Revelation Now: Episode 14 "Bowing to the Beast" with Doug Batchelor

hello friends would you like to hear an amazing fact the tallest statue in the world is now in western india and it's 600 feet tall four times taller than the statue of liberty it was designed after one of the founding fathers of india siddhar patel and the idea was to help bring the country together it's called the statue of unity and it's four times taller than the statue of liberty can be seen from 20 miles away and you know the bible tells us that there's going to be a big image in the last days stay with us we're going to discuss this more in this edition of revelation now [Music] good morning friends and welcome again to revelation now everything is about to change we'd like to welcome those who are joining us across the country and around the world for this very special sabbath morning presentation today our presentation is entitled bowing to the beast and it's sort of part one of a two-part series dealing with this power spoken of in revelation as the beast we'll be talking about the mark of the beast this evening so a very important presentation i'd like to remind you if you'd like to watch this in spanish you can just go to the amazing facts af latino facebook page or the youtube channel you can also find it at the revelation now spanish website also at the revelation now website we do have signing for the deaf so if that's going to be of help to you make sure that you check it out now we'd like to thank those who have contacted us from around the world telling us that you're there and you're watching we just got an email from some folks in japan and they say they tune in and they watch the program as well as bulgaria so we'd like to greet those watching in japan and bulgaria we also had an email from janet in south africa she says we have been tuning in faithfully and have been very blessed by these messages lynn from switzerland says we are praising god for this series thank you so much and then jamie from california she is actually hosting a zoom party there in moreno valley california and she says we're enjoying these presentations and are looking forward to the upcoming lessons and i think you see a picture of them on the screen i'd like to greet those there that are watching on jamie's um zoom party on that connection there so again welcome thank you for being a part of the series as mentioned very important presentation this morning following the presentation we will be taking your bible questions as we normally do so if you have a bible question you can just type it in the comment section on facebook we have a lesson that goes along with our presentation this morning it's entitled bowing to the beast it's the same title actually as the presentation and you can download this for free at the revelation now website just revelation now click on the link that says resources and you'll be able to download that our free offer is a study guide in our amazing facts study guide series that says who is the antichrist that's the title if you'd like to receive this study guide you can text the word reveal to 40544 and you'll be able to get a digital download of that now if you're outside of north america and you're unable to text just go to the revelationnow.com website and again you can download the study guide who is the antichrist i'd like to invite pastor doug to come forward and we're going to try and give you as much time past the deck as possible a very important deep prophetic subject to that i've been looking forward to this and i know many of those who are watching have also been looking forward to this study this morning so let's start with prayer amen dear lord again we are so grateful that we're able to gather together and open up your word and talk about these end time issues and it seems as though bible prophecy is being fulfilled as we look at what's happening in the world today so we do pray for your spirit to guide us and give us understanding in jesus name amen amen thank you pastor ross and once again pastor ross will be coming back following our presentation and we're going to be taking your bible questions i expect we'll have some interesting bible questions today because we're going to be talking about who is the beast of revelation 13 and or the antichrist and just go to the facebook page send them in to us and so that is our title bowing to the beast for today's study but when you talk about the beast or the mark of the beast we decided go out on the street i thought it'd be fun to find out what do some of our average citizens out there in america have to say about this subject who or what is the antichrist um to me that is satan himself or anybody who follows his teachings and his beliefs the antichrist is satan the father of lies oh the antichrist is a group of people who like either don't believe in god or like misbehave towards him i guess the antichrist is just i don't know the opposite of i don't know it's like evil i suppose i don't think we should be looking to one individual as the antichrist but i think it's a spirit of antichrist you got the one worldwide system which we are vastly approaching up on this one worldwide system of the antichrist system you won't be able to buy sale to eat or do anything unless you take on them all but i believe god always take care of people i believe god will have an underground railroad system where his peoples are taken care of all right well we've got some interesting ideas out there about what the beast is and what the antichrist is we're going to go to the bible and as always we think it's a good idea to look at the stories in the bible to understand what the theology and the teachings are the story we're going to consider you find in the book of daniel and some of you remember when we studied daniel chapter 2 and daniel was interpreting the dream for king nebuchadnezzar of this tall image that outlined the major empires of the world from the time of daniel until the lord returns and sets up his kingdom and he said that the head of gold represented king nebuchadnezzar but then the king didn't like so much when daniel continued with the interpretation and he spoke about the arms of silver and he said after thee shall arise another kingdom and nebuchadnezzar liked being the head of gold he did not like the idea that his kingdom would not last so he began to think if babylon is symbolized by the head of gold what if i make an image something like the one i saw in my dream but make it all gold maybe i can overthrow or confound the vision so that babylon will last forever and i don't know maybe some of his wise men or astrologers or sorcerers gave him this idea but that's what he did he made a massive statue on the plains of dura there in babylon and he hoped to bring his whole empire together through common worship because he had all these different cultures and religions and nations so he set up this tall image of gold and the bible tells us that this image is 60 cubits by six cubits and a number of hebrew scholars say that if in hebrew dimensions if they give you the width and they don't give you the depth the depth will be the same as the width which means it was 60 by 6 by 6 which i think is very interesting then he gave a command he said when you hear the sound of the music they were going to unveil this majestic image and there would be glinting in the the rising sun everybody was to fall down and worship it but that created a problem for three of the hebrews that were in the king's cabinet because there is a commandment that specifically says do not bow down to graven images it's called idolatry well the king knew that some might resist he said whoever does not fall down and worship the same hour he will be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace and the furnace they had used to smelt the golden image was not far away and probably still smoldering so they played the music and those three brave hebrews hananiah michiel azariah sometimes known as shadrach meshach and abednego same individuals would not bow down when the king heard some advisers said you realize that there's some people that don't observe your law they're not bowing down to the image that you've set up and the king said bring them here they're done for when he saw it was these three bright good-looking hebrew young men that he had said in chapter one were ten times wiser than his wise men he didn't want to execute him he thought i'll give him another chance so maybe you didn't hear the command maybe you didn't understand i know chaldean's a second language for you and i'll play the music again see the devil wants nothing more than for us to compromise he'll give us a few chances to compromise but they gave a very courageous answer and they said you don't need to play the music again because we understood and we're not bowing down and he said be it known unto thee o king one of the young men answered it doesn't say which one that we will not serve thy gods or worship the golden image that you have set up well when the king heard this he uh he just about blew a gasket he commanded the soldiers to heat up the furnace but not just heat it up to heat it up seven times hotter than it had ever been heated before then he got the strongest soldiers in his empire and he had them tie up didn't even strip off their clothes just had them wrap them up in a cocoon of rope and said toss them into the middle of this raging inferno now the bible tells us that the furnace really was heated seven times hotter than it should have been heated because as the soldiers ran forward to throw them in you got two soldiers they grab hold the arms and legs of shadrach and they run up they heave him in the fire was so hot he killed the soldiers that threw him in can you imagine being the second group of soldiers nebuchadnezzar says next one they go this is this is a tough job but they obeyed the king they ran up to throw them in and they landed in the middle of the furnace but the soldiers died in the process i would have been very discouraged if i was the third pair of soldiers that had to throw in michelle or azariah but they obeyed the king they went and they threw azariah into the middle and they died you know it's interesting the egyptians that followed the