properly evaluate the circumstances of the day, and of the world, what's happening in the Middle East right now as we speak as an example--it's not possible to accurately look at these things without looking at it in light of biblical prophesy. At the end of the day, the whole history of mankind is about God's plan of redemption from the beginning in the Fall, working itself through ultimately when he comes back and he reigns physically in Jerusalem ... To not understand God's plan is to be ignorant ... It's not possible either to look at where we are without saying these are indicators of the End Days, but actually, the disciples thought they were in the End Days then ...

In true Christian fundamentalist fashion, Atkinson and Rohrer painted an ominous picture of Islam, ignoring millions of law-abiding Muslims and the complexity of Islamic religious tradition. At the 6:56 mark, the two men described Islam as "a religion that wants to dominate the world" and a "counterfeit" faith forged by the Devil.

ATKINSON: Before I take a break, I do want to come back to what's happening with terrorism and Paris and all this, but I heard something yesterday on a prominent talk show that just put me on tilt, and I'm going to paraphrase it. It basically says this. Maybe the world is waking up that there's a religion that wants to dominate the world that cannot be tolerated. Wow! What do we do with that one?

ROHRER: Well, the religion that cannot tolerate anything other is obviously Islam. Is it forcing change? Yes it is. There's no question about it. And does it specifically target Christians, the redeemed of the Lord, and Israel, God's people? Absolutely. We know it. Should that not awaken God's people to the reality of where we are? It should, but what do we know is that the truth of Jehovah God is more real and it is greater and it will prevail over the lies of the Devil, of which is a counterfeit such as Allah and Islam, which is taking people to hell ...

Atkinson and Rohrer remind us that fundamentalism makes it difficult to perform a sound analysis of world events. When events are filtered through End Times "prophesies" or attributed to supernatural entities, a reasonable analysis of facts and realities becomes impossible.