We're going to make our proclamation, which is
appropriate for the message I'm going to bring
tonight, which will be the rise of Antichrist.
But before we talk about Antichrist, let's talk
about the true Christ.
So these words are taken from Daniel chapter
2 verses 20 through 22 and chapter 4
verses 34 and 35.
The latter part from chapter 4 are the
words of Nebuchadnezzar after God had dealt with
him.
He knows what is in the darkness, and
the light dwells with him.
For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed
as nothing.
He does according to his will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth.
No one can restrain his hand or say
to him, what have you done?
I've already announced the theme for this meeting,
the rise of Antichrist.
This is part of the series on the
end time, and it is a very significant
and important part of God's total revelation concerning
the end time.
Personally, I believe that Christians who do not
take the trouble and seek God to find
out the basic teaching of the word of
God about the Antichrist are in great danger
of being swept away with deception.
God has made knowledge available to us, and
we are responsible for what we do with
it.
Now this is not an easy study, and
as I said the other night, you will
need your mind.
So switch it on if you switched it
off, and let's trust God together to give
us understanding and insight.
I just need to know what we've got
all around us.
You don't need to use it yet, but
just be available.
First of all, we need to study the
meaning of the word or the phrase Antichrist,
because we can learn a lot from that.
The word Christ is taken from the Greek
word Christos, which corresponds to the Hebrew word
Mashiach, or Messiah.
And it means the Anointed One, the Messiah,
the Christ.
The preposition anti in front of it has
two meanings, both of which I believe apply.
First of all, anti means against, and of
course we use that in modern speech, anti
-war, anti-nuclear armaments, etc.
But the other one is a little less
understood.
It means in place of.
So the operation of Antichrist has two phases.
Number one, against the true Christ to get
him out of the way.
And number two, to replace him with a
false Christ.
In 1 John 2 and verse 18, John
speaks about the relationship of this to the
last days.
1 John 2, 18, he says, Little children,
it is the last hour, not just the
last day, but the last hour.
And as you have heard that the Antichrist
is coming, even now many Antichrists have come
by which we know that it is the
last hour.
This is a distinctive mark of the end
time.
And then in the same epistle, chapter 4,
verses 2 and 3, 1 John 4, verses
2 and 3.
By this you know the Spirit of God,
the Holy Spirit.
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is of God.
That is, every spirit that confesses that Jesus
came as God, man, and lived here as
man and walked in the flesh is of
God.
And every spirit that does not confess Jesus,
now there are various different texts, but I'm
taking the one which I consider to be
the most reliable.
Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is
not of God.
And this is the spirit of the Antichrist,
which you have heard was coming and now
already is in the world.
Now there you have Antichrist in three forms.
Many Antichrists, plural, the Antichrist, singular, and the
Spirit of Antichrist.
Now the Spirit of Antichrist operates through every
Antichrist.
And down through the pages of history from
the time of John till today, there have
been many Antichrists.
But there is one who is called the
Antichrist, who has not yet appeared on the
stage of human history.
He is the ultimate manifestation of the Spirit
of Antichrist.
Personally I'm inclined to think that his coming
is so near that you can say his
shadow has already fallen across the stage of
history.
That's a personal opinion.
Now it's very important that we understand what
are the marks of the Spirit of Antichrist.
And they're given to us.
1 John chapter 2 verse 19
They went out from us, but they were
not of us.
For if they had been of us, they
would have continued with us.
But they went out that they might be
made manifest, that none of them were of
us.
This is very important.
The Spirit of Antichrist begins in association with
the people of God.
It's not paganism.
It's something very directly connected to Christians.
But they don't remain with Christians.
They go out from Christians.
This is very significant because it indicates, if
I understand it rightly, that the Antichrist will
arise somehow in association with professing Christians.
In other words, he's not going to be
some dictator that has no Christian profession or
association.
But he's going to arise closely associated with
the professing church.
And then in verses 22 and 23 of
1 John chapter 2, John says, Who is
a liar but he who denies that Jesus
is the Christ, the Messiah?
He is Antichrist who denies the Father and
the Son.
Whoever denies the Son does not have the
Father either.
He who acknowledges the Son has the Father
also.
So there's another mark of Antichrist spirit.