children of israel across the red sea god performed a miracle to deliver them but that same miracle destroyed the enemy the bible says that the lions that did not eat daniel did eat the accusers of daniel it's interesting how god sometimes evens things out during these stories of miracles and judgment but then the king looked says the men were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace they didn't fall near the edge and if you wonder if it was really hot it's not like these fires that some vegetans walk over to to do a trick this fire was so hot it killed the soldiers that threw them in but then the king looked and he said did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire his adviser said that's true o king he said what's going on i see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and the form of the fourth is like the son of god now friends you may go through fiery trials for not worshiping the beast in the image in the last days but god promises in those fiery trials jesus will be with us i think that hananiah michelle and azariah read the promise in isaiah where god said when you go through the fire i will be with you and jesus really did go into the fire with him and he protected them and the only thing burned was the ropes that bound them and king nebuchadnezzar's said come forth hannah michelle and azariah he said there's no god like this and the king issued a decree that no one should speak against jehovah see the lord accomplished through shadrach meshach and abednego on the plains of dora that day what he had been wanting to do through the hebrew nation for about 1800 years he got them to finally stand up and be a witness to the other nations of the power of jehovah and he's going to want a people that will do the same thing in the last days that we will stand for the law of god when everybody else bows down and look at their courage when that music played and everyone else around them bowed they realized they were going to be party poopers they realized it was going to upset the king they knew they might lose their job and lose their lives they could have said well let's just tie our shoes right now adjust our sandals and we won't really pray to the image but let's not make a spectacle they stood tall when everyone else bowed down they would not even look like they were compromising god needs people like this in the last days that will stand for the commandments regardless of what the majority is doing so with that little background we're going to start going into our questions and the first question is how does our story relate to daniel in daniel chapter 3 relate to revelation well let's go to revelation chapter 13. this is where you find the passage about the beast and the mark of the beast and i'm going to read most of this just follow along and 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 names of blasphemy now the beast that i saw was like a leopard and his feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power his throne and great authority and i saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded and its deadly wound was healed and all the world wandered and followed the beast so that they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worshipped the be saint who is like the beast and who is able to make war with him and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and it was given authority to continue for 42 months there's a time period that's given here and he opened his mouth and blasphemy against god to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and them the 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 and all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world if anyone has an ear let him hear he who leads into captivity shall go into captivity he who kills with the sword must be killed with a sword here is the patience and the faith of the saints then i saw another beast coming up out of the earth and it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon okay right away i want you to notice something when we talk about the last day beast there's actually two beasts in revelation 13. so you really need to say the mark of the beasts in one sense because there's really two beasts that are at play here and you know maybe i'll stop right here i'll tell you what this represents then i'll i'll go back and i'll spend some more time explaining it now paul says in the bible am i your enemy if i tell you the truth i'm going to talk about some tough things today that may not be popular and just about everybody is going to be impacted in one way or another revelation in these prophecies talk about primary last day religions these prophecies are talking about everything from protestantism in america to catholicism in the old world to islam and that shouldn't surprise you because largest church in the world today is the christian church largest denomination is the roman catholic church second largest religion is islam there are 2.2 billion christians in the world and about 1.7 muslims and uh the christian church is largely divided at least it used to be between the orthodox and catholic church and the protestant churches all of these things are at play here in this study on prophecy i believe the two beasts that are being represented here in revelation 13 is talking about uh roman catholicism with its seat largely in europe but then it's spread globally and the united states which was at one time um the beach head for protestants in the world and so as we go on and by the way nothing i'm telling you isn't new i i didn't think this up this is largely what the understanding was of the protestant reformers so we're going to go through our questions and find out what the bible says question number one how does our story in daniel 3 relate to revelation as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed now does this mean in the last days that there's going to be a great big statue everyone is going to be told to pray to no not necessarily remember there's symbols that are used in revelation you come tonight we'll be talking more about that but it's all about worship notice something else that you have in genesis two brothers cain and abel they both worship one worships correctly one worships with man-made worship his own idea one is worshiping looking to grace one is worshiping his own works the one who is worshiping wrong kills or persecutes the one who is worshiping right that same scenario plays out in the last days what are the three angels messages of revelation 14. now if you have your bibles you turn with me to revelation 14 and i'll tell you why it's so important to look at this right after revelation 13 when it talks about the beast the mark of the beast and the number of the beast that we haven't gotten to yet you go to chapter 14 in revelation and you'll notice that it talks about oh for instance if you look in revelation 14 and you can see um it tells us here about verse 14 i looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud one sat like the son of man having on his head a golden crown so here we have a picture of jesus coming but before jesus comes starting with verse 6 it tells us that there's these angels that take a particular message to the world calling people to return to god and avoid worshiping the beast in this image so this is the message that is actually going out now we want to look at these three angel messages that you find in revelation 14. first one revelation 14 7 fear god and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come we had a study earlier this week that helped us realize we're entering that last phase in the plan of salvation where there is a heavenly judgment taking place before christ comes some investigation takes place because revelation says behold i come and my reward is with me so in order to give out his reward when he comes there must be a judgment before he comes and it says worship him that made heaven and earth and sea and the fountains of waters so notice this is an excerpt from the fourth commandment where it says for in six days the lord made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters and so it's a reminder to go back to the god of creation in a world that largely believes now evolution and so it's a message also to remember the sabbath that commandment god says remember has been forgotten by most christian churches so there'll be a revival of primitive christianity that's going to take place again in the last days and it's a global message it's a message of worship so you've got the contrast of those who worship god and the remembering the sabbath commandment with those who worship the beast and the laws of the beast so once again in revelation it's about who do we worship true or false worship is the issue that's at stake here in the sabbath commandment here's a quote of it exodus 20 verse 8 for in six days the lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and he rested the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and howled it made it holy there'll be a return among the people of god to recognize and respect the things that god has pronounced to be holy and then you go on now to the third angels our second angel's message says there followed another angel saying babylon is fallen is fallen that great city because she made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication i was in the studio the day we took the picture of this model we dressed up a model like the babylon horror you see in revelation 17 and i felt so bad she was a good christian girl and we had to dress her up that way to get these pictures but it depicts what you see in revelation 17 babylon the mother of harlots is sort of the conglomeration of counterfeit religion that you see in the last days we'll talk more about that we have a lesson on chapter 17 of revelation so it's a warning about babylon this counterfeit religion and god's people are being called out of babylon and then the third angel's message if any man worships the beast in his image and receives his mark in his forehead or in his hand the same will drink of the wine of the wrath of god that is poured out without cup in the uh poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation it's the most fearful curse