In the Old Testament book of Amos, the prophet points out God s philosophy when it comes to keeping His people informed.

Transcription

1 TV Program CURRENT EPISODE The Ultimate Deception SERIES: Anatomy of Sin #8 of PRODUCTION #: 1078 SPEAKER: Shawn Boonstra Throughout the course of human history, there is one name that strikes more terror in the human heart than any other, partly because of the sheer magnitude of evil, and partly because, for most people, he is still shrouded in mystery. And today, as world events point to cataclysmic changes just ahead, a lot of people are wondering, is this the moment we should be expecting the antichrist? Tradition tells us that the Roman government tried to kill the apostle John by throwing him into a pot of boiling oil, but somehow, he miraculously survived. Frustrated, the Romans exiled him to the island of Patmos, about 150 miles out at sea, and of course, they were hoping that his influence over the fledgling Christian church would be lost. But nothing could be further from the truth, because as John sat on the rocks of Patmos one day, he was suddenly caught up in a vision and saw Jesus, the resurrected Lord. And in that vision, he was shown an amazing panorama of world history that took him from the days of the early Christian church all the way down to the Second Coming of Christ. Now, if anybody has ever had any doubt that the Bible is inspired by God, a few serious hours of study in the Book of Revelation will cure that, because John s vision covers two thousand years of human history in advance, and with stunning accuracy. Now, a lot of people, as they read the Book of Revelation, get a little scared by what they see. Why in the world would God try to scare us with things like angels carrying bowls full of God s wrath and fire falling down from heaven? Well, I guess you could look at it that way, or you could see a message of love from God to His church. You see, one of the things I really like about the Bible is that it s realistic. It doesn t try to cover up the painful realities of life with flowery utopian pictures. If something hurts, the Bible will tell you. If one of God s own people does something wrong, the Bible is not afraid to mention it, and if something is dangerous, God cares enough to point it out. In the Old Testament book of Amos, the prophet points out God s philosophy when it comes to keeping His people informed. In chapter three and verse seven, it is written (Amos 3:7): "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Now, that says something about the kind of God we serve! If you think about it, He really doesn t owe us an explanation. He could do anything He wants without telling us a thing, but instead He chooses to let us know, and that s exactly what s happening in the book of Revelation. The reason that book has what seems to be a lot of frightening images is because God cares enough to let us know when something important is going to happen. If you were driving in a terrible rainstorm, and the bridge ahead was washed out, wouldn t you want to know? And what would you think of a state trooper who refused to put out a warning sign because he didn t want to scare anybody? You see, the book of Revelation is really one of the most reassuring books of the whole Bible, because it s proof that God has our best interests in mind. It s a confirmation of that passage in the book of Jeremiah where God says (Jeremiah 29:11):

2 Jeremiah where God says (Jeremiah 29:11): For I know the thoughts that I think toward you are thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. So, when you read the Book of Revelation, don t make the mistake of assuming that it was written by a stern God who likes to see people quaking in their boots, because that s just not the truth. In fact, in the very opening words, you can see that s not true. Notice what it says (Revelation 1:1-3): "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Who bare record of the word of God, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Now, if the whole purpose of the Book of Revelation is to scare the living daylights out of you, why would God pronounce a blessing on those who read it? And why would He unequivocally state that the whole purpose of the book is to let His church know what s going to happen? As it turns out, the Book of Revelation is some of the best news you ll ever come across, because it s proof that God cares. And it s pretty important to remember that when you come to the middle of the book, where John suddenly sees something that makes your blood run cold. Let me read it to you, beginning in Revelation, chapter 13, verse one. Here s what it says (Revelation 13:1): "Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 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, at first glance, this is the stuff of nightmares: a grotesque animal, part leopard, part bear, part lion, and part who-knows-what; it s climbing up out of the sea and the whole world begins to worship it. And that s a mistake, because a few verses later it becomes obvious that nobody should worship this thing (Revelation 13:5-7): "And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue and nation." So, here we have somebody or something that the whole world worships, and yet it s whole purpose is to blaspheme God and persecute God s people; and so you ve got to wonder when this thing is so obviously wicked, how is it possible that it s going to convince the whole world to worship it? Well, that s where this all gets very interesting. The Bible points out a number of things this antichrist is going to do to convince the world to worship it, and the first one is found right here, in Revelation chapter 13. Down in verse 11, there s a second beast whose primary function seems to be to convince the world to worship the first beast. Here s what it says (Revelation 13:12): "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Now, it s a subtle point, but the second beast causes the world to worship the first beast. And if you keep reading, you discover that it causes the world to do that by using force.

