Antichrist & Trump Worship (Revelation 13:3) - Part 1

Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Now in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program. Welcome to Discerning the Times, where we like to remind you that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you've never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today.

Otherwise, if you leave this side of life without having received Him, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire, separated from God. So will you please give your heart to Jesus Christ on today? Well, folks, I want today to reflect back on to a conversation that I had with my wife on July 13th.

That was the day of the assassination attempt of presidential candidate Donald Trump. And a couple of hours into watching the coverage, I turned to my wife and I said, I guarantee that some are going to run with this, saying it is fulfillment of Revelation chapter 13, verse three. That verse reads, 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 and followed the beast. Now, this is a reference to Antichrist.

So as I began to scour the Internet a few days later, I found that sure enough, there were several videos out there on the subject. So I came across a sermon that was preached by Logan Fowler, the pastor of Truth Baptist Church in Lewiston, Idaho. Now, Pastor Fowler is not claiming that this is fulfillment of Revelation 13, three, but he addresses the topic well, along with giving a very good perspective on politics, how we as Christians should approach it and overall eschatology. Now, my interpretation is not exactly the same as Pastor Fowler, as I tend to to lean towards the interpretation that the mortal wound is a governmental system or a nation rather than a human being.

But I am open to dual fulfillment, meaning that it could also be a person that receives this mortal wound. So I want to share this sermon, but I don't agree with every single point of Pastor Fowler, but I do agree with the overarching message. So the sermon is titled Trump Worship and Antichrist, preached again by Logan Fowler, pastor of Truth Baptist Church in Lewiston, Idaho. OK, got a topic this morning. I promise I will be coming back to the Liberty and Legalism series, but there was big news yesterday, wasn't there? But he watched the news at all, right?

So an assassination attempt targeting Trump, former President Donald Trump. I want to preface everything I say today with the fact that I am praying for Trump and his family, praying also for the other victims that were shot there at that rally. That's horrific. Horrific. I want to show you a passage of scripture, though, and people might think I'm absolutely crazy.

But I do want to look at Revelation chapter 13, and I want us to look at this moment in history, and I want us to begin as Christians in these end times to look with more discerning eyes than the general public has. So the general public, now with this what happened yesterday, the general public is going to be talking about this nonstop. It's a moment in history. It's huge, and people can talk about it.

That's fine. But people are going to be speculating. What does this mean? How did it happen? Why did it happen?

What's going on? Conspiracy theories will pop up like crazy, whether you're going to say, I've already seen some people say, well, some people may say, well, it was all faked just for publicity from that conspiracy all the way to the other side of, you know, conspiracy, secret service, let the guy on the roof, let Trump get shot, et cetera, et cetera. Biden camp's doing this out of desperation.

Can't trust the media reporting regardless. All these questions come up. Conspiracies abound, and they will abound, and lies will abound. We've talked about this in the end times. But I want us as Christians to always look deeper.

Let's almost look for the conspiracies behind the conspiracies. Look at Revelation 13. I'm going to preach this, or teach this morning, and I'm not saying it's fact, but I just want to tell you how we should be thinking as Christians. In Revelation chapter 13, in verse 3, this section of scripture talks about a fellow called the Antichrist. Look at Revelation 13, verse 3. And I saw one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth and blasphemed me against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life, slain from the foundation of the world.

If any man have an ear, let him hear." This is a prophecy about the Antichrist. And it describes the Antichrist in many different ways.

But I want to point to you this morning is that there's conspiracies of men, but there is a real devil. He's described here as a dragon. You know the dragon speaking of Satan. It tells us that back in chapter 12, Satan is the dragon in these passages. So the person is empowered by Satan. Satan is the conspiracy behind the conspiracy.

One day, so I am not saying it just happened, I am not saying that. But I will tell you one day there will come a time when the Antichrist suffers a wound to the head, a terrible wound to the head, and he will survive it. And worship of this person will increase dramatically.

I'm not saying what you think I'm implying here. I am telling you we should be wary, because this is how one day it will go down. And so we can be like the rest of the world, like, whoa, that guy just survived that thing. Oh my goodness, he's incredible. God's with that guy.

