We kind of left suspended a lesson that we were doing. I don't know whether you still have the notes that I gave you, told you to hold on to them. I hope you do. If you don't, there were notes that you could pick up on the way in. And we were talking about Satan's Superman. This is the wrap-up of the study that we did on angels and demons. And then we talked about Satan, his demons, about angels, and now we're looking at Satan's puppet. Satan's own Superman. We talked about him, that he was an impersonator, this Superman. He's called the Antichrist. He's called the Beast. He's called the Son of Perdition. There's many names for him. But he impersonates the devil. here on earth. He is the personification of the devil. Now you need your Bible open to Revelation chapter 13 and I'm gonna have to next week is the Iwana Awards Banquet in the auditorium here and I'm gonna be participating in that. I encourage you to come and help as we try to encourage the next generation, encourage our children. So I need to get as far as I can with this tonight. And then there's going to be a new study coming up in the month of June. So I want to see just exactly how far I can get with this tonight. So in Revelation chapter 13, if you get there, we're gonna look at this passage of scripture tonight. And we're going to try to move through quite a lot of material. So time's moving quickly. Here we go. There was war in heaven and woe on earth in chapter 12 because Satan is finally thrown out of heaven. I won't go into that again, but many times people mistakenly think that Satan is running around on earth doing this, that, and the other. Well, his minions are, his demons are, his hierarchy is, but he's continually in heaven accusing us before the Heavenly Father. That's his favorite thing to do is to find people and accuse them, like Corey down here. I see Corey. And he likes to go up to the Father, and he likes to, whenever the sons of God appear before the Father in heaven, he likes to accuse us. And he says, well, did you know what Corey has done? How could you ever forgive Corey? And he could never be used. And of course, he likes to send his demons to sit on your shoulder and say, well, you wicked heathen, don't you know what you did when you were 13? How do you think you can play the guitar and worship God in a church service? How in the world? Or Vic over here, Victor Wickard sitting over here. Vic, I mean, the devil knows exactly what you did when you were 17. He knows. And the devil knows, and his minions tell you about it. He doesn't want you to think you really could be forgiven. Do you know any time that you have confessed sins, confessed sins, acknowledged, confessed, and repented of sins, and you have repented of them, if there's a voice reminding you of those sins, that is not God. Did you know that? Because I will forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness is what God promises. But any accusation, any accusation of forgiven, confessed, admitted to sins comes from the devil. Well that's what the devil's doing. Now there's a dynamic duo of Satan and we're looking at them. And the first one we talked about and identified He's called the beast. He has satanic attributes. And I'm just going to buzz through this. He's very much like his father, the devil. He rises up out of the troubled sea, which I believe indicates that he is a Gentile. I talked about that. Isaiah 57, 20, the wicked are like the troubled sea. It cannot rest. Whose waters are cast up mire and dirt. And there is no peace as my God for the wicked. Revelation 17, 15 says, "...the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues." And so this beast, Antichrist, Wicked One, Son of Perdition, all those names, he is a world leader that arises up among the Gentiles. The world is going to be more ready in the future even than it is today for a charismatic leader that comes with a plan for peace and prosperity even more than it is ready today. And it's ready. I mean there's all kinds of rattling and talking and especially in Europe. They want a European president. They've been talking about that for a long, long time. What we need is a unified economy. They've already got that. It hasn't worked very well, but they want a unified economy, a unified currency. They want a unified codification of laws. And what they really, really, really, really, really, really want is they want a unified president. a European president and well that'll just be setting the stage for the rest of the world thinking, yeah what about that? Why don't we have a Far Eastern president? Why don't we have a Southeast Asian president? Why don't we have a African president? And then it's, you know, that'll sound good and somebody's gonna say, well what we really need, and somebody's gonna rise up and say it, what we just need is a world leader. And so it's gonna happen. Not only does he rise from the sea, but he's a lot like his father, the devil. We talked about this. He's got heads, horns, and crowns. Back at chapter 12, verse 3, in Revelation 12, 3, the dragon, he had seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems or crowns on his head. Chapter 13 says the same thing, verse 2. I saw a beast coming out of there. Verse one, I saw a beast coming out of the sea having 10 horns, seven heads, and on his horns were 10 diadems and on his heads were blasphemous names. And I talked to you about these are 10 world powers. Three of them have been defeated. So it only has seven heads. The heads are the leaders. The horns are the power of their kingdom. And there's seven heads and there's 10 world powers or kingdoms. Three of them have been destroyed, and so on. The dragon had the same thing on his head. If we go back to Daniel chapter 7, we'll find out that that little horn, he had the same thing on his head. I'm just kind of buzzing through this, we've already covered it. He is very much like his father. Then he proceeds from his family