Revelation 13:13: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

Notice how similar this is to the two witnesses, who were able to make fire come out of their mouths and consume men. This is a bit different, but it is similar. The point is that the false prophet is able to do great wonders and miracles, and that these miracles will deceive many. People will believe them.

Verse 14 is interesting – he persuades the world to make an idol of the antichrist. After this is done something interesting happens:

Revelation 13:15: “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.”

After the idol is formed, the false prophet will bring it to life and it will be able to speak. He will force people to worship this idol, and all those who refuse will be executed. There will be zero religious tolerance: if you refuse to worship the devil then you will be murdered.

This book takes a look at the 41 men (and one woman) who ruled over Israel and Judah. Many people are familiar with Saul, David, and Solomon, but few know the stories of the other 38 rulers. Some of the kings followed God with their whole heart, while others were so wicked that they offered their own children as burnt offerings. Some kings died of natural causes, while others were murdered by their own servants. Some kings started out good and then went bad, while others did the opposite. One king ruled for 55 years, while another ruled for just one week. This book takes a look at all of them, from Saul to Zedekiah, and tells their stories.

This book can be downloaded free of charge right here:

The Kings of Israel and Judah (PDF file; 202 pages)

The book can also be purchased here.

Revelation 13:11: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

This beast is not the antichrist, but is the false prophet. You see, there is a counterfeit trinity here. Satan is the counterfeit Father, who gives his authority and power to the antichrist. The antichrist is the counterfeit Son, who reigns over the Earth. The false prophet is the counterfeit Holy Spirit, who causes everyone on Earth to worship the father. The relationship between these three entities mirrors the relationship between the real Trinity.

As you can see, the purpose of the false prophet is to get everyone in the world to worship the beast, and he will succeed. The only ones who will not do so are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The false prophet will be completely effective. At this point in history there will be no agnostics or atheists; everyone will worship the antichrist.

Revelation 13:8: “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Paul had mentioned this before – that those who refused to believe, but had pleasure in unrightousness and loved not the truth, would be judged. The way they would be judged is this: the Lord would give them a lie and they would believe it, and their belief in this lie would cause them to be damned. Here we see the Lord bringing this to pass. God has sent men and an angel to preach the gospel to the entire world, and many have been saved. But those who have not repented and who hated the truth are now given a lie, and they will believe the lie. They will all worship the beast and they will all be damned. Since they hated the truth, this is their judgment.

But none of God’s children will worship him. Their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world. They alone will be saved, while everyone else will be lost.

Revelation 13:7: “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.”

There are some who say that there is no rapture. They claim that when God says He will deliver the church, what He actually means is that He will keep them safe through the Tribulation. That theory is quite wrong. As you can see, God gives the antichrist the power to overcome the saints, and he will ruthlessly hunt them down and murder them by the millions. (Of course, by this point in the Tribulation uncountable millions of saints have already been martyred; we know this because we saw them in Heaven a few chapters ago.) The fact that the world is able to slaughter Christians by the millions directly contracts the idea that God will keep them safe during the Tribulation! So that is a false theory. God is indeed going to keep the Church safe – by Rapturing it out of the world before the Tribulation begins. That was His promise, and He is going to keep it.

The antichrist was on the world scene when the Tribulation began, but it is not until the midpoint of the Tribulation that he gains complete power over the whole world, including over the saints. There is no nation or people that he does not control. He now has everything, and no one can stand against him – not even God’s people.

This week we are taking an in-depth look at ghosts. Since this paper is rather long, I have uploaded it as a PDF file. You can find it here:

Ghosts

Enjoy!

Revelation 13:5: “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.”

Here we see that same 42 month figure that we saw earlier. 42 months corresponds to 3.5 years. The antichrist will have the devil’s backing for the last half of the Tribulation. This is the same period of time when the Israelites will be in hiding, kept safe by God. While the Jews are kept safe, the antichrist will rule over the world.

The antichrist will use this power to blaspheme God and say terrible things against Him:

Revelation 13:6: “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

Notice what the antichrist speaks against: God Himself, the name of God, the Temple of God, and all those who dwell in Heaven (which would include God, His angels, and (at this point) the Church). He truly is anti-Christ. He has great power – but that power will only last for a short time. Once his 42 months are complete, Jesus will return and end his reign forever.

Revelation 13:3: “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.”

At some point around the middle of the Tribulation, the antichrist will be killed and then resurrected from the dead. Some have argued that the phrase ‘deadly wound’ just means that he was gravely injured, but we see similar phraseology in Revelation 5:6, where it refers to Jesus. In that verse it describes Jesus as “stood a Lamb as it had been slain”. The idioms in these two verses are actually the same, and we all know that Jesus really was slain. He was not just fatally injured; He actually died. So, since Revelation 5:6 uses the same idiom to refer to Christ (who really did die), it is safe to assume that this verse means that the antichrist actually will be killed and then raised back to life.

