The Coming Deception

When it comes to Christ, we who know the true Jesus Christ also know that there will be a false Jesus. Jesus said that in the last days many Christs would rise up. False messiahs would rise up. And we have discovered in our studies of the scriptures, not only in Revelation but throughout the Bible, that the Bible predicts a ruler to come to the earth who will be a false messiah, a false Christ.

Jesus' life fulfills the messianic prophecies found in the Bible so you can trust that he is who he says he is, the messiah. Today we continue our countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number seven spot is Skip's message, The Coming Deception. In it, Skip compares biblical predictions with current world events to help you understand what's going on in the world around you. Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that will deepen your knowledge of God's word even more. Imagine the challenge we faced. Skip Heitzig has taught over 3500 through the Bible messages and we had to pick the top 10 for a special resource offer.

So here's a sample of what we chose. Are we in the last days? Yes, but we've been in the last days for 2,000 years.

The time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ falls under the designation the last days. This power-packed set of Skip's top 10 teachings are messages you will want to hear and share. And one of the things I love about God is he's not complicated.

Most truth you will discover is simple truth, not simplistic truth, simple truth. When you give $35 or more today, we'll also include Lenya Heitzig's book Reload Love, the history of a ministry that's been helping children victimized by terror on the front lines. Get Skip's top 10 messages on CD plus your copy of Reload Love by Lenya Heitzig today.

Call 800-922-1888 to give or visit connectwithskip.com. Now we're in Revelation chapter 13 as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching. At the airport there were some baggage handlers who went to the luggage bay to take out one of those animal carriers and they discovered that the dog inside the animal carrier was dead. So they panicked and they thought of a lawsuit that would come their way and so to mitigate against that they called the owner of that pet and said hey your dog has been sent to a different destination but we promise we'll retrieve the dog and bring it to your house.

She said fine. In the meantime they found a living dog that looked very similar to the one that had died and they put it in in its place hoping to fool the woman. Well when they came to her house and delivered her living dog in that animal carrier she took one look at it and said that's not my dog my dog is dead.

I was bringing it home for burial. It's hard to deceive somebody who knows the truth. You don't trick a dog owner who knows its dog because he or she knows its dog and knows what's not the real dog. And when it comes to Christ we who know the true Jesus Christ also know that there will be a false Jesus. Jesus said that in the last days many Christs would rise up false messiahs would rise up.

Now we have discovered in our studies of the scriptures not only in revelation but throughout the bible that the bible predicts a ruler to come to the earth who will be a false messiah a false Christ. A few years ago in Florida during Christmas season when people put nativity sets out some of them do on their front lawns a couple had their baby Jesus stolen. This is in Wellington Florida a wealthy community and this was a very expensive nativity set to replace baby Jesus cost them 1800 dollars. So it was an expensive nativity set it was stolen one year. The second year the replacement Jesus was also stolen from the nativity set. The third year they decided to employ a clever tactic they put a GPS tracker inside baby Jesus just in case. Well sure enough Jesus got stolen and they went to the thief's home they found Jesus at her house an 18 year old young woman who stole Jesus three years in a row.

It didn't just happen in Wellington Florida it also happened in Eureka Springs Arkansas. This was not an expensive Jesus this was a plastic Jesus. He was stolen along with the chain attached to the plastic Jesus along with the cement block attached to the chain attached to the baby Jesus all there to prevent somebody from stealing the baby Jesus it was stolen. Come to find out there's actually something called the stolen baby Jesus syndrome. You can look it up google it not now but at home that every year there are some wise acre who wants to either play a joke or who's against Christmas who steals baby Jesus.

Sometimes when one is stolen a replacement is put in the crib. A little doll, a stuffed animal, a substitute Jesus. The bible predicts a coming leader who will be a substitute Messiah and deceive the world if that's even possible to deceive the whole world. It was Abraham Lincoln who said you can fool some of the people some of the time and some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time but the Antichrist will do a pretty good job of deceiving most all of the world as we saw last time when we were together and we made a discovery and that is that the devil's primary plan for the last days is to raise up two individuals. One that we typically call the Antichrist along with somebody else called the false prophet enter instruments of deception sent to this world. Now I'll tell you right off the bat as we get into the rest of Revelation 13 this sermon is going to be a controversial one.