It denies the relationship of the Father and
the Son within the Godhead.
It does not acknowledge that revelation of the
unique God.
This is very conspicuous in one of the
most powerful anti-Christian forces in the world.
That is Islam.
The religion of Mohammed, which ferociously denies that
Jesus is the Son of God.
They will acknowledge that Jesus may have been
the Messiah.
But I was praying once with a Muslim
who wanted salvation.
And he came up and I said, I'll
lead you in a prayer.
But when I said Jesus the Son of
God, his mouth shot like a trap.
He would not say it.
Some years ago Ruth and I were in
Pakistan before Don and his team went there.
And because we announced healing meetings, we had
thousands of people come.
Although it was a Muslim state.
And we reckoned that about eight or nine
thousand people actually indicated that they wanted to
be saved.
So I always led them in the prayer.
And they said it after me.
Now whether, what results followed, that's known only
to God.
But I always started this way.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you are
the Son of God and the only way
to God.
But any spiritual authority or force that denies
the relationship of the Son and the Father
in the Godhead, is a mark of anti
-Christ.
The great mosque of Omar which stands on
the temple site in Jerusalem has inscriptions in
Arabic and twice they say emphatically, God has
no need of a son.
Actually, this is a personal impression.
I think probably Islam is the most active,
powerful, anti-Christian force at work in the
world at the present time.
And unfortunately multitudes of Christians are deceived because
they haven't learned the tests.
And then in 1st John 4 verse 3
it says, Every spirit that does not confess
Jesus is not of God.
And that is the spirit of the anti
-Christ.
So that's a more general mark.
Any spirit that doesn't acknowledge what the Bible
says about Jesus is a spirit of anti
-Christ.
So you understand the spirit of anti-Christ
is not paganism.
It can only arise where the claims of
Jesus have been stated.
It's Satan's ultimate counter-attack against Jesus.
And against the Gospel.
It's very interesting to me, and this is
a personal impression I have, that the Bible
records the first time the spirit of anti
-Christ really moved.
And I find it in Matthew 27 verses
21 and 22.
This is where Jesus is before Pilate and
the Jewish religious leaders are accusing Jesus.
Verses 21 and 22, The governor answered and
said to them, which of the two do
you want me to release to you?
And remember the issue was, should it be
Jesus or should it be Barabbas?
He was going to release one prisoner.
Which will they choose?
And they all said to him, Barabbas.
Pilate said to them, what then shall I
do with Jesus who is called Christ or
Messiah?
They all said to him, let him be
crucified.
You see there was a deliberate rejection of
Jesus and the choice of another in his
place.
And Barabbas who was chosen was a political
figure.
He was a man of violence and a
murderer.
And if you ponder on that for a
moment, it's one of the most amazing facts
of human history.
That the Jewish people rejected Jesus and chose
Barabbas.
Because Jesus had done nothing but good.
He had never harmed anyone.
He had healed countless multitudes.
He brought peace and love to multitudes.
Why did the Jews make that tragic mistake?
The answer is they were overwhelmed without understanding
it by a spirit.
Which was the spirit of Antichrist.
And I believe that that is a preview
of what is going to happen in the
world.
And I think very shortly.
I think God is going to confront the
human race with a choice.
Do you want Jesus or do you want
this other?
And I think the same spiritual force will
cause the vast majority of humanity.
To say away with Jesus.
We'll choose someone infinitely worse than Barabbas.
And that's why I think it's so important
to teach this.
Because I think every Christian needs to be
instructed.
That they will not make the wrong choice
or follow the crowd.
Now there are various passages in the New
Testament.
That teach very specifically about Antichrist.
And I'm going to deal with two of
them briefly.
The first is 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2.
The other will be Revelation chapter 13.
But we'll turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2
first.
And I'm going to go through this more
or less verse by verse.
But I'm not going to spend a lot
of time on it.
So if you have your Bible it's good
if you can follow it.
I'm going to summarize it as follows.
Verses 1 and 2 teach us that the
manifestation of Antichrist.
Must precede the actual return of the Lord
Jesus.
Perhaps I should read the words.
Don't.
I won't read the words.
But Paul says don't let anybody convince you
in any way.
