Beast & the False Prophet

Fred R. Coulter—December 12, 2009

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Last year on December 5, 2008, I gave a sermon on the fourteen things to happen in prophecy before the end comes. So I'm going to put that back up online again and we will put it on this coming CD because we already have it digitized—and we can put up to ten different messages on there—it's pretty easy to do. I want to concentrate on several different topics out of the fourteen in this message. So let's look and see what Europe is facing, because right now as we are speaking they have the Copenhagen meeting on climate change, which is a hoax, a lie, and a means of trying to bring in a world government. It will only come at the time God says it will come, because it will come! That's one of the reasons you see a lot of the things being done by the administration and the thirty-six czars, and so forth, that they have, to try and lower the United States profile and power so it can fit into a world system.

Now Europe is not in such good shape itself. European companies face a $1.5-trillion funding short fall next year. So there're going to be troubles in Europe as well. So we'll have to see what they're going to do. China: very important. That's one of the things that I brought out concerning the things to happen. China is gaining economically and how many heard of the Dubai problem? You never think that an Arab country, which is backed by oil, would ask for six months deferment of paying any interest on their loans. Well, why did they get the loans? They want to build the biggest resort in the world in Dubai. They have the tallest building. You know how tall it is? Twenty-six hundred feet in the air. Think about that! That's a half-mile. That's five times taller than the Empire State Building. They have borrowed all of this money with the backing of the United Arab Emirates and their oil production. They had a short fall and that surprised everyone.

So the whole world economic system is going to be in danger. But one thing—you have to listen to the news carefully—that wasn't reported on the 'lame-stream' media, instead of mainstream, was that the finance minister from China went to Dubai the week before the announcement. Now why was he there? Obviously to help get rid of some U.S. dollars that they're holding in reserve and to buy assets. So China is moving in many places in the world—in Africa, in the Middle East, and they are buying. There are going to be some corrections to happen economically in Europe and in the world, so we need to watch China as well. We'll see that as we go along.

Rabbinic prophecies suggest third temple will begin in 2010. It won't happen until God says it's ready. World from Berlin: Guess what they are doing in Germany? A lot of them are for it: that is forcing all businesses to close on Sunday as a day of rest in a Catholic and Lutheran nation. Remember, that Herr Ratzinger is Benedict XVI. So they have a German pope and the Germans are rising again. And now they're making it be felt with their Sunday-closing law. Now they haven't been able to close all of them, but that's a sign of the times to come. We'll talk about that in just a little bit, because a lot of people think the mark of the beast is Sunday keeping. So we'll examine that and we'll think about that, and we'll see what the Bible really tells us.

Now here's another problem for Europe. So you can look at it any way you would like to look at it, but let's think about this way: How many have heard of demographics? What is demographics? Demographics is the measure of the population: the things that they buy, the things that they do, how they live, and it's a measure of the population increase or decrease. In order for a nation to replenish its population, they need to have 2.1 births per couple. The Muslims in Europe probably have about 5 to 1, so they're really multiplying and that's going to present some problems, and Europe has to face this now. They're going to have to decide, 'What are we going to do with all these Muslims here, because they're going to take over and we are no longer going to be Europe?' So there is going to have to come a change in Europe in order for prophecy to move along and be fulfilled.

So as we look at this, this tells us either it's got to happen real quickly, because the population of Europe is getting older and dying off just like it did in ancient Greece, or they're going to have a campaign of having lots of babies. In Italy they're offering great incentives for young couple to marry and have lots of children, because they need the tax money. You can't keep having an older population expanding while the younger population is contracting. Who's going to pay for the retirement? Who's going to pay for the welfare? Who's going to pay for the healthcare? Just slip over here to the United States for another thought. There are some people who think that the reason they want to put everyone [age] fifty-five on Medicare is to deny them care so the older people who control the conservative vote will die out.

Back to Europe: The indigenous population of Europe is dying, exactly as Pleba said about ancient Greece in the third pre-Christian century, the century that was intellectually the closest to our own, the century of skeptics and epicureans and cynics. That's exactly what Europe is like and what we are today.
Let me just quickly name the fourteen things to happen before the end comes.

1) Peace and security

We haven't arrived at that point yet.

