Elroy came to the revival meeting at the insistence of
the pastor. Everyone was surprised. He hadn't been in church in thirty-two
years. He listened to the sweet music,
stayed awake during the long prayer before the offering, and even put a quarter
in the plate when it was passed.
Something in the preacher's sermon struck a chord, and he raised his
hand before the crowd was dismissed he asked if he could testify.
Certainly,
brother Elroy, said the
preacher. Folks, he began, you all know
me. I been a liar and a cheat. I done stole an' run around on my wife all
these years. I cussed 'n drank worse'n
any of you -- But one thing you gotta know, I ain't never lost my religion!
When we run across the brother Elroys of
this world we usually just think they're silly.
After all, everyone knows you can't lose what you don't have. Having no faith is bad. False religion, or an empty profession of faith is probably worse. But, history teaches (and Jesus' teaching
affirms) that having a zealous religiousness can be worse than the Elroy
type.
·
Muslims wielding
swords had a religious quest in the Middle Ages.
·
Most terrorist
groups have some kind of religious aim.
·
In the name of Christianity, Hitler (who had been
baptized) sought to exterminate the Christ-killing Jews.
Religion can be dangerous
stuff!
In the first part of this chapter we encountered the
beast (Antichrist) who rose from the sea – meaning he came from the great
masses of the Gentiles. His authority
was in the political arena.
The second beast (False Prophet) rises from the earth –
signifying that he is a Jew. His career
is religious. The first beast was
anything but religious. The second is a
religious zealot with political clout.
This is another antichrist. He is
a religious leader who has the world's attention, Satan's power, and an
ambition to have it all. He is a
dangerous man.
Let's look at another antichrist's career
profile:
He
Has a Promising Appearance Revelation
13:11
Then I saw
another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb,
but he spoke with the voice of a dragon.
Jesus warned that many would come in His name.
“Beware of false
prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. Matthew 7:15 (NLT)
Never was there a more appropriate description of this
beast. He has…
A LAMB'S
LOOK
The beast has two horns, like a lamb. In everything the False Prophet does, there
is the imitation of Christ. This
religious wolf in sheep's clothing
will come on the scene as a very pastoral and kind person. Everyone will imagine him to be the epitome
of sweetness. But he also has…
A SERPENT'S
STING
The sting is
the dragon-speak. Satan is the dragon (chp 12), and his chief
method is deceptive speech. The beast
will speak the big lie, and people will believe it.
So God will
cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (NLT)
What is the big lie?
It is that worship belongs to the first beast, the political Antichrist. You say, How
could anyone get away with that – let alone convince the whole world to worship
antichrist? Beloved, if Shirley
Maclaine can convince some folks that she has had dozens of reincarnations, and
Jim Jones could get almost a thousand people to drink his Cool Aid at Jonestown
– and Dionne Warlwick has your interest over the Psychic Friends Network, and the religious Pharisees could persuade
the crowds to scream for the release of a criminal so Jesus could be crucified –
don't ever wonder how Satan will get the world to believe – just understand -- it will happen!
He has a promising appearance, and…
He
Has a Perverted Appeal
To pervert is to mislead with corrupted
information. In our day we call it spin.
A government official takes a very damaging report and puts spin on it to turn it to his
advantage. Antichrist will be the
SPIN-MASTER Revelation
13:12 - 14 (NLT)
He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he
required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal
wound had been healed. He did astounding
miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was
watching. And with all the miracles he
was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people
who belong to this world. He ordered the
people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and
then came back to life.
The Spin-Master
will skillfully control and manipulate the media with public relations mastery
to sway public opinion towards the beast.
He will do it with a new religious approach. One writer put it this way:
The role of the false prophet will be to
make the new religion appealing and palatable to men. No doubt it will combine all the features of
the religious systems of men, will appeal to man's total personality, and will
take full advantage of his carnal appetite.
