I Dare You: Decide! Part 2 - Part A

You know, deception wears many masks. Sometimes there's political deception. Sometimes there's spiritual deception. And sometimes there's economic deception.

And this guy's going to be able to like put all those masks on and wear them so well. In this era of fake news and deep fakes, we're no stranger to deception. But as Skip shares in his message today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, the Antichrist will take lying to a whole new level. But first, if you want to stay up to date on the latest from this ministry and from Skip, we invite you to follow Skip on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You'll find important announcements and great encouragement from Skip.

That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Now, we're in Daniel 7 as we join Skip for today's teaching. The very name Antichrist, which everybody's heard of. When you hear anti, you think somebody who's against Christ.

That's true. But the little word anti in Greek is a word that also means instead of Christ. He's going to posit himself as one who takes the place of for the world. He'll be a messianic figure called the beast in Revelation 13.

We know him most definitely as the Antichrist. He'll be a deceiver. President Abraham Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.

This guy's going to do a pretty good job of deceiving the world at that time. You know, deception wears many masks. Sometimes there's political deception. Sometimes there's spiritual deception.

And sometimes there's economic deception. And this guy is going to be able to like put all those masks on and wear them so well. In the 1920s, there was an actor, a Scottish actor, rather famous one for his time by the name of Arthur Ferguson. Arthur Ferguson had incredible abilities on stage and abilities to sell because he was an actor.

He was trained at it. Well, the story goes that Arthur Ferguson was walking one day in London's Trafalgar Square. And if you've ever been there, it's very impressive. There's a pillar. And on top of the pillar is Admiral Lord Nelson.

It's impressive. He noticed a wealthy American admiring the statue and Arthur Ferguson with his persuasive abilities sold this pillar and statue in Trafalgar Square to the American for $30,000. Sold.

Like, what are you going to ship it to me? But he sold it to him, took the money, said it would be delivered. A little while after that, same actor, Arthur Ferguson sold Big Ben, you know, the big clock that's over there, to another American.

What is it with Americans? Are we like that gullible? For $5,000. And took a $10,000 deposit on Buckingham Palace.

And before the law finally caught up with him, and he served a lot of time in jail when they did, he managed to sell not only all those things, but the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. The Antichrist will come to this world and sell this world the biggest bill of goods it has ever seen. And if you even wonder if that's possible, because, you know, after all, we're so smart, we're so enlightened, never going to happen. Understand that Paul promises in 2 Thessalonians that God will send them strong delusion that they will believe the lie. They'll believe it.

The world will believe it. And if they don't, there will be consequences, the Bible also says. We have been in Daniel chapter 7 for a few weeks, and we're going to, there today, again, here's why. It is what we call the passage of primary reference. Jesus Christ, Paul the Apostle, John the Apostle, all of them look backward to this writing of the book of Daniel chapter 7, chapter 9, and others. And Jesus even referred to Daniel as Daniel the prophet. So we're considering who Daniel the prophet said in chapter 7 is coming on the world scene in this passage of primary reference. In this chapter, we've already seen it, but as a little bit of a recap, Daniel sees an incredible panoramic vision of the future, world governing kingdoms that will come from his day onward, beginning with the Babylonian empire, followed by the Medo-Persian empire, followed by the Grecian empire, followed by the Roman empire. But this fourth one, the Roman empire is odd, it's different from all the other previous ones, because it seems to have an early and a latter reign, that it will be somehow resurrected or brought back in some fragmented form in the end of days just before the Messiah comes.

But what is most important about the fourth empire is a leader that emerges from it, a powerful leader. We have called him the Antichrist. He goes by 25 names in the Bible, including the beast in Revelation chapter 13. But he's called in this chapter the little horn. Remember that, the little horn? He's the little horn with the big mouth.

And I would say the little horn with the big mouth with big plans to take over the world. Today we're going to look at this in a different kind of an angle and consider something that probably few here have ever considered. So I want to ask three questions. Number one, what do we know for sure? What do we know from the Bible? What do we know for sure? Second, what are we told that we'll see by others who look to the future? And finally, what do we hope for some? I'll explain as we go along. So what do we know for sure?