Whoa, my goodness. We should look for the conspiracy behind the conspiracy. Meraki, as you can say, here it will be said, I guarantee it will be said, of the Antichrist, what God must have been with him if he survived that deadly wound. God must be with him.

Be careful what you conclude. I know people, and I'll just say it now matter of factly, and I'll actually be preaching on this in roundabout ways today. I know people who before the event yesterday absolutely worshiped Trump. They worshiped Trump.

There's no other way to put it. That's whose name they bear. That's whose flag they fly. That's who they talk about. That's who they preach about. That's who they care about. All their hope and faith is in the Savior, Donald J. Trump.

That's who they, that's called worship. You ever heard people say, he's our only hope. He's the only hope for America. No, he's a man. He is an absolute man, and beyond that, he's a very sinful man.

We know that. I mean, I voted for him before, likely to vote for him again, but he's a sinful man. He's not a saint. He's not a Savior. He's just a man, and we're not, and the Bible even tells us we shouldn't glory in men.

We should not glory in men. It tells us that in 1 Corinthians. But just think about this, because one day the whole world will be duped by an injury, and then, oh my goodness, look at the words there. It says in, it says the whole world wondered.

Look at verse 3. I saw one of his heads that were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. Today people are wondering, that was an inch away from his brain.

How did he survive that? Oh my goodness. They paint this whole picture of Trump as this beacon of light in a dark world, and he is everything holy and righteous, and the world is so wicked and evil. That's not really true. When you talk about Trump versus Biden, you're not talking about holy versus sinful, good versus evil.

You're not. They're both sinful men. We can't glory in either one.

I'm certainly going to vote one over the other, and I'm sure you will too, but it's not a good versus evil equation. There's a, I was listening to one part of Fox News yesterday, and Mike Huckabee, a professing Christian, and he gave a take on what most professing Christians are declaring today. He said, God has been with him, Trump, since he came down the escalator, as if he descended upon the world. God spared Donald Trump today because he knows we need Donald Trump.

He's our only hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Donald Trump. I believe the, what we see in our politics today are two camps of unsaved people. Godless people. People who do not believe in Jesus Christ in both camps. I like some policies on the conservative side.

I like some policies on the Republican side much better than I do on the Democrat side. And when the Antichrist comes, that's what it's all going to be about. It's all going to be about bringing worship to the devil. Turning eyes away from the real God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Please look in your lives for the conspiracy behind the conspiracies. Please look over at 2 Timothy chapter 3. My take on this is not going to be popular in any corner. But my take on it is going to be, what does the Bible say? How should a Christian respond? I'm never going to jump into the soup that says we should worship a man. I'm okay with saying things like, God can intervene, God can protect. A few weeks back, remember when I spoke about George Washington, a man that I have respect for. But even with him I was telling you I'm not sure that George Washington was actually a believer in Jesus Christ. But I still said that God protected him, right? So I'm not opposed to that. But this idea of holy versus wicked is not the right equation when you speak of Trump and Biden politics today.

There's someone who's, let me say it this way. What would the devil rather have? Would the devil rather have a dead Donald J. Trump, I hate to say those words, it sounds terrible. Or would he rather have 50% of Americans worshiping a man? He wants men to worship men. He wants men to have idols. That's what he wants. He's quite happy that he's got 50% of the population out flying a Trump flag but never going to church. He's quite content there. He's absolutely, he's just awe inspired, he's just amazed that he's got people quoting Donald J. Trump but they don't know a thing about the Bible. He loves the fact that people say, our hope is Donald Trump, but they never say their hope is Jesus Christ.

He thinks it's a great place to be as he tries to destroy a nation. You get what I'm saying? Look at 2 Timothy 3, 13. I mentioned this before. But evil men and seducers show acts worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Okay, there's lies all over. Be careful with what conspiracies we run with because you can have liars and you can have liars behind the liars. And it's just hard to tell where is truth.

Even trying to figure out things yesterday. What can we really trust? You just got to do the best you can to get something you can believe, I guess.

What was the real report? I'm not sure, sometimes. But look at 2 Timothy 3, 1 through 5. The whole world you can't trust it. Why? Because men are chasing sin.

