Hello, and welcome to the Takeaway, where we teach through the Bible, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, to help you understand God's Word so that you can have a more intimate relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Hello, welcome again to the takeaway. I'm your host, Pastor Harry Barrens, and in today's episode, we're going to be looking at Revelation chapter 13, verses 11 through 18, the rise of the false prophet. The purpose of this individual is to promote the Antichrist and trick people into worshiping Satan. At the end of the day, this is Satan's game plan to do whatever he can to turn people from God and get them to bow down to him. In our last episode, we saw the rise of the Antichrist and that he is nothing more than a puppet for Satan to manipulate. Satan gives him his power and control to go after God's people to destroy them, which we know will not entirely be accomplished. However, this will be the worst persecution that was or will ever be on this earth. And had it not been for God's mercy to shorten these days, no man would be saved. But as we now know, for the elect's sake, these days will be shortened. They will be given a place in the wilderness to flee to, where God will protect them from total destruction. This in turn infuriates Satan, and he turns his focus to those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior during the tribulation. This will no doubt be a very bad time to be alive on this earth. The false prophet, as we are going to see, will be the ultimate promoter of the Antichrist. He is going to cause many to bow down and worship him because of the false signs and wonders that he performs. His ultimate purpose is to deceive the world and get people to believe the lie that Satan is producing through the Antichrist, that he is God. This world will believe the lie because God gives them a strong delusion. For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion, so that they may believe the lie, in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness. Now, as we look at Revelation chapter 13, verse 11, we're going to see another beast. This one, however, will come out of the earth, and not the sea like the first one. This lets us know right away that this is yet another individual separate from the first. We know that the first beast came from the sea, which represented many nations, tongues, and tribes. The meaning of this first beast rising from the earth is debated, and no one really knows for sure what, if anything, it points to. It could be that he rises from a particular nation or people group, or that he belongs to a well-known religion that many people already recognize. The one thing we know for sure is that he is a different individual with a different purpose than the first beast. And as they both rise from different locations and different backgrounds, he is also the final piece to this false trinity. Satan desires to be God and does everything to mimic him. Just as God is three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so the satanic trinity also is made up of three: Satan, looking to replace God the Father, the Antichrist, or the false Christ, replacing Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the false prophet, who is the replacement to the Holy Spirit. And just as the Holy Spirit indwells us and marks us as God's chosen people, so that we can never be lost, this false prophet looks to give people a mark that in turn guarantees people a place in hell that can never be undone, as we are gonna as we're about to see. Starting in verse eleven, we read, Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. Notice that he is described as having two horns like a lamb. This indicates that he comes across as gentle and loving. He will not be a threatening individual, which will make him more believable. However, this doesn't change the fact that he speaks like a dragon. This doesn't mean that he goes around hollering at people and roaring like a maniac. If you remember, Satan is the one who is described as the dragon. And what do we know about Satan? That he is the father of lies. John 8 44 tells us, you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He has a mur he was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. So now we know that this second beast will come across as gentle, but he will be a liar like his father the devil. So moving on to verse twelve. 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. This individual will clearly have a lot of power and authority. In fact, we are told that he exercises all the authority of the first beast. The difference is how he uses this authority. He uses it to focus the attention of people towards the first beast. He doesn't seek it for himself, which is what makes him a false prophet. He will spin a lie that the Antichrist is God and that he alone should be worshipped. He will point to the fact that he was murdered and rose from the dead, most likely indicating that he is the true Messiah that Scripture tells us about. This would lead us to believe that this false prophet is most likely a religious leader that people know and respect. He will be trusted by many and will win many people over to the lie by his false signs and wonders. In verse thirteen we read, 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 is wounded by the sword and lived. Now I'd like to take a minute to pause here and discuss false signs that are happening today. There are many people in this world currently being deceived by what looks like miracles. They are falling prey to false teachers, not because of what they heard, but because of what they saw. We often believe what we see even when it's unexplainable. It happens all the time. We have all heard the expression a picture is worth a thousand words, but I guess that depends on whose words they are. I personally try not to believe everything I see at first sight. A good practice to have is to try to look at the world through a biblical lens. To do this, of course, you have to have biblical knowledge. We need to know the things that our Lord has taught us so that we can know what's happening in this world even when we can't understand