Hello, and welcome to this
teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses these
messages to reach people around the world, and
we're thankful to hear stories of lives being
transformed by his love. If this message impacts
you, we'd like to know. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/giving. As we continue our
series What's Next? we learned that a religious
deceiver will aid and abet the Antichrist, who
will force the world to worship him strengthening
his global leadership. Now, we invite you to turn in
your Bibles to Revelation 13 as Skip begins the message
"The Coming Deception." Good to see you. Good to have you. Would you turn in
your Bibles please to the book of Revelation,
last book in that Bible. Turn to Revelation
to the 13th chapter. We looked at part
of it last week, we're going to look at the
rest of that chapter this week. This series is
called, What's Next? It's a question everybody asks. Revelation chapter 13. So at the airport there
were some baggage handlers who went to the luggage bay to
take out one of those animal carriers, and they discovered
that the dog inside the animal carrier was dead. So they panicked, and
they thought of a lawsuit that would come their way. And so to mitigate
against that, they called the owner of
that pet and said, hey, your dog has been sent
to a different destination, but we promise we'll
retrieve the dog and bring it to your house. She said fine. In the meantime, they
found a living dog that looked very similar
to the one that had died, and they put it in its place
hoping to fool the woman. Well, when they
came to our house and delivered her living
dog in that animal carrier, she took one look at it and
said, that's not my dog. My dog is dead. I was bringing it
home for burial. It's hard to deceive
somebody who knows the truth. You don't trick a dog
owner who knows its dog, because he or she
knows its dog and knows what's not the real dog. And when it comes
to Christ, we who know the true Jesus Christ
also know that there will be a false Jesus. Jesus said that in the last
days many Christs would rise up, false messiahs would rise up. Now, we have discovered in
our studies of the Scriptures, not only in Revelation
but throughout the Bible, that the Bible predicts
a ruler to come to the Earth who will be a
false messiah, a false Christ. A few years ago in Florida
during Christmas season when people put nativity
sets out-- some of them do-- on their front
lawns, a couple had their baby Jesus stolen. This was in Wellington,
Florida, a wealthy community. And this was a very
expensive nativity set. To replace baby Jesus
cost them $1,800. So it was an expensive
nativity set. It was stolen one year. The second year the
replacement Jesus was also stolen from
the nativity set. The third year they decided
to employ a clever tactic, they put a GPS tracker inside
baby Jesus just in case. Well, sure enough,
Jesus got stolen. And they went to
the thief's home. They found Jesus at her house,
an 18-year-old young woman who stole Jesus three
years in a row. It didn't just happen
in Wellington, Florida. It also happened in
Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This was not an expensive
Jesus, this was a plastic Jesus. He was stolen, along
with the chain attached to the plastic Jesus, along
with the cement block attached to the chain attached
to the baby Jesus, all there to prevent somebody
from stealing the baby Jesus. It was stolen. Come to find out,
there's actually something called the
stolen baby Jesus syndrome. You can look it up. Google it, not now, but at home. But every year,
there's some wise acre who wants to either
play a joke or is against Christmas who
steals baby Jesus. Sometimes when one is
stolen, a replacement is put in the crib, a little
doll, a stuffed animal, a substitute Jesus. The Bible predicts
a coming leader who will be a substitute
messiah and deceive the world, if that's even possible,
to deceive the whole world. It was Abraham Lincoln who said,
you can fool some of the people some of the time and some of the
people all of the time and all the people some of the time, but
you cannot fool all the people all the time. But the Antichrist will
do a pretty good job of deceiving most
all of the world as we saw last time
when we were together. And we made a
discovery, and that is that the devil's primary
plan for the last days is to raise up two individuals,
one that we typically call the Antichrist,
along with somebody else called the false prophet enter--
instruments of deception sent to this world. Now, I'll tell you
right off the bat as we get into the
rest of Revelation 13, this sermon is going to
be a controversial one. Not that the other ones
aren't, but this one especially will be in light of our
current environment, in light of what's happening