2) Beginning of the seven years at the end

—which will then be the rise of the man who is the beast power.

We'll look at that in just a minute. There will be a seven-year period, three and a half with prosperity and three and a half when the tribulation begins. That also includes the King of the North and the King of the South. I just read to you about Europe. What did they just elect this last week? The very first president of the European Union. He wasn't elected by the people, he was elected by a counsel within the European Union government. That's just the kind of thing you need to get a dictator. As we have mentioned before, the king of the north is not going to rise up all of a sudden. As we have discussed, there may be two or three who would fit that as the King of the North. We also know there has to be a King of the South.

3) World-trade

We're seeing this coming along as never, never before. So keep you eyes on what is called the G-20. How many know what the G-20 is? G-20 is the new international banking regulation system—which is what? To coordinate all the central banks to have the same regulations, to have the same policies, and also at the same time they realize that in order to keep world-trade going because all of these fiat currencies are going to collapse. The dollar's going to collapse. The pound is going to collapse. Even the Euro is going to come down. They think the Euro is going to stay strong, but with as much as they owe, I don't think so—that includes Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, Russia—all of these fiat currencies, they are going to collapse. That's why there is so much movement toward gold and China has done a lot to back its reserves in gold and so has India. The G-20 is going to usher in a world currency. So you watch that. A world currency must come.

Let's look at the pattern that they set with the European Union. When they brought in the Euro, how did they do it? Three years before they issued the currency, all trade between the European countries was calculated in Euros digitally. Then they brought out the currency three years later, when everyone was getting used to it. Now I think they will follow the same pattern with the world currency. There's only one hitch that comes along with that, and that is what is called the Amero. I think that it would be far preferable for them to bring in a world-currency starting with world-trade first for three to five years and say, 'Oh, well, it doesn't affect your currency in your country. You can keep that. But this is just for world-trade.' When they do that, what will it give them the authority to do for the very first time? A world-tax on all transactions! Going to where? The United Nations!

The United Nations, it's been proposed by Europe, to move it to Gibraltar. What did we say years ago? The United Nations must be reformed and moved. It's going to happen. World-trade followed by:

4) Mark of the beast

5) Rise of kings of north and east

6) Fall of Israel

—which we're seeing happening right now. That's not just the Jews, that's all of us.

7) False prophet

8) Temple must be built

9) Two Witnesses

What the Church of God will be doing:

10) Laodiceans

11) Philadelphians

12) Martyrdom of saints

13) Gospel as a witness

14) No truth, no faith

What I want to do is concentrate on two things. Let's come to Daniel 7. Daniel is a very interesting book, because though it is a prophecy, it is in the writings and not with the prophets in the original order. The reason for that is because Daniel was not written in the land of Israel, but it was written in Babylon. A key to understanding the book of Daniel is that you need the book of Revelation to give you the final understanding of it. Just like I said, it's like a lock and a key. The book of Daniel is like a lock. It doesn't give a clear explanation, but it gives some things pointing to the future. Revelation is the key to unlock it. Now let's talk about the fourth beast, because this is the one that we are going to be interested in at the end-time. Let's first of all come to the end of matter so we will see how it's going to end.

Daniel 7:27: "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven… [Showing that it will be a worldwide system.] …shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High… [That's when the Kingdom of God is established.] …Whose kingdom… [That is the Kingdom of God.] …is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him." Now that's the end of the matter. We know with the book of Revelation that ties in with all of the prophecies at the end-time.

But let's see how it begins. Remember, this was given in about 540'sB.C., so that makes it over 2500 years old. So it tells us the beginning and the end, but then we have to go to Rev. 13 to get the understanding of how it's going to come about. Now after he saw the other beasts, and so forth, which symbolized the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, and the Greek Empire.

Verse 7: "After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, frightening and terrifying, and exceedingly strong…. [This is defining the Roman Empire, and remember: At the end-time we're going to see the same thing happen again. And where is all of this world government planning and talking, coming from? Europe! Did you know that all the treaties beginning with the coal and iron treaty right after WWII—as well as the European Union Treaty, as well as the green agenda movement that they have, as well as what's going on in Copenhagen right now—[do] you know where all of those were planned? They were planned by the Club of Rome in Italy. That's where the super-secret powerful elite meet to plan the things that they want to do in the world. So it's going to be a resurrection of the Roman Empire and here's a description of how it started.] …And it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns." We'll look at the ten horns again here in a minute and we'll see.

