The Most Interesting Man in the World

I discovered no less than 24 full-length Hollywood feature films on the Antichrist as the subject. And typically Hollywood depicts him as this dark sinister being. But that's far from how he's going to come on the scene. He'll enter the world scene as poised and polished and perfect. Now just in case you may be thinking the idea of a coming world leader called the Antichrist is far-fetched.

You have a lot of Bible to fight against. Over the years people have tried to guess who the Antichrist is. They've named different religious leaders, celebrities, dictators, and even U.S. presidents. Today we continue our countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number 32 spot is the message the most interesting man in the world where Skip discusses the Antichrist's widely debated identity and shows you why it's important for you to prepare for his arrival.

Now we want to tell you about a resource that will take you on an incredible journey as you explore God's vast love for you. Listen to this daring promise from the young American president John Kennedy. Why some say the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard. NASA engaged 400,000 people to accomplish this challenge but this was not the most audacious claim or accomplishment in history. That honor is reserved for one man Jesus Christ who promised to die for the sins of the world and resurrect to overcome death. Listen to Levi Lusko speaking about his new book The Last Supper on the Moon.

I wanted to show a connection between the battle for outer space and the quest to conquer inner space and how the cross like the Saturn V launch vehicle is the only thing that can bridge that gap and as our secular society is realizing there are downsides to turning from God turning away from church you know you see people leaving the church in droves in and out what do you have in tandem with it higher anxiety higher you know suicide rates you have even a lowering of emotional intelligence we're not on in church we're not in the bible but we are on screens and what is it doing to the insides of us well there you go. The Last Supper on the Moon is an epic new hardcover book by Levi Lusko and it's our resource offer this month. Receive your copy when you give a gift of $35 or more to support this program. Just go to connectwithskip.com or call 800-922-1888.

That's connectwithskip.com or call 800-922-1888. Okay we're in Revelation chapter 13 as we join Skip Hyten for today's study. Do you recognize this guy? Do you know who he is? He's the most interesting man in the world that's right and look he's holding our bulletin this morning.

Turn in your bibles to Revelation chapter 13 please. Yeah this guy has been featured in commercials he's called the most interesting man in the world he just retired and of course he's on commercials selling beer and the commercials give you reasons why he's the most interesting man in the world and they're they're way out claims for instance here's one Superman has pajamas with his logo because he's the most interesting man in the world. Once a rattlesnake bit him after five days of excruciating pain the snake finally died because he's the most interesting man in the world. Sharks have a week dedicated to him because he's the most interesting man in the world. Roses stop to smell him because he's the most interesting man in the world. And finally mosquitoes refuse to bite him purely out of respect because he's the most interesting man in the world. Okay this guy aside there is coming to this world somebody whom the world will designate as probably the most interesting man in the world he'll be charismatic he'll be dynamic he'll be charming he'll be compelling and he will be full of himself.