in the news these days and with a politically correct
environment that we live in. So what I want to do in
looking at in this chapter is give you three categories
regarding the future, and they're simple divisions. What we know, what we're
told, and what we hope. What we know to be true from
the Scripture, what we're told by some we're going
to see in the future, and what we hope. Let's begin with what we
know, and let's go and look at Revelation 13 verse 11. Then I saw, John said, then
I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he
had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon. And he exercises
all the authority of the first beast
in his presence and causes the
earth and those who dwell in it to worship the
first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great
signs so that he even makes fire come down
from Heaven on the earth in the sight of men. He deceives those who
dwell on the Earth by those signs,
which he was granted to do in the sight of the
beast, telling those who dwell on the Earth to make an image
to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 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. He causes all, both great
and small or small and great, rich and poor, free and
slave, to receive a mark on their right hand
or on their foreheads. And that no one may
buy or sell, except one who has the mark or
the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has
understanding calculate the number of the beast, for
it is the number of a man. His number is 666. Without speculation,
here's what we know. We know that someone that we
call Antichrist is coming. We know that for sure. Jesus predicted it. Daniel said it. John, Paul-- they all predicted
that some ruler, whom John called Antichrist--
1 John chapter 2 verse 18, little
children, you have heard that the Antichrist is coming. We know that for sure. Last week we took a look at him. John saw in the beginning part
of this chapter, a beast rising up out of the sea. And we showed you
that in the Bible, sea is often emblematic
of nations, especially Gentile nations. We also saw that he will be
given a universal authority and adoration. We gave you a
sixfold description of the Antichrist-- wickedness,
world dominion, wonder, worship, words, and war. That was last week's outline. We discovered he's going to
persecute God's people-- verse seven of Revelation 13. He will target Jews and
Christians-- verse 10 even says killing them with the sword. And then we will
discover in chapter 20 of the book of Revelation
that they are beheaded for their faith in Christ. Daniel chapter 9 tells
us this world ruler will make some kind of a
covenant for seven years with the Jews
regarding their temple and regarding their
land, and he will renege on that contract in
the middle of that seven year period. Jesus called that event the
abomination of desolation. He, Jesus, said in
Matthew 24, that event will take place in Jerusalem
on the Temple Mount. And he tells everybody in
Jerusalem, every Jewish person, to flee to the mountains
when that happens, because this ruler's
headquarters will be set up in Jerusalem in Israel. Moreover, if you just think
back a couple of studies, we noted that the
Antichrist is depicted as the first rider in chapter
six on the white horse. He comes conquering
and to conquer. And we discovered that after he
comes, though he brings peace at first, he will bring
in carnage and devastation to follow. So that we know. We know that for sure. Somebody is coming
in the future. Don't know when,
don't know who it is. Here's the second
thing we know for sure, besides the Antichrist,
he's not alone. He's going to have a
religious counterpart. I believe we see him here in the
second part of Revelation 13. He is called the false prophet,
not here, but three places in the book of Revelation. Chapter 16 verse 13,
chapter 19 verse 20, and chapter 20 verse 10
all talk about the beast and the false prophet. The dragon, Satan, the
beast, and the false prophet. Now, we notice that this
second beast rises up out of the earth, not
like the first beast that rises up out of the sea. This rises up out of the Earth. Literally, the term
Earth means the land, and that's why some Bible
commentators have speculated that the false prophet,
the second beast, is Jewish because the land
often refers to the Holy Land, the land of Israel. So the Antichrist
then, they say, rises up out of the sea of
nations, the Gentiles, which is often emblematic in the
Scripture of Gentile nations we discovered last time. But that the false
prophet could be Jewish. Moreover, notice
his description. He has two horns like what? Like a lamb. This is a kinder
and gentler beast. This is different from
the first beast rising up out of the sea with