Look at 3, 1. This know also that in the last days perilous times would come for men to be lovers of their own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fears, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away. If you are just now joining us, we are listening today to a sermon preached by Logan Fowler, pastor of Truth Baptist Church in Lewiston, Idaho. The sermon is titled, Trump Worshiped and the Antichrist, preached July 14th, the day following the assassination attempt of presidential candidate Donald Trump. And as I said at the outset, I don't agree with every single point that the pastor makes, but I do agree with the overarching message that what we witnessed was not fulfillment of Revelation 13 3.

I agree that we should not worship Donald Trump as we see so many do, and I agree with his overall eschatological viewpoint that he outlies in this sermon. So we're going to pause for a brief announcement, but please don't go away. We'll be back with more from Pastor Fowler again of Truth Baptist Church in Lewiston, Idaho. Don't go away. You are tuned into Discerning the Times.

Please visit our website, LessonsToIsrael.com or write to us at Lessons to Israel, Keobach 266, Knightdale, North Carolina 27545. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's program. Conspiracies in our world exist, lies exist because men are chasing sin. That's why you have conspiracies on this earth, right? You have people lying to get into political power, people lying to get more money, people lying to make their sin okay. That's why we have such a deception in our world. Men are chasing sin, and that's a problem. Even in the churches, look at verse 5, having a form of godliness. Some of the biggest and best lies and liars are in churches. They're using the Bible to steal people's wallets, and they do it quite well, giving false doctrine, false promises to make a great living.

They're good at it. But still, even those conspiracies are just man. They're deep and they're wicked, but it's just man trying to get ahead, take advantage of other people. The conspiracies that I'm far more interested in are the conspiracies of the devil. Look at Ephesians chapter 6. What I'm trying to say, and I guess hopefully you're receiving it, is that there are conspiracies, there are political conspiracies, there are, but those are usually just men trying to advance their own sinful pursuit. What I want us as Christians to be wary of are the deeper conspiracies behind them all. Look at Ephesians chapter 6.

We read this not long ago, 6-11. Put on the whole armor of God that you're able to withstand against the wiles of the devil. The conspiracies of the devil are what we should be interested in. Again, the devil's not worried about creating 100 conservatives, especially 100 conservatives that never go to church. He's not worried about them at all.

He's done well. But you talk to some Christians today and they think conservatism is the answer and Trump's the answer. No, it's only Christ. It's only God. It's only the Bible that will rescue our nation, rescue our communities and our families and people.

It says in verse 12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. There are bigger things going on. So don't call me crazy when I say, wait a second, this conspiracy might be even bigger than what we realize.

And I did not say that Trump is, as a matter of fact, the Antichrist, but there will come a day just like this day. Oh, the guy's just suffered a severe head wound, but he's alive. This guy's a miracle sent from God.

This is my goodness. That's how it's going to happen. And if we as Christians aren't wary enough to look past it, boy, good luck in the world. They're going to jump in hook, line and sinker and they will when the Antichrist is here. They'll just start bowing down, worshiping the dude.

Kind of like what you see today at rallies. Politicians might be conspiring to raise your taxes and get reelected. Meanwhile, the devil is conspiring to get you away from a good church. The devil is conspiring to get the gospel out of your hand, right?

Far from your kids, far from you. The devil's conspiring to damn souls to hell. Those are bigger conspiracies.

Bigger conspiracies. And please remember, because sometimes people shoot back, well, a lot of good has come out of whatever. Let's use Trump again for example. A lot of good has come out of the Trump presidency.

He got the Supreme Court right and we did some advances on abortion. I like that. I like that. But remember, please remember, the devil is in the game of he'll give an inch to take a mile. Any day.

He'll give an inch to take a mile. Think about the chosen. I preach against the chosen all the time, don't I? So in the millions and millions of people watching it, there could be somebody who was interested, okay, that's a story about Jesus Christ.

I'll pick up my Bible and they read the Bible and they get saved. There could be. I'm not saying it could not happen.

I haven't met somebody that way yet, but it could happen. But again, it could be the same principle. The devil's giving an inch to take a mile because now we got this pseudo fake Jesus who's leading all kinds of people astray with poisonous doctrine. The devil's smarter than your average cat. We would be wise to be wary of the wiles of the devil. Look at first Corinthians, please.