Not that the other ones aren't but this one especially will be a controversial one especially will be in light of our current environment in light of what's happening in the news these days and with a politically correct environment that we live in. So what I want to do in in looking at this chapter is is give you three categories regarding the future and they're simple divisions what we know what we're told and what we hope. What we know to be true from the scripture what we're told by some we're going to see in the future and what we hope. Let's begin with what we know and let's go and look at Revelation 13 verse 11. Then I saw, John said, then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon and 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 in the sight of men. 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 bread 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 great and small or 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 six. Without speculation here's what we know. We know that someone that we call Antichrist is coming. We know that for sure. Jesus predicted it, Daniel said it, John, Paul, they all predicted that some ruler whom John called Antichrist. First John chapter 2 verse 18. Little children you have heard that the Antichrist is coming.

We know that for sure. Last week we took a look at him. John saw in the beginning part of this chapter a beast rising up out of the sea and we showed you that in the bible sea is often emblematic of nations especially gentile nations. We also saw that he will be given a universal authority and adoration. We gave you a six-fold description of the Antichrist. Wickedness, world dominion, wonder, worship, words, and war.

That was last week's outline. We discovered he's going to persecute God's people verse 7. Revelation 13 he will target Jews and Christians verse 10 even says killing them with the sword and then we will discover in chapter 20 of the book of revelation that they are beheaded for their faith in Christ. Daniel chapter 9 tells us this world ruler will make some kind of a covenant for seven years with the Jews regarding their temple and regarding their land and he will renege on that contract in the middle of that seven-year period.

