Revelation’s Rumblings (Part A)

No seal, no sale. That's how it's going to be. And it will be global. The world will eventually become a cashless society, either by devaluating cash or outlawing it or maybe something we've not yet thought of or seen. This development is in full swing this very day. How many of you, and I started to say, how much cash do you have?

But how many of you have cash in your wallet? This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching special messages here on Cross-Reference Radio.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in Revelation chapter 13 as he shares part one of a special message called Revelations Rumblings. Revelation chapter 13, Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

And I saw one of the heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity.

He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth into sight of men, and he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six six and six. Interestingly, in the Bible, in the pulpit Bible here, that chapter, that verse is on page 1,666.

Things happen like that. The text, the part that we're going to zoom in on from this very fascinating and frightening and developing chapter of the Bible is verse 17. And just this part of it, no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast. Revelations rumblings.

That's the message. Revelations rumblings. What we're, the thunder of this book and the time we live in, chapter of Revelation. John saw these two human figures enter the world stage. The first one, Antichrist, comes from the sea, likely indicating he is a Gentile. The second beast comes from the earth, likely indicating that he is a Jew. And they come on the scene at the beginning of the great tribulation period.

But they don't develop until the latter stage. The great tribulation period is really divided into two parts. It's a seven year period. The first three and a half years will be relative peace, relative to what's coming. And the next three and a half years will be tribulation such as the world has never known. And so verses again, one through 10, there emerges a world leader, that fierce beast, the man of sin, the son of perdition, the Antichrist. Then another beast appears in verses 11 through 18. He is the spiritual advocate of political Antichrist. You sort of have the false prophet, you do have the false prophet, and he's sort of the spiritual Antichrist. Together they form a duo made in hell. The second beast, the false prophet, he is the one that masterminds this economic persecution of the saints, where you will not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. This is something that is thought up by the false prophet on behalf of Antichrist. These two make up the greatest human enemies of Jews and Christians humanity has ever known. There is nothing close to these two.

There are the Hitler's and there are the Antiochus Epiphanes and there are others throughout the Nero's and Domitians and others in history that were vile, but they had not this kind of power, both power according to military might, economic strength, but most importantly power right out of hell during this period coming to the world. He says here in verse 17, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark, the seal of Antichrist. No seal, no sale. That's how it's going to be. And it will be global. The world will eventually become a cashless society, either by devaluating cash or outlawing it or maybe something we've not yet thought of or seen. This development is in full swing in this very day. How much, how many of you, I started to say how much cash do you have, but how many of you have cash in your wallet or how many of you have cash in your wallet compared to 30 years ago? Cash is of course going away and other means of exchange are filling in the blanks. This fact exists and we are very mindful of it that everyone is on the grid, everyone can be traced. It is increasing. It is becoming where you just know where you can hide on the planet.

You can't even go into the forest and hide. The technology is so advanced, the infrareds just for example, the satellites, these two individuals will wield extraordinary powers. Daniel called it early on in Daniel's seventh chapter. He writes, after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth.

It was devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns. Daniel had seen the world powers coming into place, you know, the Gresham empire under Alexander the Great. He saw the Medes and the Persians and just saw all these empires coming. And then he sees this end times entity that we know as Antichrist and that's what he's speaking about there in Daniel chapter 7, terrible, exceedingly strong. Remember the Bible has a flair for understatement.

And so when it says it is exceedingly strong it is saying that's as high as it gets, it's emphatic. It is an effort, this cashless society, this insistence that you have his mark. It is an effort to force men by economic means to forsake Christ and accept Antichrist.

True believers will prefer death than renouncing their savior during this great tribulation period and there will be many of them. It says here that they are to have that mark or the name of the beast. No name, no necessities.

If you're not lined up with Antichrist, you don't get to purchase anything. So along, it's all wrapped in together the mark, the name, the number, that mystical number, that special mark 6, 6 and 6. It says also here for the number of his name.

No number, no deal. There must be some deliberate and willful tag put on this individual that is unmistakable to everyone and that will be it. And Antichrist and his false prophet will say, join us or die. We'll know who you are.

We already know who you are. This distinct tag 6, 6, 6, of course it speaks of the evil trinity. It speaks of the false prophet, the Antichrist and the force of Satan himself, Lucifer himself behind these. It speaks of more but we're not doing a verse by verse exposition of the number. We are going to get back to the rumblings of this book and how relevant it is to us sharing our faith from the book of Revelation unlike any time in human history. But this number will be, I believe, an intentional mockery of Christianity and God's word making the crime more damnable. Peter said knowing this verse that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own desires, their own passionate desires.

The word translated is lust. They're going to do their own thing scoffing at what they already know about God because Christians have been faithful over the ages to preach the gospel and they still are faithful to preach the gospel. It is no longer a hidden message in most of the world or much of the Western civilization for sure. But this force of evil, Antichrist and his false prophet, they are going to insist on using 666 knowing that that's the tag put on them, supposing again to mock the Lord of the Bible. They cannot do otherwise because God rules. The scripture must be fulfilled. They will think they're mocking God but in the end they will be judged and how can they not know that this is going to be the number?

Everybody knows this is the number. They will go forward with their plan to belittle the church, to destroy, well the church won't be here, to belittle Christians, to destroy Christians. Right now the attempts are to marginalize the church, to make it insignificant, to make our message insignificant.

And so you know, I'm getting ahead of myself, let's go back to, let's come back to my notes because it's in there. Technology, it is actually fueling the doom of humanity. There are many uses to it.