The dynamic appeal of the false prophet will lie in his skill in combining
political expediency with religious passion, self-interest with benevolent
philanthropy, lofty sentiment with blatant sophistry, moral platitude with
unbridled self-indulgence.[1]
His new religious
approach will make use of supernatural powers. The false prophet imitates the ministry of
Elijah, bringing fire down, as a sign of his power. Radio preacher J. Vernon McGee put it this
way, The false prophet plays with fire
until he is cast into the lake of fire.[2] Jesus refused to give such signs, and warned
against such displays as the kinds of things those do who are against him:
For false messiahs and false prophets
will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible,
even God’s chosen ones. Matthew
24:24 (NLT)
John tells us that this false prophet will set up an
image of the first beast, so that everyone will have to worship him. Many scholars believe this will be done
within the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem -- something Daniel, and Jesus
predicted:
“From the time the daily sacrifice is stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up to be worshiped, there will be 1,290 days. Daniel 12:11 (NLT)
… and
then the end will come. 15“The day is
coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious
object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” Matthew 24:14b-15 (NLT)
This abomination
of desolation is a desecration of the holy of holies, the place of God in
the temple. The odd thing is that the
beast is a Jew, and he will set up an idol of Satan in God's place. This, then is the unpardonable sin -- replacing God with anything! The warning is clear -- all who follow the
beast will wind up where he is going -- to the place prepared for the devil and
his angels. So, look over your
life. Is God the only focus and center of
your worship? Does your career, family,
bank account -- anything get in the way of worship and service to the
King? Weed your garden!
The beast has a promising appearance, perverted
appeal, and
He Uses a Pressure Approach
There are always basic characteristics that are
distinctive about the hand of Satan:
SATAN’S
HAND TOOL IS THE LEGAL SYSTEM Revelation 13:15 (NLT)
He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it
could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to
worship it must die.
Laws, and the entire legal system are given of God to control
evil during this present time. In the
Great Tribulation, however, Satan will use the system to exterminate believers.
The False Prophet will set up an idol which is able to
communicate and control. It will be a
satanic miracle of persecution, aimed at drawing a line in the sand between the worshippers of God and
Satan. It is the same old line the Roman
Emperors drew for first century Christians.
From church history comes the story of the 40 martyrs
of Sebaste in the fourth century. These
40 soldiers were all Christians and members of the famous Twelfth Legion of
Rome. They were informed that the
Emperor Licinius had issued an edict that required all soldiers to offer
sacrifice to pagan gods. And because
they were Christians, they refused to pay homage to paganism.
It was mid-winter, A.D. 320. They were marched to a frozen lake, singing, Forty soldiers, faithful for Christ. There they were stripped of their clothing
and made to stand naked on the frozen lake.
Should they be willing to renounce their faith, they could come ashore
and be reinstated.
As night came and the temperatures fell, and the
singing could be heard all the way around the lake, Forty soldiers faithful for Christ.
One by one they fell to the ice to freeze to death -- fainter and
fainter was the song. Finally, only one
man was left. Looking at his 39 dead
comrades on the ice he stumbled ashore and renounced his faith in Christ. An officer, who was watching the final
soldier come ashore, removed his clothing, confessed Christ as his savior,
stepped out on to the ice and marched to join the others. As he walked the song was again heard, Forty soldiers, faithful for Christ.
It is said that you cannot control or shape morality
with legislation. That is true; neither
can you reshape a born-again heart
with legal pressure.
Folks, the best defense against the persecution that
will come in the Great Tribulation is for you to be certain you have had a
regeneration of your soul, and not just a reformation of your habits. The hand-tool of Satan is the legal system,
and…
THE LURE
OF SATAN IS MATERIALISM Revelation
13:16-17 (NLT)
He required everyone—small and great,
rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the
forehead. And no one
could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the
beast or the number representing his name.
The mark of the
beast is, and has been, the object of much speculation.
·
Is there a
computer with a laser ready in Spokane?