in the bible is here in chapter 14 that comes upon those who worship the beast in its image and receive his mark and so we need to know what these things are friends because god is telling us it can be a major deception in the last days and it will all look like it's really worshiping christ but it's going to be counterfeit worship what happens immediately after these messages go to the world i behold when one comes he's the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven is pictured here so these are the messages that go to the world just before jesus comes and by the way these are the messages going to the world now not only through our program here but all over the world this is taking place so we're talking about the mark of the beast we've learned there's two beasts in revelation 13. what is a beast what does that mean does that mean that there's some monstrosity crawling around the world in the last days you go online well no i don't recommend you do that but you know if you type in the antichrist or beast they've got all these monsters depicted and these diabolical looking creatures and demon-possessed people and it's not like that at all let's let the bible explain itself what is a beast we'll go to daniel 7. revelation talking about beasts is drawing from where daniel used these beasts to talk about nations daniel 7 17 these great beasts which are for are for kings or kingdoms the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth so what a beast represent we talked about this before you know if you say eagle what country do you think of united states if you say dragon think of what china and so we still do that today the bear is the the ruskies in russia you look in daniel 8 20. the ram that you saw having two horns they are the kings of media and persia one of the was the medo persian the other horn was a little smaller was or the smaller one was media bigger one was persia the rough goat another beast that shows up he's the king of greece all right so when we talk about the beast in the last day we're talking about a power but it's not just a political power this one is compelling worship so it is a religiou political power in the last days how does the bible identify the beast it says i stood upon the sand of the sea now look at revelation 13 notice and it says i saw this beast rise up out of the sea you read in revelation 17 the c represents multitudes of peoples and nations it's a highly populated area of civilization this beast comes up from a densely populated civilized area where there's multitudes of peoples and nations and tongues and it says that um the sea is actually kind of stormy this beast comes up and what does the beast look like having seven heads and ten horns we saw a beast like that in daniel you also see it in revelation chapter 12 and 10 crowns upon its heads the roman empire divided into ten kingdoms that were ruled by kings at first they're not ruled by kings anymore most of them and with names of blasphemy very blaspheming god now the beast i saw was like a leopard look at this this beast is now a composite of daniel 7. daniel 7 it says there's a lion there's a bear there's a leopard and then there's this strange nondescript beast here it says leopard his feet it says the beast like a leopard his feet like the feet of a bear his mouth like the mouth of a lion and it says the dragon is giving him his poor his power and authority someone said well in daniel it's lion bear leopard rome and this beast it's looking the other way it's got the beast and then it's got the leopard then it's got the bear it's got the lion why is that well because john when he has a vision he's now looking back at the kingdoms when daniel had the vision he was looking forward so it's actually in the exact order historically that the prophet would be viewing them so those kingdoms of course babylon was the lion meadow persia was this bear uh the four-headed leper was alexander he died he had the four generals so then it gives us uh we got about eight criteria here that are given in this passage that are identifying marks to help find the beast if i said all right you've got to have a secret password for your computer and you only get to pick one digit your options are how many if you're using numbers you get ten options zero through nine one digit right if i say you can use two digits well that's greatly increased the different options up to a hundred i know 99. three digits your options really increase when you get up to eight digits it is very hard for me to guess your password we are going to find eight criteria that all line up that help us to identify without any doubt what is the beast that's being talked about in these prophecies now and here it says well let me back up it says rises from the sea the power and seat come from the dragon that was rome ruling the world back then the devil ruling through rome a worldwide power it's a global power it's guilty of blasphemy it rules for 42 months it gives us a time period it then has a deadly wound but the deadly wound heals and it comes back it persecutes god's saints it's a persecuting power then it's got a mysterious number to help identify it and that number is what 666 right all right now let me just tell you what i'm sharing with you is not original all of the protestant reformers and i'll be repeating this later because not everybody sees every program martin luther john calvin john wesley charles spurgeon zwingli malink the lawn tyndale whitfield kramer i mean you can name any of the great protestant reformers by the way most of them were catholic priests that were trying to reform the church listen to what they said martin luther who was a catholic priest said we've got to reform the church in reading the bible he said uh oh he said our church our church is the beast the epistles of saint paul peter saint jude that the reign of antichrist predicted and described in the bible was the papacy that's the teachings of martin luther from the history of the reformation here's one from calvin he was that great presbyterian leader most baptists are calvinistic what was his teaching some persons think it's too severe and censorous when we call the roman pontiff that means the pope antichrist now by the way calvin was a catholic priest that ended up reforming or protesting against what was happening but those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against paul himself after whom we speak whose language we adopt i shall briefly show that paul's words in 2 thessalonians 2 are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the papacy so all of them taught this you don't hear much about it now because it's very incorrect politically but this is what the reformers taught and i should mention here um there are lovely people in many different churches yeah i'm going to talk about american prophecy i'm a loyal american i'm happy with the privilege of being a member of this country but i'm going to talk about american prophecy and the future is not flattering i went to two different catholic schools growing up a lot of catholic friends going to talk about catholicism i'm going to talk about protestantism be be clear there are good people that you're going to find in heaven from all of these different churches but we've got to tell you what the bible says so i hope i can do it gracefully by the way i don't know if i said hello to our friends you know right across the parking lot we have a number of our church members that are gathered in the granite bay hilltop church we just want to say we know you're over there we're waving hope you're waving back right now and god bless you we know there's a lot of other people watching on 3abn and af tv and online but i wanted to greet our local church next door we just needed to record this this meeting here in the studio for consistency all right so question number five we're going to look at the different criteria now so bear with me this beast arises from the sea what does the sea or the water symbolize we read there in revelation 17 15 the waters that you sought are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues the angel tells us what that symbol represents did the papacy rise up from the midst of a densely populated area yes the roman empire was the center of all roads led to rome back then and it was the center of that population and compared to north america and other countries it was very densely populated it was great civilization number six who gives the beast its power in position it says and the dragon gave him his power and a seat and great authority now i want you to understand who's the dragon here well the dragon we know is satan but satan was working through a particular kingdom if you look in chapter 12 of revelation it says the dragon tries to devour the man-child jesus as soon as it was born but he was caught up to god's throne what nation did the devil use to try to destroy jesus when he was a baby herod working through the roman power and so what we're talking about is the devil working through rome is the one who seeds or gives this seat this very position to the papacy well there's a reason it's called the roman catholic church it's because it grew up right there in rome you ever wondered how did the leadership of the christian church go from jerusalem to rome now they fought many crusades and tried to get it back but that never worked but there is something that was done very deliberately the dragon in revelation 12 is the devil working through pagan rome pagan rome is rome ruled by caesars it's not rome being ruled by popes so it says the dragon pagan rome gives him his power seat and great authority and this is exactly what happened historically now notice the big change that took place for years the devil tried to destroy christianity through persecution and you have you know there were some of the most severe persecutions happening during the time of nero diocletian very intense for 10 years from 303 to 313 a.d and you've heard about the christians being fed to the lions in the coliseum and they were burnt at the stake and they were wrapped up in leather bags and fed the wild animals and it was just terrible what they did they put them in the mines in north africa and they worked them to death you can go visit