seven heads and 10 horns. This has two horns like a
lamb, but when he speaks he speaks deception. He speaks like a dragon. Notice also, there's
no crowns on his head like the first beast. And that is because
his authority is not political authority. It's not governmental authority. This is spiritual authority. His primary role is to deceive
people into a worship system. Notice it says,
he deceives those who dwell on the
Earth by signs that he is granted to do in the
presence of the beast. So his primary deception, or
his primary role is deception. His primary means
of that deception is by miraculous signs. And his primary incentive--
get this-- is the economy, because the economy will
be so bad-- we've already discovered-- during
that time millions, even billions of people
will die on the Earth through a number of things that
happen, including starvation. People's vulnerability will
be at an all time high. They will be willing
to do anything if it means feeding their
families, their children, et cetera. And so the incentive behind this
is that you cannot buy or sell unless you take a specific mark. We don't know how that's
going to turn out exactly. It could be much like
the city requires a chip to be placed in your pet so
they can keep track of it and tell the history of it. That could happen with humans. Now, for years, prophecy
buffs and Bible commentators have all thought
that the empire that will rise at the end of days--
the revived Roman Empire they have said-- is probably
going to happen in Europe, and they have even said with the
European Common Market, the 10 nations at one time. Now, there are many more coming
and going in the Common Market. But for years, people
have looked for a leader to come, a secular leader,
out of the European nations because they say geographically
that was the old Roman empire, the continent of Europe. But let me suggest a different
direction and a different way to look at that this morning. When we talk about the
revived Roman Empire, here's what we have to
discover-- that whole idea came about with a vision
that Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel chapter two. Remember, he saw the
polymetallic image-- head of gold, chest of silver,
stomach and thighs of bronze, and two legs of iron,
which represented the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire that
ruled the world at one time. But then, there were 10
toes of iron and clay, and they say that is the
revived Roman Empire, just like the 10 horns that
are mentioned in Revelation-- 10 toes, 10 horns. We can see the similarities. However, just like there were
two legs on that statute that did speak of the
Roman Empire, did you know that the Roman Empire
like the legs split in 395 AD? That there was an eastern
branch, as well as a western branch of
the Roman Empire? And that the Western branch
died out pretty quickly, but the eastern branch lived
on for another 1,000 years, and its headquarters was
Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, Turkey. Now here's something
else to realize. When we talk about
the Roman Empire that ruled the world,
including Israel, et cetera, Europe, et cetera,
what most people don't realize is that 60% of the Roman
Empire at the time of Jesus Christ-- the time of
the New Testament-- 60% are lands that are
today occupied by Islam. Most of the land mass of
the Roman Empire today is occupied and
controlled by Muslims. Now, I understand something. It is not fashionable,
first of all, to even talk about
this in church. It is certainly not fashionable
or politically correct to talk about this
in the public square. It is fashionable to lump all
religions in one little basket and say they're all the same. And whether it's Christianity
or Judaism or Islam, it's all the same God
with a different name, and it's fashionable to get
the coexist bumper sticker and stick it on your Subaru
and happily go down the road. However, what is fashionable
is not always Biblical. And I think we need to not
only look at the Bible, but look at what's
happening around the world at this time in our history and
make a different suggestion. Do you know that today
there is an Islamic revival like never seen before? And do you know that the revival
in this country-- conversions to Islam-- have gone up and
up and up since September 11, 2001? It's quadrupled. Before September 11, 2001,
25,000 Americans every year converted to Islam. Since 9/11, over 100,000
Americans every year convert to Islam. Those are the going rates. Islam will pass Christianity
as the world's largest religion in less than 20 years. According to one source, one
half of all global births will be Muslim by the year 2055. Now, as you look at the news--
I hope you do look at the news. I hope you read it. I hope you listen to. Have you ever wondered