·
Is there a number
already assigned by the Social Security Administration?
·
Is the president,
or the pope the beast?
Certain
questions are fruitless, because they have no way of being proved.
What is
fruitful about our investigation of the mark
of the beast, however, is that we understand it is materialistic – because it
allows the false prince and his false prophet to
control people. You can do that with
money – money is a controller. Money has
always been a strong motivator. People
with money and no conscience have shaped the course of whole
civilizations.
Money is either used, or it uses you. A true test of your Christian orientation is
a look at your checkbook register. What
do you do with the material things God has placed in your hand? The mark
(charagma) is the same word one would use of a king's royal seal. This is not just the mark of the beast – it is his royal seal. There is another seal:
...ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
There are two seals -- one Satanic, the other Holy --
no one can have both – no one can serve two masters!
The hand-tool of Satan is the legal system; his lure
is materialism, and…
THE
WORSHIP OF SATAN IS FATAL Revelation 13:18 (NLT)
Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the
meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
Again speculation rules the day about what 666
means. There are enough theories to fill
several warehouses. One thing is certain
-- if
it is connected with Satan's beast, it is not good!
What about the number?
Several facts apply
Anything repeated often is
emphasis we ought not ignore.
The number six in Biblical
literature stands for man, who
is imperfect. The number for God
is a perfect seven.
Three sixes is a code that
seems to indicate a severe
warning of missing perfection, which is Satan's track
record.
However you interpret it, the mark of the beast will
be necessary to conduct the daily business of getting the necessities of life –
food and shelter. Those who name the
name of Christ in that day will be at a crossroads. If they refuse to take the mark it will mean
they are vulnerable to the beast's fury.
But, taking the mark will reveal their allegiance to the false prophet,
meaning theirs was a false profession in the true Christ. Either seal, that of Satan or the Spirit, is
indelible, and eternal. It shows up
under the pressure approach.
In 1933 Hitler was goose-stepping his way across
Germany. They were following him en
masse as he preached the gospel of hate, of anti-Semitism, of racial pride and
arrogance that would usher in a thousand years for the fatherland. And a 27 year old Lutheran preacher named
Dietrich Bonhoeffer stood in his pulpit and denounced Hitler. In the next five years, he preached against
everything Hitler stood for, along with many other pastors in Germany.
Then came the war.
This young man came to the United States. His mentor, Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, with whom
he had studied for a year when he was at Union Theological Seminary in New York
City, said, Son, come over here – wait
until the war is over; you are the enemy of Hitler and he will destroy you. Wait it out and save your life.
He stayed here two weeks, exactly. Then he said to his friend, I cannot stay in the United States – running
away. I must go back because I cannot
share in the rebuilding and reconstruction of my country and in the rebuilding
of the church after the war unless I share with my people through the
sufferings of the war. I am going
back. And he went back to Germany.
For the next five years he very effectively protested
and, at the same time, worked his way into the central intelligence of the
German system He was a secret spy in the resistance movement against
Hitler. He secretly went to Britain to
try to work out a peace. He secretly
plotted with others the overthrow and assassination of Hitler.
One day they found him out and he was thrown into
prison. For two years in prison he
defied Hitler and preached to the inmates in the concentration camp.
And it was on a Sunday, April 9, 1945 – he had just
finished his sermon with the other prisoners, and in walked a guard who said, Prisoner
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, follow! He
knew what it meant – Bonhoeffer’s time had come; the gallows awaited.
As he marched behind the guards he turned to his
friends and said, This is the end. Death is the
end for all, isn't it? Then, he
threw back his head, threw out his arms and with a shout of joy, said, But
it is just the beginning of life for me!
Friends, it is not a matter of if the pressure-packed
approach of Satan will show up in your life – it is when.
The seal of Satan, or the seal of the Spirit of God –
we have a choice. The matter is too
important to leave to chance, or to leave to tomorrow. The advice of Scripture is clear: Lose your religion – find your Savior!
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