lineage. That's letter B. He proceeds from his family lineage. We talked about that. We talked about the animals, the beast that we see in the book of Revelation. There's a beast that's seen. He has like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of the bear. His mouth was like the mouth of the lion. These are the same animals showed up in Daniel chapter 7. but reverse order. When Daniel saw the coming kingdoms of the world, he saw first the lion, then he saw the bear, then he saw the leopard, then he saw a terrible beast that he couldn't really name. It was different than all the other beasts. And now we get to Revelation chapter 13 and we see these same kingdoms but in reverse. Well, the reason is that the writer is standing in the Roman Empire and he's writing. One of the reasons I believe that the book of Revelation is so symbolic and full of so many symbols and codes, so to speak, is because they were writing under severe persecution, he was. and everything that they were writing was going to be read and so I believe that he wrote that way under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to kind of conceal from unregenerate people and from evil men and evil kingdoms to conceal it from them but to reveal it to God's own people. So he was living at Rome and so if you're living in the Roman Empire in the first century and you're looking back at these kingdoms you're living in Rome, and then you see a leopard, and then you see a bear, and then you see a lion. That lion was Nebuchadnezzar, and that was Babylon. And the bear was Cyrus and Darius, and that was the Medes and the Persians. And then Alexander the Great was the big horn, the one-horned goat and all. We won't go into all of that. But he was seeing it in reverse, and that's what they were looking at. So this beast that we come to in Revelation chapter 13 is the last. He's the last in a long line of power-thirsty despots. He is a man. He is a demon-possessed man, but he is a man. He is the man of sin. He's the man of lawlessness. He is the wicked one. At the temptation of Christ, Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him. That's what he offered him. To a degree, and to a certain point, he was the dominator of the world. He had tricked Adam out of his co-regency with God and out of his dominion over the world at the fall, so Satan did have something to offer. But worship him, Jesus now being tempted by Satan to worship him and cut short his route to glory and to condemn mankind to hell in the process and rob them of a Redeemer was unthinkable. Jesus rejected all temptation of Satan. We know of three great temptations, but he tempted him for 40 days. So there was a lot of temptation that went on. We only know of three major perhaps categories or perhaps the highest point of the temptation. This son of perdition, the wicked, the proud, the boastful and clever man is more than ready to include the worship of Satan himself to gain the world's loyalty that he is given. So he takes Satan up. Jesus did not worship Satan or his kingdom or his authority or recognize anything. But this man is going to recognize Satan and is going to worship him. and he takes him up on it and he gains the kingdoms of the world in the process. They say that a lot of these performers and musicians and certain individuals have sold their soul to Satan, that they are ready to be inhabited by demons. They say that even right after the Super Bowl here a couple years ago, that one woman they said that she says that she's, I can't think of her name now, I don't listen to any of them, but she's a loud mouth and sings a lot. Anyway, they say that she asked a demon to possess her before she goes on to do her stuff. And I don't even remember what her name is now. I told you about her before. What is it? Beyonce. I would never remember that name. Okay, but anyway, that's who it is, and that she actually asked to be possessed before she goes on stage. So this man, this demon-possessed, this son of perdition, wicked, proud, boastful, clever world leader, he's in cahoots with Satan. He operates according to his family legacy. Chapter 13, verse 2, it says, "...the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like those of a bear, his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power, his throne. and his great authority. The dragon gave him his power. 2 Thessalonians 2 says the coming of the lawless one, there's another name for him, the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. The deceived people on planet earth are the ones who did not receive the love of God through the truth of God so that they might be saved. So they believe a delusion. They believe anything. They believe the lie. I'll talk about that more. What is the lie? Well, it's not just any lie. It's the lie. It is the primordial lie. It's the most important of all lies. It's the lie that Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden, you can be your own God. You'll be just like God. Just disobey Him, eat this fruit, and your eyes will be opened. You'll be like God. And that's the lie of Satan. Satan's lie is always you can have it your own way. You can have anything you want, do anything you want. It's all about you. And you can be the deciding factor in your own life. That's always Satan's lie. this is what happened. Just as Jesus said he only did what he saw the father doing and that his authority was a grant from his father, so the beast will be operating on a grant from his own father. What is as amazing is that he will use the very same kinds of things that some members of Christianity still maintain are necessary for people to believe. Will you please tune in? Today there is something called power evangelism. among certain groups of Christianity. You show the power of God, and people will believe. Show them the signs, the wonders, and the miracles, and people will believe. They will believe, and they will follow God because of the