Sermon Transcript

0:00:14.0

According to a study conducted by researchers at Oxford University, human beings are religious by nature.  Some of you are saying, “No duh, Pastor.”  And it's true we didn't need 57 researchers to conduct 40 different studies in 20 different locations across the globe to arrive at that conclusion.  Most of us giving witness here today in a worship service can say, “Yeah.  We human beings are religious by nature.”  But that's not self-evident to everybody.  And let the researchers do what the researchers do.  But I agree with Christina Chu, who wrote an article about this research, and even she agreed that we humans, in her words, “have a predisposition to believe in some kind of divine being.”  And I think there's a simple explanation for that; we were created in the image of God, and we were created to glorify Him and to worship Him.  The problem is that sin, as I understand it in the Scriptures, sin has severely damaged our worship instinct.

0:01:27.2

I want you to think about the first commandment God gave to the Hebrew people: “You shall have no other gods before Me,” He said, many, many years ago.  And that was an important place for Him to start in the 10 Commandments with the Hebrews, because they had been in slavery in an Egyptian culture for 400 years.  An ancient civilization that was littered with false gods and false religion.  And so it was important for the Lord God of heaven and earth, as he began a relationship with His chosen people, to say, “You shall have no other gods before Me.  I AM the one true God, Jehovah,” He said.  But the history of Israel, God’s chosen people, and the history of humanity in general proves that our hearts easily drift toward false religion, does it not?  And speaking of false religion, every false religion in the world today…and I know that's not politically correct today, because all religions basically say the same thing, right?  No.  Every false religion today has it roots in another ancient civilization called Babylon, that existed long before Egypt.  And if you're thinking of the Tower of Babel when you think of Babylon, you're thinking correctly, because Babylon came out of that group of people who migrated to the plains of Shinar and erected this tower in defiance to God.  It became the roots of very pagan religion in the world.  The Babylonian civilization was full of devil worship and pagan idolatry.

0:03:10.0

The Bible is, in many ways, a tale of two cities, starting with the city of Babel, that became Babylon and the Babylonian civilization.  It's also the tale of another city called Salem, which eventually became Jerusalem.  And it shouldn't surprise us as we need about Jerusalem, the holy city of God, and Babylon, the center of pagan worship and devil worship, that these two cities emerge on center stage at the end of the end of the age.  You read in the Revelation of Jesus Christ about Babylon.  In fact most scholars see a religious Babylon that rises, as well as an economic Babylon.  And there's debate as to whether this is symbolic or whether it has something to do with the literal city of Babylon, that even Saddam Hussein was rebuilding during his reign.  But the tale of these two cities, Jerusalem and Babylon, it shouldn't surprise us that they appear in the book of Revelation.  And it shouldn't surprise us that the Antichrist uses religion to seize control of the world.

0:04:15.1

You know, the devil is not against religion, he's just against true religion and the worship of the one true God.  But he loves religion, he loves false belief and false religious systems.  And what we find at the end of the age is that this figure that John describes as a beast, that we talked about last time, the beast rising up out of the sea, this Antichrist teams up with another beast, which John talks about in Revelation 13:11.  Two beasts, one rising up from the sea, one rising up form the earth.  The Antichrist and this other beast known as the false prophet, who is used by the devil to bring about a one world religion, and who teams up with the Antichrist to develop a one world economy and seize control of the world’s belief system and the world’s ability to buy and sell in the economy as well.  All of this is pictured in this description that John gives us in Revelation chapter 13, and especially verses 11-18 with regard to the false prophet.  

