Participants: Ron Halvorsen
Series Code: 13RVT
Program Code: 13RVT000018
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00:05 In today's troubled world people are wondering,
00:10 "Where Are We Headed?" 00:13 Revelation Today presents the answers. 00:17 Bible prophecy reveals 00:18 what the future holds in store. 00:22 Revelation Today. 00:38 Good evening everyone. 00:39 The Mark of the Beast 00:41 is certainly a significant subject. 00:44 The Book of Revelation 00:45 is the last days Book of the Bible 00:47 and The Mark of the Beast features prominently. 00:51 In this last great battle between good and evil, 00:54 ultimately those who side with evil 00:56 will be marked with the Mark of the Beast. 00:59 Those who side with Christ sealed with the seal of God. 01:03 So what is The Mark of the Beast? 01:07 A laser beam tattoo, a barcode, 01:10 is it some kind of computer chip 01:13 placed under the skin of the right hand 01:16 or under the skin of the forehead 01:17 of those who receive it. 01:19 Who will receive the Mark of the Beast? 01:21 And how can you avoid the Mark of the Beast? 01:25 Perhaps when we go to the Bible tonight 01:28 our eyes will be opened. 01:29 Maybe we'll learn some new things. 01:32 I can assure you we will study the truth of God 01:36 and that truth will be clear. 01:38 God wants all of us to know Jesus in truth and be safe 01:44 and saved in these last days of earth's history. 01:48 Remember Revelation says that speaking of the devil 01:51 all that dwell upon the earth will worship Him 01:55 or except for a small group 01:58 who have their names written in the Book of Life. 02:00 It's important that your name is written there. 02:03 Our subject tonight is The Mark of the Beast. 02:05 Our presenter tonight again is Ron Halvorsen. 02:11 I want you to bow your heads 02:13 in the word of prayer as we seek God's presence. 02:16 Gracious Father, I humbly bound Your presence 02:18 and pray now that no one will misinterpret 02:20 what we're saying, 02:21 that we're not talking about the people of faith, 02:24 we're not talking about the people of conviction 02:28 but we're talking about a hierarchy, 02:29 we're talking about a deception in the last days 02:32 that we're to be warned about. 02:34 Now teach us Your will and Your way we pray 02:37 and we'll honor You always in Christ's name, amen. 02:43 The Mark of the Beast and 666. 02:48 Tonight will be the most important meeting 02:50 perhaps you hear during this whole series 02:52 because we've already spoken night 02:53 after night about the counterfeit. 02:56 We talked about the counterfeit Bible, 02:59 and the counterfeit Sabbath, 03:01 the counterfeit state of the dead, 03:03 the counterfeit judgment, 03:05 the counterfeit-- if all that's counterfeit 03:08 then you want to know what the truth is 03:11 'cause you'll be held responsible for that truth. 03:16 So you want to know what God's truth says. 03:20 Now in John 10:10, he says this, 03:25 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, 03:28 and to kill, and to destroy: 03:31 but I've come that they might have life, 03:33 and that they might have it more abundantly." 03:35 On the one hand he says, 03:36 this thief will rob you, this thief will kill you. 03:41 On the other hand it says Jesus Christ 03:44 will give you eternal life and save you. 03:47 So that is the difference. 03:48 That is what we're talking about tonight. 03:50 Life or death? 03:51 We're talking about heaven or hell. 03:52 We're talking about-- 03:54 whether we're gonna follow and stand for God's truth 03:56 or we're gonna just go along with the counterfeit. 03:59 Some time ago I saw a TV ad and it captured my attention, 04:04 an older man was reading his credit card bill 04:08 and there came upon a scene a young man 04:12 and he was out surfing in Hawaii, 04:15 new threads, new board, new girl, he was having a ball. 04:21 He was using the man's identity. 04:24 He was having a party on this man's credit. 04:29 Wow. 04:31 New thieves stealing, I mean, stealing identity, 04:37 social security numbers and licenses 04:40 and bank account numbers and these thieves silently 04:44 without your knowledge siphon off your moneys 04:47 through identity theft. 04:50 This type of crime has become so widespread 04:53 that one talk show host quipped 04:55 that in one year the United States had lost 04:58 10 percent of its population. 05:02 Now this is not new. 05:04 There has been identity theft since the beginning of time. 05:10 In fact, the Bible tells us that Satan, 05:13 the angel of light became the devil, 05:16 the devil has tried every way to steal your identity 05:19 to open the door to control your thinking 05:22 and your emotions. 05:23 He first tried to steal God's identity. 05:26 There in heaven he exalted himself 05:28 above the throne of God. 05:29 He wanted equality to the nature of God 05:33 and there in heaven he told those angels, 05:35 he got those angels thinking about it 05:38 and pretending to give something 05:40 that God only could give. 05:43 "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 05:46 I will be like the most High." 05:48 Genesis 3:5, "For God doth know 05:51 the day in ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, 05:55 ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil." 05:57 He is now again stealing. 06:00 Stealing that which God alone has, 06:01 which God alone possesses, immortality 06:04 and He is the only one that can give your mortality 06:07 but He says, He says I can give you that, 06:10 taking this route and your eyes will be opened, 06:12 you will be as gods knowing good 06:17 and knowing evil. 06:20 Eve was offered a new identity. 06:22 You will be like God. 06:24 And by the way, she fell for it. 06:28 And then also at the cross 06:31 Satan tried to steal the Lord's identity, 06:34 he said to Roman centurion, if you are the Son of God, 06:38 if you are the Son of God 06:39 to take away the nature of Christ, 06:41 to take away the purity of Christ, 06:44 to take away the Kingdom of Christ, 06:46 he says, if you are the Son of God, 06:48 Satan have so deceived Him 06:50 and taken away the identity of Christ 06:53 at the centurion, asked the question, 06:55 asked the question at that moment. 06:58 Knowledge of personal identity is crucial 07:01 because their identity determines the behavior. 07:06 And if you're identified with Christ 07:08 then you allow Him to lead it in your life. 07:11 If you're really controlled by Christ, 07:13 if you're really are surrendered to Christ 07:15 then what Christ asks you to do won't be so hard. 07:19 Why is it so difficult? 07:21 He is offering you eternal life for eternal damnation. 07:26 Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what's best. 07:30 And yet so many hesitate, 07:32 so many push away from this pleading God, 07:36 calling us to true identity and calling us 07:39 away from the thief that steals from us 07:42 all that we have from God. 07:45 And that brings us 07:46 in a sense to the fullness of this subject. 