First Corinthians chapter three. I want us to be deeper Christians. We should be deeper Christians than our average beer guzzling Trump rally going friends.

I'm sorry. In Idaho, you preach these things. I'm unpopular on every side of the fence, but I just want Christians to stand on God's word and I'm not worried about popularity. I don't want us to be different than the world.

Look here. First Corinthians 3 18. If you start preaching the gospel of Trump, you're going to reach nobody in your life. First Corinthians 3 18. Let no man deceive himself of any man among you seem to be wise in this world. Let him become a fool that he may be wise. Wise people today are the ones you know with who are up on the latest conspiracy or up on the latest polls and trends and politics and all those things and wise in this world are those who understand the AR and the sniper rifle and all these nuances and are really wise about all these things that at the end of the day are inconsequential to the spiritual battles afoot.

Let him become a fool that he may be wise for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God for it is written he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. So when we look out in this world we find the smartest people to listen to. Give me your take on this thing. I just want us to look back at the take of God's holy word. Not even my take. I don't hope today you're not just listening to my take.

But look down here. This is God's take. Says 20 again the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain therefore let no man glory in men for all things are yours. Glory in men.

Again I say it before this incident. I had my my social media walls just filled with people glorying in men. And today it's like 10 times that amount glorying in men.

The Bible says we're not the glory in men right there. The devil is working toward his ultimate goal of having the world worship him. Jesus pawns to do this. Let's talk about end times things a little bit. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 1. This gives us the Thessalonians neat epistle gives us some prophecy.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1. Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled. As Christians we don't have to be shaken. We don't have to be troubled.

Our God is much bigger than all these things we see with mankind. Neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means.

All kinds of deception going on. We're not to be deceived. It says for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. This passage is going to talk about the antichrist. But it's talking about here this day of the Lord. When it mentions the day of the Lord nine times out of ten it's speaking of the great judgment described in Revelation. The wrath of God poured out upon the Lord. That's what he's talking about.

He's assuring these Thessalonians that they don't need to be worried about this. This great judgment that the world absolutely deserves because of its rejection of Christ. It's not going to come until we see some things happen. First we're going to see a great falling away. And over time we've seen people, I believe the true gospel gets smaller and smaller and smaller. The lies abound more and more and more. Today I think it's safe to say we've seen a falling away. I think we've seen this first piece of the puzzle.

At least quite a bit of it. But then it also says the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. Before the great judgment on this earth the antichrist will be revealed. This is speaking of the antichrist. It calls on the man of sin. That's how he's described. How does the man of sin ever get worshipped so much?

Well you've got a population that cares very little about sin, right? And cares very much about man. Again I hearken unto this moment. I've heard, so I might preach this a little bit so forgive me if you get it twice, but I had this evangelist who was a friend of mine on Facebook. And he's a prevalent evangelist in Baptist circles. And he was just going on and on about, after this moment, about the character of Donald J. Trump. Such a man of character. Such a man of strength and virtue. And this is the man we needed.

And I was like, you're kidding me. I mean you can call him a lot of things. You can call him a good leader. Call him a good business man.

All those things. I would not call him a man of morality. He's on his third wife. He just exudes pride.

I'm sorry, every second. I know some people like that, but it's called pride. Sin, every bit of him, head to foot. But people are ready to overlook this and glorify man.

Well the same thing that's going to be required with the Antichrist. He's a man of sin, yet the whole world is going to be worshipping him. Shows you it's a day when man's glorified and sin is downplayed.

All right. So that was the first half of a sermon preached by Logan Fowler, pastor of Truth Baptist Church in Lewiston, Idaho. And again, I wanted to share this because I think it gives good perspective on politics, overall eschatology and the topic of Revelation 13 three. So that was the first half of the sermon.

We'll be back next week with the second half. I'll provide some commentary and also share the different interpretations between Revelation chapter 13, verse three, as to whether it is a reference to a human being, Antichrist or his system in which it could be a governmental system or a nation within its new world order. So thank you for tuning in. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel. To the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.