Revelation 13:11-18 11 Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
In case you haven’t noticed, you and I are living in an extraordinary time in earth’s history. It is also a very pivotal time in our nation’s history. And lastly, but even more importantly, we are living in an incredibly climactic time in prophetic history. And we, as the remnant church of these last days are called to navigate these prophetic and perilous times guided and empowered by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. But while we’re doing that, we are also called to warn the world of what we know is soon to come, and lead them to Jesus Christ.
What I'm about to say is unpleasant but necessary. You see, I love this country; I’m proud to be an American citizen—I consider it a blessing to have been born and raised in this great nation. That said, when I look at this passage we just read in the light of other prophecies in Scripture, the Bible is clear that the government of this country that I love will ultimately play a key role in deceiving a vast majority of people on earth. It will attempt, and succeed at causing most people to worship something other than the true God of heaven. And their decision to do so, whether made freely or under strong compulsion, will be to them that symbolic mark of the beast that will signal their utter and complete destruction.
Now I know most people would like to think this is something that will happen far in the distant future, but as I carefully consider what I read in Scripture, and compare it to what I’m seeing unfolding right now in the religious, social and political arenas, it is quite evident to me that we are living on the very cusp of the fulfillment of these events described here in Revelation 13.
And right here, in the middle of Revelation 14 John talks about three angels that God showed him in prophetic vision. These three angels represent God’s last-day world church, which I believe you and I are a part of. And by the way, that word, “angel” here in Revelation 14:6 is from the Greek word “angelos” which can simply mean “messenger.” So we, as God’s church in these last days, are primarily messengers sent by God to a lost and dying world. And today more than ever before, we need to faithfully and unrelentlessly deliver the urgent messages of these three angels! Including the Third Angel’s message. Listen to what this angel says in Revelation 14:9-12
Revelation 14:9-12 “A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice:
“If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”
Notice in verse 9 that this message is to be proclaimed with a LOUD voice. That Greek word there is “megas” from which we get “megaphone.” And here, it implies not only a “loud” message, but also an unmistakably clear message. And that’s important...
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:8, “If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?”
Indeed, if we, as the remnant church of these last critical days of this great Battle between Good and Evil... if we fail to proclaim this message, not only loudly but also clearly, we are not fulfilling our responsibility as God’s messengers, and many precious souls could needlessly be lost as a result. In addition, God says in Ezekiel 33 that if the watchman on the wall sees trouble coming, but he fails to blow the trumpet, the blood of those who perish will be on the his hands....I certainly don’t want anyone’s blood to be on my hands —especially yours; that’s why I’m sharing this difficult, yet necessary message with you today.
I have to be honest with you here and say I don’t believe we , as a church at this point in time, are proclaiming this message as loudly or as clearly as we should. Think about it; most Bible studying Seventh-day Adventist Christians who are also paying attention to what’s going on in the world around them, realize the significance of the time in which we now live; we understand the importance and the urgency of the message we’re told to shout to the world.......... and yet, it seems we are merely mumbling a vague and sometimes even ambiguous message.
So much so, that way too many of our own members don’t understand or even notice important signs of the times happening all around us.
Why do you suppose that is? Why are we not delivering this critical message loudly and clearly to the world? Could it be that we are so afraid of being politically incorrect that we’re actually willing to refrain from carrying out our God-given responsibility? Are we really so terrified of offending a few people that we refuse to sound the trumpet with a loud and clear call that will both warn the masses and rally the troops??
Or could it be that we’re afraid of breaching that wall of separation between church and state? Don’t misunderstand me here, I strongly believe in the separation of church and state; that’s why I’m your Religious Liberty Leader—I want that wall to remain intact for as long as possible. But when the church sees ominous prophetic events being fulfilled at the hands of own our government, events that clearly indicate where we are in the prophetic timeline, I do not believe that we should be muzzled by the fear of being “ too political.” Don’t get me wrong, there is a line we should not cross concerning that separation between church and state; but could it be that our fear of crossing that line has made us gun-shy to the point that we’re afraid of coming anywhere close to it—effectively causing us to fall back when we should be charging, allowing the enemy is taking full advantage of our reluctance to advance.
That said, I’m going to share something with you that pertains to our own government, but listen carefully; I will not be endorsing or campaigning for any particular political party. And I ask that you do not allow your particular political leaning, to cause you to hear something I’m not saying…. My intention here is simply to point out to you how the enemy is right now setting the stage for the last great deception; one that will usher in the enforcement of the mark of the beast, followed by the time of trouble, the close of probation and the Second Coming of Christ.
And I’m sharing this with you because Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew 24 that we should be careful to watch for and rightly interpret the signs of the times. Why? So we ourselves can be prepared, and so we can also help prepare others for what’s coming.
I think most honest Christians who actually pay attention to what’s going on in the political world will agree that the last political administration that ran this country was certainly the most openly godless administration we’ve had, possibly since this nation came into existence. I’m not using hyperbole; I’m not being politically biased, it’s just a fact. How do I know that?
Jesus says in Matthew 7:16 “You shall know them by their fruits...” So here’s just a sample of their fruit I’d like to submit for your inspection: The previous administration zealously promoted the murder of millions of unborn babies, celebrated and promoted homosexuality and transgenderism—even hanging the LGBTQ pride flag in a prominent place of honor at our capital building; they had drag queens in full freakish costume and makeup reading stories to our young, impressionable children in public schools, they supported having homosexual pornographic books being available to children in public elementary school libraries, and they seriously insisted, and tried to convince us and our children, that men could be women and women could be men, even going so far as to say that men can conceive and give birth.