07:49 Now there are two passages of scripture I want to read. 07:51 One is taken from the Old Testament 07:54 and one is taken from the New Testament. 07:56 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 07:59 That has been the rallying point of Revelation Today. 08:02 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." 08:06 Don't tell God 08:07 that you believe in the whole Bible 08:09 and yet deny a good portion of His Bible. 08:12 You can say I'm with Him and hold on to the world. 08:16 You can't have two masters. 08:18 You have one to serve or the other you will serve. 08:22 You can't serve both. 08:24 And so He says, "All scripture 08:26 is given by inspiration of God, 08:27 is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 08:31 for instruction in righteousness." 08:33 So it's the whole scripture in the weight of evidence. 08:35 If you come here night after night, 08:37 I'll try to be faithful to the Bible. 08:40 Now some of the message I brought to you are difficult. 08:43 I'm sorry for that but it's still the Bible. 08:47 And the Bible says, it should correct you. 08:49 The Bible says, it should what reprove you 08:52 and if you've been reproved then be reproved. 08:55 If you've been corrected then be corrected. 08:59 And that's what I'm talking about tonight. 09:01 And there's a text from the Old Testament, 09:03 I wish it wasn't there even. 09:05 Listen to it. 09:07 "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, 09:10 which shall never hold their peace day nor night: 09:13 ye that make mention of the Lord, 09:15 keep not silent." 09:16 In other words, he says, 09:17 when you know it you can't keep silent, 09:20 you've got to say it and tell it just like it is. 09:24 So that's why we're here tonight 09:25 because I'm a minister of the gospel of God 09:27 because I believe the Bible is the inspired word 09:30 and because I'm preaching on Revelation 09:32 I have to face the difficult things here 09:34 in the Book of Revelation. 09:37 You see here it states that the Bible reproves us 09:39 and corrects us and instructs us. 09:42 It tells us here that we ought to be watchmen on the wall. 09:46 We ought to be watchmen. 09:47 Now I do not enjoy preaching 09:49 The Mark of the Beast, I'm sorry. 09:52 I'd rather talk about other things you know that. 09:55 I'd rather talk about grace. 09:58 I'd rather talk about the cross as I did last night. 10:02 I was caught up to the third heaven last night 10:05 as I preached on the cross of Christ. 10:07 I would rather preach on the love of God. 10:10 But The Mark of the Beast is a part of the Holy Scripture 10:13 and The Mark of the Beast is God's final warning 10:16 for the people not to receive it, 10:18 for the people not to fall to Babylon 10:21 under deceptions of Babylon 10:23 and not be deceived by the antichrist 10:25 but be faithful to the Christ of scripture. 10:30 I tell you it is a part 10:32 of the great Reformation message. 10:35 It was a message of Luther, it was a message of Zwingli, 10:38 it was a message of Hus and Jerome and Wycliffe, 10:41 God raised up the reformers to proclaim the truth 10:45 and call men and women out of the Babylon of that day 10:48 and call them to the cross of Christ. 10:50 And that's what we're going to attempt to do tonight 10:53 here in this meeting. 10:54 So listen carefully, pray fervently 10:58 because what decision you make tonight 11:00 maybe your eternal decision. 11:02 In the Book of Revelation there are prophetic symbols. 11:05 There are prophetic cartoons it were. 11:08 I call it God's graffiti and these symbols, 11:11 these cartoons have hidden meanings 11:14 that affect your destiny and affect my destiny. 11:17 You see, the dictionary defines a symbol as this, 11:21 notice, "A symbol is an object, 11:24 a mark, a sign that stands for another object or idea." 11:30 That's what a symbol is. 11:32 Now for instance let me show you examples. 11:35 For instance we have the dove. 11:37 Most people when we think about the dove 11:39 we think of peace. 11:41 All right there is a dove, here is a bear. 11:43 That's Russia, 11:44 remember during World War II that was Russia, 11:46 then came the eagle that was United States. 11:49 Then, now these are the beasts of Revelation, 11:51 that's the dragon, that's Satan. 11:53 The beast is the kingdoms and then waters for instance, 11:57 by the way it doesn't necessarily be beastly 11:59 but it's a beast a symbolic of what, 12:01 an object or of a nation? 12:04 What does these symbolic meanings? 12:05 Let's look at the Bible, notice what it says, 12:07 "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 12:11 having the everlasting gospel 12:12 to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, 12:14 to every nation, kindred, tongue and people." 12:16 Now I want you notice it's an angelic message. 12:18 If it's an angelic message it comes from heaven. 12:20 It's a message that comes from God. 12:23 And He says, you go 12:24 and preach this message, this gospel 12:27 to the all uttermost parts of the earth, 12:29 to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. 12:31 It's a worldwide message calling a worldwide people 12:34 of every nation, kindred, tongue 12:36 and people, every culture. 12:39 And then He goes on to say here, 12:41 "saying with a loud voice, Fear God, give glory to Him, 12:46 the hour of His judgment is come: 12:48 and he says worship Him that made heaven, and earth, 12:50 and the sea, and the fountains waters. 12:53 And there followed another angel, saying, 12:56 Babylon is fallen," 12:58 listen, "is fallen, that great city, 13:01 because she made all nations drink 13:02 the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 13:05 This is the call of God describing 13:07 the Babylonian condition of the last days, 13:10 they are so confused. 13:12 Confusion, confusion, confusion 13:15 and God says, come out of Babylon My people, 13:18 that you be not partakers of her sins. 13:21 "The third angel followed saying, 13:23 if any man worship the beast and his image," 13:25 listen to me, any man, I'm not saying this, 13:28 "if any man worship the beast and his image, 13:31 and receive his mark in his forehead, 13:33 or in his hand, 13:34 the same shall drink of the wine 13:36 of the wrath of God." 13:37 I mean, that's the judgment of God. 13:39 And He says, 13:40 "which is poured out without a mixture 13:42 into the cup with his indignation, 13:44 and he shall be tormented with fire 13:46 and brimstone in the presence of holy angels, 13:48 in the presence of the Lamb." 13:51 That's a strong message. 13:54 I mean, that's a judgment message. 13:57 People say, well, why should I stand for the truth? 