As though the day of the Lord has
already come.
The day of the return of Jesus.
Verse 3 let no one deceive you.
And how important those words are.
I'd like to say them again.
Let no one deceive you.
I said in a previous talk in this
series.
The greatest single danger that threatens us as
Christians is deception.
Let no one deceive you by any means.
For that day will not come unless the
falling away comes first.
And the man of lawlessness is revealed the
son of perdition.
The man of lawlessness the son of perdition
is the Antichrist.
Who else was called the son of perdition?
There's only one other person called that.
Judas.
That's right.
What was Judas?
He was an apostle.
Who apostatized.
Again that's a clear indication that the Antichrist
will have some kind of association with the
church.
And he's called the man of lawlessness.
And John says the spirit of lawlessness is
already at work.
But the Antichrist will be the final ultimate
manifestation of man's rebellion against God.
And it will take the form of choosing
a ruler who is in a rebellion against
God.
And who is against God's appointed ruler.
The Lord Jesus.
But and this is very important.
Paul says that will not happen until the
falling away takes place.
Now that's the New King James translation.
The NIV says the rebellion.
But the Greek word is apostasia.
From which we get the English word apostasy.
Now apostasy is a deliberate turning away from
revealed religious truth.
The word is only used in one other
place in the New Testament.
Where Paul is accused by the Jews of
teaching apostasy.
In turning the people away from the the
laws of Moses.
So its primary significance is to turn away
from revealed religious truth.
And Paul teaches that the Antichrist cannot be
revealed until there has been the apostasy in
the church.
Because the church is the spiritual barrier to
the activity of Satan.
So Satan has to undermine the church before
he can fulfill his evil purposes.
And I want to suggest to you that
we are living in the days of the
apostasy.
There has been wickedness and immorality and covetousness
and violence in the church through countless centuries.
But it's only in this age and particularly
in this generation.
That nearly all the major denominations have officially
rejected the great basic truths of the gospel.
Which are that Jesus is the Son of
God.
That he was born of a virgin.
That he led a sinless life.
That he died an atoning death.
That he was buried and that he rose
physically the third day.
And that he's coming back again.
And I don't need to acquaint you with
the fact that these basic truths have been
openly flaunted and denied in almost every major
denomination.
And not only in the denominations but there
are many much smaller groups in which these
truths are being attacked.
Some years back my first wife and I
had friends who attended a Methodist church in
the United States.
And this is not an attack on Methodism.
And these friends said to us in our
church you can talk as much as you
like about Plato or Socrates or Buddha or
Martin Luther King.
But if you start to talk about Jesus
people get upset.
What is spirit is that.
It's the spirit of Antichrist in its first
phase.
Get Jesus out of the way.
The second phase is replace him with another.
And that spirit is at work in almost
every area of the body of Christ today.
You better identify it.
It can be very subtle.
Can be very intellectual.
Can be very theological.
But it's still the spirit of Antichrist.
Now verses 4 and 5 state that the
Antichrist will oppose and exalt himself above all
that is called God or that is worshipped.
So that he will sit in the temple
of God showing himself that he is God.
Now there's a lot of discussion about what
the temple of God is.
But I have come to believe myself that
it will be a physical temple built on
the temple mount in Jerusalem by the Jewish
people.
And I have to say that many Jews
are actively preparing for that.
So much that they have schools for the
Levites to teach them how to practice the
sacrifices.
Because you understand that this is a very
elaborate ritual.
It's not easy.
You have to know how to skin a
sheep.
What to do with the various different parts
of the sheep.
There's also those who are actually weaving the
robes of the priests.
And there have been two attempts to break
through onto the temple mount.
And it is now suggested by some scholars
that the actual place of the Holy of
Holies was not where the mosque of Omar
now stands.
So that it could be possible to rebuild
a temple without demolishing the mosque of Omar.
I'm not saying that's the way it will
happen.
But I've been awakened to the fact in
the last few years that there is an
intense pressure at work amongst the Jewish people
to rebuild the temple.
There is a teaching in Judaism which is
not scriptural.
And it's not taught in all Judaism.
That the one who will give us back
our temple is our Messiah.
That's not scriptural.
But if you're not familiar with the Jewish
people.