If the beast is the counterfeit Christ, then this would be his counterfeit death and resurrection.

This causes all the world to be greatly amazed:

Revelation 13:4: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”

Because he is killed and then raises back to life, the world will worship the antichrist and tremble before him. They will decide that it’s futile to fight someone who has the power to rise from the dead.

Of course, the Christians will know that this is a great deception. The antichrist is not worthy of worship because his power comes straight from the devil himself. God is allowing the devil to do things that ordinarily cannot be done so that God can judge the world and bring it to an end.

Let it also be known that God foretold all of this thousands of years before it happened. This event will not take God by surprise; it is all part of His plan. This counterfeit resurrection is not proof of the antichrist’s divinity. This is God fulfilling His promise to deceive those who had no love for the truth; He is giving them a lie that they will believe, so that all those who hated the truth might be damned.

This week we are taking an in-depth look at aliens. Since this paper is rather long, I have uploaded it as a PDF file. You can find it here:

Aliens

Enjoy!

Revelation 13:1: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”

In Revelation the beast is the antichrist, so that’s what we’re looking at here. The beast has ten crowns, which is probably a reference to the fact that at this point in history the whole world is under a unified government that is divided into 10 kingdoms, or jurisdictions. The antichrist reigns over the entire group, so the 10 crowns probably stand for the 10 kingdoms (or jurisdictions) that he has managed to gain control over. (Remember, earlier in Revelation we saw that he declared war on the nations. By this point in history he has conquered them and rules over them.)

He has on his head the name of blasphemy. He is, of course, the anti-Christ: he is against everything that Christ stands for and does not hesitate to blaspheme the name of God. He stands in direct opposition to God Himself.

Revelation 13:2: “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”

The part I want to focus on is this last part: the antichrist gets his power from the devil. In the Bible dragons are symbolic of the devil, and this is no exception. The antichrist has gained power over the whole world because he has the support of Satan. In fact, the relationship goes far beyond that: this verse actually says that Satan will give this man his power and authority. That is a remarkable thing. Because of this, the antichrist will have tremendous power and authority. He will be able to dominate the entire planet in a way that no one else has ever been able to do before – and yet when Jesus returns He will slay the antichrist single-handedly with just the breath of His mouth.

Revelation 12:14: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

“a time, and times, and half a time” is the same thing as “a year, and two years, and half a year”, which amounts to 3.5 years. This is the same interval of time that we saw earlier in the chapter. Satan is determined to destroy Israel, but God will divinely protect her:

Revelation 12:15: “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”

Once Satan sees that he can’t harm the Jews, he will turn his attention elsewhere – specifically, to believers:

Revelation 12:17: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Things were bad for Christians before all of this happened, but now they are about to get a great deal worse. This will be a terrible time for believers to be alive on the planet, but those who endure to the end will be saved.

This week we are taking an in-depth look at demons. Since this paper is rather long, I have uploaded it as a PDF file. You can find it here:

Demons

Enjoy!

Revelation 12:13: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”

Now that the devil is trapped on Earth, he immediately turns his attention to Israel. This is actually a strategic move. You see, Jesus said that He would not return until the Jews said “blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”. The Jews have to accept Jesus as their Messiah and ask for His return; until they do this Jesus will not come back. This means that if Satan can wipe out all of the Jews then they will never be able to repent, and therefore Jesus will never be able to come back. Therefore, the devil will put all of his energies into persecuting and destroying the Jews. He has been doing this for centuries, but at this point in history he will go after them with even greater fervor.

Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

When the devil was cast down to Earth, that caused great rejoicing in Heaven – but it did not cause great rejoicing on Earth. In fact, on Earth there is now great woe! This makes sense if you think about it: the entire demonic army of Satan, including the devil himself, is now trapped on Earth and unable to return to Heaven. This makes the devil exceedingly angry – and who do you think he is going to take his anger out on? Who is going to bear the brunt of his rage? Why, it will be “the inhabiters of the Earth”. Their lives just got much worse.

The devil’s wrath is compounded by the fact that he knows he doesn’t have much time left. Since he is cast out at the midpoint of the tribulation, he knows that he only has a little more than 3 years before Jesus Christ returns to Earth and binds him for a thousand years. His remaining time is quite short indeed, and he is not happy about it.

This week we are taking an in-depth look at angels. Since this paper is rather long, I have uploaded it as a PDF file. You can find it here:

Angels

Enjoy!