14:00 This is why. 14:02 And he says in Revelation 13:15-17, 14:06 "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, 14:10 that the image of the beast should both speak, 14:11 and cause that as many would not worship 14:13 the image of the beast should be," what? 14:16 That's how serious it is. 14:18 "And he causeth all both small and great, 14:20 rich and poor, free and bond, 14:22 to receive a mark in his right hand, 14:24 in his forehead: 14:25 that no man might be able to buy or sell, 14:28 save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, 14:31 or the number of his name." 14:33 Surely if it's that serious I should know who the beast is. 14:36 Amen. 14:37 And if it's serious I should understand 14:39 what his mark is. 14:41 And if I understand who the beast is 14:43 and I understand whose mark is, 14:44 then I need to come out of Babylon 14:47 and stand for the truth in the last days. 14:53 Notice, we'll go on, 14:56 clearly the states of time is coming 14:58 when man won't be able to buy or sell. 15:01 That an individual who receives a mark 15:02 will be destroyed. 15:04 Then Revelation 14:12, in the midst of this He says, 15:07 "There will be a people called the remnant 15:09 who have the patience of the saints 15:11 and here are they that keep the commandments of God 15:14 and the faith of Jesus." 15:15 By the way, faith in Jesus makes you loving. 15:21 So you can be even doing this and be lost in hell. 15:26 If you're not being kind and loving, 15:28 like Jesus would be kind and loving. 15:30 If you become judgmental and hard and strict 15:34 and so strict that no one could come around you 15:36 to hear the beautiful message of Jesus Christ. 15:40 So don't just point your fingers 15:43 but the patience of the saints 15:46 are they that keep the commandments of God 15:48 and have the faith of Jesus. 15:51 So my dear friend if they tell you 15:53 the commandments of God are not important, 15:54 if they tell you nine of the commandments 15:56 are important but one is unimportant, 15:58 if the church goes on to say, 15:59 well, I'm gonna take one out and put one, 16:01 divide one and put one here 16:03 and take from the word or add to the word, 16:06 what does the Bible say stay away from it. 16:09 Stay away from it. 16:11 Throughout history God, 16:13 whenever God was going to judge the earth, 16:14 He brought a message of reconciliation, 16:17 so also in this case. 16:19 We find a message of warning of the Mark of the Beast. 16:21 Let me make it clear. 16:23 We're not talking about individuals. 16:25 We're not talking about people 16:27 who have been deceived all their life, 16:29 and are faithful to what they know 16:31 about Jesus, we're not, 16:32 some of the most beautiful people in the world. 16:37 The reformers came out of that, great men and women of God. 16:42 Were talking about a system. 16:44 We're talking about a hierarchy. 16:46 We're talking about man 16:48 when he thinks he's higher than God 16:50 and when man thinks he has the power 16:53 to change times and laws and has the power 16:55 to do things that only God has. 16:59 We're talking about a hierarchy 17:00 of the tampering with the Bible. 17:03 In long period of history there was subtle changes. 17:07 The church didn't wake up one day 17:08 and said, let's teach era. 17:11 Church did not wake up one day and say, 17:13 well, let's teach heresy. 17:16 The church did not wake up one day and say, 17:17 let's make tradition above the Word of God. 17:20 The church, it was centuries. 17:23 It was slow changes until you caught up in it 17:25 before you know it, you're so captivated by it, 17:28 you can't turn around and go back. 17:32 You're so full of yourself. 17:35 You think more of that than you do 17:37 with the kingdom of Christ. 17:39 Well, that's dangerous, friend. 17:40 Now what's the key? What is the key? 17:43 Understanding the symbols of the beasts in the Bible. 17:46 What do they stand for and who do they stand for? 17:49 Let's look at it, the Bible tells us, 17:51 I'm not going to define the beast, 17:52 let the Bible define it. 17:54 "And these great beasts, 17:55 which are four, are four," what? 17:58 "Kings, which shall rise out of the earth. 18:00 Thus he said, 18:01 The fourth beast shall be the fourth," what? 18:04 "Kingdom upon the earth, 18:06 which shall be diverse from all kingdoms." 18:08 Every time the Bible speaks about the four kingdoms, 18:11 it refers to the kingdoms of Daniel Chapter 2, 18:14 that was Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece 18:17 and the fourth kingdom was Rome. 18:19 Now the Bible says 18:20 it would come out of the first kingdom, no. 18:23 It would come out of the second, no. 18:25 It would come out of the fourth kingdom. 18:28 And what kingdom was that? 18:31 You don't have to be a mathematician. 18:34 Four is four. 18:36 The fourth kingdom in history and Bible history is what? 18:40 Rome. 18:42 So we're going to see what comes out of Rome. 18:44 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, 18:46 and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, 18:47 having seven heads and ten horns, 18:49 and upon his horns ten crowns, 18:51 and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." 18:53 Now he's defining this beast. 18:55 The Bible first of all tells us about this beast, 18:59 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard," 19:00 now he's talking of symbolic terms, 19:02 he can't describe it, 19:04 "The feet of a bear, the mouth of the lion, 19:07 and the dragon gave him three things 19:09 power, seat and authority." 19:11 And so now here we find in the Word of God 19:13 something about this beast. 19:15 "And I saw one of the heads is all wounded unto death, 19:18 and his deadly wound was healed: 19:20 and all the world wondered after the beast. 19:22 And they worshipped the dragon 19:23 which gave him power unto the beast." 19:26 And then he says, 19:27 "And they worshipped the beast, saying, 19:28 Who is like unto that nation or that power? 19:31 Who is able to make war with him? 19:33 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things 19:36 and blasphemy..." and he goes on to say, 19:39 "And power is given unto him to continue forty..." 19:42 Tells how long? Forty and two months. 19:44 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, 19:47 to blaspheme his name, 19:49 his tabernacle on them that dwell in heaven." 19:52 Some things happened. 19:54 Notice the characteristic, please follow me. 19:57 It comes up out of Roman Empire, 19:59 the Fourth Kingdom. 20:00 Secondly it comes up out of the water, the people. 20:03 Remember waters represent people, 20:05 I gave you those symbols you have in there. 20:08 It doesn't come up like the United States 20:10 out of the wilderness, it comes up out of the peoples, 20:12 it comes up out of the Fourth Kingdom. 20:14 All right so he's narrowing it down. 20:16 He says, receives three things 20:18 from this Roman Fourth Kingdom, 20:21 power, seat and authority. 20:25 Let me give you a little history lesson, 20:26 all right tonight. 