some of those ancient mines in northern africa where the christians were being punished for their religion and on the wall of the minds they wrote vida vida vida we have life even though they were being persecuted and martyred they had life look in the catacombs all through rome it was an illegal illegal religion they called it religio elicite forbidden religion and they took the religion underground but the church kept growing the more they tried to persecute christians people saw these christians in the coliseum dying with faith dying with courage they died singing they said they've got something that our religion doesn't offer and the christian church exploded so the devil thought well i'm going to have to go to plan b plan a is not working the more i persecute the christians the more they grow about 300 a.d along came a roman emperor by the name of constantine sometimes known as constantine the great and he said you know the christians aren't really hurting anybody and his own mother converted to christianity and he said they're really pretty peaceful people it's we are fighting enemies on the outside right now and we need to just make peace with him and he basically legalized christianity what he did is he was fighting in a battle uh the milvian bridge battle with maxim millen and and he claimed to have a vision where he saw in the sky the sign of the cross and he took that to me and he was supposed to now fight under the banner of christianity because rome had a whole pantheon of different gods and he won the battle and all of a sudden christianity overnight became very popular because when it was popular in the palace everybody wanted to be a christian but instead of this being a blessing that turned out being a curse because what happened is all over rome they had all of these priests that were worshiping pagan gods when they realized that the emperor now was legalizing christianity they said oh yeah we can be christians and they they kept a lot of their customs and they ostensibly said yeah we'll be christians too and they took some of the pagan temples they started calling them churches and they had statues all over rome of jupiter and apollo and mercury and venus and they said what do we do with our statues and some of the christians began to compromise they said well we don't want to anger all these pagans we might get more pagans to join the church if we let them rename their statues so they started calling their idols peter james john and mary and they started praying to statues of saints and the bible forbids this very clearly as we saw from our story today and what you ended up with is you ended up with a milkshake it was a potluck a stew of christianity and paganism so in legalizing christianity the devil was able to do more harm from the inside because all this compromise suddenly came in didn't happen overnight it happened gradually but the real turning point was with the at least ostensible conversion of constantine he wasn't even baptized until the time of his death but everything began to change notice here from abbott's roman history page 236 now of course the bible ends in revelation so to see the fulfillment of revelation you have to look at history right so you're looking in roman history here uh abbot's roman history page 236 the transfer of the emperor's residence the constantinople named after constantine was a sad blow to the prestige of rome the city of rome thought oh man they're moving the capital out of the city what's going to happen we're going to lose our prestige but at that time one might have predicted her speedy decline but the development of the church and the growing authority or power of the bishop of rome or the pope gave her a new lease on life and made her again the capital but now the capital the religious capital of the civilized world to the secession of the caesars came the secession of the pontus in rome or the popes when constantine left rome he gave his seat this is what history tells us he basically said look i'm giving you my palace i'll give you my seat i'm going to give you an army i'm moving out of town and there's this transfer from pagan to papal rome and it went from just political power to religious political power this is a very clear transition you can show in the history books says the beast would receive its power remember beast doesn't mean monster means a political power religious power it receives its power seat and authority from rome now the church stopped being just a religion what started happening is the church became a a government agency because the uh emperor of rome at this point it was justinian he gave an army to the pope to enforce religion so it went from just being a free religion to being a political religious power how far-reaching is the influence of the beast and all the world wondered after the beast probably one of the most popular popes is the current pope we have pope francis he's traveled widely all over the world and he's one of the most recognized figures in the world it's so it's a global power and authority was given him over every tribe tongue and the word catholic actually means universal there's nothing wrong with the word catholic but it's it says it's a universal church and it is without a doubt you know one of the it's the largest denomination christian domination in the world and they've only got five level levels of structure but they're able to manage this international operation it's one of the richest organizations in the world because the real estate that they own you know the catholic church the vatican actually holds title to this real estate and all over the world the priests and the jesuits often were the first ones into new civilizations and they would get the best place in town in the middle of the town if you go through south america the middle of the town they've got the plaza and the church they they own a lot of real estate not to mention all the gold and silver that's in the relics and the statues around the world very wealthy organization they had to pay out a lot of money in recent years because of lawsuits but you probably already know about that and it says what comes out of the mouth of the beast this is where it gets a little intriguing he opened his mouth in blasphemy against god to blaspheme his name now blasphemy means a person puts himself in the position of god claiming prerogatives that belong to god the bible defines blasphemy as when you claim to have prerogatives of god or that you should be worshipped as god second thessalonians 2 4 and this is a verse that makes a lot of people think that well they must be rebuilding the temple in jerusalem says who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped so that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god and i don't know if you can see all of this picture on the screen this is pope francis he's he's one of the more humble popes he doesn't like sitting in this throne because on that throne he's actually sitting between the two cherubim which is the position of god according to the bible that mercy seat is where god appeared to his people between the two angels and so he said francis has tried to avoid some of the extravagance of other popes but that's the position they hold they claim to be sitting over the church of god the jews answered him and saying they said to jesus for a good work we do not stone you but for blasphemy this is the bible definition of blasphemy because you being a man make yourself god so when a man puts himself in a position that really belongs to god the bible calls that blasphemy now these are some quotes from the catholic church itself and so you just have to decide on your own we hold upon this earth the place of god almighty that's pope leo the eighth when a man says we hold the place of god when people go and they bow down and they kiss the hand or they kiss the foot of a person that starts looking like a person is being deified i don't think any man should be treated like a god jesus said i've come among you as one that serves jesus said if i've washed your feet you ought to wash one another's feet so christian leaders ought to really be taking positions of humility not trying to be conspicuous and adorned with gold and pearls and costly array and the scribes and the pharisees began to reason saying who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but god alone and they were right according to the bible only god can forgive sin now they had a problem with jesus because they did not respect that he was god jesus said i can forgive sin the son of man has power on earth to forgive sin that's mark chapter 2. so one of the criteria says the beast power would speak blasphemy is it would claim the prerogative to be able to forgive sin as well let's find out if that's true this is from the book dignities and duties of the priest volume 12 page 27 god himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priests and either to pardon or not to pardon according as they the priests refuse or give absolution the sentence of the priest proceeds it goes first and then god must endorse it subscribe to it basically saying the priest deciding who is forgiven and god has to go along with the priest that is blasphemy according to the bible when a man says i've got the power to forgive sin only god can really forgive sin how long would this first beast rule gives us a time period it says in power was given unto him to continue forty and two months now we learned from an earlier study that in prophecy a day equals a year the legally recognized supremacy of the pope began in 538 make a little note of that date 538 a.d when there went into effect a decree of the emperor justinian making the bishop of rome they head over all the churches see it was a roman emperor that made this decision not god a roman emperor says i want the authority of the church to be a little closer i keep a hand on it i don't want it at some council in jerusalem or somewhere in alexandria i'm moving headquarters here and i will appoint the bishop of rome is going to be the new head of the church and i'm going to give him an army to enforce his edicts and that's what happened and the definer of doctrine and corrector of heretics and that was all set up by a pagan roman emperor