"'…behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots…. [Now we don't quite understand what the nations were that are going to be plucked up. We can see a fulfillment of it, if you look at the chart at the end of the Bible that that does refer to the Hureli, Ostrogoths and the Vandals who were conquered by the Roman Empire. So that could very well be it, but remember, that was done not by a religious leader, but by an emperor.] …And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things…. [Now we'll see the fulfillment of that in the end time in Rev.13.] …I watched until thrones were set in place… [So this brings us to the end-time again—right? Yes!] …and the Ancient of Days sat, Whose raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was like flames of fire, and its wheels like burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court sat and the books were opened" (vs 8-10).

Isn't that interesting? Sounds an awful lot like Rev. 5: the throne of God, Christ before the throne, and the Father giving the scroll with the seven seals to Christ for Him to open. Then v 11: "Then I was looking because of the voice of the boastful words which the horn spoke. I watched until the beast was slain, and his body was destroyed and given to the burning flame." What does Rev. 19 tell us about the 'beast and the false prophet'? The beast equals a kingdom and the prophet equals a religious system. What happens in Rev. 19 to the 'beast and the false prophet'? They're cast in the lake of fire—right? So Daniel wanted to know what these things are.

Verse 13: "'I saw visions in the night and, behold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven… [What did Jesus say to the high priest? He said, 'Henceforth you shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.' The high priest knew that—didn't he? Therefore, they accused Him of blasphemy.] …and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him…. [Now this is when Jesus is going to receive the kingdom.] …And dominion and glory was given to Him, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (vs 13-14). That's talking of the end-time again. Just like Daniel, he wanted to know when would these things be.

Let's come down here a little further to v 18: "But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Again, notice how we go from the beginning of the prophecy to the end of the prophecy. And what did Jesus say about Himself? 'I am the First, I am the Last, I am the Beginning, I am the Ending.' So He's the one who starts it; He's the one who ends it. Also remember this: what was the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 4? That the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men—and what? 'Gives it to whomsoever He will and that He places over them the basest of men.'

 We can certainly see that fulfilled today. All you have to do is look at Copenhagen and all those who were there and that's what you're looking at. Look at all the nations, all the troubles, all the difficulties that people have. What does it come down to? False religion—of course there's no such thing as true religion, though it says true religion in James, that means how you behave toward people, doesn't mean worshiping of God—and government by men who reject God. You can boil it down to all the nations of the world and those two simple things if you analyze everything that's going on.

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Let's continue on with Verse 19: "Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass; who devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with his feet…. [Now what we want to do as we will see when we come back to Rev. 13 a mention of all of these beasts combined together in one world system.] …And of the ten horns that were on his head, and of the other horn, which came up and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking very boastful things, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. I watched, and that same horn made war with the saints and overcame them" (vs 19-21).

Now let's understanding something that's important here. The Catholic Church used the civil government to go after the saints of God all the way down through history. It was one of the popes who told, I think it was, Louis XVI or XVII that if he would destroy the Huguenots in France that he would be absolved of all his sins. So we have a combination: the religious leader gives the permission and promise, and the civil leader does the active chasing and killing and martyrdom. But also what they do is this: They have a combined court where then they are arrested, because the civil laws, being canon law, that you can only do what the Catholic Church says. The civil government has to arrest them and then bring them before the counsel. That's how the system works.

Then it says here, v 22: "'Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth… [Now listen carefully to the rest of these words.] …which shall be different from all the other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth… [Now when it talks about the whole earth, when we get back to the book of Revelation it means the whole earth, it means the whole world. So we're talking about a worldwide system. This is the one that was also talked of in Dan, 2 that is a mixture of iron and clay, partly strong, partly weak.] …and shall trample it and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings'" (vs 22-24). Now this little horn is the beast power, not the pope. That's where the Seventh Day Adventists have it wrong. We already covered the rest of it.