20:27 I want to give you little history, 20:28 since my graduate work is in history 20:30 I want to give you a little history lesson. 20:32 Pagan Rome gave and bequeath her power 20:35 in the west to papal Rome. 20:38 I was recently in Rome and saw the great painting, 20:41 it's about 75 feet in length, 20:43 it is the painting of Constantine, 20:46 giving Sylvester I Pope a figure of a warrior. 20:50 Notice this figure of the warrior he's giving it. 20:53 And he's giving power to the pope in Rome. 20:56 You see, history buffs you'll recall 20:58 that Constantine was moving his capital 21:01 from Rome to Constantinople. 21:04 And so in history he says, I'm going to give you this 21:08 in the denotation of Constantine. 21:10 He says I'm going to give you power, 21:12 I'm gonna give you seat 21:13 and I'm going to give you authority in Rome. 21:16 It's called the denotation of Constantine. 21:20 In fact, Labanca, her church historian said this, 21:23 "To the successions of the Caesars 21:25 came the succession to the Pontiffs in Rome. 21:28 When Constantine left Rome 21:30 he gave his seat to the Pontiff." 21:31 Now what does it say, Rome would give what? 21:34 The seat to this beast like power. 21:37 He would give him authority. 21:38 So Constantine says, I'm going to Constantinople, 21:42 you can rule Rome. 21:47 And gave him authority. 21:49 "The pope's filled the place of the vacant emperors in Rome, 21:52 inheriting their power, their privilege, 21:54 their titles from" what? 21:58 "Paganism." 21:59 Now the church is no longer the church. 22:01 The Church is a church and state. 22:04 Come on, it's church and state. 22:06 You see, when the Pope comes travels, 22:08 he comes representing the Vatican, 22:11 which is a separate country. 22:12 He comes politically as well as a spiritual leader 22:16 of the Roman people, Roman Catholic people. 22:19 So we see that histories bore out the fact 22:23 that the popes filled the place of the vacant emperors at Rome, 22:26 inheriting their power, inheriting their prestige 22:29 and inheriting the titles from paganism. 22:34 Wow. 22:36 Let me quote, meekly stepping, 22:38 it's the Catholic Quarterly by the way, 22:40 it's a magazine written by Roman Catholic Church, 22:42 "Meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, 22:45 the vicar of Christ." 22:47 You see, every pope is called Vicar of Christ. 22:50 You see, it couldn't be one man 22:52 that existed from way back there till now, 22:55 it had to be one power 22:58 and one power is Vicar of Christ 23:00 So whoever takes the throne of the papacy 23:04 is Vicar of Christ, Vicar of the Son of God. 23:07 And it says, "The vicar of Christ 23:09 took the scepter to which the emperors 23:11 and Kings of Europe were to bow 23:12 in reverence through so many years." 23:15 Soon it became not only the political power, 23:17 the religious power and men began to bow to it. 23:22 With power there comes problems, 23:26 come on now, right. 23:31 You met people like that, haven't you? 23:33 A boss with power, what happens? 23:38 Can there be any doubt that pagan Rome 23:40 gave people of Rome these three things 23:41 power, seat and authority. 23:43 And I saw one of the heads as it were wounded to death 23:45 and his deadly wound was healed: 23:47 and all the world wondered after," what? 23:50 "All the world wondered after the beast." 23:54 Characteristics of the beast. 23:56 He receives a deadly wound. 23:58 Now when did this papal power receive a deadly wound? 24:01 "And there was given unto him 24:02 mouth speaking great things, blasphemies 24:04 and power was given unto him," what? 24:06 "To continue forty and two months." 24:09 Now if I'm going to understand 24:11 what this power is or who this power is, 24:13 I've got to understand when it came into power? 24:16 How long it would exist until it was wounded to death? 24:20 Symbolic of the prophetic day time principle. 24:23 One day is equal to what? 24:26 That's prophetically right, that's clear, 24:27 we've read it again and again, 24:28 Ezekiel 4:6, Numbers 14:34, 24:31 and every time we took of time prophecy, 24:33 a line time prophecy, 24:35 it came out if we use the day-year principle. 24:38 It doesn't come out, well, you say, 24:39 someone asked you the question, 24:41 how do you know when to use the day-year principle 24:43 and 24 hour day? 24:45 Well, if you notice when God talked about the 24-hour day, 24:47 he said evening and morning, 24:48 evening and morning, evening and morning. 24:50 Here He says, a day is equal to year. 24:53 And so when you study prophecy, you look at the prophecy 24:56 and if it comes out with the day-year principle, 24:58 you know that day-year principle is applicable. 25:01 So now let's look at this day-year principle 25:04 of Bible prophecy. 25:06 Let's see it, all right, 30 times 42 is 1260 years. 25:10 1260 years. 25:12 Now those who know history and the history of Rome, 25:15 people of Rome took its power in the year 538 A.D. 25:20 It continued 1260 years exactly. 25:24 And then something happened it was wounded to death. 25:27 And those history buffs know what happened, 25:29 you remember that Berthier, Napoleon's general came 25:33 and he took the pope captive that was in 1798, 25:38 1260 years from 538. 25:41 In 1798, Berthier took the pope into captivity 25:46 and the pope was wounded to death. 25:47 They thought this is the end of the papacy. 25:51 They thought this is the end of that beast like power. 25:55 But it wasn't because the Bible says 25:57 that wound would be what? 25:59 That wound would be healed. 26:01 And those who studied history know 26:03 that Benito Mussolini signed a concordat 26:07 with the pope giving him full authority 26:09 and Kingdom known as Vatican. 26:11 That was in 1929, 26:12 by the way, check up on me. 26:15 Now here's the fifth characteristic, 26:17 he's a persecuting power. 26:19 Now Christianity in fact, knows from history, 26:23 "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints..." 26:26 That's persecution to overcome them. 26:28 "And powers given to him over all the kindreds, 26:30 and tongues and of all the nations. 26:33 I mean, He describes His power, 26:35 as being persecuting power. 26:37 And notice what happened and any of you noticed history 26:40 during those Dark Ages, during that period of time 26:43 of the supremacy of the papacy 26:45 50 million Protestants lost their lives 26:48 because they would not bow down to Rome. 26:50 They would not bow down to tradition. 26:52 They would not turn away from the Bible. 26:55 They wanted to stand on the principles of the Bible. 26:57 And so when the church came along and said, 26:59 well, we can absolve your sins, 27:00 they knew that was nowhere in the Bible, 27:02 so they said we would rather die 27:04 than you absolve us of our sins. 27:07 And that's why Luther said, 27:08 here I stand, I can do no other. 27:11 God helped me, 27:12 because he understood justification 27:14 by faith alone in Christ. 