not by the church vigilius ascended the papal chair 538 a.d under the military protection of belisarius and this is exactly what happened so mark that date 538 it really became a religious political power and things changed what happened to the beast after 42 months now day in year but by the way there's a a number keeps showing up in prophecy you find it in daniel you find it in revelation you find it in kings you find it in the teachings of jesus it's three and a half years the reason is seven is the perfect number for god half of seven years is three and a half years seven is a perfect complete cycle three and a half is an interruption a cut off it represents in the bible persecution trouble something happens jesus teaches three and a half years he's crucified uh there's three and a half years of elisha and then it tells us that fire comes down from god out of heaven in that time period the disciples preached for three and a half years the first martyr stephen is stoned and it tells us that you've got this time period and then something happens there's usually some kind of tribulation and some big change of power that takes place after the three and a half years three and a half years is a time that's one year a times that's two two and one two means a couple or a pair and a half three and a half years there's a time of times in half uses that phrase in daniel 42 months 1260 days it uses the same time period by the way uh the jewish month had 30 days 42 months is 1260 days you can do that with your calculator real quick so what happens 1260 days or is it 1 260 years a day in prophecy is what it's a year i saw one of the heads as it was wounded to death but the deadly wound is healed and all the world wanders after the beast so it tells us that after the starting point 1260 years and it would receive what looked like a mortal wound here you have it 42 months 12 60 years i have appointed the each day for a year ezekiel 4 6. so that reaches then to 1798 if you start at 538. what happened in 1798 the very thing that god foretold you remember napoleon i'm sure you've heard that name and he did things that nobody dared do the birth of atheism really started in france and it says in 1798 he bertier made his entrance into rome they used the murder of a frenchman in rome as an excuse he abolished the papal government for the first time in 1260 years they lost their authority and he established a secular one see up until that point every king and leader in europe couldn't do anything without the authority and support of the church you ever play chess what pieces were next to the king and the queen bishops because that's the way it was in europe they couldn't do anything without the endorsement because if the pope said i do not support this decree you know why the church of england split off from the roman church is because the pope would not approve the divorce of henry viii so he broke away and formed the church of england by the way they recently reunited which i think is another prophetic milestone we'll talk about later but up until that point the kings couldn't even do anything without the support of the church until napoleon's general basically gave them a mortal wound he that leads into captivity shall go into captivity he that kills with the sword must be killed with a sword and they took that pope captive he led him off to valance and he died in captivity they lost all of their political clout with the empires of europe during that time until during just before world war one or at the conclusion it says here uh the roman question tonight was a thing of the past the vatican was at peace with italy and this is san francisco chronicle february 11 1929 in affixing autographs to the memorable document healing the wound so there was a healing of the wound politically in 1929 but now there is also a big wound pope francis often talks about the wound of christ in the split between the protestants and the catholic or orthodox churches and you know what's happening now francis more than any other pope is committed to healing that wound and reuniting with the protestant churches so that we have shared communion and this is something that's that is foretold in prophecy and he uses the very language healing the wound healing the wound that's the language from the bible the deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered we read in revelation chapter 13 verse 3 the papacy has gained worldwide influence prestige and prominence back in 2015 when pope francis came to the united states he went to all the places where we had the capital of our government new york city that's where our first capital was philadelphia washington d.c i went to the united nations he addressed the joint session of congress this started out at one time it was a protestant country things have really changed do you know it used to be there were only protestants on the supreme court now there are no protestants on the supreme court things have really changed and as of this broadcast looks like we've elected a catholic president i think we're entering some very interesting and exciting times prophetically friends so is the beast a government or a religious power well it tells us that it's got political power as well as religious power he causes that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed well it's a religious power and a political power you know the smallest country in the world is the vatican i'll say more about that maybe in our presentation tonight only has about a thousand people 109 acres yet ambassadors from around the world go and they let the pope speak at the united nations they won't let pastor doug talk to the united nations why him because he is a political leader and it's just something to remember what does the beast do to the saints and it was given unto them to make war with the saints and to overcome them did they fit that criteria were they persecuting power during that 1260 years yes they were and you know i respect pope john paul ii he came out and admitted it before their 2000 jubilee he said we need to apologize for the sins of the inquisition and all the blood that was shed his wording was very cautious but they didn't make a statement it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and during those dark ages from 538 to 1798 more blood was shed in the name of god than any other time in history they estimate somewhere between 30 and 50 million people died christians jews because of the inquisition and the persecutions from the church one british historian edward leakey he wrote that the church of rome has shed more innocent blood by the way this is in the history of the rise of the spirit of rationalism in europe that the church of rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind will be questioned by no protestant who has any competent knowledge of history karen and i were in spain a couple of years ago and i think we were in toledo i forget one of the cities and we were going looking at the curio shops and they had it said do you want to see a torture chamber they had a sign you know three pesos go see the torture chamber and i said well can you want to go see the torture chamber and they we walk down this corridor down a dungeon and and under all the churches they'll show you the room where they carried on the inquisition all over europe they've got these chambers and you can pay to go see them and they got all the instruments of torture it's just uh it just makes you shudder to think of what the people went through back then it was just horrific but yeah they freely admit it what is the mysterious number that identifies the beast his number is six hundred threescore and six now 666 it's an interesting number mathematically but you can read it's the number of a man it's the number of his name or his title is what it's telling us you know i remember driving down the road and i took a picture saw someone had on their license plate 666 people go oh what does that mean i was checking out of the store one day and i don't know the price came up to six dollars and 66 cents i said oh look at that she went yeah look at that i said you know what it means she said no but it's bad that's that's all people know and if someone's you know going to a public event and they get the ticket for their seat and the seat says 666 they ask if they can have another one because they think this is a bad number and the number itself is just another numerical sequential number but it's the number that reveals the identity follow me look at the title that is held by the pope this is actually a book written by john paul the second and all you have to do is go to page three confronted with the pope one must make a choice the leader of the catholic church is defined by the faith as the vicar of jesus christ that means a representative and is accepted as such by believers he is the representative of jesus and accepted by such well jesus said the representative is the holy spirit the pope is considered the man on earth who represents the son of god who takes the place of the second person of the omnipotent god of the trinity now did he catch that if you missed it the first time in the quote i gave earlier where the pope says we hold the place of god on earth he says that in the book we hold the place of the second person of the godhead jesus christ on earth that's pretty bold now that title is vicarious philli dei that's the latin official title it means vicar of the son of god in the catholic magazine our sunday visitor april 18 1915 some people say oh that magazine doesn't exist i've got microfilm of it what are the letters on the pope's crown and what do they signify the letter on the letters on the pope's crown are these vicarious phili dei which is latin for vicar of the son of god there are actually several documents where they say this is the official title of the pope now above the head of the high priest in the bible he had a golden plaque and that golden plaque says holiness to the lord that was the call but many of the popes they got there's many papal miters different kingdoms have given gifts of crowns and miters the popes several of them used to have a little plaque on it that had the title but someone added up what the title comes to and they started not