0:05:22.8

This false prophet amalgamates the world’s religions into a common, but false, belief system.  And it's not hard to see how that might happen today, because people have been trying to join together and unite the world religions since the beginning of time.  “We all believe basically the same thing, don’t we?”  That's what the world wants us to believe.  And that movement and that belief system will reach a tipping point at the end of the age.  And especially when the Church vacates this world through the rapture, and there is a skeleton of a religious organization, and a vacuum left into which the false prophet moves and develops a one world belief system controlled by the Antichrist and the devil.  By the way, the devil, the Antichrist and the false prophet…the Antichrist and the false prophet being the two beasts that John sees rising up from the sea and the earth…these three form the unholy trinity.  And I want to talk to you a little bit this morning about that second figure known as the false prophet.

0:06:22.7

In Revelation 13:11-18 there are probably seven or eight things that we can say about this figure, this other beast rising up form the sea.  Number 1, he's a religious figure.  I've already implied that, haven't I?  But you say, “Well, where do we get the idea that he’s a religious figure?”  Well, Revelation 19:20 calls him the false prophet.  He is a prophet with political power and connection.  And what we're gonna see is the mingling of religion and politics in a way like the world has never seen before.  The Antichrist being that political leader, the false prophet being the religious leader.  And they team up to form a one world religion and a one world economy, again, like the world has never seen before.

0:07:10.2

Number 2, John sees that this is not only a religious figure, but he is from the earth, and not heaven.  He sees him rising up out of the earth.  Now, in verse 1 he sees the Antichrist rising up out of the sea, and last time we said that the sea is, oftentimes in the book of Revelation, a reference to the gentile nations.  Maybe specifically in John’s day a reference to the nearest sea that John and others were located by, that being the Mediterranean Sea.  And it's led many Bible scholars to believe that the Antichrist will be a gentile, perhaps rising up from the Mediterranean regions of the world.  But now he sees another beast, this time rising up from the earth.  And there's been some speculation as to what “the earth” means, but really the most we can say is that this is an earthly figure, not a heavenly figure.  There ain't nothing heavenly about this false prophet.  He is a religious figure with political power and connection, but he is of the earth, and not heaven.  Again, rounding out the unholy trinity made up of the devil, the Antichrist and the false prophet who come upon this earth during the tribulation period.  Something else we can say about this false prophet is his demeanor is one of quiet humility, with ferocious, ferocious intentions.  John says, “It had two horns,”—this beast did—“two horns,”—picturing his authority that he shares with the Antichrist—“two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like dragon.”  When the false prophet appears on planet Earth he will have the quiet demeanor that you expect of a member of the clergy.  Quiet, humble, but he has dragon-like intentions.  John calls him a beast, just like the Antichrist.  And together, influenced, if not possessed by the devil himself, they will come to kill, to steal and destroy.  He looks like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon, John says.

0:09:19.0

Number 4, he exercises authority with the Antichrist.  Did you see that in verse 12?  “It,”—that is the beast or the false prophet—“exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence.”  And again, here we have the mingling of politics and religion.  You know, politics and religion have always been strange bedfellow, have they not?  One using the other for it's own selfish purposes.  And here the false prophet derives his authority from the Antichrist, who derives his power and authority form the devil himself.  And in many ways this false prophet is a pathetic figure, because he has no authority in and of himself.  Again, he derives his authority from the beast.  And as a religious figure, gone is the idea that the authority is in the word of God or in the Church itself.  

0:10:12.1

You know, I have no authority in and of myself.  I speak with the authority of the Word of God.  And the extent to which my words align with the Word of God, I have authority in what I say.  There was a time in our culture where Billy Graham would stand up and say, “The Bible says,” because there was still that remnant in our culture that believed that the Bible was God’s Word and spoke with authority.  But that's gone during the tribulation period.  The Church is raptured out of here.  There's this religious institutional shell that is left, and that's the shell into which the false prophet moves, and along with the Antichrist he exercises authority not only over the world’s belief system, but also the world economy.  You may remember that as we go closer and closer to the end of the age, the Church becomes more apostate.  The Church drifts away from orthodoxy, from the faith that was once delivered to the saints.  And, of course, when the true Church of Jesus Christ is raptured out of this earth, nothing is left but a religious shell.  And because we are religious by nature, the Antichrist and the false prophet team up in a mingling of politics and religion like the world has never seen before to seize control of the world.