27:16 That we're not brought into the heaven 27:17 by a superpower or by a hierarchy 27:20 or by elite or by a pastor or priest or a pope, 27:23 that we're brought into the Kingdom of Heaven 27:25 by the living Christ 27:26 who is as the heavenly high priest in heaven. 27:29 That we have an advocate 27:30 and that advocate is Jesus Christ. 27:32 And so they stood up to it. 27:34 They surrendered to the truth and they stood up for it. 27:39 And they were rewarded because their name 27:42 will be forever written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 27:46 I'd rather be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 27:50 Listen to me, the characteristics. 27:53 He receives a deadly wound and that happened in 1798. 27:58 The wound is healed in 1929. 28:00 The Vatican is now back to its power 28:03 and now it becomes a persecuting power. 28:06 And anyone will tell you, any historian, 28:08 anyone whether it's in a Catholic Church historian 28:11 or a Protestant historian that during that period of time 28:14 and many years later 28:16 they persecuted people unto death. 28:19 In other words, recant. 28:23 Give up your faith 28:26 and they persecuted even unto death. 28:29 Read the Book of Martyrs, and in the name of Christ, 28:36 in the name of Vicar of Christ 50 million people 28:41 and that's a conservative estimate. 28:44 50 million people died. 28:49 The Bible goes on even clearer. 28:51 It's not only a persecuting power, 28:55 but the Bible tells us it will speak blasphemy. 28:59 Now what is blasphemy? 29:00 Well, let's go to the Bible, let's find out what Jesus said 29:03 is blasphemy or what they said is blasphemy. 29:06 "And the Jews answered him, saying, 29:07 For a good work we stone thee not, 29:09 but for blasphemy, because thou, being a man, 29:13 makest thyself," what? 29:15 "God." 29:16 If a man takes the prerogative of God 29:18 he's speaking blasphemy. 29:20 If I were to stand here tonight and tell you that I am God. 29:26 You'd run out of this building. 29:29 I wouldn't blame you, I'd run out with you. 29:34 I'd run out with you. 29:37 What is blasphemy? 29:39 Well, "But there was certain 29:40 if the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 29:42 why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? 29:45 Who can forgive sins but God only?" 29:49 So he's saying that blasphemy is one 29:51 taking the prerogative of God, sitting in the seat of God, 29:55 taking the same prerogative 29:57 and the other is to have the power to forgive sin, 30:01 that is God's will and that is God's power only. 30:05 Satan said to Eve you will be like God. 30:08 Satan said to the church in the Dark Ages, 30:11 Satan said to the leaders of the church, 30:13 you will be like God 30:16 and thus Vicar of the Christ, Son of God. 30:21 Listen, let me take you to Rome. 30:25 "We hold upon this earth the place of almighty God," 30:29 Pope Leo XIII. 30:31 Let me take you to Rome, 30:33 "Therefore the decisions of the Pope 30:36 and the decisions of God 30:41 constitute one decision." 30:44 This is Rome. 30:47 Listen, I'm not making this up. 30:51 "The Pope can modify divine law, 30:53 since his power is not of man, but of God, 30:55 and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." 31:00 He can change and modify law or how did he do that? 31:04 You know history, he changed, 31:05 remember one commandment, cut in half took the other. 31:09 Made the fourth commandment, the third command-- 31:11 he had the power. 31:14 This man had the power to do that. 31:15 Come on I'm asking you. 31:17 Do I have the power to-- 31:18 why if I don't have the power to do it 31:19 he doesn't have the power 31:20 because I'm saved the same way 31:21 the pope is saved by the grace of Christ. 31:23 I'm no more holy than the pope, he's no more holy than me. 31:34 Listen to him. 31:36 The history, 31:37 "Hence the Pope is crowned with the triple crown, 31:40 as king of heaven and of earth and the lower regions." 31:44 He controls heaven, earth and the lower regions. 31:49 It's blasphemy. It's blasphemy. 31:54 Listen, "Thou art the shepherd, 31:57 thou art the physician, thou art the director, 32:00 thou art the husbandman, 32:01 finally thou art another God on earth," 32:06 Christopher Marcellus, Fifth Lateran Council, 1512. 32:10 We're not talking about people 32:11 who've been brought up that way. 32:15 We're talking about hierarchy. 32:16 We're talking about someone who's taken the prerogative 32:18 but we don't want him to steal your identity. 32:23 I'm here to say tonight 32:24 we don't want him to steal your identity. 32:27 Stand for the truth and you'll stand 32:30 and identify with Jesus Christ. 32:33 Amen, that's what you want to be identified with. 32:39 Listen, I go again in the Rome. 32:43 This is Convert's Catechism. 32:45 Question: Who is the Holy Father or Pope? 32:47 Answer: The Holy Father or Pope 32:50 is the visible head of the church, 32:51 the successor of St. Peter 32:53 and the Vicar of Christ on earth." 32:55 There's one thing they forget, 32:56 St. Peter was not the first leader of the church. 32:59 It was who? 33:00 James, and he was the leader in Jerusalem. 33:07 And by the way, he did not build, 33:08 he did not build the church on Peter, 33:11 the pebble, he built the church on Jesus, the rock. 33:16 Amen. 33:19 The gates of hell can have Peter fall. 33:23 I know not the man but the rock. 33:30 Let this cup pass for me Lord, 33:32 but if it doesn't send me to my cross, 33:37 let me die for my people. 33:38 Amen. 33:43 "The doctrine that Christ took the nature of God in man, 33:45 so the pope, is not simply a man 33:47 but rather God on earth." 33:49 I'm not saying that Protestants of Hus and Jerome 33:52 and Luther didn't say that, the church said. 33:56 Wonder why we called it the Dark Ages. 33:58 I'm sorry to say we still live many in the Dark Ages. 34:06 My friend, it doesn't matter if the pope is good man, 34:08 I have no quarrel with that. 34:12 I'm in no way judging as leadership are built. 34:16 I am standing here tonight to say he has no authority, 34:19 he has no claim, he has no right 34:23 to consider him zicar, Vicar of Christ God on earth. 34:27 Amen. 34:29 All ascribed to the pope 34:31 is ascribed to the beast of Revelation Chapter 13. 34:34 And through history the Protestant Reformation, 34:37 through history of the early church, 34:39 through history the church of the 1800s, 34:42 through history the church in the beginning believed 34:45 what this has been teaching in Revelation 13. 34:47 Now, they've gone away from it because they've united with it. 34:52 They've united with it. 34:56 "All names which scripture applied to Christ, 34:58 by virtue which is established that he is over the church, 35:01 all the same names are applied to the Pope." 35:05 He is not the Prince of Peace. 35:08 Jesus Christ is. Amen. 35:12 Jesus Christ is. 35:13 He is not my savior, Jesus Christ is. 35:16 Amen. Church cannot save me. 35:20 No more than the pope can save me. 35:23 What his confession? 