The movie world seems to be obsessed with the end of the world. There has been a steady stream of films coming out of Hollywood around the theme of end time events and takeoffs on the book of Revelation. Films like “End of Days,” “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” and “Independence Day” are just some examples. One series of films that came out a few years ago was the “Omen” trilogy. The films specifically centered around the antichrist of the book of Revelation. The first film deals with the birth and childhood of the antichrist. His parents suspect there is something different about their creepy little son, but they find out the awful truth when they discover 666 tattooed on his forehead. The second film, “Damien: Omen II,” showed him as a teenager and what happened when his identity was revealed to him by satanic agents. I haven’t seen the movies, but the reviews sound like they would send you to bed with a nightmare waiting to happen.
It is interesting that there is so much interest out there concerning the end of the world and the themes of the book of Revelation. In fact, you can almost hear more about the end times in a theater than you can in the average church. Perhaps that is because we have attempted to avoid sensationalism and hype. The problem is that there is so much misinformation in the media and a deliberate missing of the point. We need to hear and know the truth of what the Bible teaches about the events of the last days. Although much of what the Bible reveals is wrapped in strange symbolism, we still can understand the realities of what will take place. And though the Bible does not give us specific dates and detailed events, it does reveal general events and the kind of time during which these events will take place.
One of the striking revelations about the end times is a person whom the Bible calls “the man of lawlessness.” Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians, speaks of the antichrist when he says, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). The apostle John writes in his letter, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
Who is the antichrist, and what is his purpose? What role will he fill? There are several things that we could point out, but generally his main purpose is to acquire power and turn people away from God, directing worship toward himself. The way he will try to accomplish this will be by doing three main things. The first is: He will create a one world government. He is the anti-Christ. He is against Christ and everyone who belongs to him. He will be Satan’s tool for corrupting the world and turning people away from God. He will be given power by Satan to accomplish his will. The Bible says, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). He is the false messiah who desires to replace and mock the rule of the true Messiah, Jesus Christ. In fact, we have here in Revelation 13 an evil trinity: Satan, symbolized by the dragon who is standing on the shore of the sea; the antichrist, symbolized by the beast that comes out of the sea; and the false prophet, the head of the one world religion — the beast who arises out of the earth and causes people to worship the antichrist. Satan, the antichrist and false prophet: these three unite in a desperate attempt to establish their own government and overthrow the kingdom of God — but their efforts will ultimately fail.
The reason given for the need of a one world government will be that problems like global terrorism and international conflict cannot be controlled by the United States alone, or any other nation. We cannot continue to be international police. The growing problems of our global community will require a united government to handle these problems. The United Nations and its forces have been largely ineffective because of their limited jurisdiction, and the problems the world faces will call for increased authority and military power. The person who heads this organization will ultimately grow in power through personal charm and an increasing use of force. He will disguise his true motives in the beginning and greatly appeal to the masses.
Throughout history there have been many antichrists who have come before the final antichrist takes his seat of power. We can get some idea of what he will be like from those who have preceded him. The Bible says, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7). The antichrists of the world have always used the same methods: intimidation and persecution. Throughout the Old Testament the prophets were persecuted and put to death. In the New Testament, men like John the Baptist and Stephen were put to death. During the early life of the church it was the Caesars who wanted to dominate the world and persecuted the church of God. In May A.D. 64, a terrible fire broke out in Rome which had been deliberately set. It raged for six days and seven nights, and totally destroyed much of the city. At the time, most believed that Nero was behind the fire, and historians generally agree that he was responsible. Tacitus, an ancient Roman historian, tells how he shifted the blame away from himself to Christians: “Hence, to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who are hated for their enormities. . . . Accordingly, first three were seized, who confessed they were Christians. Next, on their information, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city as of hating the human race. And in their deaths they were also made the subjects of sport; for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and, when day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights. . . .they seemed not to be cut off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of one man.”
And so, down the corridors of time there have been others who desired to dominate the entire world and rid the earth of the people called Christians. They have come and gone with names like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and more recently Saddam Hussein and Osama Ben Laden. From these dominating, cruel and murderous personalities we get a glimpse into the personality of the final antichrist. We have to take these people and their intentions seriously, for there will be others who will desire great power and become like God, ruling the world. The book of Revelation describes the antichrist’s intent and evil purpose when it says, “He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:6-8).
The second thing the antichrist will do is: He will create a one world economy. We hear so much about the mark of the beast, which is 666. The book of Revelation says, “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, 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” (Revelation 13:16-17). This mark is tied to people’s ability to buy and sell. It is sort of an evil VISA bank card — perhaps with three sets of six numbers. In order to have a bank account, and be able to buy and sell, you must have the mark of the beast. But in order to get the mark, you must worship the antichrist and display your loyalty to the government.
