The Antichrist Revealed - Part B

The world by this time has rejected the Lamb, and in His place they have received the Beast.

He will get worship. So wickedness, world domination, wonder, worship. Here's the fifth characteristic, words. Words.

Now notice this. Notice in verse five, and He was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip wraps up his message, The Antichrist Revealed, and examines how the Antichrist will have great power and command worship for a short time. Now here's more about this month's resource to help you gain a clear view of the current situation and the future faced by Israel. How have conflicts and wars in the Middle East set the stage for a future apocalypse? That's the question Ron Rhodes takes head-on in his new book.

Listen to this. What do you see coming in the next five or six years that might do injury to the church? And without hesitation, I said I really feel like we're going to see an explosion of subjectivism, experientialism, and mysticism, along with occultism and some paganism. How conflicts and wars in the Middle East have set the stage for the end times. This new book by Ron Rhodes addresses issues such as understanding Islam, rebuilding the temple, and the annihilation campaign from the Antichrist.

Here's Ron Rhodes commenting on Middle East events. Did you know that in Revelation 2 and 3, we read about the church 19 times, and then in the discussion on the tribulation in chapters 4 through 18, you don't see the church a single time. It is gone. In 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 10, we are told that the church is to be delivered from the wrath to come. That word delivered literally means snatched, snatched away from.

We are to be snatched away from the wrath to come, which is a reference to the tribulation period. With your gift of $50 or more to connect with Skip Heitzig, you'll receive a copy of this new book from Ron Rhodes. Your gift will support the production and expansion of the Connect with Skip broadcast. Call 1-800-922-1888 or go online to connectwithskip.com with your donation, and we'll thank you with a copy of Ron Rhodes' new book, How Conflicts and Wars in the Middle East Have Set the Stage for the End Times.

That's 1-800-922-1888 or connectwithskip.com. Okay, now let's turn to Revelation 13 and pick up on the conclusion of Skip's message. God gave authority of the earth to Adam. Adam turned it over to Satan at the fall, and it was delivered to Satan. This is why when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Luke chapter 4, the devil said to Jesus, All of this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. This is why Jesus called the devil the ruler of this age. This is why Paul called the devil the god of this world. So Satan empowers him. And then notice also that his authority is worldwide. So there's wickedness and now world domination. Look at verse 7.

It was granted to him to make war with the saints and overcome them, and authority was given him, watch this, over every tribe, tongue, and nation. There will be a confederacy of 10 nations that will come about, some kind of confederacy. It's been guessed as to what that is exactly. I'm not going to venture a guess today in today's study, but it's enough to say that his control, his influence, his power, will be a worldwide domination. Now since the 90s, it may have been before, but as far as I can remember, the big buzzword was globalism, still is, globalization. We talked about a global market, a global village, we want a global economy, several groups that push for that.

I'm not going to get political today and say which ones they are, but I did find one group called the Democratic World Federalists, based in San Francisco. That doesn't surprise us, but they have worldwide supporters. They want a federal system of world government.

And on their website, their stated goals are establish a world parliament, enact world laws, create a world central bank. All of that is exactly the same goals as this anti-Christ will have. And so he will give that to them.

So we have wickedness, world domination, third characteristic, wonder. Verse three, I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. Notice, his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled, the old King James says, wondered and followed the beast.

I'm not going to be dogmatic on this, but here's what it seems, and I'm following, I think, pretty good scholarship in what I've read. It would seem that there's going to be some sort of an assassination attempt on this leader, so much so that he gets a wound that the world believes he's dead. He died from this wound. And that he will stage a resurrection. Now, I would say it's a pseudo-resurrection. It's a staged resurrection.

It's false, and it's false, because I believe only God can give life. But it will appear as if he has died. After all, he's called the anti-Christ, right? So if he wants to be someone who is instead of Christ, a resurrection would be perfect, because there's only one true Savior who rose from the dead, but this will be a fake resurrection.

So imagine a scene. Imagine an assassination takes place of a world leader. He is lying in state. He's in a casket in some rotunda in one of the cities in the Middle East. Thousands of people are lined up to pay their respects.

The news is covering it day after day. The camera zooms in, and suddenly the guy in the casket gets up. What would be the result of that? Marvel, wonder, wow, who is like the beast? Nobody's like him. They will wonder after him. And so this event could be what makes everybody go, he's the one. He's the sent one. He is the Messiah. 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.

Him you will receive. So they will wonder. The Greek word thaumazo, they'll be mesmerized by. Now wonder is always the first step to worship. And worship is the fourth characteristic I want you to see. In verse 4, so they worshipped the dragon. Who's the dragon? Satan. He's identified as the devil in chapter 12. They worshipped Satan. They worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast saying, who is like the beast who is able to make war with him? Verse 8, 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. Their wonder turns to worship.