I hope we can agree that all of these things are clearly condemned in Scripture—in fact they are abominations to the Lord. And His church should not be afraid to speak out against them—not in a hateful, condemning way, but in a loving, yet unapologetic way with the aim of protecting the innocent and redeeming the perpetrators.
Once again, let me be clear; I am not endorsing one political party over another, I’m not looking at this from a republican or democrat perspective; I’m looking at it from a Christian perspective....and I hope that you are as well.
And it’s necessary that we see this, so that we can understand how what is described in Revelation 13 and 14 is likely going to come about.
When we as Bible believing Christians recognize these evil agendas being pushed by our own government—regardless of which political party promotes them, we instinctively want to vote those people out of office, and rightly so...
And that very thing happened quite decisively this past November. And when it did, most devout Christians breathed a collective sigh of relief, thinking that national catastrophe had been averted.
Now, we have a president who has said “we need to bring Christianity back to this country; He’s made many public and very specific statements saying how important religion is to this nation. He’s had several prominent Christian leaders publicly pray over him. One of his campaign photos was taken outside a church with a Bible in his hand. He and Lee Greenwood even put out a God Bless the USA Bible that includes a copy of the US Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
And in his inaugural address he very clearly and emphatically said that this country “Will Not Forget God.”
For those of you who follow the political news, you may have noticed that since the election, more and more congressmen, senators, cabinet appointees and judges are now more openly and frequently professing their Christian faith--with many of them even quoting Scripture and praying in public.
As most Christians are seeing these things happening, they think, well praise the Lord! This is exactly what we need! Nearly everyone can see that this nation has drifted so far from God that we’ve been under His righteous judgment for many years now. And many believe that the logical solution to the problem of national apostasy would be a great national revival….
And it’s looking more and more likely that some form of a national revival will occur soon—in fact the Bible says it will; but the question is, what will that national revival look like??
How many of you have heard, that last year the state of Louisiana passed a law requiring that a copy of the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom? Did you know that at least 12 other states have tried or are trying to pass similar laws?
Like I said, it was passed by the state of Louisiana, but it was eventually blocked by a federal judge. But, now that we seem to have a very conservative Christian administration currently steering our government, could it be that this law and many other laws legislating morality will be much more easily passed?
Maybe soon, laws will be passed to not only allow, but mandate Christian prayer in schools; maybe they’ll make Bible study a required course to graduate….is that far fetched? I don’t think so…
The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation are clear that the government will make and enforce laws that will not only pertain to students, but to all of us. Make no mistake friends, our government, or that two-horned beast power described in Revelation 13 may look like a lamb, but it will eventually speak like a dragon, meaning that it will pass and enforce laws on behalf of the dragon. And these laws will attempt to dictate certain aspects of how we serve and worship God.
It won’t be an openly godless administration that enforces the mark of the beast, it will be one who “looks like a lamb” one who is openly and devoutly Christian; that will be the administration that tries to force everyone to worship the first beast and receive that dreaded and grossly misunderstood mark.
So here’s our dilemma; it’s obvious that we cannot allow purveyors of evil to run our government, but electing religiously biased leaders will ultimately bring about the mark of the beast...
So, what is a Christian in these last days to do? And the bigger question is, what is the true church of these last days to do?
1. Realize that we cannot stop what’s coming; but we should know where we are on the prophetic timeline by comparing prophecy with what’s happening in the world around us. Jesus says in Matthew 24:4 “Watch out that now one deceives you” and He says, “See, I have told you ahead of time..”
2. Recognize who the real enemy really is; Our enemy is not a republican or democrat, its not a president or even a pope. Paul says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of this dark world, against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms....... Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground....” We are not fighting a political battle; we’re fighting a spiritual battle! But sadly, too many well-meaning Christians are so entrenched in constant political skirmishes that they’ve all but lost sight of that fact. They invest more time and passion in their political agenda than they invest in this spiritual war that will end all wars.
3. We need to remain focused on our mission. Look with me Revelation 14:6,7. “6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (give brief summary of implications of this text)
I don’t know if the current presidential administration will be the one that enforces the mark of the beast or not, but it’s certainly possible. As we’ve recently learned , a lot can happen in four years. It would only take one national or global disaster or crisis followed by some miraculous sign, to convince the vast majority of people to urgently call for a worldwide religious revival for the sake of humanity.
That’s when the wall of separation between church and state will totally collapse, and then the state will link arms with the false church and start speaking like a dragon. I used to think we were a long way from that point, but the COVID pandemic has shown me just how quickly fear will cause people to, not only allow, but to actually demand their government take away their rights, even their Religious Liberty, in exchange for the promise of security or safety.
I’m reminded of what the devil said to God in regard to Job, he said, “a man will give all he has to save his own life!” Is that true for you...?
Jesus says in Revelation 2:10 “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
I’ve told you this before and I hope you remember it the rest of your life, or until Jesus comes: God created us with a free will. No matter how difficult these last days become, no matter how hard we’re pressed to fall in line with the agenda of the beast, remember that man did not give you your religious liberty, God did. And it can never be forcibly taken away from you; it can only be surrendered...
As John was considering what the three angels said, he was told, in Revelation 14:12 “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 “6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
[Close / Appeal]