wearing those you've not seen pope francis wear that crown here's what that title comes up to vicarius file dei now you realize if you remember from your days in school that roman numerals equal numbers and v is five i is one so forth and uh when you add m one thousand you add up the roman numerals oh by the way you wanna hear an amazing fact about roman numerals the first six roman numerals when you add them up add up to 666. i thought that was very interesting v is five i is one c century 100 you add them up vicarious is 112 philly i is 53 day i is 501. voila you add them all up that comes to 666 says it is the number of a man's hand of a man throughout revelation the number seven represents perfection or completeness the number six represents imperfection it was the basis for the babylonian system of calculation a triple six therefore symbolizes the triple union of error the union of the dragon the beast and the false prophet furthermore keep in mind man was made on the sixth day god made the seventh day to be a day for god for man to worship god 666 is man-made religion the worship of man and man made religion very beginning of the bible god says on the seventh day the seventh day the seventh day it's talking about god-based religion worshiping the creator which he made that day to remember he is the creator so you've got the contrast of two different forms of worship that are emerging here in the last days question number 14 who will sing god's praises in heaven the bible tells us that uh i saw as it was a sea of glass mingled with fire and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name we can get a victory over all of that standing on the sea of glass having the harps of god and the bible tells us that we'll be singing his praises we don't need to worry about what's going to happen in the last days if our faith is rooted in christ but people need to be warned it's all unfolding right under our noses right now see the devil's got most of the world looking for a counterfeit beast and mark of the beast they're expecting some monster some computer some chip be planted under their forehead or in their hand and they've got all these counterfeit ideas they're all looking that way and it's coming up behind them right while they stand there people need to know what the real issue is it's who do you worship and i pray that you'll make your decision that you're going to follow jesus no matter how difficult it might be now now friends you've maybe heard some tough stuff in this presentation i know i've got a lot of catholic friends that are watching and protestants and you go wow this is heavy please just examine the evidence i've only given you part one there's like three parts to this presentation tune back in tonight for part two and the other uh presentations and i think it's going to become very clear and so just pray for god's spirit to guide you and i want to pray for you now as we close this section but don't go away we'll be answering your bible questions in just about three minutes father in heaven we're thankful that you love us and that you gave us your word to help us know what's coming and lord we just sit amazed as we see how dramatically these prophecies have been fulfilled i pray that in our lives we'll all be determined to follow you to worship you first to not get involved in the global idolatry that'll be taking place in the last days indeed is taking place now and that your word and the teachings of christ will be the first priority in our lives bless each person i pray that we can experience your salvation and joy not be worried about the last days because if we've got jesus we've got the prince of peace and a peace that passes understanding bless each person with that experience we thank you and pray in christ's name amen god bless and again be back just a few moments with your bible questions did you know that noah was present at the birth of abraham ok maybe he wasn't in the room but he was alive and probably telling stories about his floating zoo from the creation of the world to the last day events of revelation biblehistory.com is a free resource where you can explore major bible events and characters enhance your knowledge of the bible and draw closer to god's word go deeper visit biblehistory.com did you know amazing facts has a free bible school that you can do from the comfort of your own home it includes 27 study lessons to aid in your study of god's word sign up today by calling 1-844-215-7000 that's 1-844-215-7000 [Music] have you always wanted to be a bible expert but never knew where to start are you searching for answers that will bring you joy peace and fulfillment then you'll love the amazing facts historicals of prophecy bible study experience now available in 18 languages featuring 24 easy-to-read lessons the storicals are packed with scripture and step-by-step guidance that will give you absolute confidence about what the bible actually says about the second coming the rapture the antichrist and the mark of the beast you'll also get the truth about hell and the afterlife and practical insight about grace salvation and how to truly live like jesus even better it's absolutely free at storacles.com so don't miss out get started on your bible study adventure today at storacles.com hello friends we'd like to welcome you back to our bible question and answer time here at this revelation of now series and pastor doug that was a very intriguing and important presentation identifying who the beast power revelation is and i'm sure we have a lot of questions relating to that we do and now someone may want to preempt and say well so what is the mark of the beast they have to tune in tonight for that that's right and we'll be talking about babylon and american prophecy in the future presentations okay well let's get right to it our first question that we have uh today is i always thought that the antichrist is a person not an organization am i wrong um well there is a person at the head of the organization that's something i didn't get into in the presentation today but um i think i'll say more about tonight unlike some governments where you've got a parliament that rules the government as the bible describes a beast power has a head a man is a head and there is only one man that is the head and the pope actually has universal power he is the the last word in anything that happens with the vatican in the church it's interesting he is both the law giver as well as the judge yeah and uh seoul authority so somewhat unique there's not too many organizations political organizations that are structured the way the vatican is and even many of the ancient monarchies the kings had some there were some checks and balances to their power but the pope really has absolute authority right our next question that we have do you think that it is wise for christians to pass laws enforcing christianity yes and no now let me explain this was a big question that our founding fathers in north america struggled with they said well we need to have certain laws and originally they thought we're going to enforce the ten commandments on everybody and you read about some of the great founding fathers like roger williams he said we shouldn't be enforcing the first four commandments and they were outraged by that he had battles with people you know some of the great puritan leaders like cotton mather and they told everybody you had to be in church every sunday now america is one of the first countries that had religious persecution and you know we had witch trials and there were people that were being persecuted if they weren't in church if you committed adultery you had a scarlet letter that's why that book was written and so roger williams said no he said god put the ten commandments on two tables of stone the first four commandments deal with our relationship with god every individual must be free to choose that the last six commandments must be enforced civilly the government must enforce respect for property that you're not allowed to perjure you make a covenant contract you keep it the sanctity of marriage the government needs to be enforced it needs to be involved in respecting the sanctity of marriage and so those last six commandments williams argued he finally won that's where he had rhode island became such a popular state and he said here's a place where we can have real religious freedom the freedom in rhode island was so popular gradually the other states adopted it and it spread but so should we be keeping christian law the last six commandments the government must enforce okay very good i guess pastor one thing to add to that is if you have one religious entity choosing to enforce religious law they're always going to be biased to what their beliefs are and you're going to end up with persecution yeah because we've seen that throughout throughout european history and even in other places around the world next question that we have is uh is the antichrist in the world today yes and in fact people are are surprised to learn that when the bible was written and john tells us in his letters he says there are already many antichrists the word antichrist does not appear in the book revelation the person of the antichrist is definitely in the book but the word antichrist you can find in the letters of john he says there already are many antichrists so antichrist is someone who is you know ostensibly they claim to be a believer in jehovah the true god but they end up having teachings that are against the teachings of christ and that's why he said there are already many antichrists there were a lot of counterfeit christians even in john's day when he wrote his letter okay but yeah the the main antichrist is definitely alive and well and has been ruling in the world as we presented in our study all right we're going to go to some of the questions that folks have just sent in during the presentation the first one is is there literally three angels flying in heaven there's literally a lot more than three angels in heaven but the three angels in revelation and there's actually i think you go to revelation 18 you can even see a fourth angel or another one of those angels makes another trip we're not sure if it's a repeat but um they represent messages and i