signs, the wonders, and the miracles. I have two questions. Did they follow Jesus because of His signs, wonders, and miracles? No. Many of them, upon whom He performed the signs, the wonders, and miracles, and granted everything for them, yelled, Crucify Him. So today, what is called power evangelism, signs, wonders, and miracles, in order for people to believe, I can just announce to you once and for all that the propensity to hunger for signs, wonders, and miracles, and even if they're granted, only create a hunger for more signs, wonders, and miracles. They do not generate genuine faith. Because Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, for by grace you are saved through faith. It is the what? It's the gift of God. And so people hungry for consumption, consumer religion, consuming the product of religion, They're not going to find God in the process because what they really want. You say, I don't know about that. I still don't know if that's true. Well, Jesus said it to that group that was following Him. In the book of John, chapter 6, they were following Him. And it said that many of them, when they saw His signs, believed on Him and so on. But He did not commit Himself to any of them because He knew what was in man. He knew that they wanted His bread, that they didn't want Him. They wanted His miracles. They didn't want Him. They didn't want a Lord, a Master, Savior, a King. I love what they wanted. They didn't want a kingdom of righteousness and love. They didn't want to abandon all of their evil. We're going to see this really strong as we go on. Then number two there, major point two, he employs satanic seduction. Verses three and four, it says in verse three, and I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his father and his fatal wound was healed and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast and they worshiped the dragon Wait a minute, why don't they worship the beast? Interesting, isn't it? "...I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? And who is able to wage war with him? He's a military genius. He is a miraculous figure. He does things that nobody else can do. One of his heads had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed. What could this mean? Well, the crowning victory of the gospel. What would you say is the crowning victory and the most amazing fact that comes out of the gospel? What would you say it is? Resurrection. That's it. The resurrection. That he was a great man, that he taught, that he lived an exemplary life, and that he taught wonderful life lessons, and that he died on a cross, a Roman cross, for things that he really didn't do wrong, and that he was buried in a tomb. All of those are wonderful and noble, but you could say most of that about Mahatma Gandhi. But he rose from the dead, you see. He rose from the dead. It is the resurrection. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 spent a lot of time talking about the importance of the resurrection. If we don't have a resurrected Savior, we have no Savior at all. He rose from the dead. It's the great cry of Christianity. On Easter, we say it every year, He is risen, and the answer is He is risen indeed. And first century Christians, that's all they could think about. Brother Gary has said from time to time he loves Grace Church because it seems like the resurrection happened last week to a lot of people. Well, I hope it's that way in your life. I hope that you are walking in the power of the resurrection." Isn't that what Paul said he prayed for in Philippians 3.20? He said, I want to know Him, and I want to know the power of His resurrection, and I want to know the fellowship of His suffering. A lot of us would like His power, but not many of us pray for His suffering. That's another subject. We'll get into that at another time. So the gospel, the crowning victory of the gospel story is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. First chapter of Revelation, flip over there real quick. First chapter of Revelation 1, 17. It says in Revelation 1, verse 17, it says this, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. He laid his right hand upon me, saying, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one, I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hades." So who is our Savior? Well, He's the first and the last. He was there when it all started. He'll be there when it's all wrapped up. I love that. Another place says He's the Alpha and Omega. He's the first letter of the alphabet. He's the last letter of the alphabet. You can't spell anything without Him. You see, he's there at the beginning, he'll be there at the end. It's awesome. I am alive. I was dead and I am alive forevermore. So it's the glory of the gospel. The glorious truth of the gospel is that he died, that he was buried three days and three nights and that he rose again and he ascended to his father and he is alive. So, what's the big point? Well, we have a satanic incarnation. What greater thing could Satan do than to imitate the resurrection? You remember he is the great imitator. You're going to see this increasingly as we go through this. He had a deadly wound and it is healed. He seemingly dies and then he resurrects. We're going to really look at this more when we get to chapter 17 in a future study. But for just a moment, here's what we see. In chapter 11, we can't read it, there were two witnesses that were sent from God, Elijah perhaps, Moses, and they had power. Those trying to destroy them were destroyed by them. Later, they were destroyed. These two witnesses in the front of everybody with all the cameras of CNN and Fox News and everybody else is going to be on them. And they're going to rise right up in the book, in the streets of Jerusalem and rise into the heavens. Well, the two witnesses prophesy, and the beast is very upset, so he tries to kill them, but he's killed himself. Satan comes down in chapter 12, we read that, he's cast out of heaven, and he inhabits the body and resurrects the beast. Now, he is not only the representative of Satan, he is the incarnation of Satan. He said, I don't know about that. All right, look at Revelation 17. Flip over there. Revelation chapter 17. Can't give this a treatment I'd like to, but I want to pound that point for a moment. All right, let's see. Okay. Verse 8, 17, 8, 17, 8. The beast, you know what we're talking about, right? The beast. It's this person. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth will wonder whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that he was and is not and will come. In other words, he was alive and he was dead and he came back. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are seven kings and five have fallen. One is and the other is not yet come." There are five world kingdoms. The one that was present was the Roman kingdom. And then one that was yet to come is the kingdom of the beast. When he comes, verse 10, he must remain a little while. He only has a seven year rule. And the three and a half year rule, and the beast which was and is not is himself also the eighth. He is one of the seven and he goes to destruction. So you have eight kings. The seventh king is the beast and he dies. He is, he is not. And then he is also the eighth king. He rises up. It's an imitation resurrection. I don't believe he comes to life. I believe he's dead. And I believe Satan inhabits a corpse. Weird things happen. in the book of Revelation. But what greater mimic of Jesus Christ, an imitation of Christ, could there possibly be, than to mimic the resurrection of Jesus, to imitate it, to try to give that power. And so he was dead and he seems to come to life. And so this is so amazing. Now, chapter number three, he is motivated, the beast is motivated by some very sinister ambitions. And I'm gonna go through these really quickly, make sure that you follow along. Verse number 4 it says, back over to Revelation number 13, verse number 4 it says, Revelation 13, 4, here we are. And they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast saying who is like the beast who is able to wage war. with him. So the first thing that's going to happen is the devil will deify himself. He's going to make a god of himself. Worship is what Satan is all about. It's what he's always wanted from the Garden of Eden. Fall down and worship me is what Nebuchadnezzar told the Babylonians. Don't let anyone pray to any god but you, O King Darius, is what the Confederation of Governors and satraps plotted against Daniel. You can be your own god is what Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden. And whenever Jesus was on earth, the Pharisees and the religious leaders said, we will not have this man Jesus to rule over us. This is what the messengers were, the message they were given in the parable of the wicked servants. And so Satan wanted to take God's lofty position, receiving praise. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 14 tell this story. about how I will rise, I will take my seat on the side of the north, I will be like the Most High. He seven times said what he was going to do, I will, I will, I will, I will. He was a self-willed person wanting to take the place of God and receive the worship that is only due God. He wanted worship and so he wanted to take that lofty position. And so the great lie is what has been going on all along. You can be your own God as long as you worship Satan or worship yourself. Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness and the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. This is verse 24 of Romans 1. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie. And that's a definite article. Not a lie, not some lie, not one of many lies, but the lie. And they worshipped and they served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. 2 Thessalonians 2, 9. We read it before, it's Satan's lying wonders and signs. And then God says, and for this reason God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. They wouldn't believe the truth. They didn't want to hear anything about repentance and salvation and the love of God and the rule of the Lord. They didn't want to hear that. So they said, we'll just believe something else. So they believe the lie. and they were all condemned. They didn't believe the truth. They had pleasure in unrighteousness. So the deification of the devil is the deification of self. The deification of the devil is the deification of self. You say, what is deification? Making a god out of. It means to make a god out of. Satan wanted us to make a god out of him and his primary way of getting us to do that is to make a god out of self. I want I will. I don't want God's way. I want my way. I want to do what I want to do. Whew. Boy, that hits home. Letter B, he's not only going to deify self or deify Satan, he is going to defy the Savior, verse 5 and 6. This is talking about the beast now. And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months given to him. That's three and a half years. 