Jesus called that event the abomination of desolation. He, Jesus, said in Matthew 24 that event will take place in Jerusalem on the temple mount and he tells everybody in Jerusalem every Jewish person to flee to the mountains when that happens because this ruler's headquarters will be set up in Jerusalem in Israel. Moreover if you just think back a couple of studies we noted that the Antichrist is depicted as the first rider in chapter 6 on the white horse he comes conquering and to conquer and we discovered that after he comes though he brings peace at first he will bring in carnage and devastation to follow so that we know we we know that for sure somebody is coming in the future don't know when don't know who it is. Here's the second thing we know for sure besides the Antichrist he's not alone he's going to have a religious counterpart. I believe we see him here in the second part of revelation 13 he is called the false prophet not here but three places in the book of revelation chapter 16 verse 13 chapter 19 verse 20 and chapter 20 verse 10 all talk about the beast and the false prophet the dragon satan the beast and the false prophet. Now we notice that this second beast rises up out of the earth not like the first beast that rises up out of the sea this rises up out of the earth. Literally the term earth means the land and that's why some bible commentators have speculated that the false prophet the second beast is jewish because the land often refers to the holy land the land of israel so the Antichrist then they say rises up out of the sea of nations the gentiles which is often emblematic in the scripture of gentile nations we discovered last time but that the false prophet could be jewish that the false prophet could be jewish moreover notice his description he has two horns like what like a lamb this is a kinder and gentler beast this is different from the first beast rising up out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns this has two horns like a lamb but when he speaks he speaks deception he speaks like a dragon notice also there's no crowns on his head like the first beast and that is because his authority is not political authority it's not governmental authority this is spiritual authority his primary role is to deceive people into a worship system notice it says he deceives those who dwell on the earth by signs that he is granted to do in the presence of the beast so his primary deception or his primary role is deception his primary means of that deception is by miraculous signs and his primary incentive get this is the economy because the economy will be so bad we've already discovered during that time millions even billions of people will die on the earth through a number of things that happen including starvation people's vulnerability will be at an all-time high they will be willing to do anything if it means feeding their families their children etc and so the incentive behind this is that you cannot buy or sell unless you take a specific mark we don't know how that's going to turn out exactly it could be much like the city requires a chip to be placed in your pet so they can keep track of it and tell the history and tell the history of it that could happen with humans now for years prophecy buffs and bible commentators have all thought that the empire that will rise at the end of days the revived roman empire they have said is probably going to happen in europe and they have even said with the european common market the 10 nations at one time now there are many more coming and going in the common market but for for years people have looked for a leader to come a secular leader out of out of the european nations because they say geographically that was the old roman empire the continent of europe but let me suggest a different direction and a different way to look at that this morning when we talk about the revived roman empire here's what we have to discover you know that whole idea came about with the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had in daniel chapter 2 remember he saw the polymetallic image head of gold chest of silver stomach and thighs of bronze and two legs of iron which represented the roman empire the roman empire that ruled the world at one time but then there were ten toes of iron and clay and they say that is the revived roman empire just like the ten horns that are mentioned in revelation ten toes ten horns we can see the similarities however just like there were two legs on that statue that did speak of the roman empire did you know that the roman empire like the legs split in 395 ad that there was an eastern branch as well as a western branch of the roman empire and that the western branch died out pretty quickly but the eastern branch lived on for another thousand years and its headquarters was constantinople modern day istanbul turkey now here's something else to realize when we talk about the roman empire that ruled the world including israel etcetera europe etcetera what most people don't realize is that 60 percent of the roman empire at the time of jesus christ the time of the new testament 60 are lands that are today occupied by islam most of the land mass of the roman empire today is occupied and controlled by muslims now i understand something it is not fashionable first of all to even talk about this in church it is certainly not fashionable or politically correct to talk about this in the public square it is fashionable to lump all religions in one little basket and say they're all the same and whether it's christianity or judaism or islam it's all the same god with a different name and and it's fashionable to get the coexist bumper sticker and stick it on your subaru and happily go down the road however what is fashionable is not always biblical and i think we need to not only look at the bible but look at what's happening around the world at this time in our history and make a different suggestion do you know that today there is an islamic revival like never seen before and do you know that the revival in this country conversions to islam have gone up and up and up since september 11 2001 it's quadrupled before september 11 2001 25 000 americans every year converted to islam since 9 11 over 100 000 americans every year convert to islam those are the going rates islam will pass christianity as the world's largest religion in less than 20 years according to one source one half of all global births will be muslim by the year 2055 now as you look at the news i hope you do look at the news i hope you read it i hope you listen to it have you ever wondered things like why am i hearing so much about islam i guarantee you have heard more about islam in the last decade or five years even than you have your whole lifetime and you wonder why why am i hearing so much about it what's really happening in the middle east what's this deal with isis are they gonna are they done yet what's this idea of a caliphate i hear about i want to caliphate i hear about i want you to listen very carefully to what i'm about to say and listen carefully to the news that is coming out because you may be looking at the future now that's what we know we know what we have just stated anti-crisis coming false prophetess coming don't know when don't know who let me give you a second category this is what we're told this is what we are told by the fastest growing religion in the world islam about the end times did you know that islam has an eschatology let me back up do you know what an eschatology is eschatology means the study of last things the doctrine of last things or end time events we have an eschatology the bible tells us what's going to happen in the end of days did you know that islam has an eschatology most christians really don't know much about islam and few christians know little or nothing when it comes to islamic eschatology they have an end time scenario lately that eschatology has been leaking out on the news with events like san marinadino california and brussels belgium and paris and isis beheadings and now this talk about a caliph and a caliphate by the way the caliphate is a real deal there's a land occupied by isis today that is larger than great britain it is controlled by them and it is growing in that part of the world so muslims look at you look at you christians and they have a name for you well they have several names for you but one of the names the polite name for you is you are people of the book we are people of the book jews and christians are called by muslims respectfully people of the book because we hold to the bible the old and the new testament so we are people of the book however our books have been corrupted the old and new testament were original words that have been corrupted by jews and christians so thus the only reliable source of revelation is the quran and muslims have two sources for their authority the quran which they say are the direct words of allah and the second is the sunnah sometimes called the hadiths the sunnah are the words and the works of muhammad the prophet so between the quran the words of allah and the sunnah the words and works of muhammad they develop their authority for everything according to islamic theology they see the end of days as being ushered in by three great signs three great signs and all three are in the form of a person that is coming three persons the first sign the first person they say is the prophet is the madhi the madhi m-a-h-d-i if you're taking notes the madhi is equivalent to the messiah the word madhi means the guided one he is also called the awaited savior the lord of the age and the 12th imam what will the madhi do what will their awaited savior come to do this is what he'll come to do he'll set up a new world order an islamic caliphate that is civil political and spiritual he will lead a world revolution to establish islam throughout the world throughout the world they want nothing less than world domination and what if we refuse what if anyone refuses here's their source quote madhi will offer the religion of islam to the jews and christians if they accept it they will be spared otherwise they will be killed end quote that's Skip heitzig's number seven message on our top 40 messages countdown it's from his 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 others around the world with god's word did you know that god is a missionary god that's right he sent his son down to earth to die for you and secure your salvation and that's why it's important to follow in his footsteps and to connect more lives to christ here's how you can give to help others experience god's love through love through this broadcast to give today simply call 800-922-1888 that number again is 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate that's connectwithskip.com slash donate your generosity helps keep this biblical encouragement coming your way and going out around the world to help change more lives and did you know there's an exciting biblical resource available right at your 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