I sound like a Californian, don't I? For sure. This is what we know for sure. We know for sure that this ruler is coming, the Antichrist is coming. And we know for sure that he's going to persecute God's people, verse 25 tells us. In Revelation chapter 12, we understand that he's going to specifically target at the end of days Jews and Christians. And one of the ways he will do that, according to Revelation 20, is cut their heads off, beheaded for the name of Christ. In Daniel chapter 9, we're told that this guy will set up a peace agreement with the Jews and the West for seven years. In the middle of that agreement, he will renege on it and he will persecute the Jewish people, setting up in the temple in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, what Jesus referred to using Daniel as the abomination that causes desolation. And Jesus Christ in Matthew 24 said all the Jews who are reading that at this time should flee Jerusalem, get out of the city, because this ruler will set up his headquarters in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, this Antichrist is depicted in Revelation chapter 6 as the rider on the white horse. He comes with a bow, no arrows. Conquering into conquering comes peacefully at first.

Just a bow, but a threat. Conquering into conquer and what follows him is carnage and devastation and bloodshed. Now we know that for sure because it's all over the Bible.

But there's something else we know for sure. Not only will the Antichrist come, but he's going to have a compadre coming with him called the false prophet. Revelation chapter 13, chapter 16, chapter 19, chapter 20 mention or describe this false prophet. Now wouldn't you say that because he's called a false prophet that that denotes that the Antichrist will have some sort of religious nature about his rule. And get this, the false prophet is described as one that has the appearance of a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.

The appearance of a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He's going to direct the world to obey the beast. His primary job will be deception.

He'll be able to perform miracles, the Bible says, and deceive people to follow the beast, the Antichrist. So we have the false prophet. We know that for sure. We have the Antichrist followed by the false prophet. We know that for sure.

Here's what else we know for sure, and it's the best news. After all of that, Jesus Christ will indeed come back and vanquish the Antichrist and the false prophet and set up his kingdom all over the earth. Verse 27, then the kingdom, well, let's read verse 23.

Let's go. Then he said, the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. The 10 horns or 10 kings, which will arise from this kingdom and another shall rise after them. He shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the most high, shall persecute the saints of the most high and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time, times and a half a time, but the court shall be seated and they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it forever. And then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms, plural, under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the most high. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Now that's what we know for sure is going to happen. What we don't know for sure is exactly who the Antichrist is, and I'm not going to be added to the list of people who've tried to guess and were wrong all throughout history. It started in the early church. They said Caesar Nero was the Antichrist. Then they said Caligula was the Antichrist. And then just about every single Pope who's ever been in the Vatican has been called the Antichrist. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was called the Antichrist. Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Bill Gates, Barack Obama has been called the Antichrist, maybe even by some of you, I don't know. But I would think it's safe to say they're wrong. You know, if you had asked me when I was 19, I said, my anatomy professor, I think that's the Antichrist.

I mean, just had a rough class there. For years, scholars have looked to Western Europe for a revived Roman Empire because they said, well, that's sort of where the Roman Empire was and fragmented. And so they have looked for some secular Western leader, or perhaps a religious leader like the Pope. Today I'm just going to suggest that we look in a different direction and we consider what is today the fastest growing religious system on planet earth, if for nothing more than to be aware of it, to be able to pray for it, and to share Christ.

To share Christ with those people. Did you know that right now on the earth, you may not see a lot of it in this town, but there is an Islamic revival, a revival. It is the fastest growing religion, get this, since September 11th, 2001. Did you know that before 9-11, they estimate roughly 25,000 Americans per year converted to Islam. Since 9-11, it has quadrupled 100,000 a year. Over 80% of the American converts to Islam were raised in Christian churches. Islam will bypass Christianity as the world's largest religion in about 20 years.