Let's come to Revelation 13 and let's see the fulfillment of this as we look at the end-time and see how this is going to come about. Now in Copenhagen they were all ready to announce a world government, but too many things were not lined up so they couldn't do it. But it's going to come. Let's examine Revelation 13 and let's see how these prophecies come together. Let's emphasize the different words, which tells us what's going to happen.

Revelation 13:1: "And I stood on the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns… [Just like the one in Dan. 7.] …and on his horns ten crowns… [meaning rulership] …and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Now what is the name of blasphemy? The name of blasphemy--that this is ordained of God when it comes from Satan.

Now let's notice what this beast looked like and you will see it combines all four of the beasts of Dan. 7. Verse 2: "And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet like the feet of a bear, and the mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority." So this is a satanic system.

Now let's see what happens here. Let's get a little identification from the other Scriptures. The dragon. Come over here to Revelation 12:9. This tells us who the dragon is. "And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan… [Now that's as clear as it can be—isn't it? Yes!] …who is deceiving the whole world…" That's what's happening right now. And I think Rush Limbaugh coined the phrase that this current administration lives in the universe of lies, very good description of it. That's exactly what's happening to the whole world. What it means in the Greek is properly translated 'who is deceiving,' that means actively present tense ongoing.

Now we have politicians who lie even though you can bring out it contradicts what they said before. Doesn't make any difference. They are in the grips of lies! That's how this whole world system is going to come about. It's going to be through deceit; it's going to be through fraud; it's going to be to bring control over all people. "…who is deceiving the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him" (v 9). Now this is just right before the end.

Then when we come to Revelation 13 we find how the system was developed. Now again, notice how this ties in Rev. 12:10 with Dan. 7, talking about the saints having the kingdom. Let's read it. Verse 10: "And I heard a great voice in heaven say, 'Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ because the accuser of our brethren has been cast down, who accuses them day and night before our God.'"

That's why we have troubles and difficulties and tribulations in the world, because Satan is the one who's running the world. That's why we need to stay close to God with a personal relationship with God. That's why we are going to be projecting now restoring original Christianity for today, so that there can be a separation between the people of God and the world. He's there accusing us day and night before God, but remember we have

• the mercy of God
• the grace of God
• the love of God
• the forgiveness of God
• the Holy Spirit within us

—and Christ is for us and loves us and God the Father has called us and has given us an inheritance. So we will be the ones who will rule.

Verse 11: "But they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death…. [So this is going to be a pitch battle. That's why we've got to fight for the faith, and we've got to be in the battleground for Truth.] …Therefore, rejoice you heavens and those who dwell in them. Woe to those who inhabit the earth and the sea!.... [This is just before the beginning of the Tribulation.] …For the Devil has come down to you, having great wrath because he knows that he has only a short time…. [Now we'll see approximately how long a short time is.] …And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman [the Church] who had brought forth the man child [Christ]. And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman… [And we will see not all of those who are of the Church are going to be protected, which is commonly called a place of safety.] …so that she might fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time…" (vs 11-14).

Now how long is a time, times and half a time? Three and a half years. So we have however long the time of persecution is that Satan brings against the Church and the people of God, until those who go to a place of safety are taken, be there for three and a half years. So you have three and a half years, plus the time of persecution. What will that time of persecution be? We'll see it. It's tied in with the mark of the beast.

"And the serpent cast water out of his mouth as a river, so that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed up the river that the dragon had cast out of his mouth. Then the dragon was furious with the woman and went to make war with the rest of her seed…" (15-17).

So not everyone goes to a place of safety. God is the One who's going to make the decision. If you think you're safe in a Church of God, and that Church is going to a place of safety and all the rest are not going, then you don't know God. God is the One who's going to make the decision. Don't count on what a man may tell you. The only way anyone's going to get to a place of safety is one day an angel is going to come and say, 'We're going.' So those who are left behind—that's why it says back in Dan. 7, 'and they loved not their lives unto death.' Because there's going to war; there's going to be martyrdom.
Now notice how it identifies them and this is what the world hates: "…who keep the commandments of God… [Now let that sink in very deeply. If you're a Protestant and you think you don't have any commandments to keep, you're deluded and are in the spirit of antichrist.] …who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (v 17). What is the testimony of Jesus Christ? Those are the words of eternal life and the covenant that we find in John 14, 15, 16, and 17. That's the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Let's come over here to Revelation 14 for a minute and then we'll come back to chapter 13. Revelation 14:12: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Very interesting. Have you ever heard it said, 'keep the faith'? Yes, so they tie together. Tremendous Scripture to understand that commandment-keeping and faith go hand-in-hand. It's not commandment-keeping or faith; it's faith to keep the commandments. It takes no faith to not keep the commandments. You just ignore it—right? And you go your way. But if you see the commandments of God and say, 'Oh, yes, that's right.' It takes faith to believe it and to keep it. Just put in your notes there: Heb. 11. Wherever it says, 'by faith'—Abel, Noah, Abraham, all the way down the line—did what? Obeyed! So this shows the struggle that we're going to be facing in the future and we will see how it's defined here in Rev. 13.