things like why am I hearing so much about Islam? I guarantee you have
heard more about Islam in the last decade or
five years even than you have your whole lifetime. And you wonder why. Why am I hearing
so much about it? What's really happening
in the Middle East? What's this deal with ISIS? Are they done yet? What's this idea of a
caliphate I hear about? I want you to listen
very carefully to what I'm about to
say, and listen carefully to the news that is
coming out because you may be looking at the future. Now, that's what we know. We know what we have just
stated-- Antichrist is coming, false prophet is
coming-- we don't know when, don't know who. Let me give you a
second category. This is what we're told. This is what we are told by
the fastest growing religion in the world-- Islam--
about the end times. Did you know that Islam
has an eschatology? Let me back up. Do you know what
an eschatology is? Eschatology means the
study of last things, the doctrine of last
things or end time events. We have an eschatology. The Bible tells us what's going
to happen in the end of days. Did you know that Islam
has an eschatology? Most Christians really
don't know much about Islam, and few Christians
know little or nothing when it comes to
Islamic eschatology. They have an end time scenario. Lately, that eschatology has
been leaking out on the news with events like San
Bernardino, California, and Brussels, Belgium, and
Paris and ISIS beheadings. And now this talk about
a caliph and a caliphate. By the way, the
caliphate is a real deal. There's a land
occupied by ISIS today that is larger
than Great Britain. It is controlled by
them, and it is growing in that part of the world. So Muslims look
at you Christians, and they have a name for you. Well, they have
several names for you. But one of the names-- the
polite name-- for you is you are people of the book. We are people of the book. Jews and Christians are called
by Muslims, respectfully, people of the book, because
we hold to the Bible, the Old and the New Testament. So we are people of the book. However, our books
have been corrupted. The Old and New Testament
were original words that have been corrupted
by Jews and Christians, so thus, the only reliable
source of revelation is the Quran. And Muslims have two
sources for their authority. The Quran, which they say are
the direct words of Allah. And second is the Sunnah,
sometimes called the Hadiths. The Sunnah are the words and the
works of Mohammed the prophet. So between the Quran,
the words of Allah, and the Sunnah, the words
and works of Muhammad, they develop their
authority for everything. According to Islamic theology,
they see the end of days as being ushered in by three
great signs, three great signs. And all three are in the form
of a person that is coming, three persons. The first sign, the
first person, they say is the Mahdi, the Mahdi. M-A-H-D-I, if
you're taking notes. The Mahdi is equivalent
to the Messiah. The word Mahdi means
the guided one. He is also called the awaited
Savior, the Lord of the age, and the 12th Imam. What will the Mahdi do? What will their awaited
Savior come to do? This is what he'll come to do. He'll set up a new world
order, an Islamic caliphate, that is civil,
political, and spiritual. He will lead a world
revolution to establish Islam throughout the world,
throughout the world. They want nothing less
than world domination. And what if we refuse? What if anyone refuses? Here's their source. Quote: Mahdi will offer
the religion of Islam to the Jews and Christians. If they accept it,
they will be spared. Otherwise, they will be killed. End quote. How will the Mahdi do this? Through a massive army called
the Army of Black Flags and a series of holy wars with
this army carrying black flags. He will lead the
Army of Black Flags to conquer Jerusalem
and kill the Jews. This is all their writings. Then he will establish
rule, erecting black flags in the Temple
Mount at Jerusalem. And they call the Temple
Mount Haram al-Sharif. That is where he will
set up his headquarters. The black flags have one
word written across it. Punishment. It's interesting-- is it
not-- that not only does ISIS carry the black flags,
but the Iranian army carries the black flags? Both are waiting as
all Muslims in any form have an anticipation that
someday the Mahdi will come. Now, here's what's amazing,
the Mahdi according to them will make a peace
agreement with the Jews and the West, whom
they call Romans. And what's most amazing
is the time frame for this peace agreement. Just take a wild guess. Seven year peace agreement. They say the Mahdi will
come, make a seven year peace agreement with the Jews and
with the West, AKA the Romans, and they even have him
riding in on a white horse-- their writings say as it is