think even in the first chapters of revelation it talks about the angels of the churches and you've got seven angels there and jesus has these messages that he gives the church so when it talks about angels in heaven well when a person wanted a message to go global it was given from heaven and i think one of the words it says a loud voice the word is megaphono and like we use the word a megaphone means a loud message is being proclaimed they're not literally uh you're not going to find them within a telescope looking up and saying there's that third angel so it's really the messages of the angels we're talking about okay i think in the original greek angels are anger loss which literally means a messenger all right another question that we have it says with islam being the second biggest religion in the world is islam mentioned in bible prophecy yes yeah matter of fact uh you've done some studies on this what is it chapter nine yes the uh when you get into the trumpets and uh it talks about well actually the seals also talks about the the fifth and the sixth seal talk about muhammad the rise of muhammad and the expansion of islam so yeah and there's an interesting time prophecy related to their rule that you find in revelation came true precisely and some are wondering will islam have a role in the last days i think it has to if it's a second largest religion in the world islam is going to have to have some role so maybe we'll say more about that later okay another question that we have that's come in and this question is why do we pray that the lord's will be done on earth doesn't god's will won't god's will always be done no god's will is not always done on earth people are surprised to think listen isn't he all powerful doesn't he force his will no and that's why the bible says if you are willing sometimes we don't do god's will that's not his will it's not his will that we sin the bible says the lord is not willing that any should perish and that's second peter chapter three but all should come to repentance and so the reason we pray that god's will is done in the world is because the devil is rampaging around this planet doing things that are not god's will sin is not god's will but someday that stone will grow into a great mountain and fill the whole earth and the knowledge of the lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea someday the earth once again will all be doing god's will so we're praying for that day thy kingdom come thy will be done it's not happening yet there's some people contesting god's kingdom here in the world okay another question is coming and i think you might be talking about this a little more tonight but the question is why is god's mark only placed in the forehead but the mark of the beast in the foid and the hand good question yeah um well in the forehead and we'll say more about this it represents in your thoughts and in your worship and the hand represents works nobody is saved by works we're only saved by faith and so the seal of god is placed in the forehead meaning it's in our worship it's in our hearts whereas those who serve the beast some do it because they have to buy or sell they're doing it for work reasons some do it because they genuinely believe and worship the beast so whether they get it in their actions their hand they say i don't really believe it but i'm going to do it whether they're serving just it's through their actions or whether it's really heartfelt worship of the beast some will get it in their hands some in their forehead and um oh i almost gave you too much come back you got to come back tonight and hear the rest of that answer all right another question can a safe person have the seven last plagues fall on them well the plagues may be falling around them but they won't be hurt by it and i know a lot of christians watching now might be shocked to learn we believe the bible teaches that christians will be in the world when those plagues fall but they are protected the same way god protected the children of israel when those ten plagues fell on egypt now it's interesting when you look at the ten plagues of egypt many of them are similar to the same seven plagues in revelation the first three plagues of the ten plagues that fell on egypt the children of israel suffered right along with the egyptians but god then protected them through the seven last plagues of those ten plagues so when it tells about the seven plagues in revelation god's people are completely protected it might be happening in the world around us i am not worried psalm 91 neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling but it does say in the same psalm you will look and see a thousand may fall at your side ten thousand at your right hand it's happening around you but just like noah in the ark we are protected during that last time those last plagues okay somebody else is asking past doug when does the seven years of tribulation begin after the close of probation when everybody's um being shaken into either receiving the seal of god or the mark of the beast something's happening in the world it's happening now i think you know from reading prophecy that there's going to be a shaking where everyone is going to polarize we see it in our country look how polarized the country is on two extremes right now and it's not only in our country you see it in the nations around the world things are getting polarized politically and they're soon going to be polarized religiously and it'll eventually transition into the point where everybody either is going to be receiving god's seal and worshiping the true god the power of god and the truth of god is going to go with a great voice or they're going to worship the beast in this image there'll be time of persecution some won't be able to buy or sell during that time the message is going to go loud and clear there'll be miracles signs and wonders by the beast and by god's people so we're gonna have to know remember moses he did a miracle the pharaohs magicians they did miracles too so during the time before the plagues fell there were there's a battle of miracles that were taking place but then finally everyone will make their decision probation will close the great time of trouble the seven plagues will happen then okay this person is asking also i just don't want to leave them wondering uh they mentioned seven years of tribulation does the bible say anywhere that there's the tribulation in seven years bob no the great uh there'll be a small time of trouble and no one's sure exactly how long that will be we're fairly certain the seven last plagues are not seven years because it says all of her plagues will come in a day and that means within a day within a year a day in prophecies a year so and you think about it uh the the severity of those plagues oceans blood fresh water supplies blood men scorch with great heat people being plagued with a noise some sore darkness on the seat of the beast you look at those plagues and you know life that's why jesus said it let unless those days would be shortened no flesh would survive so the plagues that fell on ancient egypt happened in a matter of a couple of months the plagues that job went through happened in quick succession it was a matter of a few weeks seven last plagues will be very intense but it's going to be less than a year nowhere in the bible does it say seven years of tribulation that's something that is presumed all right another question it says pasadena can you say something about the 144 000 yes you want to be part of that number when the saints come marching in right um yeah the 144 000 are basically your last day apostles they are not the only ones saved you look at the descriptions it's given of the hundred and forty four thousand it says that they they follow the lamb wherever he goes like the apostles did the number is 12 times 12 000. you know something interesting happened in uh acts chapter one just before god pours out the holy spirit and the message goes like lie wildfire at pentecost it says peter stood up and said you know we used to have twelve apostles we're down one judas hung himself we need to replace judas they went through a process they replaced judas the next word says then the holy spirit fell they got that number 12 back through the leadership of the 12 apostles but they were not the only ones saved and filled with the spirit there were 120 in the upper room but the 144 000 are a special group with a special relationship and a special work in the last days you know jesus said of nathanael here is an israelite in whom there is no guile it says of the hundred and forty four thousand there is no guile that they they are honest they follow the lamb it kind of defines them as apostles but through their preaching a great multitude is converted and um many are saved jesus sent the apostles to the lost sheep of the house of israel in the last days you're going to have 12 times 12 000 before the second coming that go to the whole world that's what it means but they're not the only ones that are saved and i think we have a lesson that talks more about the uh hundred and forty four thousand or at least spiritually yeah we do yeah i think that's coming up so folks want to stay tuned for that one uh pastor doug why do some bibles have different books and how do you know which ones are inspired well in most protestant bibles all protestant bibles have the same number of books some of the catholic bibles like the douay version they've got some books that are mostly inter-testamental books that we are referred to as the apocryphal books they are of dubious origin and but the maccabees are it's a good book for history but even some of the catholic priests say that probably not inspired as you find the holy canon of scripture and then some of them they just appeared out of history and they're kind of doubtful see one reason we know the books in the bible that we have now are sacred is they in cross-pollinate they endorse each other there's a symbionic relationship between the books peter quotes jude and jude quotes peter and peter quotes paul and and jesus all of the apostles were involved in writing the books they were recognized by the early church people who were alive contemporaneous with the apostles knew that