Let's come back to Revelation 13 3: "And I saw one of his heads as if it were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed… [So this is likened to a counterfeit resurrection.] …and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast." Now emphasize the words 'the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.' That's why this end-time system is worldwide. That's why we are seeing everything pointing in that direction. I'll bring a special sermon on how the religions of this world are coming together.

Did you know that there is already what is called world scriptures, already in printed form? I've had the copy for ten years. They take a little bit from the Bible, they take some from the Koran, they take some from the Buddhist writings, the Hindu writings, different ones and they put it all together. And they take all of these wisdom things and say, 'These are world scriptures.' The whole earth is amazed. So we have that in government and we have that in religion.

Now notice, just like today, Christmas is coming very soon as we're studying through this. People think they're worshiping Christ. People think that they're celebrating His birthday, never stop and think, 'Was He really born then?' Never stop and think, 'Well, if Christmas is so good, why do we have to lie about it?' As I mentioned earlier the Christmas tree is symbolic of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So everywhere you see that, people are acknowledging—they don't realize it, but they're acknowledging it—'Yes, we live by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil'—which is what? Satan behind it—right? Yes! And they worship the dragon. A lot of people worship Satan and don't know it. That's called the spirit of antichrist. They may even use parts of the Bible and quote what they're doing, because Satan is the great counterfeiter. They worship the beast, who we'll see in just a minute, will be called God manifested in the flesh, the false Christ, the antichrist.

"…And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him…. [Now that's all powerful—isn't it? That means he controls everything militarily. This is why it can't be Obama, because everybody's speaking against Obama. Some people say, 'Obama's the beast.' No, he's beast-like, but he's not the beast.] …And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months…. [That is after the deadly wound was healed. Forty-two months is three and a half years. In Dan. 9 the prince of the seventieth week, the last week, is the beast, not Christ. Not here's what he does:] …And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven…. [That is all the angels.] …And he was given power to make war against the saints… [Remember what we talked about back there in Dan. 7, he made war against the saints and wore them out.] …and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation" (vs 4-7).

Now hold your place here and let's come to 2-Thessalonians 2 and let's see how Paul wrote of it. Let's see how he described it, because this has to happen before the end will come. We're going to be inundated with a lot of people saying, 'Oh, Christ is ready to return right now.' I know we've covered this in the past, but I think it's good that we go back and really understand what Paul was writing about and how powerful this is going to be. Because people are going to be thinking that they are worshiping the manifestation of God in the flesh. This is how the kings and the emperors were always presented in the satanic systems.

2-Thessalonians 2:1: "Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, That you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as if from us… [So there were false epistles going around saying they were from Paul. That's why Paul had to canonize his epistles and why John, after Peter, canonized the New Testament. There were people writing to try and destroy it.] …saying that the day of Christ is present" (vs 1-2). That's an interesting way of phrasing it.

How many have heard of Lord Maitreya? Some of you have. Lord Maitreya is supposed to be the presence of Christ. And what do they say in New Age religion? When you experience the new age religion, you have the presence of Christ in you, which then is demonism.

Verse 3: "Do not let anyone deceive you by any means… [That's why you've got to know the Scriptures. You have got to know the Truth. How many people, not only in the world, but even those who know the Truth, have been deceived and led astray by foolish and false teachings and doctrines? Many!] …because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first… [Now what is the apostasy? The apostasy is the worldwide rebellion against God, and even within some of the Churches of God and all the so-called worldly Christianity.] …and the man of sin… [So the beast is not only a system and a world government, it then is centralized in one man, who is called]: …and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition. The one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of God and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God" (vs 3-4).

