Harold Urey, a nuclear physicist from the University of Chicago, played a key role in researching the potential of the atom. As a result, he was invited to speak all over the world. He had a chauffeur who took him to his various banquets and engagements, but before long he got tired of giving the same talk. So one night he came up with a novel idea.
He asked his chauffeur to change places with him. The chauffeur had heard the speech so many times that he was capable of giving it himself. Urey told the chauffeur, “No one knows what I look like and I think we could get away with it. You know the speech well enough now to give it like I do.”
So the next night, the chauffeur gave the speech. It was flawless. The chauffeur had done a magnificent job, but there was one hitch. The speech was followed by a question and answer session.
One pompous professor stood and asked a very technical question. Urey’s stomach knotted. He knew there was no way his chauffeur could possibly answer the question. The charade was about to be exposed.
However, the chauffeur remained steady and calm. He eyed the arrogant professor and said, “I’m very surprised that you would ask such an easy question. The answer is really quite simple. In fact, the answer is so obvious that I’m going to ask my chauffeur to answer it for you.” (Bible Illustrator)
Do you know that chauffeur was pretty smooth? And the Bible warns us of certain smooth-talking speakers. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). 1 John 4 says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
False prophets are dangerous deceivers, and they can come right into your home every day through your TV set, your radio, and the Internet. Be careful that you don’t believe everything you hear, because some of that stuff can ruin your life, even if it does come from an entertaining speaker with a lot of charisma.
In fact, there is coming a day when a great speaker will mesmerize the entire world. The Bible tells us the ultimate false prophet will have everybody fooled during the days of the Great Tribulation to come. He will cause the physical and spiritual ruin of many, and he illustrates how false teachers work today.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Revelation 13, Revelation 13, where we see this man in action and hopefully learn some things to keep ourselves from being fooled by smooth-talking charlatans today.
Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. (ESV)
The first beast came out of the sea (vs.1). This beast comes out of the earth, and he is smooth. He looks like a harmless little lamb, but he is a fire-breathing dragon – his words will burn you in the end.
Revelation 13:12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. (ESV)
The first beast is the revived Roman Empire with its ruthless emperor, who dominates the world during the Great Tribulation. This second beast is his minister or propaganda, his PR man, like Goebbels was for Hitler. He will make the evil dictator, the antichrist himself, look good to the world. More than that, he will make him look like a god to the world, like the world’s savior.
This PR man for the antichrist will be so smooth, that people will worship the man who tyrannizes them. Lit., they will bow down and kiss the ground he walks on. This 2nd beast will make evil look good!
When I was a little boy, my mother would drag my sister, my brother and me around shopping all day. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but I always went along, because mom always stopped at a restaurant to get something to eat after she finished her shopping.
It was the best part of the whole day, especially if we went to a cafeteria! Those were the days before the big buffet restaurants, like the buffet at the Golden Coral, which are so popular today. In a cafeteria, you paid for each item you took, but the food was all laid out before you, and you could choose whatever you wanted.
On one such day, I chose spaghetti. It was close to the beginning of the food line, and I was hungry. Besides, it was and still is one of my favorite foods to eat. There is only one thing I like better than spaghetti, and that’s steak. And wouldn’t you know it, down the line was the best looking “steak” I had ever seen. The cafeteria employees had dressed it up to look so tender and juicy, it made your mouth water just to look at it.
My brother and sister hadn’t picked up anything yet, so they took the “steak.” How I wished I could put my spaghetti back and get it too, but it was too late. We finished going through the line. Mom paid for our meals, and we sat down to eat.
I tried to work out a trade with my brother or sister, but they wouldn’t trade, and I was pretty envious. Then they took their first bite of that “steak,” and nearly gagged to death. It wasn’t steak at all. It was liver, and because we had a rule in our family – you eat what you take – they had to eat it all.
Now, for those of you who like liver, you might not get my point. But for us normal people, who can’t stand the stuff, I think you will understand. That cafeteria had taken the worst food ever conjured up to torture little kids and made it look like the best! They made it look like a New York Strip Steak.
And that’s how this second beast will work. He will make an evil dictator look like an exalted deity. He will make the base look beautiful. He will make evil look good.