0:11:32.1

Number 5, this false prophet—listen to this—he performs signs and wonders.  He's a miracle worker.  Let’s pick it up in verse 13.  “It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people.”  Now, who does that sound like?  Sounds kind of like Elijah the prophet.  Remember when Elijah the prophet did that in the great battle of the prophets on Mount Carmel?  And if you remember, the two witnesses that appear on planet Earth to give witness to the gospel along with the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, those two witnesses seem to be Moses and Elijah that return to planet Earth.  And perhaps there's another battle of the prophets, and Elijah’s calling down fire from heaven, and well, the false prophet does the same.  He's a miracle worker. 

0:12:17.3

It goes on to say in verse 14, “and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.”  The false prophet and the Antichrist are miracle workers.  Kind of reminds me of Pharaoh’s magicians, who were also able to perform miracles right alongside Moses.  You see, the devil isn’t against religion, and the devil has power too.  And he grants that power to his two witnesses on this earth, the Antichrist and the false prophet.  And they use signs and wonders to deceive people.  

0:13:07.7

By the way, if you need a miracle today to believe in God, if you're one of these people chasing signs and wonders, you're vulnerable to deception.  It'll happen all over during the tribulation period, but it's happening today.  People who will probably be among those at the end of the age who say to Jesus, “But we did great and mighty things in your name.”  And He says, “Well, I never knew you.”  “Oh, we performed all of these signs and wonders and miracles.”  But He says, “I never knew you.”  That's because the devil can fake what Jesus is able to do.  And it'll happen in droves during the tribulation period.  Signs and wonders and miracles.  You know, Paul even said of the Jewish people, “The Jews look for signs, but the Greeks look for wisdom.”  Both rejected Jesus because Jesus wasn't spectacular enough for the Jews, and He wasn't sophisticated enough for the Greeks.  But to those who are looking for signs and wonders, boy, the Antichrist and the false prophet, hey, they're your guys, they're your guys.  They're gonna dazzle and razzle and perform all kinds of sings and all kinds of wonders.  Including erecting an image of the beast. 

0:14:23.2

Now, here's where I think we're at the midpoint of the tribulation period.  And we're describing that time Daniel talks about known as “the abomination that causes desolation.”  Jesus references this in His discussion about the end of the days with the disciples in Matthew 24 and 25.  It's the time when the Antichrist steps into the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and desecrates it.  And with the help of the false prophet, they erect an image of the beast.  And the world worships this beast.  Which brings me to number 6, the false prophets inspires people to worship the Antichrist.  It kind of reminds me of something that happened in the Babylonian civilization years ago.  Let’s go full circle back to Babylon for a moment.  Remember in your Bible, in Daniel chapter 3?  Turn with me there for a moment, Daniel chapter 3.  Back during the Gilded Age of the Babylonian civilization there was a king named Nebuchadnezzar who was kind of full of himself.  Thought he was god, thought he should be worshiped.  And he got together with all of this advisers and they built this image, this stone statue of Nebuchadnezzar.  They weren't in the plains of Shinar.  Oh, no.  Fast-forward in your history many, many centuries.  Now, they're in the plains of Dura, and the Babylonian civilization is in full bore, as it were.  They’ve captured the Jewish people and taken them into their captivity time.  Daniel is among them.  And in Daniel 3:4, there on “the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon,”—it says, verse 4—“and the herald proclaimed aloud, ‘You are commanded, O peoples, nations, languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.  And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.’”