You have no concept of how significant for
them the temple of Herod was.
I'm always amazed because they never go back
in their thinking to the temple of Solomon.
It's always the temple of Herod.
Which is amazing because Herod was an Edomite.
He was a wicked man who murdered all
sorts of people including members of his own
family.
And built this temple in order to appreciate
the Jewish people.
But there's a kind of spirit at work
that says we want our temple back.
And the one who will give us our
temple back we will acknowledge as our Messiah.
So I personally believe that the Antichrist will
at some time sit in a temple that
has been rebuilt by the Jewish people.
People say well it couldn't be the temple
of God because there'll be unbelievers.
I'm not convinced of that because the Jews
are God's people whether they're believers or unbelievers.
And God is the God of the Jews.
Whether they acknowledge Him or not.
And if Jews build a temple to their
God then it is the temple of God.
This is just one way of looking at
it.
As you'll understand I've spent a good deal
of time meditating on this.
And I've done it because I feel pressured
living as we do in Jerusalem.
There's such a sense that the shadow of
the Antichrist has fallen across the city.
It's not something remote.
It's something very close at hand.
And then in verses 5 and 6 Paul
says do you not remember that when I
was still with you I told you these
things.
And now you know what is restraining that
he the Antichrist may be revealed in his
own time.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work.
Only he who now restrains will do so
until he is taken out of the way.
Again this is a question that is discussed.
But the restraining force is called both he
and it.
Who and what.
And I agree with those who say that
it is the Holy Spirit.
Until the Holy Spirit withdraws himself in some
way the Antichrist cannot be fully manifested.
Verse 8.
And then the lawless one will be revealed
whom the Lord will consume with the breath
of his mouth and destroy with the brightness
of his coming.
I'm personally glad that the true Christ will
take care of the false Christ.
I don't want to.
I don't want that task assigned to me.
Because the Antichrist is a person of extraordinary
cunning and wisdom and power.
And I think it's appropriate the true Messiah
will deal with the false Messiah.
All right.
Verse 9.
The coming of the lawless one is according
to the working of Satan with all power,
signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous
deception among those who perish because they did
not receive the love of the truth that
they might be deceived.
Very important to emphasize that the coming of
the Antichrist will be attested by many supernatural
miracles and signs.
I've always said for years the obvious place
for the Antichrist to arise is in the
charismatic movement.
Because his charismatics go overboard on the supernatural.
Now I believe in the supernatural myself.
But I don't believe that every supernatural miracle
is from God.
I think it's so important that we learn
to distinguish.
Because otherwise we are inevitably going to be
deceived.
And then it says with all unrighteous deception
among those who perish because they did not
receive the love of the truth that they
might be saved.
There is only one protection.
And that is to receive the love of
the truth.
If you sincerely love the truth that will
protect you from deception.
But the word love in Greek agape is
a very strong word.
It means a passionate devotion to the truth.
It doesn't mean that you just read your
Bible once every day or go to a
church that preaches the Bible.
It means that you esteem the truth above
all else in your life.
Lots of people who are called Bible believing
Christians don't exhibit the love of the truth.
There are two ways you can understand the
truth.
The truth is Jesus and the truth is
the word of God.
And I want to exhort you to love
the word of God passionately.
To take more time with that than you
take with your television set or any other
activity.
Because if you don't you'll be deceived.
I would say at the moment there is
a great lukewarmness in this nation and in
many other nations amongst the professing Christians toward
the word of God.
A friend of mine came here to Britain.
I must say this.
I hope it will offend nobody.
Lance Lambert who is probably known to many
of you.
And he held a series of meetings throughout
the British Isles and even in Jersey and
in Northern Ireland and in Dublin.
And they were attended by about twice as
many people as anybody had made provision for.
They had overflow crowds in almost every meeting.
And Lance told us afterwards he understood one
main reason why people were coming was that
they wanted to hear the Bible taught.
They did not hear it.
They heard all sorts of prophecies and revelations
and theories but very little real teaching of
the Bible.
That has to change.
Or the church in Britain will be swept
away with the deception of antichrists.
Now it says verse 11 For this reason
God will send them strong delusion.
If you don't receive the love of truth
and practice it God will send you strong
delusion.