35:24 Answer: Confession is the telling of our sins 35:27 to the priest of God to obtain forgiveness. 35:32 You can crawl in your closet, you can crawl under your bed 35:37 and confess your sins to God. 35:39 You don't need a preacher, you don't need a priest 35:41 and you don't need a General Conference President. 35:48 You are free to ask Him for forgiveness. 35:53 And who has the right to forgive 35:55 than the Holy One of Israel, 35:58 than He, who is God Yahweh forever, 36:03 who has that power. 36:05 Listen, "The pope is the vicar of Christ, 36:08 the claims the Pope are the same 36:09 as the claims of Christ, Christ can forgive sin, 36:12 so can the," what? 36:14 "Pope forgive sin." Here's more. 36:17 This is not me, Michael Mueller, 36:19 "There is a man on earth who can forgive sin 36:21 and that's the Catholic priest." 36:24 Blasphemy absolve you. 36:27 Who's gonna absolve him? 36:32 But the Lord Jesus Christ. 36:35 Isn't it wonderful you can go to the advocate 36:37 and having Jesus himself and confess your sin, isn't it? 36:40 Come on now. Isn't it? 36:44 Listen, I'm quoting, 36:46 "The priest stands as a," what? 36:48 Mediator. 36:49 My brother, sister whatever you feel about it, 36:52 that's blasphemy. 36:54 That's blasphemy. 36:57 He's not my mediator. 37:00 How good a man he is, he's not my mediator. 37:03 No matter how holy-- he's not mediator. 37:07 There is one mediator between God and man, 37:09 that's the Lord Jesus Christ, right, amen. 37:11 You can go straight to Jesus Christ 37:13 and He will lead you and guide you 37:16 in this manner, in this manner. 37:19 I'm trying to be gentle, the church isn't gentle here. 37:23 Dignity and Duties of the priest, 37:25 that's what the priest learned, the 12 volume, page 34. 37:27 "The priest not only declares that the sinner is forgiven, 37:30 but he really forgives him. 37:32 So great is the power of priest 37:34 that the judgments of heaven itself 37:36 are subject to his decisions." 37:42 You align yourself. 37:47 Well, my mommy, 37:48 what's your mommy have to do with it? 37:50 She couldn't help it, her mommy's mommy. 37:52 And hers mommy, mommy, mommy's back to mommy. 37:57 But you're not gonna be judged by mommy. 38:01 You're going to be judged by what you do for God 38:03 or don't do for God. 38:04 You're going to be judged for coming out of Babylon 38:06 or staying in Babylon. 38:12 Now he speaks blasphemy, the power to persecute, 38:15 the deadly, I mean, this is the seventh 38:17 identification characteristic of this. 38:20 Could there be any doubt in your heart? 38:21 Well, he says in case there is, 38:23 he says it's the number of a man. 38:26 "Here is wisdom. 38:27 Let him that hath understanding 38:28 let him count the number of the beast: 38:29 for it is the number of a man, 38:31 and his number is six hundred threescore and six." 38:35 And by the way, this is the Goodspeed translation, 38:37 "It is a number of a certain man 38:39 and his number is?" 38:40 Here's the Douay version, 38:41 the Catholic version of the Bible, not mine, 38:43 that's the Catholic version of the Bible Douay. 38:45 "The numerical value of the letters of his name 38:47 make up his number." 38:49 Remember when you're in third grade or fourth grade 38:51 and the teacher threw a curve at me, 38:54 she put a V on the board. 38:57 And she said, does anybody know what that is? 39:00 I knew very little. But this I knew. 39:05 So I raised my hand and waving, 39:07 she says, Ronnie, she is surprised. 39:10 She even blinked her eyes. 39:13 She said, Ronnie, what is it? 39:16 I said that's a V. 39:18 She said, no, that's a five. 39:26 Took me four grades to figure that out, 39:28 and now she throws a curve at me. 39:33 When she puts a C on the board, 39:35 I could make a mistake of a V but a C? 39:41 I had seen enough C's. 39:44 No, I've seen enough D's and F's 39:46 but I, every now and then I saw a C. 39:50 And she said, what is this? 39:51 And I said, ah, teacher I know that. 39:54 She said, Ronnie, what is it? 39:55 That's a C. She says, no. 39:59 That's a hundred. 40:07 That's a hundred. 40:10 The numerical value of the letter of His name 40:17 makes up His number. 40:21 Well, let's look at it. 40:23 Now notice, Vicarius Filii Dei, 40:25 that's Latin with a Brooklyn accent, 40:27 Vicarius Filii Dei, 40:31 and I want you to know something about him. 40:34 Vicarius, V is 5, I is 1, C is a 100, 40:40 there's no numerical value for an A, 40:41 there's no numerical value for an R 40:43 but I 1, there's U which is used as the V really, 40:48 that's five, S 0, all right. 40:51 Well, let's look again now, 40:53 Filii, F 0, I 1, L is a 50 and I is 1, 40:59 and then Dei, D 500, numerical value of D and I is 1 41:07 and notice, Vicarius Filii Dei 666. 41:14 Come on now, that's his number, 41:16 that's his name. 41:19 Added to all the characteristics 41:20 we spoke about there's only one kingdom that I know, 41:22 there's only one power 41:23 that came out of fourth kingdom Rome. 41:25 There's only one power that I know came out of Rome. 41:28 Only one power that received its authority from Rome, 41:32 it's seat from up Rome and there's only one power 41:36 and it goes on about persecuting power. 41:38 There's only one power, 41:40 all this was revealed in the Word of God. 41:42 All this is before us in the Word of God. 41:44 "Of course the Catholic Church claims the change was her act. 41:47 And the act is her mark." 41:49 The change of what? 41:50 I'll show you in a minute. 41:51 "It's ecclesiastical power 41:53 and authority in religious matters." 41:55 Now what was its change? 41:57 "The church changed the Sabbath." 41:59 Now, I want you to listen to me, Sunday keepers. 42:02 We've talked about the Sabbath, 42:03 we've taken biblical proof for it. 42:05 I'm not gonna do that tonight but I want you to listen. 42:08 You did not get it from scripture. 42:11 You sure your preacher can come here show me one text 42:16 and I'll show him 400 texts. 42:19 The church changed the Sabbath into Sunday, 42:25 not by the command of Christ, but by it's what? 42:28 Own authority. 42:29 My question is, does it have that authority? 42:33 If it doesn't have that authority 42:35 then if you're worshipping on that day 42:37 you are listening to Rome and not to Jesus Christ. 42:41 He said, I'm Lord of the Sabbath, 42:43 Rome says, No, I am. 42:45 Who are we to believe? Who are we to follow? 42:48 Who are we to stand with? 42:51 Listen to this, we observe, 42:54 there's one thing I've got to give them credit for, 42:55 they at least admit it. 42:59 You people try to find a way out. 43:03 But they admit it. 43:05 "We observe Sunday instead of Saturday 43:07 because the Catholic Church 43:09 the council of Laodicia transferred the solemnity 43:12 from the Saturday to Sunday," 43:13 Converts Catechism of Catholic Church. 