And when that starts to happen, there's going to be an emotional, psychological tipping point that happens on both ends of that spectrum. I guess with all of that significant data, it's just good to ask this question. What plan do 1.8 billion Muslims have in the plan of God for the end times?

Any at all? My hope is there will be mass conversions to Christ. But could there be something else? Now, I know. I know that even talking about this is not politically correct. Probably most of what I do is not politically correct. But I know it's fashionable to sort of lump all religions together and put bumper stickers in our car that say, coexist and, you know, okay. I know it's fashionable to say that Judaism and Christianity and Islam, because they're monotheistic, they believe in one God, they're basically all the same with just different names. It's fashionable to say that. It's even fashionable in Christian churches to say that Muslims are okay because they believe in Jesus.

And you're right. They do believe in Jesus. But the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus that this book speaks about.

It's a very different Jesus. So there's things we know for sure. But then number two, the second question, what are we told that we'll see? You see, we're not the only ones that are predicting the future using our Bible. The Muslims have their idea of what the end times is going to be like.

What do Muslims believe about the future? Did you even know that Muslims had an eschatology? Some of you are giving me that look like, what is an eschatology? Eschatology simply means a theology, a belief system about the end of days, the end times.

All that I'm talking to you about in the last couple weeks has been eschatological. It's the theology from the Bible about the end of days. Muslims refer to Jews and Christians in a rather respectful term.

They don't do this all the time. But we are called the people of the book. The people of the book means that we believe in the Bible. Now, they believe that our Bible, Old and New Testament, has been corrupted over time, does not reveal the will of God. Because it has been corrupted, God gave the final revelation to mankind, and that is the Quran. So there are two sources for theology for all Muslims. Number one, the Quran, the word of Allah, the scripture of Allah. And number two, the Sunnah. The Sunnah are the words and the works of Muhammad the prophet. It includes the Hadith, simply whatever Muhammad said, whatever he did, whatever he condemned, whatever he condoned, all of that forms the tradition called the Sunnah, and they use the Sunnah and the Quran to establish everything they believe in.

Much like Roman Catholic theology is based upon scripture and the tradition of the fathers, or Jewish theology is built upon the Old Testament and whatever is the tradition of the rabbis over time. So the Sunnah and the Quran form their view, their worldview. According to Islam, there will be three great signs at the end of days, and all three signs are three persons. First of all, they believe somebody is coming called the Mahdi. Now, the Mahdi, if you've ever heard the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad address the United Nations, he's addressing all the nations that are there, he always mentions that the Mahdi is coming. In fact, always, every time he speaks, he says, glory to the Mahdi, glory to the 12th Imam, one and the same persons. The Mahdi means the guided one. He's also called the awaited savior, the Lord of the age, interestingly, and the 12th Imam.

What is he going to do? And by the way, all Shia and Sunni Muslims believe in him as coming. The Mahdi, they say, is coming to set up a new world order, to establish an Islamic caliphate around the world that is a civil, political, and spiritual world domination. He will lead a world revolution. He'll establish Islam as law around the earth. According to their sources, quote, Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and the Christians. If they accept it, they will be spared.

Otherwise, they will be killed, close quote. He's going to do that through a series of battles, holy wars, jihad, using a massive army on earth, all carrying black flags. On the black flag is one word, punishment. Interestingly, the armies of Iran today carry black flags, because they pray for that they will be included in that massive army of black flags when the Mahdi comes. He will lead the army of black flags to conquer Jerusalem. He will kill Jews in the process. He will establish his headquarters, his rule, from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

They call it Haram al-Sharif. He will make a peace agreement after that with the Jews and the West, whom interestingly they refer to as the Romans. And what is probably most noteworthy and most amazing is the time frame they say the Mahdi will rule.

Take a guess. Seven years. The Mahdi will rule seven years. They even say he's going to come right after the Jews. They even say he's going to come right after the Jews. The Mahdi's going to come riding a white horse. And get this, they even say in their writings as it is predicted in the book of the prophets, Revelation chapter 6, verse 1, he will come conquering and to conquer the rider on the white horse.