42 months, 1260 days. So he opens his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name in his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. So he's a braggart. He brags. In Daniel's prophecy, chapter 7, verses 8, 20, and 25, it says he has a mouth speaking pompous, swelling words. Has there ever been a generation of people that are more braggadocious than the people that are self-interested and bragging? I think Muhammad Ali started it. He will exalt himself and brag about himself non-stop. We are never more like the devil than when we constantly brag and elevate ourselves. Ooh, interesting. So he will defy the Savior and he's going to do, he's a blasphemer, he's a braggart and he's a blasphemer for 42 months or three and a half years. He's going to blaspheme God, mock God and so on. He's just, he's going to do all of those things. He's going to, he's going to mock the temple, the people, the people in heaven. He's going to set out to destroy the Lord's people on earth and to shoot blasphemy bombs toward God's people in heaven. He does it for three and a half years. this is the beast now before he is reincarnated we will then what else you gonna do verse number seven he's gonna destroy the Saints now this is something that's really difficult for a lot of us to believe because I mean we're told all the time that is always God's will for you to be healthy and to be wealthy and to be happy And no, you know, a good God like we have would never allow anything bad to happen to His people. He would never ever allow us to be sick or allow us to suffer or allow us to have financial loss. I mean, there must be some problem. You're just not having a strong enough positive confession. You're not confessing your faith strong enough. Something wrong with you. If you have any problems Look at verse 7, "...and it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world, the book of life, and the Lamb who was slain." He's going to destroy the saints, verse number 7. It's granted him to destroy and wear out the saints. This is part of Daniel's prophecy as well, back in chapter 6. But I want you to look back at chapter number 6 of Revelation. Chapter number 6, we're going to see another peek at this. Revelation is not chronological. It doesn't flow from linear. It's not a linear chronology. It's a repetitive chronology. It's an amplification of one story by the next story. So don't read Revelation thinking you're reading a chronological reading. It's not possible. Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 10. Verse 9, and when he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain. because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told they should rest for a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who were to be killed, even as they had been, should be completed also." Martyrs. Millions of them. Millions upon millions of martyrs. You say, well, why would there be millions of martyrs? I mean, how could this be? I mean, why would people be believing? Because in mass, in mass, people are going to come to Christ during the tribulation. You say, well, I've always heard that if they weren't saved by the time of the rapture, they never would be saved. Well, you've been told wrong. During the tribulation period, the greatest evangelistic fervor the world has ever seen is going to happen by the two witnesses and by 144,000 true Jehovah's Witnesses. And they are going to have an understanding of the Scripture and an anointing and a sealing of the Holy Spirit like no preachers other than the Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ. And they're going to coat the earth and they're going to die. I mean they're going to be protected, but many of the followers that believe are going to die in the millions. And these are real people. I know they look like numbers on a page right now, but I mean, if you just stop and think about one person slaughtered on the highway, or one child that's abused, or one person who's killed through homicide, or think of it, I mean, just because it's a big number of millions doesn't mean they're not individual cases, that there's not pain and suffering involved in every single case. When I hear them give statistics out about how rape is down by 10%, I'm thrilled that it's down, but what about if there's one rape? That's one rape too many, isn't it? In the millennium, it won't be that way. That's another story. So he's going to destroy the saints. And look at chapter 7 and verse number 13, this is amazing stuff. 7, 13, one of the elders answered to me, this is another seal here or another vision. One of the elders answered to me saying, these who are clothed in white robes, who are they and from where have they come? And I said to him, My Lord, you know, he's speaking to an angel, and he said to him, These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over him, listen to these, and they will hunger no more, thirst no more, neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to the springs of the water of life. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes." You see, they have gone through lots of problems. The heat of one of the seals and one of the trumpets, the heat, the earth shaken out of its orbit closer to the sun, the scorching heat, the hunger, the thirst, the beatings, and then of course death. They're going to be martyred. They've suffered all these things, but They're white-robed saints of God and they are totally protected by Him and all tears are wiped away. Interesting stuff. So this is amazing what God says about this. And so He's gonna, we're talking about what the beast will do. He will hound them, chase them, torture them, starve them, and kill millions of them. Yet there is something different here. If we were to read the fourth seal of the six seals of Revelation, Revelation chapter five and six, we would see that there was death, there was a death dealer, a rider that was a death dealer, and he had two riders, death for the body and hell for the soul, because death came first and hell followed. But in this case, the angels have come to get them, and it's death for the body, but it's heaven for the soul, and they get new bodies. Isn't that awesome? That's just wonderful. So what else is this demon, demon-possessed, demon-inspired beast going to do? Well, he's going to dominate society. Verse number 7, you can see in verse 7 his domination is global. Back over Revelation 13, we're talking about the beast. Verse number 7, it says, "...it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." So he's got He has got world domination. This is going to be the first truly world dictator in history. It is said of Genghis Khan that he had more earth under his feet than any other ruler in the history of the world. Well, he was a pipsqueak compared to this guy. This guy is going to dominate the globe. He will be the first true world dictator. He's in doing this, it's also an imitation because Jesus is going to rule the earth with a rod of iron from Jerusalem and so Satan's trying to take that from him. He wants to rule the world from his new Babylon. He will deceive sinners. This is a chapter 13 verse 8, and all those who dwell on the earth will worship Him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anybody out there listening, if you are capable, listen, it says. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone kills with a sword, with a sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. And so he will deceive the sinners. Sadly, the sinners are going to worship him gladly. Why not? He is the great ungod. He is the one for the free society of personal indulgence. Who is this beast and what is his program? Just give the tip of the hat and the knot of the head to me as the one God and then do what you want to do. Free society, personal indulgence, no laws, no restraints. Just let every man do that which was right in his own eyes. This is the theme of his kingdom. His is the kingdom that permits the attitude of the world's people found in chapter 9 and verse number 20. Listen, look over chapter 9 and verse number 20. This is after The seals of judgment and the trumpets of judgment have begun. And now it says in verse number 20 of chapter 9, the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, and I mean there are horrible plagues, I mean there's war, and there's famine, and there's pestilence, and there's disease, and there's domesticated animals turning on their owners, and there's horses kicking people's heads off, I mean it's horrible, it's the most horrible time in history, and many are going to die, but watch this, but the rest of mankind who did not die, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons, idols of gold, silver and brass, stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk." And look at this, "...and they did not repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality, or their thefts." This is a society in this time that we're reading about that is totally dedicated to the practice of all immoral sexual activity, theft, murder, whatever they want to do, they're dedicated to do it, and even though they are being judged and slaughtered wholesale, as long as they can stand up and shake off the dust and look and don't see anybody coming, they want to continue. Does that speak to the evil heart of man or what? But he will not deceive the saints. Their names are in the book of life. That phrase is used seven times in the New Testament. It is the security of the believer that is in view. With all the turmoil that's going to be going on in the world, it'll be easy to assume that they have been forgotten and are unprotected by God. We may be thinking that they're thinking, God, where are you? may be heard in heaven by the prayers of the saints, but the lamb has a book and it is out of reach of Satan. This ought to encourage every heart in this room tonight. The lamb of God has a book and it's out of the reach of Satan. It cannot be erased. God is in charge of it. No one can get to it. And Satan cannot erase the names of those who have put faith and trust and total confidence in Jesus. And their names have been written there. And Jesus is keeping that book. Verse 10 indicates that the Antichrist will imprison many and he'll kill many, but he is not in control. God's will is just that. Some will suffer, some will die, some of it will be part of its plan. And that's what it says here. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints, that no matter how bad it gets, they're going to be faithful. Let's look for 15 minutes at the false prophet. He is the sinister minister of Satan. You say, well, wait a minute. Now, wait, are we going to leave the beast? Yep. We're going to number three here. We got the dragon. Who's the dragon? Satan. And we have the beast or the Antichrist. And now then we've got his religious minister. We've got his cohort. We've got the false prophet. You say, well, aren't there a lot of false prophets? Oh, yeah, they're everywhere. But just like there is the beast or the Antichrist in spite of the spirit of Antichrist already being in the world, there is this figure, this man who will eventually be inhabited by Satan. He is the Antichrist. And now there's also the false prophet. I call him the sinister minister of Satan. This completes the dynamic duo of Satan, but more importantly, it completes the unholy trinity. Remember, Satan is mimicking and imitating everything that God has ever done. Satan is the anti-God, the beast is the anti-Christ, and the false prophet is the anti-Holy Spirit. Interesting. In all points, Satan is mimicking and mocking God, but shortly, God will shut his mocking mouth forever. False prophets are not new. That's a blank for you to fill in. In fact, false Christs are not new. Matthew 24, 23, if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand, therefore, if they say to you, look, he's out in the desert, do not go out. Or if they say, look, he's in an inner room, do not believe it. In Mark 13, verse 22, false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect. Folks, signs, wonders, and miracles are less proof of the power of God than they are of the power of Satan in the world that we live in. God is not confirming His Word with miracles because we have the completed, the full, the total, the absolute all of what God has said right here. He's no longer confirming it with signs, wonders, and miracles. Matthew 7, 12, "...beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, But inwardly they are ravenous wolves, 2 Peter 2.1. There were also false prophets among the people, and there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresy, denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction." So