written in Revelation chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. Coming to conquer
and conquering. So to sum it up, the Mahdi
is a messianic figure, an unparalleled leader, he
will take control of the world. He will destroy
all who resist him. He will invade many nations. He will enact a seven year
peace treaty with the Jews. He will conquer Israel. He will massacre the Jews. He will establish Islamic world
headquarters at Jerusalem. He will come on a white horse. He will rule for seven years. And he will be loved
by all on the earth. Does that sound familiar? Sounds like what
we've been studying. That's the first sign. The second sign following the
Mahdi, is that Jesus will come. Yes, they believe in Jesus. Muslims believe,
not only in Jesus, but they believe in the
second coming of Jesus. I dare say, far more than
some Christians believe in the second coming of Jesus. They believe he will come again. He will return. The call Jesus Isa al-Masih. They say Jesus will
come, but to them Jesus was just a man who didn't die. He didn't die on a cross. That's a myth, they say. Jesus didn't die, and if he
didn't die, he didn't rise. And if he didn't die, he didn't
make any atonement for sin. So what did he do? He was spared from crucifixion,
and he ascended into Heaven like Elijah the prophet and
is standing alongside Allah, waiting for Allah to send
Jesus back to the earth. Why would Allah want to send
Jesus back to the earth? He's got a lot of
prophets to choose from. Why Jesus? Allah is going to send
Jesus back to the Earth to correct all Christians who
have misunderstood who he is. He's going to come back, they
say, as a radical Muslim. Imagine that. Jesus will return
as a radical Muslim and help the Mahdi institute
Sharia law on the whole Earth. They say he will come back
to abolish Christianity. Their words to shatter,
or to break, crosses. Why shatter crosses? Why break crosses? Because Jesus wasn't
crucified, they say. They have him coming
from Heaven holding the two wings of two angels. He'll descend to a
minaret east of Damascus at the time of Muslim prayer. The Mahdi will then ask
Jesus to lead the prayer. Jesus will refuse
to lead the prayer standing behind the Mahdi to
show that the Mahdi is greater than Jesus. They say Jesus will
be the greatest witness on the day of
judgment against non-Muslims who believe that Jesus was God. He will also kill--
I'll give you his name, and then I'll explain his
name in a minute-- Jesus will kill the Dajjal, the Dajjal. He's written about many
hadiths, many writings. The Dajjal is Muslims'
version of Antichrist. Then Jesus will get
married, have a family, die, and be buried
next to Muhammad. That's how it goes down. So two signs so far--
the Mahdi is coming. Second, Jesus is coming to
correct everybody and enforce Sharia laws of radical Muslim. And number three-- the third
great sign is the Dajjal is coming. He will try to vanquish
Jesus and the Mahdi, and he will try to
reign over the Earth. Now the Dajjal's full
title is Masih al-Dajjal, which is the
Messiah the deceiver written about, as I mentioned,
in many different hadiths in the Sunnah. The Dajjal will come as a
miracle worker, a false miracle worker. He claims to be Jesus. He claims to be God. He will attempt
to stop the Mahdi, and he will be a
defender of the Jews. Well, it's pretty easy to see
that the Bible's Antichrist is Islam's Savior. And the Bible's false prophet
is Islam's Jesus Christ. And the Bible's returning
Christ is Islam's Antichrist. In the very least, this
should be sobering to you. In the very least, this
should pique your interest, especially since
Daniel chapter 7 said, this coming world
ruler Antichrist will intend to
change times and law. Times and law. The Muslim documents say
that when Mahdi comes, he will throw out all human
constitutions, including the US Constitution, and enact
a worldwide Sharia law. He will also change
all the calendars back to the right calendar,
the Islamic calendar following the migration of Mohammed
from Mecca to Medina. It's just interesting that
the Antichrist intends to change times and law. So the first category-- what
we know from the Scriptures. Second-- what we are told. But let's end with a
third-- what we hope. And what we hope takes us back
to verse 8 of Revelation 13. I want you to look
at it as I read it. All who dwell on the Earth
will worship him-- now, watch this carefully--
whose names have not been written in the book
of life of the lamb slain from the foundations
of the world. Now, that verse implies
that even during that time, there will be some who
resist the Antichrist and resist the worship
and resist this takeover. And their names are written
in the book of life. All those who haven't
will capitulate. But there will be
