The False Prophet and the Mark of the Beast

Rev. 13:11-18

We said he completes the Satanic trinity/will be a religious leader…a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

3 more things about the false prophet:

1. Will be a worker of worship

v. 12, 15      The devil is not opposed to worship.  He is up to his ears in worship…and the false prophet’s job is to point people to the antichrist in worship.  V. 11 says the false prophet will be like a lamb…not a demon of darkness, but an angel of light!  Scripture teaches that the antichrist and his sinister minister the FP would succeed at deceiving the very elect if it were possible!

    The devil doesn’t want casualties as much as he wants converts!  He wants to be worshipped.  (Mt. 3—all this will I give thee!)

Look at all of Satan’s activities in the world today, they all reveal his desire for worship.  (witchcraft/the occult/spiritism/astrology/new age religion)

As humans, we are created w/ an inborn desire to worship something.  It’s an inherent need to look up to someone.  Missionaries will tell you they’ve never found a people group not engaged in some form of worship (sun/rocks/ancestors/nature, etc.)/even a self-proclaimed atheist worships himself!

How many here hate the devil w/ a righteous hatred?

When we look at the lives/families he destroys/people enslaved/even believers he’s hurt, affected their attitudes, etc.

Ill.—young preacher saved out of deep life of sin/cussed like a sailor/got saved/called to preach/pastored country church/got up and preached on the devil one day/so wound up and excited he started cussing out the devil/ “I’ll tell you, folks, the devil’s a blankety-blank son of a …”/stopped, caught himself, realized what he’d done/said sorry, and that he’d resign…walked out/people sat there stunned for 15 minutes, speechless!/chairman, an elderly man went to the podium and said, “that was a terrible display we just saw…there’s no call for that…inexcusable…but everything he just said about the devil, I agree with!  We all know he hasn’t been saved long, and it was from a life of sin…I make a motion we forgive him, call him back to the pulpit and give him a raise/whole church said “amen!”

(Don’t you hate the devil?  If I cussed him out, would I get a raise?!)

If you hate him, here’s the greatest thing you can do to give him a black eye

(“I know, go to church/win a soul”)  Well, that gives him a black eye, but it’s not the greatest thing you can do…which is to spend time worshipping Almighty God!

        When we worship God, on our knees before Him, we give to God the 1 thing Satan desires the most!  (make Him priority)  My focus has been largely to be a worker for God (bus route/jr. church/witnessing/college Bible club/local church/asst. pastor/now pastoring, preaching, writing sermons, counseling, motivating, leading…busy busy busy!)

        But God wants me to be a worshipper!  Many of us are only a worshipper if and when our work load permits.  No, no, no…that’s not what God’s looking for…He wants us to choose Him!

God doesn’t want workers who worship, He wants worshippers who work!

I have to put my worship time ahead of my sermon prep./counseling/visiting/planning/leading/singing/administration!

(Mary and Martha, Lk. 10)

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees!

…not only is the FP a worker of worship…he’s a…

2. Master of Miracles

v. 13-14a     Wanna talk about showmanship?  He’ll call fire down from heaven like Elijah did!  Satan knows just what to do to excite curious crowds!

    Esp. today, it’s important to understand this:

Satan has the power to work miracles!  All that glitters is not God!

You cannot tell if a man is from God because he can do miracles.

Ill.—pastor I read about had missionary in his church/a distinguished man of God/had personally won a witch doctor to the Lord/upon being discipled, he realized he needed to burn the tools of his trade/prepared to burn in the fire 2 beautiful gourds he used to use in his witch craft/missionary asked, what are those?/they are for black magic!/missionary asked for them, don’t burn them, let me take them to the states as artifacts to those who have never seen them!/witch doctor: said, no, they have unholy power in them!  You don’t want them, they must be destroyed!/missionary prevailed upon him: “I don’t believe in black magic, to me they’re just things”!/so he gave in to him, and gave them to him/put under bed/one night heard rattling!/felt eerie presence in the room!/looked, they were moving of their own power!/he was so scared, he began to plead the blood of Jesus/it subsided/happened again a few minutes later/grabbed them, went to witch doctor, and together they threw them into the fire!

Why would God allow the devil to have power to do miracles?  The answer is in the Word of God…

Deut. 13

1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

God will allow a false prophet to perform a miracle, in order to see if the people are willing to follow after miracles at the expense of His Word!

Example:         Charismatic Movement—they focus on signs and wonders.  Their leaders are putting forth some doctrines and multitudes are swallowing them hook, line, and sinker, tho’ they have no Biblical basis.

Benny Hinn (I use him because he is their out front leader, the epitome of all they stand for):  He knows that people are miracle-hungry, regardless of doctrine.

Here’s what he has to say about Adam in the Garden of Eden:  “Adam was a super-being when God created him.  I don’t know whether people even know this, but he was the first super man who ever lived.  First of all, the scriptures clearly declare that he had dominion over the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea…which means, he used to fly!  Well of course, how can you have dominion over the birds, and not be able to do what they do” (could he blow water out of his trunk?)

He goes on w/ other crazy ideas, like that women originally were to give birth out of their sides (explain)

He says there are 9 members of the Trinity…that Christians are all little gods, and several other blasphemous things.

And people are blown about by every wind of doctrine, fooled by signs and wonders, and lay their Bible aside!

The false prophet will be a worker of worship, a master of miracles, and a …

3. Controller of Commerce

v. 16-18

1.We must be careful as we make suggestions concerning the “Mark of the Beast”. Some people can make people like Hitler’s name equal the numbers 666. (William Henry Gates/Prince Charles of Wales/US of America/Barney the Purple Dinosaur)  This is playing games.

Fact is, we all know the technology exists today for it to come to pass:  fingerprints/animal implants/some children!/gps/digital angel (monitors vital signs)/subcutaneous microchips!

Funnies:

Not funny:  is the fact that it exists today in something we use everyday…the bar code!

Subcutaneous (pic above)

2.The number 6 is the number of a human being.
3. The False Prophet will use the “Mark” as a means to force people to worship the Antichrist.
4. Without the “Mark” you cannot buy or sell.
5. Once a person receives “The Mark” their decision is final. They cannot receive Christ.

Jesus will give you a name, not a number!