Now when Paul wrote this, the temple was still standing because this was in 52A.D. That's why there will be a third temple built. That's why Rev. 11 tells us about the temple being built. If you want to go online, go onto the Temple Institute and look up all the preparations that they have already done for the building of the temple. When it's time, they will build it and that is the temple that the beast will go into and say, 'I am God.' Have we ever had a man declare himself to be God? Not in our lifetime.

Verse 5: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time…. [Who is holding it back? God is, until the rebellion come to the full. And he will be revealed by his actions and by what he proclaims himself to be. The whole world is going to wonder after the beast, they're going to worship the beast. And behind that, they are really worshiping Satan the devil, who wants to be what? God! So the closest that Satan is going to get to taking over the throne of God is by possessing the beast, and he walks into the temple that the Jews are going to build and say he is God. That's the closest he will come.] (Now notice what Paul writes to describe this): …For the mystery of lawlessness is already working… [It started in his day. That's how Christ describes the end-time, lawlessness shall be multiplied. That's what we see going on in the world.] …only there is One Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst" (vs 5-7).

So that's why we can't be led away or carried away by any thoughts or any proclamations that this is the beast, or that is the beast, or that the end is here right now. God will make it plenty evident for those who know, for those who love God and keep His commandments and have the testimony of Jesus Christ and the faith of Christ (as we covered) they will know. The world won't.

"And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)… [Shows the end-time. That describes Rev. 19, what's going to happen to the beast and the false prophet.] …Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders" (vs 8-9). There are going to be amazing things that are going to happen. And people, if they see it they'll believe it—right? And people want miracles—don't they? Because miracles convince them that they are right—doesn't it? That's why people are fascinated with magicians. We'll see there will be miracles that are coming.

Verse 10: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing…" Now this is going to be so powerful, so irresistible. If we could put in on a scale of one to ten, and if we could put Hitler with his persuasiveness of the German people before the second World War—and one thing Hitler did not do, he did not exalt himself like this beast, but what he did, he appealed to the German people and the German nation and got all the people to follow him, and then he started to proclaim his greatness. So we may see a repeat of that.] …in those who are perishing… [And here's the reason, note this carefully.] …because they did not receive the love of the Truth, so that they might be saved." What is the Truth?

• The Word of God is Truth
• the commandments of God are true
• His law is true
• all of His precepts are true from the beginning.

Now notice how this is going to be completely brought about. "And for this cause, God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to the lie…. [That's why all the world's going to worship him. Because if you don't love God and keep His commandments, He's going to give you over to your own devices; He's going to give you over to the things of the world.] …So that all may be judged who did not believe the Truth, but who took pleasure in unrighteousness" (vs 11-12). That's why it's called the mystery of lawlessness.

Let's come back to Revelation 13. You see how all three of these: Dan. 7, Rev. 13 and 2-Thess. 2 tie together. Now notice, Revelation 13:8: "And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Only those who have the Spirit of God and whose names are written in the book of life will not give themselves over to this system.

What's going to happen is, everyone is going to say, 'What a wonderful thing, all the nations of the world are together. Oh, we're all working together. We have been striving for this for hundreds of years and now it's finally come together and what a wonderful thing that it is! And look at those enemies of the state.' That'll be us! and that'll be whoever will not take the mark of the beast!

Let's go on. So here's a warning, v 9: "If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone gathers into captivity, he shall go into captivity. If anyone kills with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints" (vs 9-10)—that they don't do those things! Remember what Jesus said, 'the worst that they can do to you is kill your body, but not take your life,' because that's in God's hands.