And brothers and sisters if God sends you
delusion there is no way you can avoid
it.
You will be deceived and it will be
a judgment of God.
Because of our failure to love and obey
the truth.
And it says that they did not verse
11 God will send them strong delusion because
otherwise they would believe the lie.
I think the word the is important.
I think it's not just any lie.
It's the lie.
And I believe it's the first lie that
Satan told humanity.
It was you shall be as God.
And the amazing thing is that preachers in
the charismatic movement are teaching this today.
And I'm not theorizing because I've read the
actual words that they have uttered.
You see Satan doesn't have to think of
a new lie because the old one still
works.
What does it appeal to above all else
in humanity in one word?
Pride.
That's right.
Pride the Bible says a lot of people
says it goes before a fall but that's
not what the Bible says.
It says the pride goes before destruction.
And a haughty spirit before a fall.
One of the things we are going to
need to learn to do all of us
is to humble ourselves.
And bear in mind what I said the
other day God doesn't do it for you.
You cannot say God make me humble because
God says humble yourself.
It's a decision of the will.
And I suggest to you that you should
welcome any opportunity to humble yourself.
Everything in us resists it but it can
be the mercy of God.
When people are unjust to you or make
bad statements about you or don't treat you
with appreciation you know what you should do?
Praise God.
It gives me an opportunity to humble myself.
And the Bible says everyone that humbles himself
will be exalted.
But everyone that exalts himself will be abased.
See your business is to humble yourself and
let God exalt you.
Don't do it the other way around and
exalt yourself because God will have to abase
you.
There's a beautiful pattern of this in the
eternal relationships.
There are two significant persons one humbled himself
and one exalted himself.
The one who humbled himself was Jesus who
became obedient even to the point of death.
Then the scripture says therefore God also highly
exalted him.
What's the therefore?
Therefore because he humbled himself.
See Jesus did not get exaltation as a
spoiled son.
He was exalted because he met the conditions
to be exalted.
And this principle runs throughout the universe.
There are no exceptions whatever.
Everyone who exalts himself will be abased.
But thank God everyone who humbles himself will
be exalted.
Now I don't want to get involved in
this because I could go on for a
long while.
But let me just suggest to married couples
one very good way to humble yourself is
to apologize to your wife or your husband.
Every time you say or do something that's
out of place.
Don't brush it off.
Don't shrug your shoulders.
Say I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that.
I was unkind.
I was impatient.
I was irritable.
Please forgive me and then thank God for
an opportunity to humble yourself.
God will provide you with the opportunities if
you're open.
All right I think we've dealt enough with
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2.
Let's go to Revelation 13 and again I
want to go through it as quickly as
possible because I'm moving on.
Ruth told me last night I told too
many stories and that's why I took so
long.
However I do know human audiences if you
don't give them a little light relief from
time to time they just tune out.
All right Revelation 13 now I'm going to
take the text which I believe is the
best.
Which is essentially that's followed by the NIV.
Although I'm reading from the NKJ.
Then he, that is the dragon stood on
the sand of the sea and then John
says a beast and the Greek says a
wild beast.
It's very important that we translate it right.
It's a fierce destructive creature.
A wild beast rose up out of the
sea.
It had 7 heads and 10 horns.
Let me point out to you that I
don't think there's any good creature that has
more than one head.
All the creatures in the Bible that have
more than one head are evil.
And I want to emphasize the church has
only one head.
Now the wild beast came up from the
sea which I just understand to be the
world of politics.
But that's just a personal feeling.
It had 7 heads and 10 horns.
Verse 2 says it has the body of
a leopard, the feet of a bear, the
mouth of a lion.
What does the Bible teach about the leopard?
One significant thing about leopard.
That it cannot change its spots.
So don't be deceived it cannot change its
nature.
One doesn't know what the bear and the
lion are.
But there are two nations that are traditionally
acquainted identified with the bear and the lion.
The bear is Russia and the lion is
Britain.
That's right.
I don't say that's it but it could
well be.
It would be a central European confederation which
got a little bit from Britain and a
little bit from Russia.
That's just a possibility time will show.
Then it says and this is important in
the end of verse 2 of chapter 13.
