A number of
statements made over a period of nearly fifteen years by a universally known
leader, deal with the superiority of a coming world ruler:
"The whole world is in
my hand, I will conquer and subjugate the world. (1973)
We must have an autocratic
theocracy to rule the world. So we
cannot separate the political field from the religious. (1973)
History will make (my)
position clear, and (my) enemies, the American population and government, will
bow down to (me). (1986)
The time will come when even
a presidential candidate will need Father's endorsement in order to succeed. (1987)[1]
The one making these statements
was Reverend Sum Yung Moon. His words are entirely wrong. Moon was talking about himself – however he
was describing the one the Scriptures call The
Antichrist.
In Revelation 13 we meet the False Prince – the Beast, Antichrist!
It is the Beast whose power
will counterfeit virtually every miracle Jesus did. He rises out of the sea (as opposed to the False Prophet who rises out of the earth in the last
half of chapter 13). Let's get a
closer look at Satan's offspring, and the whole family tree:
The Beast's Father Revelation 13:1 (NLT)
Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten
crowns on its horns. And written on each
head were names that blasphemed God.
The Beast's father is Satan,
that old red dragon (Revelation 12:3). By the description John gives us, it is
apparent he is as ugly as his daddy. The
horns stand for power, the heads authority.
The beast is a visible
expression of his father, powerful and firmly committed to opposing the kingdom
of God. He is a counterfeiter,
attempting to duplicate the ministry of Jesus
I and my Father are one.
John 10:30
That the beast will follow in
his father's footsteps is a no-brainer.
Several years ago the Christian
Life and Faith magazine presented some unusual facts about two families. In 1677 an immoral man married a very
licentious woman. Nineteen hundred descendants
came from the generations begun by that union.
Of these, 771 were criminals, 250 were arrested for various offenses, 60
were thieves, and 39 were convicted for murder. Forty of the women were known
to have venereal disease. These people
spent a combined total of 1300 years behind bars and cost the State of New York
nearly 3 million dollars.
The other family was the
Edwards family. The third generation
included Jonathan Edwards who was the great New England revival preacher and
who became president of Princeton University.
Of the 1,344 descendants, many were college presidents and
professors. One hundred eighty-six
became ministers of the gospel, and many others were active in their
churches. Eighty-six were state
senators, three were Congressmen, 30 judges, and one became Vice President of
the United States. No reference was made
of anyone spending time in jail or in the poorhouse.[2]
Not all children of good
parents become useful citizens, nor do all the offspring of wicked people turn
out bad. While it is difficult to be
dogmatic about the interpretation of each aspect of Revelation, in this instance
it is plain that the beast will carry on the family
business!
The Beast's Family Revelation 13.2a
This verse parallels Daniel's
vision Daniel 7:4-6:
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the
wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand
upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to
a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth
of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much
flesh.
After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the
back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion
was given to it.
The
symbolism of the animals is, and has been in dispute for centuries. However, it is at least understandable that
the beast stands for all the worst characteristics his father (Satan) can dream
up.
The leopard, with it's speed
and lethal bite (perhaps symbolizing Babylon); the bear, swinging its tenacious
claws that rip and shred its prey perhaps symbolizing the Medo-Persian empire),
and the lion, a terrifying predator with a voracious appetite (as the Greek
empire).
This beast was seen by John to
be the embodiment of the Roman empire, with its persecutions of the Christian
church -- attempting to devour the family of Christ. Many saw the description of Domitian, one of
the worst of the Roman Emperors – his persecution of the church and the Jews
was by far the worst in history.
All the predatory
characteristics fit what Paul wrote about this man of sin,
This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit
power and signs and miracles. He will
use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction,
because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. 2
Thessalonians 2:9-10 (NLT)
To John, the
beast is appropriately named. He is Hitler,
Caeser, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Stalin all in one. This is a real person who represents the
totality of evil.
One of the reasons God has been
all but banned from our own government in recent years is to pave the way for
the rise of this one world leader -- a Satanically-inspired power monger, who
will make the world knuckle under in worship to himself. Rome's Caesars were just a dress rehearsal for the Beast!
The Beast's Fame Revelation 13:2b-4
And the dragon gave the beast
his own power and throne and great authority. 3I
saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the
fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave
allegiance to the beast. 4They worshiped the dragon
for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as
great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once had
this comment:
The Antichrist will come disguised as the great
humanitarian. He will talk peace,
prosperity, and plenty, not as a means to lead us to God, but as ends in
themselves. He will explain guilt away
psychologically, make men shrink in shame if their fellowmen say they are not
broad-minded and liberal. He will spread
the lie that men will never be better until they make society better.[3]
The beast's popularity will be
based upon false miracles, imitating the ministry of Christ. It becomes a somber warning to us to watch
what we listen to -- or see on television.
The news does not always present a true world view...certainly not a
Christian viewpoint!
The Beast's Foulness Revelation
13:5-6
Then the beast
was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he
wanted for forty-two months. And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy
against God, slandering his name and his temple—that is, those who live in
heaven.