3 keep reading, you discover that it causes the world to do that by using force. Just listen to what it says beginning in verse 16 (Revelation 13:15-17): "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Now, today, I m not going to get into the mark of the beast or its implications, because we just don t have enough time. But I want you to notice that when the devil can t get you to worship him using persuasion, he s going to resort to using force. And if you stop to think about it, that s exactly what he tried to do with Jesus. At the beginning of Christ s ministry, the devil offered Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would just bow down and worship him. In effect, he was saying, Why go to the cross when you can win it back the easy way? That was gentle persuasion, and of course it didn t work, because Jesus knew that contrary to what He was being told, everything would be lost if He did it. So, then the devil pulled out all the stops and nailed Jesus to a cross, revealing his true colors as a murderer and a liar. And according to the Book of Revelation, the same is true for God s last day people. At some point, a demonic force is going to try to persuade the world to worship it, including the Christian church. And when the more gentle forms of persuasion don t work with God s people, it s going to resort to force. Alright, he says, if you won t bow down and worship me, you are not going to be able to make a living, you are not going to be able to buy food, and you are not going to be able to sell things for money; and if that doesn t work, I m going to kill you. You know, sometimes people wonder why God allowed the devil to go on bothering us for so long. But I think God knew that eventually, the devil would show the whole universe what he was made of. If He would have eliminated Lucifer right away, other angels might have made the same mistakes he made. They might have been tempted to think that you can find a better life by rebelling against God. So, God has allowed the devil to prove to the whole universe that a life apart from God is going to end in disaster, and He will allow the devil to go on long enough to prove that he s been a liar and a murderer all along. But before it comes to that, the devil is going to use persuasion to convince people to worship him. And while he s been doing that for thousands of years, someone with an ego as big as the devil s is not going to be happy forever simply having people worship him indirectly through bad lifestyle choices. So, according to the Bible, he actually sets up a false system of worship and then persuades people to bow down before his throne. And how, exactly, is he going to do that? Well, the Bible spells it out pretty clearly. Look at what it says in Revelation 13 and verse 12, where the second beast is convincing the world to worship the first beast (Revelation 13:12-14): "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived." When it comes right down to it, the beast power is going to use miracles to persuade people. Now, that might come as a surprise to some people, because we kind of assume that only God can work a miracle. But the Bible is quite clear that you ve really got to be on your toes in the last days, because it s not God that makes the fire come down from heaven, and it s not God that makes the beast miraculously recover from a deadly wound. You see, in the end, you are not going to be able to just trust your senses. I ve met a lot of Christians who automatically assume that every time something miraculous happens. God must be at work, but

4 that s not true. Listen to this warning found in Revelation, chapter 16 (Revelation 16:13, 14): "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." In the old King James Version, it says that the spirits of devils are working miracles in the last days, and that tells me that we should be very careful before we assume that something actually comes from God. There s only one way you know for sure that God has spoken, and that s if it lines up squarely with the Word of God. It s not the miracles that matter in the end, it s the Bible. There s a parable, in the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, where a rich man discovers that his place in the kingdom has been given to Lazarus, and he begs permission to go and warn his brothers not to make the same mistakes. Listen, he says, if I came back from the dead, I m pretty sure people would listen! But look at the answer he gets in verse 31 (Luke 16:31): "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'" The final proof of whether or not something comes from God is not how miraculous it is, it s how faithful it is to the Word of God. God s ultimate method of convincing people is found in the Spiritbreathed words of this book, not in the signs and wonders that people perform. You see, when Jesus finally comes back, He s not going to ask, Why didn t you believe my miracles? He s going to ask, Why didn t you believe my word? In the 19th chapter of Revelation, you get a picture of the Second Coming, where Jesus is riding a white horse and He has a sword coming out of His mouth. Now, that sword is very important, because all through the Bible, a sword represents the Word of God. (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17) And that means that the deciding issue when Jesus comes back is not who performed the biggest miracles, but what the Bible actually said. In Matthew, chapter seven, there s this sad scene where people are pointing to the miracles they performed as evidence they should be allowed into the kingdom of heaven. But God says that s not enough (Matthew 7:22): "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? Now, here s the thing I really want you to notice: These people were performing miracles in the name of God, and they still didn t make it into the kingdom of heaven. In other words, it s possible that the last day deceptions of the antichrist are going to be taking place right inside the four walls of a Christian church. And that s where we get right down to brass tacks. When I was a kid, I heard Christian ministers speak about the antichrist as some sort of a world dictator, who forced organized atheism on everybody, or forced the world to participate in New Age spiritualism; and the impression you got was that the problems in the last days were all going to take place outside the Christian church. But a quick glance through the pages of the Bible will show you that most of the problems God s people have faced over the centuries have taken place inside the church. Jesus warned us to beware of false prophets that are actually wolves dressed in sheep s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Paul warned us to be careful because people would come who would preach an altered gospel with a different Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4).