The dragon, that's the devil gave this creature
his power his throne and great authority.
So he is supernaturally empowered from Satan.
And then in verses three and four he
goes through some experience of a death and
a resurrection.
Says I saw one of his heads as
if it had been mortally wounded and his
deadly wound was healed and all the world
marveled and followed the beast.
I've often asked what would have happened if
John Kennedy had been raised from the dead.
I think basically he would have had the
whole world at his feet.
Well it didn't happen but sometime or other
something like that.
It may not be a real experience but
something's going to happen that will convince the
people that this person died and came back
to life.
Verse 4 so they, that's the world, worshiped
the dragon and gave authority to the beast
and they worshiped the beast saying who is
like the beast?
Who is able to make war with him?
Now here is a wonderful contrast.
Keep your finger in Revelation 13 if you've
got one there and turn to Matthew chapter
4 for a moment and you see the
difference between the true and the false Christ.
In Matthew 4 and verse 8 and following
this is part of the temptation of Jesus
that devil took him up on an exceedingly
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world and their glory and the
devil said to Jesus all these things I
will give you if you will fall down
and worship me.
Satan has been looking for many centuries for
one man whom he could empower to gain
control of humanity and cause humanity to worship
him.
You see you know the original claim of
the devil was equality with God and when
he made that claim he was thrown out
of heaven and he can no longer openly
assert that claim.
But there's one way he can still assert
equality with God because there's one thing that
belongs only to God and must never be
offered to anybody else.
What is it?
Worship.
So if the devil can achieve worship he
is in effect saying there you are I'm
equal with God.
But Jesus said to him away with you
Satan for it is written you shall worship
the Lord your God and him only shall
you serve the true Christ turned down the
offer.
He wouldn't make a bargain with Satan for
the sake of worldly power.
The false Christ will make the deal.
That's the difference.
Verse 4 so they worshipped the people of
the world.
Worshipped the dragon that's the devil who gave
authority to the beast.
They worshipped the beast saying who is like
the beast who is able to make war
with him.
That to me suggests that somehow he will
accumulate an arsenal of nuclear weapons which nobody
would dare to challenge that may not be
true but it's a possibility Verse 5 he
was given a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies and he was given authority to continue
42 months.
Now this is very important.
Who gave him that authority?
God.
See we're going to face a situation in
which God permits a certain evil ruler to
exercise authority for three and a half years
it could well be that many of us
will be alive at that time.
We need to bear in mind this is
God's doing I think that's one reason why
the Bible is so explicit about it.
We could be astonished and say God why
do you put permit this wicked man to
rule the nations and to persecute the true
believers I'm not sure that God gives an
answer but he says it's going to happen
and when it happens you better know I'm
the one who has permitted it.
If you could see your faces I think
some of you had never entertained that thought
before.
I think personally that a lot of us
are going through experiences which are preparing us
and we're learning that we cannot manipulate God.
I mean we know all the truths about
healing but we don't always get healed is
that right?
Why not?
God doesn't always explain there are things God
doesn't explain.
One thing that's essential to success in the
Christian life is to acknowledge the sovereignty of
God.
He does what he wants, when he wants,
the way he wants and he asks no
one's permission, not even yours all right.
Verse 6 then he opened his mouth in
blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name his
tabernacle and those who dwell in heaven that's
open blasphemy of the true God and it
was granted to him by God to make
war with the saints and to overcome them.
Just absorb that for a moment God gave
him permission to make war with the true
believers and to overcome them.
If in this life only we have hope
in Christ we are of all men the
most to be pitied maybe that's one of
the lessons we're going to have to learn.