it's always been going on. This isn't new. False Christ, false prophets, false teachers, they've been going on since the Gnostics burst on the scene in like AD 40. As soon as Jesus was risen from the dead, they already were there spreading their false doctrines about a fictitious Christ and a phantom on a cross and still a true Savior and that there was no bodily resurrection. All of these have been going on forever. Everything has been leading up to a counterfeit Christ and a counterfeit prophet. What are the credentials of the counterfeit prophet? Verse 11, And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. Wait a minute, where did the other beast come from? He came from the what? From the sea. The sea was the turbulent waters, the masses of humanity. It was the Gentiles. Now, this first beast rose from the raging sea of humanity indicates the beast is a Gentile. But the second beast comes from the land. And when speaking in scripture of the land, or the pleasant land, or the holy land, or the righteous land, it speaks of Israel. Psalm 106, 24, Daniel 8, 9 speak of it as the land. The beast has the appearance of a lamb, but he has dragon's breath. That's my own little way of saying it. Verse 11, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. You say, but why do you think that he's a Jew? Why do you think he comes up out of the land of Israel? Well, it's going to take somebody from Israel and somebody from the Gentiles to be able to work a covenant out. I mean, you're never going to get the Arabs, all of the people that are surrounding the people of Israel, all of those nations that are at war, that are continually declaring the destruction and annihilation of the Jewish people. There's no way any kind of a peace pact is ever going to be brokered if there's not some representative from among the Jews themselves. I believe the great apostasy, the great apostasy spoken of by the Apostle Paul is not some gradual apostatizing of the church over 20 centuries since Christ left earth. I don't believe that at all. I believe it is the great apostasy when the Jews trade in everything they believe and hold as holy. They trade it all in for peace. They say, let's give peace a try. You know, we've been trying this Jewishness and we've been trying all this for all these years. Let's just, come on, we're one people. We're all from the same blood of Adam. Let's just give peace a try. And so they are going to make concessions, which the book of Deuteronomy said do not do. They're going to make concessions with their enemies and they're just going to have joined right in with the one world religion as long as they got its place in it and as long as they have their profit. He's got dragon's breath. Why? Because he's doing the bidding of the dragon for the benefit and promotion of the beast. Look at his deceiving wonders, verse number 13. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven and the earth in the presence of men. Wow. Call down fire from heaven. Well, that seemed kind of far-fetched. But I mean, even now on planet earth, whenever the drones come by and shoot hellfire missiles and so on, it looks like fire coming out of heaven. Interesting, isn't it? He does these signs. Fire in the sky. Somehow he's able to call down fire like Elijah. Can demons do miracles faster? Of course. Don't you remember the miracles of the magicians in Egypt? And how about the fortune-telling of the sorcerers in Paul's day? Don't forget the 2 Thessalonians 2 specifically says he's going to come with lying wonders to deceive. This is how the Antichrist is going to come and the false prophets are going to help him. What else does this false prophet do? Verse 15, he gives life to the image. And there was given to him breath. Well, let's read verse 14. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which was given to him perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image, make an image, make an image, to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. Wow. There was given to him breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." So what does he do? Well he does signs and he gives life to an image. Images. We've been down this road before. Nebuchadnezzar had a huge image but he couldn't give it life. Here we have an image that can speak. It can force people to worship the beast. He could breathe out fire and kill anybody he wanted to that didn't worship the beast. So now that you think back to Daniel chapter 9, verse number 27, there's going to be a break, there's going to be a rupture of this seven-year promise, this seven-year peace plan in the Middle East in the middle of the week, or after 42 months, or 1260 days, or three and a half years, all the same thing, but it depends on which book of the Bible you're reading. After this first three-and-a-half years of this peace plan it's going to be broken and there is going to be set up an abomination of desolation and it's going to be placed in the wing of the temple. Now there is a teaching that goes along today that in 168 BC a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes did this and that he set up some sort of an altar, sacrificed a pig on it inside the temple. That is probably true I don't doubt that at all. The Maccabean Revolt happened shortly after that and the Antiochus went off into nothingness and they threw off the Syrians who were leading them. But Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 24 said this, when you see the Abominate, He was still speaking of the future, He wasn't referring back to Antiochus Epiphanes, a wicked Syrian leader who hated God and hated Jews and did everything he could to destroy them in 168 BC. Oh no, Matthew records that Jesus said, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing on a wing of the temple, then you know that the end is drawing near. You have three and a half years until the end comes. So there's this image that's standing. It's some sort