You couldn't make enough commercials about him he will be the ultimate man. In fact he has a designation in chapter 13 verse 18 he's given a certain number and it says it's the number of man six six six. So because six is often called the number of man mankind was born or mankind was created on the sixth day of creation. Bond men were set free after six years of slavery so typically six is seen as the number of man. I want to give you six characteristics about this coming world ruler. Now typically he is called by most of us the antichrist that's the familiar name even though he goes by many other names in the scripture and we don't get to the name antichrist till first john chapter two where john writes little children it is the last hour and you have heard that the antichrist is coming and you have heard that the antichrist is coming and even so many antichrists have already come but he goes by other titles for example he is called the man of sin the lawless one in revelation 13 we will see he is called the beast he's given the title the little horn in the book of daniel the prince that shall come daniel chapter 9 also the willful king and the idol shepherd out of the book of zechariah now frankly when most people hear the word antichrist in a in a normal setting if you were to bring that term up you will probably get laughed at or at least a condescending sneer or snicker after all for most people the idea of an antichrist is in the same category as the easter bunny in santa claus or maybe cupid and dracula right i mean these things don't really exist or when people think about if they believe in the coming of antichrist they think of somebody really dark and sinister because of all the hollywood movies i discovered no less than 24 full length hollywood films feature films on the antichrist is the subject and typically hollywood depicts him as this dark sinister being but that's far from how he's going to come on the scene he'll enter the world scene as poised and polished and perfect now just in case you may be thinking the idea of a coming world leader called the antichrist is far-fetched you have a lot of bible to fight against you have the writings of the old testament prophets the writings of the new testament apostles and even the words of jesus christ himself all who predicted his arrival and as you would suspect the antichrist throughout history many have taken a guess as to who he would be and all of them were wrong for example the first one that we know of at least that i know of was in 37 a.d when caligula the emperor put a statue of himself in the jerusalem temple and many immediately said that's antichrist 20 years later caesar nero was called the antichrist because of his persecution of the christian church in fact he was given the designation by early christians the beast but it doesn't stop there others throughout others throughout history have been noted as the antichrist bonito mussolini was one napoleon bonaparte charlemagne adolf hitler as you would suspect moshe diane the israeli military leader henry kissinger mikael gorbachev and javier salana of spain all have been called the antichrist also several u.s presidents have been called the antichrist probably all of them by some most notable thomas jefferson was the first president to be dubbed the antichrist franklin delano roosevelt in his generation some thought was uh john fish gerald kennedy and ronald reagan all dubbed the antichrist and besides them several popes probably most every pope by some groups have been dubbed the antichrist i even found a prophetic publication that said the antichrist is the internet and so i kept reading to discover what it was about and they said well you know w w w when you bring up a web page the hebrew equivalent of that is the letter vav in hebrew and that's the w sound vav is the sixth letter of the hebrew alphabet and the numeric equivalent would be six six six w w w of course i found that on the internet so we have some problems with its sourcing so all the speculations aside allow me to give you six words a six-fold description of this most interesting man in the world first is wickedness wickedness verse one then i stood on the sand of the sea revelation 13 verse 1 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 note that he is called a beast this is how god sees him he's not a wonderful man he's a wicked man he's not the most interesting man in the world god sees him as a beast the most insidious man in the world the word beast is the greek word therian which which means a wild venomous monster when you think of a beast don't think of an animal or a household pet like a dog i i have known some dogs that are beast-like and pretty ugly but this is different by the way i decided to go on the internet and call up the 10 ugliest creatures in the world and in all the sites this one came up as number one the ugliest creature so so when you see that if you're like most people not only do you go oh you go that's not real right that's fake turns out it is real we call it we dub it the blob fish the blob fish goes by other names but it is a gelatinous shaped fish gelatinous material and it's a bottom dweller dwells in the lowest depths of the south pacific and in the list of the 10 ugliest animals or creatures in the world it's this beast out of the sea so let's get rid of that thing now okay i just wanted you to get a little visual in your head because what john is getting here isn't dictation he's getting a vision he's seeing a beast rise up out of the sea but the symbols point to realities this beast out of the sea is emblematic of a person how do we know because of all the personal pronouns attributed to it him he his are all pronouns that are speaking about this beast that rises up out of the sea so we can safely surmise that it is emblematic of a person a beast-like person he's pictured as a beast because he's a beast of a man he's vicious he's savage paul calls him a man of sin he calls him the son of perdition and also the lawless one all words that speak of this first feature he is a wicked person wickedness a beast but he doesn't begin that way he begins so suave he begins like the most interesting man in the world he is a peacemaker we saw in revelation chapter 6 he comes on a white horse conquering into conquer but he's got a seven-year plan and though he begins very very wonderfully he be his beginning is not like his end he ends very very wickedly here's the second description world dominance look at verse two the beast which i saw was like a leopard his feet were like the feet of a bear his mouth like the mouth of a lion the dragon gave him power his throne and great authority now he appears to john the apostle much like he appeared to daniel the prophet 600 years before i hope in reading this description at least some of you will have lights going off in your head and you go i've read this somewhere else yeah it's the book of daniel daniel gets a vision in chapter seven of daniel of a succession of a succession of kingdoms world governing empires that will come to the earth from his time forward and the first beast he sees is that of a lion with the wings of an eagle the second is a bear the bear is lumbering off to one side with three ribs in its mouth the third creature is a leopard with four wings that moves swiftly across the earth this is all in daniel's vision and then the fourth beast that he sees has 10 horns much like this so when we read that chapter we discover this vision has meaning and the meaning has unfolded in that chapter we are told that the lion is the nation and kingdom of babylon it is fierce it is ferocious like a lion the second the bear is emblematic of the medo-persian empire it's like a bear it lumbers along it's slower but it's sure it's strong and it took over the world after the babylonian empire and then the third is the leopard and that represents according to the text the grecian empire alexander the great moved swiftly like a leopard and took over the world at a very very young age but then the fourth empire that daniel sees is