Their fascination turns to adoration. You know, I used to ask, how can anybody worship the devil? How could anybody possibly say, I worship the devil? Until I met a Satan worshiper. I was in college. He had an apartment right across the driveway from my apartment.

I worked with him at the hospital where I was interning, and he was an interesting guy. He said, I'm a Satan worshiper. I stepped back, what?

You're admitting that? And we had a long conversation over many days and weeks. I had the privilege eventually of leading him to faith in Jesus Christ. But as time went on, I met several other people who made such claims. So when I say, who could worship the devil?

I used to ask that. Now I just kind of figure a lot of people do. And here's what I've noticed. There has been, over the last few years, especially exacerbated by COVID, a decline in church membership and church attendance, while there has been a fairly steady, even rapid increase in satanic groups, satanic cults, and even the Church of Satan itself. They boast now 700,000 members, a membership role in their organization. There are now satanic groups, after-school groups in public schools, like you used to have Bible clubs. Now there are Satan groups that meet after school for kids. I don't know if you saw the Grammys this year, if you did my condolences to you, but one of the acts that was on the stage was Sam Smith, who was a British singer who sang the song Unholy, dressed in a hat with devil horns coming out. He made a public display of unholy and tipping the hat to Satan. Did you know that in our state, the state of New Mexico, the satanic church has an abortion clinic?

Most of you probably heard about this when it came up. And they will perform a religious abortion ritual. The ritual consists of speaking satanic creeds while looking into the mirror before and during the abortion procedure. They say doing this sanctifies the abortion ritual.

It's happening right here in our state. So they will worship the dragon, they will worship the beast. By the way, that's something Satan wanted all along.

In Isaiah chapter 14, it describes the fall of Lucifer. He said in his heart, I will ascend to 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. He's always wanted worship. Satan doesn't want casualties. He wants converts, and he will have it in the tribulation period. The world, by this time, has rejected the lamb, and in his place they have received the beast. He will get worship. So wickedness, world domination, wonder, worship. Here's the fifth characteristic, words. Now notice this. Notice in verse 5, and he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue 42 months.

That's three and a half years. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, that's the temple, I imagine, and those who dwell in heaven. Now this characteristic of using his speech, his words, is noted not just here in Revelation 13, but in other places in Scripture. It seems by all of these descriptions that this antichrist will be like the consummate politician. Daniel chapter 7 describes him by using a phrase four times, a mouth speaking pompous words, pompous words. He will not have a self-esteem problem.

He will love selfies. It's all about him all the time. Almost all dictators in history have risen to power, in part, by their ability to use words by persuasive speech. I don't know if you've ever seen the old videos of Adolf Hitler and how he would mesmerize the crowds, but let me give you just a sampling of it. Not an actual clip, but he would get up to the podium after he was introduced. The crowd went wild, clapping for him, and he would just stand there in silence.

And he waited till everybody in the crowd was absolutely quiet. He would begin his speech with a very soft whisper voice, almost appearing nervous at first. Then his speech went on and he would talk about injustices done to the German people by the previous war, etc., and what they need to be like and where they could go. His voice would rise in volume, intensity, and passion. He would sway back and forth, side to side. He started gesticulating, moving his hands around, up and down, sweating. His face grew white.

And at the end, of course, he was yelling out in short little staccato phrases. And by the end, the crowd was swept up in a frenzy, just spontaneously shouting out in unison, Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!

Heil Hitler! It's amazing to watch the power of persuasive speech. He will be given a mouth, speaking great and pompous words.

One of our own writers, Nathaniel Hawthorne, said words so innocent and powerful as they are standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. So he will be empowered by Satan. He will appear to be a beauty, but really he will be a beast. He will mesmerize the world by a fake resurrection.

He will be a powerful speaker. Let me give you the sixth and final characteristic, and that is war. War. Now, once he mesmerizes the world, once he succeeds in dominating the world, getting people on his side, maybe in part by the peace plan that he brings in, Revelation chapter 6 seems to indicate, once he succeeds in dominating the thinking of the globe, he will then unleash war against them. Look at verse 7. It was granted to him to make war, but notice with whom?

With the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given over him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And 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.

Now, this is not the first time that this is revealed. Again, I keep talking about Revelation 7. Revelation 7, 25, he will speak pompous words against the Most High, and he shall persecute, listen, he shall persecute the saints of the Most High. He shall persecute the saints of the Most High. Here it says he's granted to make war with the saints and to overcome them. He's going to harass believers. He's going to seize their property. He's going to kill them, but they don't take the mark.

More on that next time. Now, let me offer a timeline for you, just a little bit of what I think how this would fit in terms of a timeline scenario. You have seven years, seven-year tribulation period. At the beginning of that tribulation, it will seem to be peaceful. It will be relatively calm because people previous to that will be perplexed.