The proof of a person’s loyalty to the antichrist will be receiving his mark. I said that it was something like a VISA card, but there are two problems with a credit card. One is proof of identity, and the other is theft or loss. There is one way to solve both problems: have a small electronic “smart” chip implanted under the skin on your hand or forehead, or both. Retail and grocery stores are already outfitted with scanners which could read something like this with a minor upgrade. After your purchases are rung up, you would simply place your hand in front of the scanner or stand in front of it. The world is quickly moving toward a cashless society. Already, some businesses will not accept cash. Someday, in the not too distant future, paper money will be out of date. The only way you will be able to purchase something is with a credit card that will also serve as your identification.
A national ID card is already in the works. It was made a priority because the terrorists who perpetrated the September 11 attacks used fake ID’s. We need to know if the people boarding planes are who they say they are. Frank Pellegrini writes for Time magazine. In a recent article he says, “The Department of Transportation, acting on instructions from Congress, has begun work with states to develop electronically smarter drivers’ licenses that can be checked for validity across the country, and that have more than just than that always-awful picture — like a fingerprint or retinal-scan imprint — to match the card to its holder. So it’s more of a national ID system, a linking of Departments of Motor Vehicles — and the records they keep on you — across state lines, with some extra on-card security measures thrown in . . .the plan means that a state trooper in California would be able to pull the records of a driver from Georgia — and be certain that those records were the driver’s, and not an innocent lookalike he stole the card from. . . .And the smarter cards, ‘hardened’ with biometric data, would make identity theft much trickier, at least in person. (Georgia, incidentally, already uses thumbprints on its drivers’ licenses.) . . .What if your state/national ID card was your passport as well as your drivers’ license? . . .Or what if your national ID card was your ATM card, and your credit card, and your HMO card and your work ID and the passkey to your maximum-security apartment, all at once?” Imagine the possibilities. Already, you can be traced across the country when you use your credit card, and they can know everything you purchase from Boston to Los Angeles. What if your national ID card was also your phone card, insurance card, library card. . . .
A one world economy means that there will someday be a world ID card, and there will be nothing you can do without it. This is what the mark of the beast will be like, and the purpose of the one world economy. Like a Georgia driver’s license it can contain your thumbprint, or even a retinal scan. The purpose of the antichrist is to control the world and all the people in it. It is the antithesis of how God operates, for God gives freedom — even freedom to live your life without him. The Bible says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). God gives us freedom, the devil wants to control and eventually bring us into bondage.
The third thing the antichrist will do is: He will create a one world religion. Increasingly, religion will be seen as one of the major sources of conflict in the world. Even today in Ireland, the middle east and other areas, religious differences seem to contribute to the conflicts raging in the world. As we march toward the end, there will be a growing call to unite all religions into one, under the guise of attempting to bring peace and unite the world. Tremendous pressure will be brought to bear on Christians to capitulate their beliefs and values. Pluralism is the idea that there are many ways to think of God, and only our labels are different. It says that no one has the right to exclusive truth claims. But the Bible, in speaking about Jesus, says: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We cannot give up the truth in order just to get along. We must respect everyone and recognize that they have the right to believe anything they wish to believe, but we cannot give up our belief that “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). To say that the God we worship is the same as Allah, Krishna or any other god is ludicrous and a denial of the truth faith.
When Nero was Caesar of the Roman empire, he allowed the Christians and people of other religions to continue to practice their faith, whatever it was. There was only one stipulation: you also had to come once a year and bow in worship before his image and make an offering. By worshiping before his statue, and placing an offering there, you showed your loyalty to Caesar. If you refused to do pledge your allegiance to the government in this way, you paid with your life — and many, many Christians did. This will likely be the scenario in the last days. At least in the beginning, the antichrist will appear to be a great leader and may permit people to practice their own religion, as long as they recognize all religions as equal and also worship him. But what happens when your religion does not permit you to have other gods? Paul wrote: “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6). Our faith does not permit us to worship Jesus Christ plus something or someone else. Our love and worship of him is exclusive. We cannot compromise at this point, and this is the very thing that Satan understands. It is that very loyalty that drives him mad.
And though this antichrist has the power of Satan behind him, and endeavors to rule through fear and intimidation, his doom is sure. Our confidence is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. The fate of the antichrist is spelled out in Scripture where it says, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). This confidence is reflected in the great hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabbaoth his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.
Rodney J. Buchanan
February 10, 2002
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (February 10, 2002)
1. There seems to be a great deal of interest in the book of Revelation and end-time events. What do you think is the reason for this?
2. What kind of problems would be solved if there was a one world government? What kind of problems would be created?
3. As you think about men in the past who have attempted to become world rulers, what kind of personalities did they generally have?
4. What benefits would there be to having a national ID card that would also serve as your credit card? What are the dangers?
5. Read Revelation 19:19-21. In this passage, the Rider on the horse is Christ. How much of a contest is there as the antichrist faces the true Christ in this battle?
6. Should we face the future with fear or confidence as we consider who Christ is and what he will do?
7. As we approach the end of world history, people will be pressured to accept all religions as basically the same, even though they may have different names for God. How do you see this already happening?
8. How would you respond to those who think you should see all religions as equally valid?
9. Read 1 John 5:4-5. How will we overcome the pressures to conform and submit to a common government, economy and religion?