5 And Jude warns that ungodly men would creep into the church and teach God s people things that were contrary to the will of God (Jude 4). So, not only do we need to keep our eyes and ears open as we look at the world around us, we also need to pay close attention to what s going on inside the Christian church. There will be those who actually work miracles in the name of God who will find themselves lost to the kingdom of God. And maybe that s because the devil s crowning deception isn t going to just take place out there somewhere. It s going to be at work right inside the Christian world. Is it possible that the antichrist might appear as one of us? Not only is it possible, but the Bible warns us to watch out for it. Listen to these remarkable words, found in Paul s second letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4): "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." This is not a small problem that we are facing. The antichrist is not going to be some obvious world dictator that s easy for the church to identify, because he s going to pass himself off as one of us. He will insist that he is God in the flesh, and there s a little hint in this same letter that he may actually try to pull off a counterfeit second coming. You see, in verses eight and nine, it is written (2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9): "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders." Now, this might be a little bit technical, but it s important. The Bible says that the antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness of Jesus coming, and the original word the Bible uses for Jesus coming is parousia. It s an old word that described a dramatic appearance, and what s really interesting is that this passage not only uses it to describe Christ s coming, it also uses it to describe the coming of the lawless one. It s almost as if the antichrist is also going to make a parousia, a dramatic entrance. Is it actually possible that amidst all the other signs and wonders, that the antichrist is also going to manufacture a false Second Coming? Is it possible that before Jesus returns, the devil will pass off a cheap imitation to convince the world to bow down and worship him? I think those are really good questions, and the reason I raise them is simple. Everything around us, from strange weather patterns to dramatic shifts in world politics, seems to be indicating that it s not business as usual for planet Earth any more; and we know that some generation is going to face these issues head on. So my appeal to you is simple. The Bible gives us a lot of warnings, because God wants us to be ready. In fact, there are clear prophecies that go into a lot more detail, but we don t have time for them in one half-hour program. But for today, we already know this much, in the end what s going to matter is the Word of God. What s going to matter is the relationship you have with Jesus, and when things start to happen, it s going to get confusing very quickly, and you are going to want a solid place to stand. That place is on the Word of God, and the more you know from this book, the stronger you are going to be when the winds of strife begin to blow. The devil has worked on you all your life, but his ultimate deception, his ultimate goal, is just around the corner, and I couldn t think of a better time to reach out for the nail-scarred hand of Jesus than right now. Why take a chance on weathering the storm by yourself, when the Bible says we can overcome it all by the blood of the Lamb? Listen, the reason God puts all these things in the Book of Revelation, again, is not to scare us. It s to warn us. He wants us to be aware of where the devil is headed in this world before Jesus comes. Some generation is going to have to face these issues head-on, and I want to appeal to you today to make Jesus your friend and Savior, and to make the Bible the place you put your faith.

6 Why don t we pray together? PRAYER: Father in heaven, more than anything, we want to stay faithful to you. Give us eyes to see, and ears to hear, so that we can recognize when your hand is in something and also when it s not. Enrich our time in the Bible, and plant your words in our hearts so that we can stand fast for truth and for Jesus. And above all else, come quickly Lord, because we want to be home with You. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Scriptures Used in The Ultimate Deception "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you are thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11 "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Who bare record of the word of God, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Revelation 1:1-3 "Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the word marveled and followed the beast." Revelation 13:1 "And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue and nation." Revelation 13:5-7 "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Revelation 13:12 "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:15-17 "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of me. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived." Revelation 13:12-14 "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Revelation 16:13, 14 "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'" Luke 16:31 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'"

7 Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'" Matthew 7:22 "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders." 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9 Keywords: Shawn Boonstra sin Anatomy of Sin It Is Written Box O Thousand Oaks, CA USA Tel: (805) Fax: (805) Copyright 2010, It Is Written International Television. All rights reserved. Webmaster