And that’s what false teachers do. They make a lie look like the truth. They make depravity look delightful. They dress it up to look so good people don’t realize that they will gag on it in the end. My friends, don’t be deceived by false teachers.
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THEIR WORDS.
Don’t be taken in by their smooth and persuasive speech.
Just because they call prenatal infanticide “pro-choice,” just because they call suicide a person’s “right to die,” just because they call homosexuality an “alternative lifestyle,” just because they call immorality with a condom “safe sex,” just because they call lust a “healthy fantasy,” just because they call prosperity preaching the “gospel,” just because they call evil “good,” DOESN’T MAKE IT SO!
Don’t be deceived. False teachers make evil look good, and they make the right look so wrong. Today, those of us who stand for righteousness are described as “intolerant, narrow-minded bigots.” People are so messed up in their thinking today, that a future Goebbels could easily convince them that someone worse than Hitler is a god. Please, don’t be deceived by false teachers. Don’t be fooled by their words, and…
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THEIR WORKS.
Don’t believe them just because they do miracles. Don’t accept their teaching just because they perform signs and wonders. Because that’s exactly how the 2nd beast will fool the world. Antichrist’s PR man will do some strange and wonderful things.
Revelation 13:13-15 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. (ESV)
This man will be able to call fire down from heaven and make a statue breathe, speak and kill. I believe this statue is the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 & Matthew 24:15). It is an idol that the antichrist’s PR man will build right in the middle of the Temple in Jerusalem. Such an act will break the antichrist’s 7-year peace treaty with Israel and force the Jews to flee for safety at the midpoint of the Tribulation. This terrible idol will look just like the antichrist, but his PR man will have such powers that he will cause the whole world to submit to him.
We have an evil trio here in Revelation 13, a counterfeit trinity. Satan sets himself up as God, masterminding the terrible events of the Tribulation. He sends his “christ”, the antichrist, into the world to carry out his will; and just as it is the Holy Spirit’s job to exalt Christ, so the false prophet exalts the antichrist, and he performs miraculous signs to fool the people.
Now, to a lesser extent that’s the way false teachers work today. They perform signs and wonders to gain a following. They do miracles to deceive gullible people.
I’m talking about the health and wealth, prosperity preachers on TV today. They preach that God will give you health, wealth, and other material blessings in return for your money. They urge you to “plant a seed” by sending “the largest bill you have or the biggest check you can write.” If you do, they promise that God will make you rich in return.
Of course, the only people who actually get rich by this scheme are the televangelists. They live in garish opulence, while constantly begging their needy viewers for more money. The most desperate people – the elderly, the poor, the unemployed – are baited with false promises to give what they do not even have. (John MacArthur, “Unholy Trinity”, Grace to You Blog, December 11, 2009; www.gty.org/blog/B091211/unholy-trinity)
Then as proof, these televangelists perform so-called “miracles” of healing. Now don’t get me wrong. I believe God heals today, but these preachers use “signs and wonders” to get your money.
Please, don’t be fooled by their words or their works. 1 Timothy 6:5 says these false teachers “are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” In other words, if anybody tells you that godliness will make you rich, they are not telling you the truth. Don’t be fooled! 2 Peter 2:14 says, “They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed.” So don’t be fooled, even if they do miracles, even if they perform “signs and wonders.”
Sure, signs and wonders can come from God. God is still a miracle-working God. Amen? Amen! But signs and wonders can be simple tricks, as well. After all, David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear right out of New York Harbor. The so called “miracle” can be an illusion. Or worse yet, signs and wonders can come from Satan himself. That’s what Revelation 13 teaches us.
Miracles, in and of themselves, don’t prove anything. They can come from God. They can come from man, or they can come from Satan himself. So don’t be deceived by false teachers. Don’t be fooled be their words. Don’t be fooled by their works. And…
DON’T LET THEM DOMINATE YOUR LIFE.
Don’t submit to their teaching. Don’t let them enslave you. That’s what the false prophet will do. He will control the world during the Tribulation.
Revelation 13:16-18 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (ESV)
There have been a lot of funny ideas about this “mark of the beast.” I’ve heard that your social security number is the “mark of the beast,” or the bar-code system at the supermarkets, or some sort of implantable biochip. Now, these things can provide the technological support for such a mark, but they are NOT “the mark of the beast.”