this beast like nothing he's ever seen before with 10 horns a vicious and ferocious beast so john sees sort of the same thing but in reverse and all wrapped up into one kingdom one person that is it has all the elements all the characteristics of the others but it is unified and more dreadful in power now look at verse seven it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them we'll get to that in a bit but look at this and authority was given him over every tribe tongue and nation now we're dealing with a final world governing empire dominating strong rapid ferocious what john notices is a beast rising up out of the sea what does that mean the sea is emblematic of nations in isaiah chapter 17 isaiah chapter 57 and revelation chapter 17 that emblem of the sea is a picture of humanity it's the sea of humanity especially gentile nations so he sees a beast rising up out of the sea of humanity perhaps even in john's vision the mediterranean sea perhaps indicating he'll come from the mediterranean world with seven heads and ten horns again i refer you back to daniel where this leader forms a global confederacy daniel sees the same thing listen to this daniel 7 23 this beast this final beast shall be a kingdom and shall devour the whole earth trample it and break it in pieces now in that vision of 10 horns he also sees a notable horn a little horn and the little horn is an individual that bears rule over that 10 nation confederacy it's a global confederacy you know it's been the last 10 20 years where the term globalism has become the political buzzword it's spoken about by virtually every leader globalism global leadership global coalition global economy we live in a global village and there have been several groups that have gotten together a couple that i have sort of followed over the years just to see where they're at that are pushing this globalism one is the democratic world federalists they have worldwide supporters they say the united nations has failed league of nations native they've all failed to keep the major wars out of the world and that the only way to do that is by a global government with a global constitution and they offer one in their literature a world parliament world law and world economy what's interesting what's interesting about that is of the several groups that push that in 2011 the vatican started pushing the idea of globalism global economy global leadership all the world tied and unified under one government so wickedness world dominance here's a third description wonder wonder verse three tells us and i saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled or wondered and followed the beast this beastly ruler is going to be satan's masterpiece i'm going to date some of you do you do you remember in the 70s that tv show the six million dollar man remember this bionic astronaut they put bionic parts in him and he was the six million dollar man the anti-christ will be the 666 million dollar man he will be satan's perfect man ideal specimen the ultimate satanic masterpiece notice in verse two the dragon gave him his power we know who the dragon is we've already uncovered that in our series on what's next in the book of revelation the dragon is satan himself the dragon gave him his power that is we're talking about an individual who's been engineered by possessed by controlled by satan now what does it mean when it says one of his heads was mortally wounded and then healed well some believe this is reference to a revived final empire a revived roman empire it has been called you see historically we know that there have been so far six empires that we would call world governing empires they ruled the world the known world at that time the first was the egyptian empire the second the assyrian empire the third the babylonian empire the fourth the medo-persian empire the fifth the greek empire the sixth the roman empire and since that we haven't had a world governance like we have had in those empires it could be then that the idea of the seventh head the seventh empire is a resurrection a revival of what was dead a revived roman empire that's how some like to interpret it but here's another thought others see this as he receives a head wound and is able to at least stage some sort of resurrection i don't think if that's true it's in a literal resurrection i don't think satan has the ability to stage a literal resurrection god is the only one that has power over life and death but at least it could appear to be a resurrection it could be a staged resurrection now just imagine what it would be like if a world leader died was placed in a casket he's lying in state in some rotunda over in the middle east the news cameras are all on him all the international networks covering this funeral thousands are lined up to pay their respect to this world leader and suddenly there's a wiggling in the casket and the one everyone thought was dead rises back to life do you think that would cause wonder do you think that would cause marvel the word marvel is thaumazo it means to be mesmerized by to to be shocked by it could even be translated and perhaps this is what jesus meant when he said i have come in my father's name and you did not receive me another will come in his own name and him you will receive the world will wonder at his rise to power they will wonder at his agility mentally they will wonder at his ability to solve complex issues and problems and they would certainly wonder and what they would perceive to be a resurrection and wonder is always the first step toward worship that's what is next after wonder the fourth word is worship verse four so they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast that is satan and they worshiped the beast saying who is like the beast who is able to make war with him verse eight 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 foundations of the world so now their wonder turns to worship their adulation turns to adoration and by the way it's what satan has what satan has wanted all along am i right from the very beginning when satan was created by god we understand from scripture that satan was an angelic being he was the anointed cherub that covers in the hierarchy of heaven satan lucifer was numero uno minus uno and it was the minus one that bothered him he wanted it all isaiah describes his fall in isaiah 14 how are you fallen from heaven oh lucifer son of the morning for you have said in your heart i will ascend into heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will ascend above the heights of the clouds i will be like the most high el elion almighty god i will be like almighty god that's how it happened but he doesn't stop does he he fell but he doesn't stop in second thessalonians paul the apostle said the anti-christ will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called god or that is worshipped as god so that he sets himself up in god's temple and demands worship that's Skip heitzig's number 32 message from the series what's next find the full message and more of skip's teachings including his latest sermons and current teaching series at youtube.com slash calvary abq now here's Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong connecting you and many others to god's truths did you know that every day you're part of an invisible spiritual battle but you can have absolute confidence knowing that christ has already won the war that doesn't mean the enemy is going down without a fight far from it but we share these bible teachings to equip listeners like you in your faith so that you can be prepared for any challenges that you face when you give a gift today you not only keep these messages coming to you but you give a boost to others faith as well here's how you can give right now give us a call at 800-922-1888 to give a gift 800-922-1888 or give online at connectwithskip.com slash donate that's connectwithskip.com slash donate your support is vital to continue encouraging you and many others with messages like this one today so thank 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