it at first sight. A great example of this are UFOs. Most people will talk about UFOs as if they are alien in nature, not from this world. They do this because on the surface, they are unexplainable with the information they currently have about this world, our technology, and even their faith. They see videos and pictures, or maybe have even seen it with their own eyes, of flying objects that clearly are not planes, performing maneuvers that, as far as we know, that are aircraft that our aircraft can't. So it becomes an easy conclusion that they must be from beyond this world. But stop and think about that. All the assumptions that have to be made to get to this conclusion. First, they have to assume we don't have the technology. And maybe we don't, but maybe we do. But we don't really know, do we? Second, most of the time, and I mean most, we are not seeing this for ourselves. We are being given short, blurry videos or pictures that don't show us much more than a ball of light. We can't tell the size, the speed, and distance by this footage alone, which then we assume the information being told to us about the size, speed, and distance is true. We don't have the evidence ourselves to make that decision. And in turn, we have to decide whether or not we believe what we are being told. And if we are being honest with ourselves, you know that most of the time you are believing this story all because you saw a five-second clip that someone else you don't even know tells you what it is. You don't know their credentials, their background, or motive, but we tend to believe these people. Think about that for a minute. How much of what you believe is based on a little bit of fact and a lot of filler that someone else filled for you. Jesus tells us we are to be as gentle as doves and as wise as serpents. He never said we should be gullible. For us to be wise, we need to know the truth and truth from a trustworthy source. God is truth, and his word is truth. John recorded for us a prayer Jesus made to the Father on our behalf to keep us from evil and grounded in truth because we are not of this world. And it in part of it it says John seven in John 17, 17 says, Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. This is Jesus' words, not mine. We all have to decide who or what we are to believe. We can't discern truth on our own. In fact, no one can. We have to have it given to us, and it's up to us to ground ourselves in it. That's why we buy into the lie so easily, because we are looking for truth. Most people just don't know where to find it. John 18, 37 says, Then you are king, Pilate said. You say that I am king, Jesus answered. For this reason I was born and have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. What is truth? Pilate asked. Now even Pilate understood that he couldn't define truth. How interesting is that? Just look at the world we live in today. A popular view that's taking root is one that says we decide what truth is. How does that work? Each individual on the planet can decide for themselves what truth is. There are no absolutes, but can you be absolutely sure? How can you trust yourself? How can you trust anyone? Are you beginning to see the picture? This is part of that lie Satan wants you to believe. Once you go down this road, you will believe whatever he wants you to believe. Because we decide what truth is based on what we see, not what we know. I would venture to say that the majority of the world is thinking like this today. They have given up on looking for truth outside themselves and instead look for it inside themselves. The danger is this it requires knowing everything about everything to know what truth is. And only God has that ability. So then the big question becomes: how can we know God to know truth? Now we are getting somewheres. The first thing you need to do is question everything. There are laws within our universe that are unbreakable, and God gave them to us so that we could discover and discover Him particularly. Jeremiah 29, 13 says, And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Now, how about that promise? God tells us if we really want to find him, we will. That's why he created universal laws that can't be changed, like inertia, friction, momentum, kinetic energy, and gravity, so that we have a baseline to discover truth. If there are universal laws, then there must be a lawgiver. He desires to be found and he is not hiding. God is truth, and nothing can change that. That's what makes him God. Once he reveals himself to you, you will know what truth is and you will be able to live in this world making decisions based off of what he says is truth, not you or anyone else. Now, there's a video out there that I highly recommend you watch by Lee Strobel called The Case for Christ. He goes on an investigative journey to disprove the Bible and in turn becomes a believer in Jesus and ultimately a pastor. The evidence he presents is overwhelming, and I highly recommend watching the video or reading the book. This will get you started on the right path. But to get back to where we are now, I always start with the idea that Jesus is truth and his word is truth. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14, 6. And if you don't believe this, then you can't believe any of the Bible. If you do believe this, then you have to believe all of the Bible. So back to our original point about false signs. How do we discern them as believers? Well, first, like I said before, question it. And question it using God's word. Don't let the miracle be the thing that determines if it's of God or not. Listen to what's said and watch what happens. How do people react? And how does the leader direct their attention? If it's on anything or anyone other than the biblical Jesus, then it's a lie. I say it like that because my many false teachers use the name of Jesus in the wrong way. Matthew 7 22 says, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Ouch. That one's gonna hurt for sure. Before we move on to verse 15, I want to go back to the UFO example so that I don't leave you hanging on that since I brought it up. I'm sure you're thinking, so what does the Bible say about UFOs? Are