0:16:33.2

Well, you remember the story of Daniel and his three friends, you know, Rack, Shack and Benny?  That's a Veggie Tales thing.  My kids are grown, but I remember Rack, Shack and Benny.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  And while King Nebuchadnezzar was saying, “Bow or burn,” they chose to burn rather than bow.  And they were tossed into that fiery furnace.  And then there's that story of the fourth man in the fire, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, who miraculously saved them from the burning fire.  It's a fabulous story in the Old Testament book of Daniel.  My point is this, the devil’s not very creative.  What he tried to do on the plain of Dura during the Babylonian captivity centuries earlier, well, he just pulls that old trick during the tribulation period and tries it again.  And with the help of the false prophet, they erect an image, a beastly image in the temple in Jerusalem.  And the world…remember, by nature we're religious, right?  We've got to worship something.  And the world worships the beast. 

0:17:52.4

John tells us in Revelation chapter 13 that the false prophet makes the beast come alive and speak.  It's very interesting.  Now, given all the signs and wonders that are taking place, it might be a supernatural thing that this beast is speaking and comes alive.  But there also could be a technological explanation.  I remember years ago when Katherine and I took the kids to Disney World, one of my favorite things to see at Disney World was the Hall of Presidents.  I love the Hall of Presidents.  You're sitting there in a theatre kind of like this, and the curtain comes up, and there they are, all 40 some odd presidents.  They look so lifelike, don’t they?  Then suddenly I see Abraham Lincoln over here, and he moves.  You know, does one of these.  And then speaks.  Got Abraham Lincoln speaking over here.  And you understand, it's called audio animatronics.  It's old technology today, but it was pretty cool when the Hall of Presidents was introduced by Disney.  And now theme parks all over use (0:19:00.0) technology to have images speak to us.  Well, imagine the Antichrist and the false prophet getting ahold of much more advanced technology, like the use of holograms, and artificial intelligence.  And perhaps using that technology to create a beast that so inspires the world to worship that beast.  And one of the things that that beast speaks is, “If you're not on my team,”—and I'm paraphrasing here—“you're gonna die.”  Whether it's a threat, or they carry it out, we know that there's great carnage all throughout the tribulation period.  And this Antichrist and false prophet that are possessed by and inspired by the devil himself are here to kill, steal and destroy.  But it inspires the world to worship the beast.

0:19:55.3

Number 7, the false prophet, along with (0:20:00.0) the Antichrist controls the world economy, controls the world economy.  Let’s go back to Revelation 13, pick it up in verse 16.  John says, “Also the false prophet causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.  This calls for wisdom,” he says, “let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”  Now, again, here we see the combination of religion and politics.  The Antichrist being the political figure that rises up, the false prophet being the religious figure.  And they team up.  They team up to control not only the belief system in the world, but also the economy.  This is that section of Scripture that, as mysterious as it sounds, you know, talks about the “mark of the beast.”  You can Google that, and even the number 666 and come up all kinds of crazy stuff, but here's the sourcing of it, here's where it comes from.  The mark of the beast.  It's no longer science fiction anymore.  No longer science fiction because we have the technology perhaps to do what is described here.  We have barcode technology, which is pretty common in your grocery stores today and other retail institutions.  To buy and sell you just swipe here or you swipe there.  We do it every time we go to the grocery store, don’t we?  But we also have the technology today to put all kinds of information on a little chip about the size of a seed.  And you can place that technology just beneath the surface of the skin, I'm told.  And, you know, you could put it on the forehead, you could put it on the right hand, you could scan, control people’s purchases, control their comings and their goings.  A generation ago it was hard to imagine what John saw here and what he was describing, but with the advancements of technology today, oh, it's kind of easy to see how the Antichrist would step onto the scene and seize control, not only of the world’s belief system, but also of the economy.