Now they say that our scriptures are corrupted, but evidently there's a few that aren't, and that's, in their view, some that aren't. So put it all together. Here's the summary. They say he's a messianic figure, unparalleled leader. He'll take control of the world. He'll destroy all who resist him. He'll invade many nations. He'll enact a seven-year peace treaty with the Jews. He'll conquer Israel and massacre Jews. He'll establish Islamic world headquarters at Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. He'll ride a white horse. He'll rule seven years. He'll be loved by all people on the earth.

Sound familiar? It's what the Bible describes as the antichrist. That's sign number one in Islamic eschatology. Their second sign is the coming of Christ. Yes, they believe Jesus Christ is coming again.

You go, oh goody, see? Yeah, but just wait. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is anything but a man and that he never died. He certainly didn't die on a cross and atone for sins. Nobody, they say, can do that. So he didn't die. You know what that means? If he didn't die, he didn't what?

Rise. If he didn't die and he didn't rise, there is no atonement for sins like Christians claim. So what they say is Jesus almost died, but God whisked him to heaven where he is now at the side of Allah waiting to come back. And at some point in the future, Allah will send Jesus back to the earth. Why would Allah want to send Jesus back to the earth?

He's got a lot of prophets to choose from. They say so that Jesus can correct all of the Christians who have misunderstood who he was. That he is not the son of God. He is not God in the flesh.

He did not die on the cross. And he's going to correct Christians and direct them to worship in Islam. They say he's going to come back as a radicalized Muslim. He's going to descend from heaven to a minaret just east of Damascus. As the Mahdi is gathered with his army of black flags, as they gather for prayer, he will come and Mahdi will see him and ask Jesus to lead in the prayer.

Jesus will say no. He will stand behind the Mahdi showing that he's inferior to the Mahdi and asking the Mahdi to pray. They say that Jesus will be the greatest witness on the day of judgment against non-Muslims and he will kill the Dajjal. The Dajjal is the Muslim version of antichrist. Then Jesus will get married, raise a family, die, and be buried next to Muhammad. The third person they believe is coming after Mahdi and Isa, Jesus, is Dajjal, this antichrist.

Third major sign. His full title is Al Masih Ad Dajjal, which means the Messiah, the deceiver. It's written in numerous hadiths in Islamic literature. Get this, he's going to come as a false miracle worker. He's going to claim to be Jesus and even claim to be God. They say he will attempt to destroy Mahdi and Jesus, but the Islamic Jesus, Isa, will conquer and kill the Dajjal.

Now are you putting all this together? The Bible's antichrist is Islam's savior. The Bible's false prophet is Islam's Jesus Christ. And the Bible's returning Jesus Christ is their antichrist.

It is an exact three-fold reversal and substitute counterfeit. Here's the real truth, baby Ruth. According to this text of scripture, as well as what Jesus Christ said, and Paul and John all together, at the end of days, the antichrist will come, followed by the false prophet. Jesus Christ will come and put an end to their kingdom and set up his kingdom forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. No end. Now, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about what's going on in the Bible.

Now, if you can't get excited about that, I cannot relate to you. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series, I Dare You. Find the full message, as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, we want to share about a special resource that will help make your marriage stronger and more fun. Great marriages are made, not born. God wants you to have a strong, thriving, and fun marriage. The Marriage Devotional, 52 Days to Strengthen the Soul of Your Marriage, by Levi and Jenny Lesko, is designed to help your marriage not just survive, but thrive. You want to understand God's secret, the secret for fruit in your marriage, in your family, in your parenting. If you feel overwhelmed because your marriage is a long way from where you feel like it should be, or if you feel discouraged and excluded today because divorce is in your story. And here you see God's plan for flourishing, and you've disqualified yourself because of what's in your past.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Join us again tomorrow as Skip shares powerful truth about who our real enemy is and what we must do. Folks, Muslims are not the enemy. Don't think of them as the enemy.

Satan with his lies and his false teachings and doctrine, that's the enemy. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers in heavenly places. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.