these books were authentic some other books appeared later in history and no one knew where they came from they were probably written by some church leaders wanted to make a point and they don't match the teachings don't match up so they're considered apocryphal books and they're not in the protestant bibles okay here's an interesting question does the environmental movement have some significance in bible prophecy well i think so you know it tells us in revelation is it revelation 11 god will destroy those that destroy the earth the nations are angry yeah it's it's interesting that um revelation says in the last days they'll be concerned about the earth being destroyed and boy that fills the headlines in all the western countries now great concern for in fact in europe they're going to have a special um uh what do they call it a green sunday where the church leader is going to come together and talk about how can we save the environment so i do think that under the pretense of wanting to save mother earth because how do you get all the atheists in the world to work in cooperation with the uh christians well they they all seem to worship mother earth it's interesting you watch nature programs produced by atheists and they talk about isn't nature miraculous isn't nature wonderful how miraculous that nature does these things i'm thinking why don't you just say god they have problems with admitting there's an intelligent god but that's the way they're going to bridge the the millions of atheists in the world with christianity common goal of saving the world saving the planet i think it's going to play in there okay do people have the mark of the beast now no nobody has the mark of the beast yet uh when it is enforced as a law that you either do it or you can't buy or sell then those who make that choice that's that's the testing point that'll be a pivot point if people choose to obey the laws of the beast instead of the laws of god they'll receive the mark of the beast okay what political power should we be watching as we near the end of time well we've learned today that um the the roman catholic church is a political power and it's a religious power and we also mention the united states but we have another boy no better time than now friends to tune in for our study that deals with the usa in prophecy so that's another one i think along with that you should be watching what's happening with the the division of the roman empire which is comprised of much of the european union countries right now and they're all going to be working together um china i think is actually going to have an interesting role so we'll watch and see okay so stay tuned for more yeah unpack more coming into these this might be a question we addressed earlier but we want to answer it quick again it says are there three heavens and i think it's reference to paul being caught up to the third heaven no they're not different levels of heaven when paul says i was caught up to the third heaven he's talking about the third definition of heaven the jews understood the first heaven was the air around the earth the atmosphere where you've got birds flying and clouds floating second heaven was the heavenly bodies where the sun moon and stars hang third heaven was the place of god's dwelling or paradise what we call heaven and when he says third heaven he's just talking about the dwelling place of god not that there's three levels in heaven where you've got people in heaven segregated based on you know how well they did in this life or something okay um here's a question it says did the jews have a form of baptism or washing before john the baptist began to preach you know many of the orthodox jews back in the time of john the essenes they did practice ceremonial washings and most modern jews today they are very it's interesting they practice washing on a regular basis in the time of christ they went through ceremonial washings but it wasn't always baptism but today i hope i won't offend anybody but when you walk around the old city of jerusalem it's divided in four quarters you were there with me a couple years ago it's really easy to see that the jewish quarter is the cleanest quarter they are very meticulous about washings and cleanliness but not so much like the baptism that they had in ancient times and i think they found some some groups within the jewish um tradition that were practicing a type of scene the scenes yeah by baptist scrolls quran or qumran scroll so yeah very interesting uh here's a question pastor doug will satan impersonate jesus's second coming and if he does will he have the scars in his hands well yes and no will satan seek to impersonate christ yes absolutely jesus said there will be false christs and false prophets and i think that the devil is making his case for the lord you were able to come god came to the earth and in the form of a man the incarnation jesus satan i don't know whether he's going to possess a man or whether he'll just be a a an angel of light that will appear he will claim to be christ he will not have the power to come in the heavens as jesus is coming only christ will be able to do that and when christ comes we don't touch the ground we are caught up to meet him he doesn't touch the ground he doesn't no yes sorry when christ comes he doesn't touch the ground we are caught up to meet him in the air and so the devil's not going to be able to impersonate rapturing us up so if anyone walks around or you turn your channels and it says guess what jesus has showed up i wouldn't even watch the bible says go not forth don't even look satan is going to be very compelling very convincing very majestic he will quote scripture he will look loving he will work miracles satan can do miracles he can bring fire down from heaven he did it in the book of job so yes i believe satan is going to seek to personate christ in the last days all right here's another question it says babies are born with a tendency to sin why should they not be baptized well i think babies are dedicated babies are born all creatures since sin we've kind of been born with these selfish natures but they're not able to cognitively rationalize the distinction between right and wrong until they get older they can't repent of their sins i think it's great to dedicate your children to the lord but when parents do that that's really the parents dedicating themselves to the lord but baby can't be taught the ten commandments the bible says go teach baptize in the bible there's no example of a baby being baptized there are babies being dedicated and that's what we ought to be doing jesus was dedicated as a baby baptized when he was 30. and so we find that guilt is not placed upon a person until they know right from wrong and able to make that decision for example you wouldn't treat somebody who maybe has a mental handicap the same as you would somebody who understands what they're doing absolutely and christ said that if you did not know you would have no sin but since now you know your sin remains to whom much is given much is required baby doesn't know right this person is asking when is the battle of armageddon is it before the second coming or at the end of the thousand years the battle of armageddon is a final battle between good and evil that begins before the second coming you might say it's phase one of the battle when the dragon makes war with the woman and it concludes when the devil in revelation 20 surrounds the city of god to launch his final assault and so it's it's probably safer to call it the war of armageddon but it begins i believe uh just during the time prior to christ's return it concludes after the one thousand years so it kind of begins at the second coming but has its final judgment and the devil and his angels are cast in the lake of fire the war is finally won for good that's at the very end yeah okay great well friends we'd like to remind you about our free offer for today it's one of our amazing facts study guides it's entitled who is the antichrist and we'll be happy to send this to anyone actually you can download it for free all you have to do is text the word revive revival 2 for sorry reveal to 40544 again that's revealed to 40544 you'll get a digital download of the study guide if you're outside of north america again we want to encourage you to go to the revelation now website and you'll be able to download that for free so pastor doug another very important meeting this evening going to be talking about the mark of death and this is really dealing with the the antichrist power and what is the mark of the beast and we'll also be touching on what is the seal of god in this lesson and so everybody if you want to know that you're not getting the wrong mark and you are getting the right mark you want to make sure and tune in once again friends it's not too late for you to call your friends and encourage them to tune in just take the revelation now link send it to them you might even send it with a personal invitation you can do a video message and say you don't want to miss this presentation tonight especially with everything that is going on the world today i think that uh these presentations could not be more timely friends i think we're seeing the very prophecies we're talking about are being unfolded before our eyes and god wants people to get ready so be praying for these meetings pray for everything to go well technically as we're doing this here and that god will pour out his spirit and we believe that uh many people will be preparing and our series now continues through november 14. no meeting sunday night we have a meeting but no meeting on monday so then we'll be back again tuesday night sunday night no meeting monday tuesday wednesday and the final big weekend is going to be the 13th and 14th where we're going to tie off some of these great subjects friends if you were going to miss a meeting you should have missed all the other ones don't want to miss anything from here on out because this is where it really gets interesting again we want to encourage you to tell your friends make sure you set your alarm to join us tonight 7 p.m pacific time [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 88min 32sec (5312 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021