of a who knows what. It's an image. It stands. It's mechanical. Who knows what it is. It has the ability to shoot out fire. It's got everybody's names recorded. It's all controlling. It's a speaking, talking wonder. And it's a beast. And it's an image. And it's an image of the beast and for the beast. And it causes worship to the beast. The words of Jesus in Matthew 24 15, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. So there's going to be something standing in the temple. I believe it is this image of the beast that will be installed as a full time representative of the beast. In other words, the beast isn't going to sit there himself continually. He's going to be out and about and doing TV interviews and so on. He's going to be on CNN, Fox and BBC and you name it. And you know, Al Jazeera and everything else. He's going to be in the middle of everything. But the image is never going to move. It's going to sit right there. Oh, what a wicked thing. By the way, it is when the Jews, when the Jews see the abomination of desolation standing there, they're going to go, it's all true. We missed the Messiah. We killed him. Zachariah records that they're going to weep. Like a mother that's lost her child, they're going to weep and wail because they have missed their Messiah. The women alone, the men alone, they're going to weep, they're going to cry about the one that they pierced because they're going to know all at once He was the Messiah. He did come. We missed Him. Oh, and they're going to believe in mass. Jews are going to believe all at once and out of those there's going to become the greatest witnesses in the history of the world. And many more are going to die. Let me finish this quickly. His control, He is the policy enforcer. He controls the worship, verse 12, because of those who dwell on the earth to worship. Verse 15, He has power to give breath to the image of the beast. Verse 3, He controls the wealth, verse 16, number three, verse 16. He causes everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or their forehead so that no one can buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. He controls the world, and he uses a mark. God had a seal for those that were his own. Satan, he's got to mimic that, so he's got a seal or a mark for those that are his own. 666. You say, is it a 666? No, I don't believe it's 666. I think there's some, it reduces to that, but I'm sure it's not going to look exactly like that. You're not going to be able to run around and see people with 666, you know, the old movies and everything. No, no, no, no. Think about the branding of the beast, verse 16 to 18. The branding of the beast, verse 16. And he causes all, the small, the great, the rich, the poor, the free men, the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. And he provides that no one should be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Hear his wisdom. Let he who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that is his number, 666. So the branding of the beast, make sure you write these things down quickly. Number one, it'll be connected to worship. It will be connected to worship. People ask me all the time, but do you think that the credit card system and our numbers are part of the, have they required that you worship anybody yet? No, that's not what it is. It's worship connected to worship. Number two, it is compulsive. You cannot buy or sell without it. Number three, it is the counterfeit of the seal of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seals us, that's Ephesians 1, verse 13 and 14, with the Holy Spirit, but it's an unseen seal. Well, Satan, he doesn't like that. He wants a seal, all right, but he wants it to be visible. We saw Jews sealed in the Old Testament at the Passover. We saw saints sealed in the day of grace in the New Testament by the receiving of the word of faith. And that was Ephesians 1, 13 to 14. In the book of Revelation, there are 144 sealed out of the 12 tribes of Israel for the witnessing task. That's chapter 7. Now then, we see the counterfeit father, the counterfeit son, and the counterfeit prophet. They also have a counterfeit seal or a mark. It's a mark of ownership. a seal. It's a mark of submission. If you take the mark, you are submitting a name. And it's a mark of identification. You have a number. Oh, this is the biggest one. It is a mark of condemnation. all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." If you don't worship, you will die by the sword. That's why the millions of people are going to die because they will not take the mark and they will suffer the fate. And if you don't worship, you will starve or die of exposure or be outright killed. Somebody's going to say, Pastor, is the Antichrist or the false prophet alive in the world today? That's somebody's question. Answer, I do not know. Could they be? Yes. 1 John 4, 2, Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that you have heard it was coming and is now already in the world. The spirit's already here. Here's what I do know. The world will know him when he is revealed. They will not know him when he is born. The Antichrist is not going to pop out and say, hey, I'm here, I'm the Antichrist. It's not going to happen like that. Hey, look at me, I've already got on my behind back here, 666. No, it's not going to happen like that. The Antichrist will not be known at birth as an adolescent or a teen, or perhaps not even a young adult. He will not even be easily recognized as a world leader. But when he is revealed, there will be no doubt. What is the revelation of the beast? You tell me. The revelation of the beast is what? The abomination of desolation is the revelation of the beast. I'm going to have to stop. We're going to have to look a little bit more at this in a few weeks. Next week we have something. I'm going to just take time to make sure I cover this. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You that