Our hope is not fixed in this world
it goes beyond time into eternity and not
everything will be straightened out in time some
of you don't look happy see there is
a weakness in the contemporary charismatic movement that
suggests you get all you want now and
live in peace and prosperity for the rest
of your life I didn't intend to say
this but Ruth and I recently worked through
the book of Job and at the end
God I hope I'm saying the right thing
I don't want to disappoint anybody but at
the end after it all happened you know
God appeared to Job and interestingly enough God
had no more questions after he'd seen the
Lord he didn't have to have an answer
to every point in detail just meeting the
Lord was sufficient and then the Lord said
in effect now Job spoke about me what
was right but your three friends spoke about
me what is not right and I've been
pondering on that for more than a month
and let me say it this way I
really didn't mean to say this but I
think God wants me to when you analyze
the words of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar what
were they preaching and the answer is the
prosperity gospel you study it carefully everything will
be alright, you'll never be sick you'll always
have plenty of money in a sense it's
all true but God said they didn't speak
about me what was right Job came out
and said some very bitter things about God
and God said he said what was right,
ponder that I don't think, I believe the
prosperity gospel I've taught it for years, longer
than most of the people that are teaching
it, in fact some of them got it
from me no I'm saying that because they've
told me that but it isn't the last
word Amen I mean I'm saying this because
I'm really concerned about you because you may
end up embittered, disillusioned, disappointed if you don't
make room for God's sovereignty in your life,
what Don said about the fear of the
Lord, I said Amen and Amen and Amen
what he wants more than anything else is
reverent respect for him and a willingness to
acknowledge he knows his job he knows what
he's doing he never makes a mistake, every
choice he makes is right, put your hand
up if you believe it because I do,
alright remember you put your hand up a
week from now, alright we're going on in
Revelation 13, verse 8, all who dwell on
the earth will worship him, that's the beast
and in worshipping the beast they worship Satan
whose names have not been written in the
book of life of the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world so who will
be exempt only those whose names were written
in the book of life from the foundation
of the world in other words God preserves
those whom he has chosen and the most
important thing in a way is to know
that God chose you again this is not
widely taught in the church today but it
happens to be true you're not a Christian
because you chose to be a Christian you're
a Christian because God chose you and that
makes it much more secure many Christians are
kind of anxious and striving and trying to
make it through and wondering if they will,
they haven't understood that God chose them from
eternity, that he has a plan for their
lives which is going to be worked out
relax, stop trying to be so good and
enjoy God I want you to know that
Ruth and I have learned these lessons the
hard way I'm not preaching a theory, all
right verse 9, if anyone has an ear
let him hear I didn't even know that
verse was there now verse 10 I'm going
to turn to the NIV because I believe
it's the more accurate translation that's verse 9
and 10 which says, he who has an
ear let him hear if anyone is to
go into captivity into captivity he will go
if anyone is to be killed with a
sword with the sword he will be killed
that's almost fatalism isn't it if I'm due
for captivity that's where I'll go if I'm
due to be killed, to be killed I
will then it says, and this is the
application this calls for patient endurance and faithfulness
on the part of the saints no matter
what is happening no matter how you're treated
no matter how badly things may seem to
go God expects patient endurance and faithfulness, shall
I tell you something about endurance there's only
one way to learn endurance you know what
that is, it's by enduring and God is
putting many of you through things that you
don't understand and you don't like because you're
going to have to learn endurance if you're
going to survive and he's preparing many of
us to endure much more than we're enduring
right now can you say praise the Lord
I'm sorry to say things that disappoint you
but they just happen to be true I
believe all right we're going on in verse
11 then I saw, I really am sorry
I mean that sincerely I wouldn't want to
dash your hopes or leave you feeling downcast
verse 11 then I saw another beast coming
out from the earth and he had two
horns like a lamb and he spoke like
a dragon now the earth I believe represents
religion that's just my personal opinion here is
a religious figure and remember that religion is
the most powerful force in humanity it's far
more powerful than atheism or materialism and so
if Satan is going to captivate the human
race he has to have somebody religious to
do it if the Antichrist is going to
exercise total authority he has to use religion
as a way of attaining that and it
says this beast in verse 11 had two
horns like a lamb and spoke like a
dragon he claimed to be a lamb but
he was really a dragon he claimed to
be a follower of Jesus but he didn't
have the spirit of Jesus and he exercises
all the authority of the first beast in
his presence and causes the earth and those
who dwell in it to worship the first
beast whose deadly wound was healed notice the