They don't see a way out. There's trouble in the world until this leader comes and fixes things, makes promises, is able to swing a peace deal in the Middle East, build the Jews a temple, quell all the riots that have gone on there. So he'll bring peace at first. At the mid-mark, 42 months and final 42 months, three and a half, three and a half. In the middle of that, things change. In the middle of that week, seven-year period, he breaks the covenant that he has promised to the Jews. He persecutes the Jewish people.

It gets worse. He kills two-thirds of all the Jewish people living in the state of Israel at the time. Two-thirds of them at his hand are killed. That's Zechariah chapter 13. Then he takes over. He conquers the city of Jerusalem. That's Zechariah chapter 14. And he goes on a rampage to kill believers around the world. That's Revelation chapter 13. This is something Jesus predicted. Matthew 24 says, he said, they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. He predicted this. Now, some of you are troubled by what we have just read because it says he's going to persecute the saints. He's going to wear out the saints or kill the saints. He has power to overcome the saints.

And what troubles you is you go, wait a minute, wait a minute. How could that be possible? Didn't Jesus say, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it?

Yes, he did. And that's the whole point. The point, this isn't the church as we know it. The church has been raptured before the tribulation period.

Who is this? These are tribulation saints or tribulation believers. After the rapture of the church, there will be people, as we've already noted, who will come to faith in Jesus Christ. One group, 144,000 Jews, sealed and protected by God during that time. They come to believe because they believe and they witness and there will be two witnesses preaching in Jerusalem, Revelation chapter 11. The Bible says a number so big no one could count of Gentiles, tribes, tongues, peoples around the world. Those are the saints that he persecutes.

So there's an angel flying through heaven at the time. There's two witnesses preaching in Jerusalem. There's 144,000 Jewish evangelists. There's people believing in Christ. Antichrist is going to target them and go to war with them and overcome them. They are killed. They are martyred during this time.

Now I want to end this message like I started it. I said at the beginning I'd much rather tell you about Jesus Christ than Antichrist, but that in studying Antichrist it makes more wonderful Jesus Christ. So let me give you just a quick comparison between Antichrist and Jesus Christ.

Antichrist is called in Scripture the man of sin, whereas Jesus is the sinless man. Antichrist is called in the Old Testament the idle shepherd. The idle shepherd. What did Jesus say he was? The good shepherd.

Idle shepherd, good shepherd. Antichrist is here pictured as a beast, Revelation 13.1 and throughout the book. Jesus is referred to verse 8 of chapter 13 as the lamb. You want a beast or do you want a lamb?

You want to follow a beast or do you want to follow the lamb? Antichrist's death, or I should say supposed death, will be meant to deceive people. Jesus Christ's death was given to save people.

Vastly different. But verse 8 is something I want to close with. It's a haunting verse.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him. If some of you are having this thought, yeah, I'm not a Christian, I haven't given my life to Christ, you know, I come to church, I listen to this stuff, but I'm not going to do that. I'm not weak-minded like you people are. So maybe a tribulation is coming and I'll just go through it now that I know it. Now I'll be ready and I'm going to buy gold, I'm going to buy guns, I'm going to go live out and wherever. I'm good.

Really? You would think that when you are offered your name being written in the lamb's book of life and escape all these things, as Jesus said, when these things begin to come to pass, lift up your redemption draws near. Pray that you can escape all these things. All who dwell on earth will worship him. Listen, it's going to be so compelling for the world to worship him.

And the Bible does say this, God will send them strong delusion that they will believe the lie. So all who dwell on 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. Your name is written in a number of places. It's on your birth certificate, it's on your mortgage, it's on your car registration, it might even be on a traffic ticket you received this week, I don't know.

It's on your driver's license, it's on your bills that come to your mailbox. But is your name written in this book, the lamb's book of life? That's where you want your name written.

I want my name in lights. No, you really want your name in life, in the lamb's book of life. And if it's not there, if you're not sure that it's there, be sure now. Today, make a decision to follow Christ today.

Don't wait another day, don't risk another week. Say yes to Jesus today. That concludes Skip's message, the Antichrist Review. From the series The End is Near, find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com.

God's desire is for all humanity to know Him intimately and personally, and He's revealed Himself in the pages of Scripture so we can do that. That's why we share these messages, to help you connect to God through His Word and grow in your relationship with Jesus. And when you give to support this ministry, you keep these teachings you love available to you and so many others around the world, helping others grow and connect with God. Just call 800-922-1888 to give a gift today. That's 800-922-1888, or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate.

That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Come back tomorrow for more teaching from Skip on the very real figure known as the Antichrist, whose number is 666.

So long before John wrote Revelation chapter 13, the early churches were already being taught to look for or to consider that in the future would come a figure called Antichrist. Question. Another question. What's the source material for them in the New Testament teaching this?

What would you guess? What would be their source material? Old Testament. Old Testament. Very good. The only book they have is the Old Testament.

It's the only Bible they have. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connect with Skip Heitner is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.