0:22:32.5

Now, there's a lot of discussion today about this kind of technology, and good discussions about civil liberties and losses to our Constitution and so on and so forth.  But I can imagine a time…when I read through the book of Revelation and the description of the Tribulation and the calamity and the destruction that comes to planet Earth…I can imagine a time when even people in democratic societies like ours will be so full of fear they will gladly give up liberty for security. Gladly give up their liberty for somebody who comes on the scene and promises peace and safety.  “Ah, you just got to put this little thing beneath your forehead or just beneath your skin here.  And if we all just kind of come together, everything will be just fine.”  And see, a lot of these things that a generation ago were really, really difficult to grasp and understand, we're living at a time where the technology is here, we're living at a time where thought processes and the movements towards this are here.  Fast-forward even a little bit more.  The world will reach a tipping point where, yeah, all these discussions about civil liberties and constitutions…the world will be in such chaos people will gladly give over their liberty for a little bit of safety and security.  Especially when you can't get a loaf of bread without the mark of the beast.  And John says that you can't buy or sell anything.  The Antichrist and the false prophet take complete control of what you believe and what you worship, and they even control the economy.  Your ability to go down to the grocery store and buy bread for your family.  That's world domination, that's world control.

0:24:24.7

Now, what about this number, 666?  You ever gotten a telephone number and had the number 666 in it?  I've known of people who got an address, and, you know, their address was 666 Main Street, and they went to the city and they changed it because there's so much mystery and so much fear around this number.  Let me just cut through all of that and kind of explain what John is talking about here.  In the Hebrew language every letter is also given a number.  So names in the Hebrew language also have numbers.  And what John is saying here is when the Antichrist appears on planet Earth, his name in Hebrew will number 666.  Now again, if you Google this you're gonna find all kinds of crazy stuff, and, you know, theological poppycock and nonsense out there regarding this number.  John tells us the deeper meaning.  He says, “This is the number for man.”  Remember, man was created in six days, and God rested on the seventh.  Interestingly enough, when that group of people with one language came to the plains of Shinar and erected the Tower of Babel, did you know that the Bible says the tower was 60 cubits high and six cubits wide.  Just another reference to man’s number. The number seven in the Bible is the number of perfection.  It's heaven’s number.  “Thank heaven for 7-Eleven,” right?  Is that the phrase?  Okay.  Everybody knows the number seven is the number of perfection.  What's the meaning of all this?  Very simply, when man tries to rule himself apart from God, we always, always fall short of God’s perfection.  Always.  And at best, what the devil can do is enslave us and turn us into “sixes.”  But Jesus Christ comes and he sets us free.  He sets the captives free, and He turns us into “sevens.”  All right?  How simple is that?  A simple math lesson this morning.  But it makes sense ‘cause the Bible says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  And this worldwide system of one belief and one economy that the devil masterfully puts together will fall short of the glory of God.  And the Antichrist’s number and name, 666, is a loud, loud reminder of that.

0:27:01.0

Number 8.  And here's something interesting.  The false prophet is destroyed, ultimately destroyed by the Antichrist.  Let’s go back to Revelation chapter 17 for a moment.  Verses 15-18 says, “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute.”  What's he talking about here?  At the beginning of Revelation chapter 17 John describes this false religion in a different way.  He describes it as a great prostitute sitting on top of the beast.  It's another picture of the comingling of politics and religion at the end of the age.  And why a prostitute?  Because all throughout the Scripture, when man’s heart drifts toward idolatry and drifts toward false religion, God looks at it as spiritual prostitution.  And when the apostate church reaches its ultimate expression during the tribulation period…again, Revelation chapter 17, John begins by describing this prostitute, this great prostitute who sits on a beast.  And he says in verse 5, “on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes, of earth's abominations.’  And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”  There we've come back to the Babylonian culture again.  The seedbed of all devil worship and spiritual prostitution and everything that just offends the holiness of God and the one true worship that He wants to inspire in us toward the one true God.  So Babylonian idolatry emerges again at the end of the age here.

0:29:02.8

Well, remember the Antichrist uses religion for his own selfish purposes.  And when he has achieved his purpose of world domination and the worship of the world, then he takes the false prophet and casts the false prophet aside like a rag doll.  And this is what John describes in Revelation 17:15-18; “the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute.”  For a while they had this relationship, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  But now my friend is my enemy.  They’ve hated the prostitute, this one world religion, the whole time.  “They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”  It's a description of the complete and total destruction now of religious Babylon and this one world belief system, because now the devil has what he has always wanted: the control of the world and the worship of human beings on that world.