they aliens or are they some sort of technology? I know this much. They're not aliens. How do I know that? Because then beings from another world that are created by God would be under the curse of sin, which is death. Second, God created the heavens and the earth, not many earths. Third, he created the heavens to show his glory, not to populate the universe. Psalms 19:1 says, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. And fourth but not least, and I'm sure there's many other examples, but this one is really key to the to the answer. Satan is the father of lies and wants us to believe a lie, any lie that takes our minds and hearts off God. Anything that creates doubt about God is a lie and can't be trusted. I don't care if you have seen a craft, land, and little green men get out of it and talk to you. Do you not think that demons can do this? This false prophet will call down fire from heaven, and the Antichrist will look as if he's been killed and raised from the dead. Satan putting on a show of balls of light flying around in the sky isn't a problem for him, nor is it a problem for fallen angels to masquerade as little green or gray beings. So please stay grounded in the word of God and discern truth from his word only. Now let's look at verse 15. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. So this false prophet will erect some kind of image that will look to be alive and cause all to worship it or be killed. We can't say for sure what this image will be, other than it will be the image of the beast. This could be through TV, a statue, or just his image being placed all over the world on billboards that are animated. We have seen this kind of thing throughout history by dictators and kings. In Daniel chapter 3, verse 4, it says, Then the herald loudly proclaimed, O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded. As soon as you hear the sound of a horn, a flute, a zither, a lyre, a harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace. So this is definitely nothing new, but should point to the kind of arrogant, prideful, and conceited person this individual individual is going to be. So we have all heard the number six six six before, and our first thought is to equate it with Satan worship. But the way the text reads is that it is some kind of identifier that many theologians have debated over what exactly it is. At the end of the day, there is no answer that we could be sure of. So we'll leave it for those who will be living during these times and assume that if they have wisdom, they will know what it is. As for the mark that will be given, we can't say exactly what it will be, but we do know what it's for. This kind of thing started to take place during the pandemic with the buying and selling or going out only if you had a card showing you had your shots. You could say this was some kind of trial run or just a foreshadowing of things to come. And as we now know, foreshadowings are God's way of saying these things are on the horizon. So wake up and repent. The individuals living in this time will be under the worst dictatorship this world has ever seen. No doubt they will use all the horrible events happening in the world to induce fear and get people to comply. Again, looking at what happened in the world through the pandemic, fear was the tactic, tactic of the day. Everything that was being said was to induce fear and get us to take the shot, stay at home, wear a mask, and close our businesses. They took a virus that was real and was making people sick and killing and played off that to increase fear. So it is not a stretch to believe that with all the problems this world will face, that these individuals will use this to their advantage to create fear and gain control. Without truth, people will comply because they will fear losing their lives. Satan knows this and uses it all the time. We do everything we can to hold on to our lives as if this is all we have and all we get. But Jesus said in Matthew 10, 39, whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. We're not to fear death, because in it we will be given life if it's in if it's found in Jesus. Two different ways of thinking that require us to decide where we get our truth from. Do you believe this life is it, or do you believe what Jesus said? Whatever you decide will determine how you live in this world. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and truth, that you give us a way to navigate in this world so that we don't stumble. Jesus, you are the way, the truth, and the life. We know that there are many false teachers in this world performing false signs and leading people astray. Help us to know the truth and live in it so that we don't go astray and that we can help others find you. Jesus, we love you and we thank you in your precious name. Amen. John 10, 7 through 17. Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who come before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate for the Gate. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in all its fullness. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. The reason the Father loves me is that I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. Thank you for joining us today. I hope this message has helped you take a step closer in your relationship with Jesus and that you have a better understanding for just how much God loves you and wants you to know Him. In our next episode, we will be in Revelation chapter 14, looking at the coming of Jesus to this world. The seventh trumpet has blown, and his final judgment is about to be poured out, and with it the kingdom of God will be revealed. Before we go, I want to encourage you to visit us at thetaway.faith. On our website, you can find out more about who we are and sign up to receive emails to get notifications on new episodes and ministry updates. This also makes it easy to share our podcast and allows you to use it as a resource to help others. On our website, you can easily send us a message, a word of encouragement, questions, or comments. We would love to hear from you and encourage you to send us a message soon. God bless, and we'll see you next time on the takeaway.