Blasphemy has always been
mistaken for saying bad words. While
that’s not the main target, it is part of the whole problem with a blasphemous
spirit.
A golfer had a terrible day on
the links. On the last hole he actually
went into a tantrum, cursing and swearing, and beating the ground with his
club. Finally recovering himself, he
looked woefully at the caddie and muttered: "I
guess I'll have to give it up."
"Give up golf?" asked the caddie. "No,
not golf," he said sorrowfully, "the
ministry."
A church member gave me a Dennis
the Menace cartoon the other day. Dennis
was ratting his father out to his Mom…Dad was using one of his golf words on the
lawnmower before.
There is something to the
arrival of increasingly foul language in the media and our culture that is
going to characterize the last days. It
has always been a revealing thing. One
of the early church fathers, Justin the Martyr (C. 100–C. 165) said, By examining the tongue of the patient,
physicians find out the diseases of the body, and philosophers the diseases of
the mind.
At least one actor is standing
taller –
Ernest Borgnine says he "...has turned down more pictures than you
can shake a stick at simply because I refuse to swear in motion pictures,"[4]
The beast's blasphemous ways
should make the flesh crawl on our backs.
The word blasphemia is a
compound that means to vilify, as in rumor mongering. It is formed by taking the word for injury,
and joining it to the word for rumor.
That is a great definition of gossip if I ever heard one! If you want to join the devil's lust for
ruining the church and her Lord, join the gossip mill.
In another
sense, blasphemy means placing yourself in God's place --
above the Almighty.
Caligula was
the Roman Caesar from AD 37-41. He was
an epileptic, but he was also mad as a June bug. He was -- as the other Roman Emperors before
him -- entitled to be addressed as deity.
He was so obsessed with this he wanted his statue to be erected
everywhere in the empire so his subjects could worship him.
When it came
to the Jews, he demanded the statue be placed in the temple at Jerusalem, in
the holy of holies (in place of the ark of the covenant). It is no small note that he died just as this
was being implemented.
God will not share his glory (or
his room) with anyone!
The
Beast's Formula Revelation 13:7-8
And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy
people and to conquer them. And he was
given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong
to this world worshiped the beast. They
are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world
was made—the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered.
The beast's
formula is as simple as Caligula -- war and worship. He will use his overwhelming popularity and
power to inflict pain and death on anyone who refuses to worship him.
He wants to lead the world to
worship Satan as God. The problem is
that even those who worship him will miss the mark. Satanic worship is demanded, and received in
fear. Christian worship is a response in
love. Satanic worship is counterfeit.
For whatever
reason exists in the heart and will of the Father, Satan will be allowed to
wreak havoc one last time before the end of the Great Tribulation. It will cause a wave of worship (albeit
briefly) towards the prince of this world.
The brief moment in the sun
will be an eternally high price to pay.
The
Beast's Falseness Revelation 13:9-10
Anyone with ears to hear should
listen and understand. Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution
patiently and remain faithful.
This verse is a quotation from
Jeremiah (15.2). It tells us two truths
about false cults and false religion:
1. False religion will be safe – for a while
I got another of those envelopes in the mail. It had a cellophane window. Through the window you could see the check! It had Elizabeth's name on it! Fifteen million bucks! It also had the winning certificate attached:
If you have and return the
winning grand prize number we will announce that
Elizabeth
Brownworth has won $14,565,969.45
Of course it
is a blatant attempt to sell magazines.
However, buying a few magazines isn't so bad -- getting nailed with
false religion is an eternal matter.
What do you
get when you cross an atheist with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who knocks on
your door for no apparent reason.
How many
false religions are there? All but
one!
2. Faith and patience will turn the tables
According to John, any man can hear and understand that
those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
In the same way, those who lead others into the captivity of false
religion will themselves be held prisoner.
When my son was very young we
would wrestle. I would always pretend he
was so strong that I was near being pinned.
One time he thought he was close to beating me, and began to push past
the point of either one of us having fun.
I tried to end the session before his pride (or his head) got too badly treated. He wouldn't give up. Finally, I said to him, Jason -- stop now -- you don't
want to do this! He pushed even
harder, and I let go. The result was
that, because he wasn't prepared for my sudden release, he went sprawling,
headlong into a piece of furniture and got a really nasty bruise.
We are headed for the countdown
to Armageddon. God has warned that we
don't want to get involved with the False Christ, the beast. He has told us -- You don't want to do that!
Peter said there are plenty of
antichrists to go around. It is time to
reject the False Prince, Satan's Son
-- and enthrone the only Son of God, Jesus.
[1]
USNews & World Report Sources:
Cult Awareness Network, Capital Research Center
[2]The Bible Illustrator, (Hiawatha, Ia,
Parson's Technology, 1990)
[3]As
quoted, Thru the Bible With J. Vernon
McGee, Vol 5, (Pasadena, Ca, Thru the Bible Radio, 1983), 1000
[4]The Washington Times, (as quoted in
Entertainment Weekly - October 6 issue),
10/1/95
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