supreme thrust of this his worship of the
beast he performs great signs so that he
even makes fire come down from heaven on
the earth in the sight of men and
he deceives those who dwell on the earth
by those signs which he was granted to
do in the sight of the beast what's
the danger there in one word deception, that's
right because of miraculous signs not all miracles
attest the truth of the word of God
some miracles are done in order to affirm
lives and it was said, it was granted
to him God do you really mean that
are you really going to permit these practitioners
of evil to do miracles God says yes
and then he says in verse 14 he
tells those who dwell on the earth to
make an image to the beast who was
wounded by the sword and die he was
granted power to give breath to the image
of the beast that the image of the
beast should both speak and cause as many
as would not worship the image of the
beast to be killed so here is something
that is probably in the realm of the
supernatural an image that can speak although with
present electronic achievements you can do that how
many of you have been to Disney World
and seen the speaking image of Abraham Lincoln
where he stands and he makes a speech
so I'm not saying that will be I
think it will be on a higher level
than that but anybody who will not worship
the image of the beast there is only
one destiny to be killed I point out
here that we have a satanic trinity and
I'd just like you to notice that for
a moment the dragon, Satan is the counterpart
of God the Father the beast, the Antichrist
is the counterpart of the Son the false
prophet is the counterpart of the Holy Spirit
and the idol that they produce is the
counterpart of the church see, Satan has no
inventiveness no creativity he can only imitate what
God has already done there is a famous
Latin saying Diabolus Simeus Dei the devil, the
ape of God he has no creativity all
right now then let's come to these exciting
verses that everybody is interested in verse 16
and he causes all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and slave to receive
a mark on their right hand or on
their foreheads now again this is just a
little simple illustration ten years ago I went
to Disney World paid my fee, went in
came out and said I want to come
back again so they stamped something on the
back of my hand and let me go
but when I came back they said show
us the back of your hand they shone
ultraviolet light on it and they could see
that it would be stamped with the date
of the day so I was allowed in
again now I'm not saying that anything as
crude as that will be what's referred to
here but it's just an example of way
things are moving and that no one may
buy or sell except one who has the
mark or the name of the beast or
the number of his name now you can
get away in that system with three things
the mark, the name or the number but
without those you cannot buy or sell you
are excluded from all society now the number
of the name of the beast fascinates many
people and it says in verse 18 here
is wisdom let him who has understanding calculate
the number of the beast for it is
the number of a man his number is
666 now the fact is that amongst Jewish
people every name has a number and I
believe the same is potentially true in Greek
society because both in Hebrew and in Greek
the letters of the alphabet also are numerical
values the first ten letters are 1 through
10 after that it goes up by tens
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80,
100 after that it goes up by hundreds
200, 300, 400 and it depends how many
letters there are in the alphabet how high
you can go the Hebrew alphabet only goes
to 400 the Greek goes higher so my
dear wife Ruth come and stand here for
a moment so that they can see you're
really there has a Hebrew name which is
Root which is just the same as English
except that the final letter is just one
sound it's R, Resh, Vav, Tav now all
those have numerical values so if you write
her name vertically and write opposite each letter
the value of the name then all you
have to do is add up and you
get the number of the name now Ruth
met a rabbi in Israel when she first
went there and he said to her your
name Ruth is a very powerful name because
it has a high number but I'll tell
you what her name is I mean this
is rather critical because of the 666 thing
R is 200 the last letter Tav is
400 so that makes 600 so where are
we with the middle letter the answer is
it's 6 so Ruth's name is 606 you
understand this is not, I mean this is
not obscure it's an accepted fact now, thank
you Smina I, because of this I checked
on the value of Jesus in Greek which
is the language in which we get this
book and I wrote the letters down vertically
wrote opposite them the numerical value added it
up and you know what I got 888
well I personally believe that's significant the false
Christ is 666 the true Christ is 888
now it may come a time when there
will be a name that you'll need to
add up and if it adds up to
666 you better pack your bags and get
ready to move you're laughing but I mean
I think it's serious all right now we
just turn to Revelation 17 for a few
quick moments verses 12 and 13 do you
remember the beast had 10 horns and it
says here the 10 horns which you saw
are 10 kings who have received no kingdom
as yet but they receive authority for for
one hour as kings with the beast these
are of one mind and they will give
their power and authority to the beast so
the ultimate expression of gentile authority is a
kingdom of 10 kings or let's say a
community of 10 kings now I want to
go back to the Old Testament and deal
a little bit with Daniel