43:15 "The Catholic Church for over 1000 years 43:17 before the existence of a Protestant, 43:19 by virtue of her divine mission, 43:21 changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." 43:23 Listen I'm telling you where it came from, 43:25 "And he shall speak great words against the most High, 43:27 he shall wear out the saints to most High, 43:29 persecute the saints of the most High, 43:31 he shall think to change times 43:33 and laws and they shall be given into my hand, 43:35 time and times and dividing of times." 43:38 He says, he will think to change, 43:40 he may think it but he can't do it. 43:48 He has no right to do it. 43:50 No right at all. 43:51 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." 43:53 Why do you think God said you should remember it 43:55 because He knew the antichrist would come 43:57 that this beast like power, this hierarchy would change it. 44:01 So He warned us, He said remember it 44:04 because they're gonna change it. 44:06 Hey listen, if God says remember 44:08 why do you think you don't have to remember? 44:10 Do you only want to remember what you want to remember 44:12 and forget what you want to forget? 44:15 Can you walk away from this place 44:17 those who've come night after night 44:18 listening to the Word of God 44:19 and just walk away and say, 44:21 well, I want to remember. 44:22 Remember what? Remember what? 44:26 Well, yeah, I really wanna follow it 44:28 but I don't have to align myself with it. 44:30 Why not? 44:33 Peter did. 44:36 John did. 44:39 Listen to the Word of God, 44:40 "In it thou shall not do any work, 44:41 thou, nor they son, nor thy daughter, 44:43 thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, 44:44 nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger 44:45 that is within thy gates. 44:47 For in six days the Lord made heaven 44:48 and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, 44:50 and rested the seventh day: 44:51 wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, 44:53 and he," what? 44:54 "He hallowed it." 44:55 That's the Word of God, friend. 44:56 That's what the Bible says 44:57 but man has been trampling on the Word of God. 44:59 Listen, man has been trampling on the Word of God. 45:02 Isaiah cried out, he said this, he said, 45:05 "Cry aloud, spare not, 45:06 lift up the voice like a trumpet, 45:07 show my people their transgressions, 45:09 and the house of Jacob their sins." 45:12 We got to cry out, 45:13 "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, 45:15 from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, 45:17 and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord." 45:20 Listen to what He says, "honorable, 45:22 and shalt honour him by not doing thy own ways, 45:25 nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." 45:28 He says keep it. 45:30 Enjoy it, because I've given it to you. 45:34 I've given it to you 45:35 and my God's the same yesterday, today 45:38 and He's the same forever. 45:40 "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, give glory to him, 45:43 for the hour of his judgment is come, 45:46 worship him that made heaven, 45:48 and earth and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 45:51 God is calling up people through 45:52 the Three Angels message to keep His commandments, 45:55 to obey His Sabbath, to follow His will 45:59 and you can and are a part of this. 46:02 And I've never been wanting to turn around 46:07 to walk away. 46:09 When I found Jesus Christ, I said, Lord, 46:11 whatever you have me do I'll do. 46:14 Little did I know what He would show me. 46:17 Little did I know when He showed me the Sabbath, 46:21 when He should me the Sabbath. 46:24 Remember the Sabbath day, my Sabbath, it's Christ's day. 46:27 To dishonor is to dishonor Christ. 46:31 Whatever you want to think 46:33 to dishonor it is to dishonor Christ. 46:36 Remember my Sabbath. 46:39 "But in vain do they worship me, 46:40 teaching for doctrines the commandments," what? 46:42 I mean, we would rather serve God than man, 46:46 do you understand that. 46:48 We'd rather serve God than man, than man. 46:53 Let me tell you about Luten Schizeth 46:57 he lived in Czechoslovakia. 46:59 And during the years of the Soviet domination, 47:01 during the years of the great religious oppression, 47:03 when communism took over the country, 47:05 he wanted to be free to worship on the Sabbath 47:08 and he wanted to minister to his people, 47:09 he was a pastor 47:11 and he wanted to continue his work 47:13 but the communists had other ideas. 47:15 They were determined that all ministers 47:17 would become laborers. 47:18 Can you imagine that? 47:19 Be thankful you're in America 47:21 but some of you in America have changed yourself. 47:23 You've changed yourself to tradition, 47:25 you're not willing to break it. 47:27 You live in a free country 47:28 where you can worship on the Sabbath 47:30 then go according your conscience 47:32 but you've changed yourself. 47:34 But he wanted to be free to worship, 47:36 he wanted to be free to serve his God 47:38 and but they were going to send him away 47:41 to be a laborer in the coal mines. 47:45 So in order for him to be close he came to an idea. 47:50 He on the job in the city, 47:53 he would take a job no one wanted. 47:55 No one wanted to clean the sewers, 47:59 hundreds of feet under the ground, the sewers. 48:04 And so he went to the leaders, 48:05 the communist's officials and ask for that job. 48:09 He wanted to serve God and keep the Sabbath holy. 48:12 Is that legalism? 48:14 Come on now. 48:16 What makes this legalism 48:17 because you're following one day 48:18 before the other day and you're keeping God's day 48:20 instead of man's day, why would that be legalism? 48:23 I would think the other would be legalism. 48:26 So he says, no. 48:28 He says, I'll clean the sewers. 48:30 And so they laughed at him 48:32 and rather he became a sewer cleaner 48:36 so he could worship his God. 48:39 And there he went, 48:40 he went there into the sewers to serve God. 48:44 Listen, I'd rather clean a sewer for God 48:48 than walk the shadow of Rome. 48:52 Your choice. 48:55 Listen to me, you have that choice. 48:59 A man who claims to be God 49:00 or God who became a man for us, 49:04 the Christ or the antichrist? 49:09 The decision is yours. 49:11 But friend, remember this, 49:14 the judgment is God's, is God's. 49:55 Now another Bible question. 49:58 The Bible says that things are going to get worst 49:59 before Jesus returns. 50:00 However, in some ways things appear to be going better 50:04 like in medicine and technology, 50:06 I've heard it said that the next generation 50:09 may reach ages of 120 50:11 and will be able to do extraordinary feats, 50:13 thanks to new discoveries, can you explain? 50:17 Well, I don't know if I can. 50:18 People are living longer, that's right. 