0:30:16.5

It's a lot to digest this morning, isn’t it?  And I want to leave you with three, just, sort of, applications.  Maybe you've walked through your neighborhood before and you've seen a sign over here that says, “Beware of the dog.”  Or maybe you've been driving down the road and you see a sign that says, “Caution ahead.”  Well, that's kind of how we read through the book of Revelation.  I want to give you three “beware of the beasts” this morning, just by way of application.  Number 1, beware of false prophets in the world today.  Oh, there is a false prophet that is ultimately coming in Bible prophecy, that will emerge during the Tribulation.  Yes, when the Church is raptured out of this world.  But until then Jesus told us there will be many false prophets who come and go.  Mathew 24:11, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.”  Oh, I know it's not politically correct to say there are false prophets and false religions in the world today.  But Jesus said otherwise.  He said in every generation during the last days, from the time of His first coming up until the time of His second coming, there will be false prophets.  And it takes discernment, does it not, as believers in Jesus Christ to discern that which is true and that which is false?  “Woe to those who say good is evil and evil is good.”  We're living in times like that where we don’t the difference between right and wrong in our society.  What has happened to our world?  All the more reason for the Church of Jesus Christ to bathe ourselves in the Word of God, to be able to discern what is right and what is wrong.  To discern the drift away from orthodoxy and the professing of Jesus Christ as the One and Only.  To have great discernment about that, and to steer very clear of any hint of false religion and a false prophet.

0:32:22.8

Turn with me to 1 John chapter 4 real quickly.  One of the little postcards that the apostle John wrote.  He says in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”  Not everybody who clothes himself in a clerical robe is from God.  There will be a beast that rises up that looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon.  So you have to test the spirits.  You have to have discernment.  He says, “for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”  How do you know a false prophet from a real prophet?  Ask him what he thinks of Jesus.  And if it's anything less than the Son of god who came as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, who died on the cross and rose from the dead…if it's anything other than He is the One and Only, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him…if it's some kind of dumbed down form of “love one another” and all that kind of garbage that divorces itself from biblical orthodoxy around the person, the nature, the works and the words of Jesus Christ, then it's false.  I didn't say it, the Bible says it.  And furthermore, it goes on to say, “This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”  John was saying this to his audience in the first century, 2,000 years ago.  He says, “The spirit of antichrist is already here.”  Now, there will come a time when the Antichrist, capital A, appears on the scene as a charismatic political leader promising peace and safety.  And he'll be joined up with a religious leader, the false prophet, who looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon.  And together they will control the world thought system and belief system, and ultimately the world economy.  So beware of false prophets in the world today.

0:34:40.8

By the way some people point to ecumenical organizations like the World Council of Churches.  You ever heard of that?  Just an apostate group of religious nothings who deny biblical truth and biblical ortho-…who deny Je-…oh, they love Jesus as a nice prophet and as a good moral teacher.  But it's not the Jesus who is revealed in the pages of Scripture, I can tell you that.  It's not the Jesus of Christianity, true Christianity.  It's not the Jesus of the faith that was once delivered to the saints.  And some people point to organizations like that and wonder if they might provide that shell or that platform by which the false prophet seizes control and builds a one world thought system and religion.  Beware of false prophets in the world today.