Now here's the rest of the story, the other half. "And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon… [Now since a horn symbolizes a king or ruler, I thought about those two horns quite a few times. So we can give just a little thought to this, not make a dogmatic proclamation. There are only two religious offices in the world where the leaders are called his holiness. One is the pope and the other is the Dalai Lama. Could it be that it symbolizes those two working together to bring the religions of the world together and manifested in the worship of the beast. Just a thought.] …but spoke like a dragon; And he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him… [That means worldwide authority.] …and he causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast… [Sanctifying him as God in the flesh.] …whose deadly wound was healed. And he performs great wonders… [Remember what Jesus said? Many false prophets and false Christs shall arise, perform great signs and wonders, to deceive the elect if possible.] (Notice what he does): …so that he even causes fire to come down to the earth from heaven in the sight of men…. [Now that'll be spectacular—won't it? Yes!] …And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by means of the wonders that were given to him to perform in the sight of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image for the beast, which had the wound by the sword, yet was alive" (vs 11-14). Going to have your own little personal idol. Can you imagine how they'll do that? They'll have it on tee-shirts; they'll have it on little bobble heads on the cars and they'll have it at home and they'll put it in front of their television, and bow down to that. Probably even worship the beast when he comes on television, everybody bow down, and all this sort of thing. With what we know today we can expand this way out into a great deal, which is going to come.

Now notice, v 15: "And he was given power to give life to the image of the beast… [Now this is not going to be trickery, because we have too many things to detect technologically whether it is true or whether it is a fake—right? So this is Satan himself doing it.] …so that the image of the beast also could speak; and he causes everyone who will not worship the image of the beast to be killed." Now that's the first step to receiving the mark of the beast. You don't receive the mark of the beast unless you pledge your allegiance to the beast by worshiping him and bowing down to his idols. Sound a little like Dan. 3? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They had that big idol they were told to worship it and they refused it.

Now notice what else happens. Now the he here refers to the beast that is worshiped. "And he causes all… [every one] …the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads… [That's going to be something!] (v 17 qualifies it): …So that no one may have the ability to buy and sell unless he has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (vs 16-17).

Now let's think about these things for just a minute. Remember years ago when I gave the sermon, The Mark of the Beast is Here, when digital angel first came out? Now they're working on perfecting it. There will be a mark in the right hand or in the forehead that only with that can you buy or sell. I want you to think about that. What if today they cancelled all your credit cards, took all your money, you could not buy or sell could you? What do we survive on? Every one of us survives on buying and selling—don't we? Just look at your cupboard at home. How much food do you have? Well, it's to last until the next time you go to the store—right? So if you can't buy, you can't replace. This has nothing to do with Sunday-worship.

Now we mentioned about Sunday-worship in Germany, so let me just clarify a little bit here. Seventh Day Adventists believe this to mean the mark of the beast is Sunday-worship and you're not able to buy anything on Sunday. You have the other days of the week—do you not? Can't be Sunday-worship. What if everything was closed and all the stores were closed and you didn't go to any church, but stayed home. How could you say that was the mark of the beast? With technology we have today, it's going to be literal chip and what it's going to be, not only buying and selling, but it's going to be for complete, total control over everyone in the world. If you don't think that can't be enforced even today (they're working on it) I suggest you do a little searching out of Google. Because there's one of those on CNBC checking out Google, when she got done going through everything that they showed about her, she said, 'You know everything about me and I mean everything.' All of her credit cards, all of her bank accounts, her driver's license number, everything! They know where you live. You don't believe that, do a Google search on your own home and they'll take a picture of where you live. So it's coming. That's what the mark of the beast is going to be.

So when the system comes in, we need to have the wisdom here, v 18, we'll finish this. "Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is a man's number, and his number is 666." And each six symbolizes the perfection of man, the perfection of man as a person, economically and religiously—666! So we need to ask for wisdom when these things come down.

Those are the two paramount important things that we need to look out and watch for. The others are also important, but I didn't want to take the time to go through all fourteen points.

Scriptural References:

• Daniel 7:27, 7-10, 13-14, 18-24
• Revelation 13:1-2
• Revelation 12:9-17
• Revelation 14:12
• Revelation 13:3-7
• 2-Thessalonians 2:1-12
• Revelation 13:8-18

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Daniel 2
• Revelation 5, 19
• Daniel 4, 2,
• John 14, 15, 16, 17
• Hebrews 11
• Daniel 9
• Revelation 11
• Daniel 3

Also referenced:

Sermons:

• 14 Things to Happen in Prophecy Before the End Comes
• The Mark of the Beast is Here

FRC:lp      Transcribed: 12-25-09    Formatted: bo—1-5-10