Summary: This message examines the third person of the unholy trinity, the false prophet. His job during the Tribulation is to direct the world to worship the beast, and he is given power to kill any who refuse to bow down and worship Satan.

The False Prophet

Revelation, Part 19, Revelation 13:11-12

Introduction

Last time we concluded with the understanding of the religion of the beast

-- Discussed how it will affect all nations in the world

-- “Worship Satan or die” is the message given to all alive in this day

-- Satan’s control is very easily assumed in a world of chaos

-- People need leadership, and they will follow anything (we are sheep)

- Let’s look today, at how this world dominator will control his subjects

-- Prayerfully we will gain insight as to what the role of the church is

- This evening is solely a teaching lesson …

-- Provide background on the importance of Satan’s leadership (how/why)

- Read Revelation 13:11-12

Ω Point 1 – The False Prophet (11-12)

- This “other” beast is the third member of this unholy trinity

-- Satan’s counterfeit of the Trinity (Satan; anti-Christ, and third beast)

- This beast is a man called the “False prophet” (see Rev 19:20).

-- He is a religious leader who counterfeits the Holy Spirit

-- He points to the Beast (First Beast) as the object of truth and worship

-- The false-prophet and the Antichrist work together from the start

- This world religion will operate under the false ideal of “relative truth”

-- Those who insist on Jesus being the focus of objective truth will be killed during the first half of the tribulation.

- Jesus spoke about this individual and the antichrist in Matthew 24:24, “For false Christ’s and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.”

- How do we get leaders in this nation?

-- They are elected … thus, the “elect” reference

Ω - He has two horns like a lamb

-- Lambs are used mainly in the scriptures as a picture of sacrifice

-- Jesus is called the “Lamb of God” or also God’s Passover lamb

- The lamb-like nature of this beast demonstrates his religious aspect

-- The two horns have significant meaning and have many interpretations

- The two horns on this lamb can represent two distinct religious systems

-- There is strong evidence to suggest, this united religious system will be the adulterous church pictured in three of the seven churches (Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira)

-- They are unified with the remnants of Islam by the False Prophet

There are four points regarding this position:

1. Catholicism already accepts Muslims and Jews as having salvation

-- Not required to believe Jesus died on Cross or that he is the Son of God.

Ref: Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Ω 839 The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."

Ω 841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

Ω 2. Islam is a major force on the scene today in Jerusalem (Israel)

-- It must be reduced for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt

-- This happens at the start of the 7-year tribulation period

-- The “Dome of the Rock” must be destroyed which is either

1) The cause or

2) The conclusion of a war between Islam and Israel.

-- A defeated Islam will be ripe for a new religious system.

Ω 3. With the “Rapture” of the Church, those left behind will look to unify

-- Again, we have a world filled with war and chaos

-- This results from: Islamic war against Israel, (Ezekiel 38-39)

-- The Rapture and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple

- This church is exemplified by Jesus’ response to the 5 virgins who missed the coming of the bridegroom (Matthew 25:11-13), “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

Ω 4. The adulterous church is destroyed in the 2nd half of the tribulation

-- Unified faith is turned toward the Beast for ultimate worship & acceptance

-- There is a desire for mankind to unite, under anything that exists

- Notice that all these things are almost in perfect alignment

-- This is what allows this false religion to take control!

- Raising up a new religion in the Middle East today would be impossible

-- This is due primarily to the presence God’s Holy Spirit (in today’s time)

-- However, if those things were removed … the first salesman with a good deal could take control … this is what Satan is counting on: our own gullible nature!

-- APP: He knows us; the easy deception in garden is who we are

Ω - The source of this world religion will be Satan

-- His goal is to destroy those created in the image of God.

-- Biblical Christianity is exclusive; there’s no room for a competing “Jesus”

-- Islam denies Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross

-- The Muslim Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.

- Judaism today rejects Jesus as Messiah and labels him a false prophet

-- Many in the ecumenical movement deny Jesus as the son of God

-- There are countless heretical beliefs today (and false prophets)

- Here is what the bible says about those who reject the biblical Jesus:

-- 1 John 2:22-23 says “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

- IMP: The message to the church today is VERY clear:

-- If you deny Jesus, you do not have Him.

-- This is applicable to ALL portions of our lives, to include the secret sins

-- Jesus has given us a foundation to follow today

-- AP: We need to be receptive to that in all things that we do

Ω - The second half involves the removal of religion’s mask

-- Humanity will worship Satan in the person of the Antichrist

-- Both of these demand worldwide worship

-- Those that refuse will be killed … bottom line (there is NO escape)

- People will not be able to buy or sell anything unless they totally submit

-- Submit in life, in worship, in all things (personal and public)

-- Daniel foretold this nature of the Antichrist over 2500 years ago. He says in Daniel 11:37, “He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.”

- This false prophet will take control by enforcing the image of the beast

-- He convinces others that he is to be worshipped … How?

-- He whips up a few miracles, and poof, we fall right in line

-- Again, this is the warning NOT to just falsely believe because it feels good or sounds logical – look it up and study for yourself!

-- It’s with wondrous signs he will convince people blindly to follow

- 2 Thess 2:11-12 predicted EXACTY how God will allow this to happen, and why He will do it: “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Ω Big Ideas

- Today, let me ask you … do you believe God or the lie?

-- Honestly, sitting here in church it is easy to answer properly

-- But what about way down deep inside?

-- Do you believe God’s Word, or the lies coming from the world?

- The goal of the False prophet is one thing: for people to accept the deification of the Beast whose deadly wound was healed

-- The death and resurrection of the Beast at the Mid-point will be in conjunction with the casting out of Satan from Heaven

- Somehow, the anti-Christ will receive a head wound

-- Probably an assassination attempt that Satan has ordained to happen

-- He will be resurrected FULLY as Satan himself, demanding worship

- His death and resurrection will be highlighted as evidence for the Beast being God on Earth

-- In the same way Jesus was crucified and resurrected was evidence of his being the Son of God, Satan will counterfeit the resurrection

- The first anti-Christ will be a very charismatic, very popular, probably attractive man that people will naturally want to follow and be around. But, he will be influenced (read: controlled) by Satan.

- When he dies of this head wound and resurrects himself – he will be FULLY Satan, demanding worship from this world.

- Challenge:

-- Will we believe the lie of the devil or the truth of God?

-- Or, will you listen now and get your life right with God?

- Pray