50:20 The Bible talks about how the love of many 50:22 will wax cold in the last days 50:23 but if you take a look at the city like New York City, 50:26 murder rates are down 50:28 for now compared to where they were a few years ago, 50:31 that's a great thing. 50:33 The cure rate for some types of cancer is up. 50:36 That's a magnificent thing. 50:38 There are other markers 50:39 that you could look at that say, 50:41 things are getting better not worse. 50:44 But that would be just identifying 50:45 some few key things. 50:48 Look around society and you know that, 50:53 I don't want to name any names but some of these entertainers, 50:57 they wouldn't have tried that stuff 30, 40 years ago, 50:59 wouldn't have got away with it. 51:00 20 years ago might have been a massive scandal, 51:03 today people shrug, roll their eyes and go on. 51:06 My point being that we are accepting 51:09 of a lot more today than we were before. 51:12 The incivility in society, the foul language in society, 51:15 the immorality in society 51:19 and we really don't have a whole lot of option 51:22 other than to pray 51:23 and make our dissatisfaction known 51:26 because the world has become what the world has become. 51:30 I don't know that you can isolate certain key factors 51:35 and say this is evidence that maybe the Bible's predictions 51:39 about the last days are wrong. 51:41 The Bible says things gonna get worse and worse, no. 51:46 You know what's interesting. 51:48 In the Bible it says, 51:49 that people are saying peace and safety 51:52 and then sudden destruction comes, 51:54 it means that some people are saying, 51:56 hey, things are okay right now. 51:59 I don't know that we should look at key factors and say, 52:02 huh, here's proof, here's proof, 52:04 but if you take them together in a basket, 52:05 in a grouping and you look at the world today 52:08 and you compare that with what we see in the Bible. 52:10 There is no question we're on the downward 52:12 march towards oblivion if I can call it that. 52:16 The downward march towards the end 52:19 and perhaps it's a hopeful march. 52:20 You know why? 52:22 Because Jesus said in Luke 21, 52:23 when you see these things begin to come to pass, 52:26 lift up your head and look up 52:28 because your redemption draws nigh. 52:31 People who believe in Jesus 52:32 don't need to be bad news merchants. 52:33 There is a lot of bad news in the world. 52:36 It's not inappropriate to recognize that, 52:38 things are trending downwards not upwards, 52:40 it's not wrong to recognize that, 52:42 bat it off as that's hope. 52:44 Jesus said when you see these things 52:46 begin to come to pass lift up your heads, 52:49 look up, it's good news, why? 52:51 Matthew 24, because Jesus' coming is near 52:55 even at the doors is not far away now, halleluiah. 53:01 And now another Bible question and that is, 53:03 there have been many books written saying 53:05 that the antichrist of the last days or the beast 53:08 in Revelation Chapter 13 is a man? 53:12 Can you demonstrate from the Bible? 53:14 Only that this is not so. 53:19 Yes, I think we can. 53:21 Is the beast in Bible prophecy a man? 53:25 the book we want to go to, Chapter 7 53:29 is the chapter we want to look in. 53:31 Daniel 7 and verse, I'll start in verse 1 it says, 53:36 "Daniel had a dream and visions." 53:39 Verse 2, 53:41 "The four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." 53:44 Verse 3, 53:47 "And four great beasts came up 53:50 from the sea diverse one from another. 53:52 The first one was like a lion, second one was like a bear, 53:55 third one was like a leopard, 53:56 the fourth one defied zoological classification." 54:01 And Daniel is wondering what in the world is going on. 54:04 God doesn't leave him in the dark. 54:06 Verse 17, 54:09 "These great beasts which are four, 54:13 are four kings which shall arise out of the earth." 54:19 Well, that sounds like individual John, 54:22 that's a king, that would be one king. 54:24 Verse 23, 54:26 "Thus he said, the fourth beast, 54:28 the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom 54:33 upon the earth 54:34 which shall be diverse from all kingdoms." 54:39 In Bible prophecy a beast doesn't mean, 54:41 doesn't represent a man, it represents a kingdom 54:45 or a nation perhaps. 54:47 In Revelation Chapter 13, 54:49 we're not talking about a beast being-- 54:52 excuse me, this is stubborn. 54:54 We're not talking about a beast as an individual. 54:57 I saw beast rise up out of the sea 54:59 having seven heads and ten horns, 55:01 a beast with seven heads, 55:02 we're not dealing with an individual rising up 55:04 out of the water. 55:06 We're talking about a kingdom 55:07 that rose up in a part of the world 55:09 where there are a lot of people. 55:10 Waters representing people in Bible prophecy, 55:14 we want to be careful. 55:15 I've heard influential Bible teachers say, 55:18 well, in the Bible we read that a man 55:21 in the last day, and so on. 55:25 That be okay if it was true but you look at the Bible, 55:29 the Bible says beast represents 55:30 not an individual but a kingdom. 55:34 Now having said that, Daniel 7:8 says that, 55:40 "In this horn, the little horn 55:43 there were eyes like the eyes of a man." 55:47 Ten horns came out of the fourth kingdom 55:49 and a little horn in them. 55:51 The horns represent kingdoms as well, 55:54 the little horn kingdom, 55:56 in it eyes like the eyes of a man. 55:58 So we would believe that in the last days 56:01 the antichrist power has a man at its head, 56:05 no question about that. 56:07 But it's not an individual, it's not your neighbor, 56:10 no matter how much you don't like him. 56:12 It isn't the president of the United States, 56:15 no matter how much you don't like him 56:16 because it's not referring to an individual. 56:20 Now you may say 56:22 it represents a kingdom or a nation 56:25 and that kingdom or nation 56:27 has a man leading speaking for it, 56:31 okay, we're doing better with that. 56:34 But biblically speaking there's nothing to suggest 56:37 the antichrist is an individual. 56:40 Also you read in the Bible that this power would reign 56:45 for 1,260 years and that's already happened. 56:49 No individual reigned for 1,260 years. 56:53 The Bible's pretty clear. 56:55 Be sure that you can trust the Bible, 56:58 its only right when we learn to know what it is saying, 57:02 we're gonna be right, right along with it. 57:13 In Matthew 4:4 the Word of God says, 57:16 "It is written, 57:17 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 57:19 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 57:23 Every Word is a one minute Bible based daily devotional 57:26 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw 57:28 and designed especially for busy people like you. 57:31 Look for Every Word on selective networks 57:34 or watch it online every day on our website itiswritten.com. 57:38 Receive a daily spiritual boost, 57:40 watch Every Word, you will be glad you did. |
Revised 2015-01-15