In Bible days, religious tattooing was quite common to indicate devotion to a particular god, and that’s what we have here in Revelation 13. People will accept this mark, whatever it is, as a sign of their devotion to the antichrist. It will be an act of worship.
And if people don’t accept the mark, they won’t be able to buy or sell anything. They won’t be able to buy or sell food and clothing. They won’t be able to buy or sell even the basic necessities. The false prophet will force people to worship the antichrist or else face economic deprivation and abject poverty. It’s a system for absolute and total control.
Imagine going to the grocery store, loading your groceries into a cart, and then going to the checkout counter. After all your groceries are scanned, you wave your hand with its special “mark” over the scanner and your bill is automatically deducted from your checking account.
A record is kept of your transaction in a central computer, and somebody knows where you’ve been and what you have just purchased. In fact, if they care to look, they can track your movements anywhere in the world over the past year or so, because every time you made a purchase, the date, time, place, items and amounts were duly recorded.
Now, remove cash from the picture, and you can see that no one would be able to buy or sell anything without the “mark.” (LaLonde, The Mark of the Beast, pp.18,85,98)
The technology is already in place. It’s a system for total control, and that’s what false teachers want to do. They want to control their followers. They want to run their lives. They want to enslave them.
Jim Jones was an extreme example. He controlled the lives of his followers so much, they followed him to Guyana. And there, he ordered them to drink a cyanide-laced punch. He ordered them to kill themselves, and they did so by the hundreds. At one time, he was a smooth-talking, successful pastor of a large church. He performed a lot of miracles, which fooled people, and he ended up in total control of their lives. Now, as I said, this is an extreme example, but it illustrates the kind of control false teachers can have over people’s lives.
So be careful. Don’t be deceived by false teachers. Don’t be fooled by their words. Don’t be fooled by their works, and don’t let them dominate your life.
In The Truman Show, Truman (played by Jim Carrey) isn't aware that, since birth, he has been the star of the ultimate TV reality show. He doesn't know he lives in a large dome built over several square miles. The producer controls the sun, wind, rain, and even ocean waves with the push of a button. A cast of thousands surrounds Truman, but he has no idea every person in his life is simply an actor.
In his thirties, Truman becomes increasingly restless and suspicious. But for the show to continue, he must remain ignorant of the fact that he lives in an artificial world with artificial relationships.
Near the end of the movie, Truman begins to understand his situation and tries to escape. He boards a sailboat and begins to sail away. The cameras follow him, and the producer creates tidal wives to keep Truman from reaching the outer perimeter of his artificial world.
Yet it finally happens – Truman's sailboat touches the horizon, which is nothing more than a painted canvas. (Take a look at what happens – show The Truman Show, ending scene)
His suspicions confirmed, he steps off the boat into knee-deep water. Grief etches his face as the truth of his artificial life is revealed. He sees a staircase and ascends to the top, where he finds an exit door.
Then, for the first time ever, the producer comes over the loud speaker and begins to speak to Truman. “Truman?” the producer says.
“Who are you?” Truman asks in return.
“I'm the creator…of the television show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions.”
“Who am I?” Truman asks.
“You're the star.”
“Was nothing real?”
“You were real,” the producer responds.
At this point, Truman starts to walk toward the exit door. The frantic producer, who has enslaved Truman for years, begins to unleash a torrent of lies to diminish Truman's courage. He knows that if he can create enough doubt in Truman's mind, Truman will forfeit freedom.
“There's no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you,” he says. “The same lies. The same deceit. But in my world you have nothing to fear. You're afraid – that's why you can't leave…”
Truman stands at the door to real life, but a competing voice with selfish motives urges him to stay in the artificial world. (The Truman Show, Paramount, 1998, written by Andrew Niccol, directed by Peter Weir, 01:29:02 to 01:33:12.)
The creator of the show wanted to keep Truman in bondage, and that’s what false teachers do. They want you to stay in the false world that they have created for you.
Please, don’t be fooled. I urge you; take the door to freedom today. Put aside the false world that you have allowed others to create for you, and step through the door of truth.
That door is Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the door” (John 10:7); “I am the way… the truth, and the life” (John14:6). Step through that door today and find real life!