There's nothing wrong with technology in itself. It depends on what is in your heart, what you're doing with these things. These two demonically filled characters holding all of this global political and spiritual power from Satan. They, they will have their way with those who refuse to let Jesus have their heart. Revelation 16 verse 13, and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon. What a spooky scene. A dragon is scary enough. Then to have three frogs come out.

Three blind mice would have been, you know, something I could have not been so frightened by. But three frogs coming from the mouth of this monster and he says, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Foul things will be coming out of their hearts because Satan has filled their hearts willfully, not against their will. Revelation 13, 12, he exercises all authority of the first beast. This is the false prophet. In his presence, that is the antichrist, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the false beast.

This is spiritual. This has something to do with religion. The atheists will be one.

They will sell themselves over to this madness. Most false god worshipers today and in ancient history would deny that they're worshiping demons straight out. But God says otherwise. God says if you're not worshiping me, you're worshiping a concoction out of hell.

I don't care what name you put on it, how pretty you think you can make it. You're creating a perfect kingdom of human fools that are just waiting for these Satan boys. The world is ripe.

It is ready to receive them with open arms. The Jews and tribulation converts will be the hated targets of not only these two, but all the antichrists that are goose-stepping with them to their doom. Revelation 11, verse 10, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them. That is the witnesses of God, the two witnesses that are killed. They will rejoice over them, make Mary send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. How did they do that? Did they capture people and put hot pokers into their flesh, beat the bottom of their feet with canes like the communists did to Richard Wambrandt and other believers?

No. They simply salted the earth with truth and righteousness. They were a walking sermon, conviction against sin and the madness that is engulfing the planet. They hated these two men for being righteous and it was global.

Hated so much they went out and bought things to send to other people because they have the ability to buy and sell. The key to evil in the book of Revelation, the key to it pulling off this master plan of Satan is not only that Satan is released but he has the technology, the vehicle to do all of this which was not available to the Caesars of days gone by or anybody else. Without technology the prophecies of the book of Revelation stall but now we have the technology. It is clear.

It is in plain sight. Antichrist will control all of the media without which he cannot be the big mouth that the Bible tells us he will be. We know that the news media in this country is now state media. It is controlled by elements of evil in the government.

You have to go outside of mainstream media just to find out who lit a match because if they're telling the story it's going to be slanted, skewed, spun. They're going to vilify and try to assassinate the character of anyone who dares to oppose them. They ain't seen nothing yet. Wait till these two boys get on the scene. Revelation 13 and he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and he was given authority to continue for three and a half years.

Forty two months. You see he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy. Well, what could that mean except he has a platform. He has a soapbox that can reach everywhere at the same time.

Every language can receive it. The Tower of Babel is being rebuilt. Daniel chapter seven. He shall speak pompous words against the most high, shall persecute those of the most high. As John said in his letter, Antichrist is coming. Many Antichrist are here.

The minion of Satan, the Antichrist are building this fool's paradise so that he will have all that he needs to cause harm, to try to exterminate every believer of Jesus Christ and every Jewish person whether they believe in Christ or not. Vimeo is a media platform like YouTube and just this month they found themselves in court lawsuit filed against them by Church United and it was a discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of James Doman who is a former homosexual but he has come out of that. Of course, he's a pastor now.

He's married. He has children and he would post on Vimeo videos on how to come out of homosexuality. Well, Vimeo banded him, deleted his account, not just the videos on that subject but the entire account. They banned and will ban anyone who makes any attempt to lead homosexuals out of homosexuality and all that goes with the package.

This is known as gay conversion therapy by somebody and if you look it up on the internet you'll find it and you'll find all of the bias and sickening defenses against it or attacks against it but that's not what we're really focusing on at this point. It could have been anyone that has a one-sided approach against free speech in this country. Well, they went to court and the court ruled in favor of Vimeo and thereby empowering Vimeo to legally ban videos preaching against homosexuality or anything else they don't like. If you are a fan of blue shoelace tips and they don't like it, they can shut you down legally. You cannot take them to court. YouTube has not yet done this.

Why? Well, they're waiting for Vimeo to spend their money in the courts so that they can get the ruling and then if they shall decide they'll be able to ride on the coattails of that lawsuit and do the same thing. Bob Tyler, the lawyer that defended or brought the lawsuit on behalf of Church United in a telephone interview says the decision is very concerning because they gave the ability for social media platforms and other related websites to be completely immune from liability when they engage in international acts of discrimination towards protected classes.

Let me translate that. They're giving the right to everybody on the internet to tell you Christians you can't buy from us. You can't post on here. You're not welcome. We're going to shut you up. That is what is going on. Judge Stuart Aaron upheld publisher immunity and immunity to police content.

If you're not politically correct, then you're out. Proverbs 17 verse 15, he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. So you see this the catalyst for this message. Here we live in a time where we are seeing prohibition to not buy or sell becoming law in our land. We are seeing the prophecies fulfilled.

It's not yet final, but the groundwork is laid like never before in our society. Isaiah and if you don't know this verse from Isaiah you should know it. Chapter 5 verse 20, woe to those who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

They're flipping everything upside down, not right side up. Also in June of 2019, Vimeo removed an account of Project Veritas, an American conservative activist group. They discriminated against them.

They didn't like them. They wanted to silence them so their big mouth can be heard instead, but they continue, Vimeo does, to accept videos which to God are obscene and nude and lascivious and filthy and anti-Christ. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in God's Word. If you've missed any part of this message or would like to explore more teachings, you can hear them by going to crossreferenceradio.com.

Pastor Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Again that website is crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio that we upload. It's a great way to stay connected to God's Word. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. That's all for today. Thanks for joining us here on Cross Reference Radio.