The Tribulation (Part V) Series

Illustration: Men walk into church with machine guns.

Read verses 11-18

With all that we have been told about how evil the first Antichrist will be, the beast of the sea, Satan is not going to stop there.

He will raise another who is even more ruthless because he will enslave the minds and souls of men.

In verse 11 another means another of the same kind. This Antichrist will have the same powers show the same finesse and have the dynamic impact as the first.

The second beast we are told emerges from the earth or land. When the Bible uses the word land it usually refers to the land that belongs to Israel.

The first beast rules the ten nations but the second beast will yield religious power and for that reason he will also be called the false prophet.

Millions of people are going to fall for this deception and honestly believe this false prophet to be the Jewish Messiah.

The World Council of churches is already at work merging various religions together.

By the time the false prophet gets involved even liberal Jews will be ready to get involved.

When this religious merger is complete, Satan will have accomplished the most blasphemous act ever, which is the mocking of the Holy Trinity.

Satan will have his unholy trinity, which is: Antichrist one, Antichrist two, and the Demons.

In verses 12-16 we are told of seven things the false prophet does.

He exercises unlimited authority

He forces people to worship the first Antichrist

He performs great miracles

He deceives the population

He forces the people to worship an image in honor of the beast who was wounded

He kills everyone who won’t worship the beast

He forces everyone no matter what race or financial stats to accept the mark

Let’s read verse 18 again.

Through out history people have attempted to figure out what 666 means. They have often declared various things to be the mark of the beast:

1. Social Security numbers

2. Bar Codes on products, places & people

3. VISA cards

4. Jack Van Impe once declared that the beast will be using a vast computer network because "computer" (in English)figures to be "666."

How many of you have heard of these scares?

Illustration: Is the number a curse?

This will cause a mass hysteria where people end up fighting Social Security numbers, bar codes, Visa cards and computer networking because they believe that by blocking Satan’s use of these tools they can stop or delay the Tribulation.

Now there’s something wrong with that kind of reasoning.

Who is telling us that 666 is going to happen? God is!

What that means is - it’s going to happen. It’s part of His plan. You can’t stop it. You can’t delay it. It will happen.

Which means the only choice people will have is whether or not they decide to sell out their beliefs for financial security.

The problem is not with the mark. The problem is why people will wear the mark.

Look again at Revelation 13:16-17

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.