0:35:32.6

Secondly, beware the false unification of all things.  Now, don’t misunderstand me here.  Unity is a good thing.  Coming together is a good thing.  Jesus prayed, “Father, make them one as we are one.”  We need to be unified in the Body of Christ.  And unity doesn't mean uniformity, it doesn't mean unanimity.  It just means that we are together around some core biblical truths.  We're united around the gospel.  But not all lofty language about unity is a good thing.  Some people talk about, “Oh, let’s all come together,” because they're evil intent is to control.  And I just want to suggest to you we need to beware of the false unification of all things.  The Antichrist and the false prophet will be masterful in their communication about world unity, and the world coming together as one.  They will seize the moment that is full of catastrophe and tribulation and much chaos, and they’ll step onto that platform, as it were, and speak peace and safety and unity.  But it's a false unification for the purpose of killing, stealing and destroying, ‘cause that's what the devil does.  So beware of false prophets in the world today.  Beware of the false unification of all things.

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Thirdly, beware of the false intentions of evil people.  Remember, this false prophet, he looked like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.  And it takes discernment, doss it not, to discern false intentions?  False attempts at unification, even false prophets who look like they know what they're talking about, it takes discernment, does it not?  And it's the time for us as believers in Jesus Christ, oh, not to become full of fear because of what is coming down the road.  If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the Church will be raptured out of this place.  We'll be gone.  But all of the thought processes and the movements are among us today.  The spirit of antichrist is here.  It is a call for believers in Jesus Christ to anchor their hope in the soon return of Jesus Christ, the blessed hope of the Church.  But it's also a time for us to walk with discernment.  Because John tells us, does he not, that this false prophet, along with the Antichrist will deceive many?  It's hard to imagine how so many people will be swayed.  Elsewhere in the New Testament the Bible says God will send a strong delusion over people.  Again, I just see this tipping point where the world will just very easily, and almost seamlessly and naturally trade liberty for security and just come under the rule and reign of the Antichrist and the false prophet.  May seem wildly unable to happen today, but when I turn on the news and I see the catastrophe and the cataclysms happening all across our globe today, makes me realize that these ancient prophecies, these revelations that were given to us 2,000 years ago are spot on, because they were given to John by God himself.  

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So I want us to be encouraged today.  I want us to be discerning.  I want us to understand the times we are living in.  Be like men and women of Issachar in that way.  And walk out of here filled with hope in our hearts because we are united and connected to, in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Walk out of here with a strong heart that is able to discern biblical truth from the lies of the devil and his emissaries.

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Let’s pray together.  Father, we thank You so much for Your Word.  Just thank You for giving us hope, because You see things that we don’t see in the future.  And were it not for Your kindness and Your graciousness in sharing some of Your secrets, of pulling back the veil and revealing mysteries to us, we would just be left to wonder what's happening here.  I thank You for the reminders along the way, even in the book of Revelation that You are a sovereign God, that sometimes You even use evil people to accomplish Your divine and holy purposes.  How You do that without compromising Your own righteousness is a mystery to us, but You are a sovereign God who is fully in control.  I pray for anybody and all of us in this place, Father, to the extent that our hearts drift so easily to false religion.  “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.  Prone to leave the God I love,” the hymn writer said.  And, Father, that's true in my heart as it is in every one of us.  Even as believers in Jesus Christ, that sin nature just grabs at us and pulls us.  But, Father, today we want to run, run, run, run into Your presence and into Your arms.  It's the only true place of peace and safety, and we need You today.  We need You because our world is spinning out of control, and nobody seems to have answers.  At least not on the political stage.  But, Father, we find the answers in the pages of Your Word and in the Person of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  The Lamb who looks like a lion, the Lion who looks like Lamb.  And we say even so, come.  Come today, Lord Jesus.  Make us a Church that is ready, that is prepared.  Clean up Your Bride.  Whiten us, cleanse us by Your blood, so that when the trumpet sounds, Father, we're a pure and holy Bride.  Come, Lord Jesus, come.  And for every day, for every moment that You delay, help us to see that as an opportunity to share Christ with people, to tell them about the good news, the gift of eternal life, that forgiveness is ours because of the blood of Christ shed from Calvary.  That our Savior is risen and ascended, and He's coming again.  Help us to live with that expectation every day.  We pray in the name of Jesus and for His sake, amen.

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