some who resist. And just as the devil's
plan in the last days is to raise up two men,
God's plan throughout history is to give the world one man. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes
in him will not perish but have everlasting life. And that was God's
plan since creation. Notice at the end
of verse 8, the lamb slain from the
foundations of the world. And there is a book
of life, by the way. I don't know if your
name's in it or not. Do you? Do you know your name is in it? You can live with assurance. And one thing you should make
sure about above everything else is that your name is
written in that book of life. And you know Christian,
if you receive Christ, if you come to Jesus, if
you're not a believer, your name can be written
in the book of life. If you are a Christian,
it's already written there. And you can live
with the assurance-- you see, the assurance--
that when you die, you're going to be in Heaven
because your name is written in the lamb's book of life. Now, the sad thing is that
Muslims live without assurance. Ask a Muslim, do you know
for certain that when you die you'll go to Heaven? They can't say yes. They believe in a god that
believes in abrogation. He can change his mind from one
day to the next if he chooses, so they never live
with assurance. There's only one way a
Muslim can be assured that He will go directly to Heaven. That's by losing his life
in the cause of Jihad. If he does that, in whatever
way, whatever even twisted way, that guarantees that
Muslim eternal Heaven. Here's what you need
to know, however. Yes, Islam is the fastest
growing religion in the world, but do you know that
there are people around this world in Islam
whose eyes are being opened and are coming to Jesus Christ? Do you know here's from
one Muslim sheikh who said in Africa alone there
are over six million Muslims who have converted to Christ. That breaks down to 667
per hour or 16,000 a day. Many of them who
have been illiterate are now starting to understand
as the Quran is being read to them in its fullest
and the hadiths are being read to
them in the fullest, they're seeing the true
face of their religion and they're turning
to Jesus Christ. I've spoken to many of
them in the Middle East. Now, this is a kind of a message
that could either produce fear or faith that overcomes fear. And I hope it will
be the latter. Muslims are not the enemy. Muslims are not the enemy. Satan is the enemy, and
his lies are the enemy. And how do you fight lies? With truth. That's how you fight
lies, with truth. And what is the truth? John gets a vision of Heaven. And do you remember? He sees people from every
tongue, every tribe, every nation gathered around
the throne worshipping God, worshipping the lamb. Every nation in my estimation
means every nation. I think every means every. It means every Arab nation,
every Muslim nation-- there are some who overcome
and give their lives to Christ. A few years ago,
Christmastime, a family placed their nativity set
out on the front lawn. I don't know if
you've ever done that. I had one once. They put their nativity
set out on the front lawn. I used to put mine
out on the front lawn. It had light bulbs in it. Yeah, I was that guy. But a baby Jesus got stolen
from this family's nativity set. He was quoted in the
newspaper by saying, do you know where my Jesus is? Please return him to me. What a statement. Do you know where my Jesus is? Please return him to me. I think the world is crying
out, do you know where Jesus is? Return him to me. I think we need
to give the world a dose of the real Jesus, the
living Christ, living in us, powerful in us, loving
through us, living through us, because the false
Jesus is coming. The false Christ is coming. And make sure that your name is
written in God's book of life, the lamb's book of life. Father, as we
close this service, there's that element
of hope that penetrates even the darkest of revelation. You plainly tell us
what is happening and what is going to happen. But Father, we hold
on to the hope, just like we have
discovered our names are written in the book of life,
that many others will as well. So Father, we pray for
those who don't know Jesus. They might be part
of this service. Christianity to them has been
a social club up to this point, a pep rally up to this point. It hasn't been meaningful. It has been zeal
without knowledge. Lord, I pray that they will come
into an intimate relationship with you. And if you're here today and you
don't know Christ personally, right where you're seated,
wherever you are at, if you're listening by
radio or watching a podcast or listening to
one, eternal life can be yours if you simply agree
with God that you need Jesus, agree with God that you are a
sinner, and that you receive and accept God's
payment for your sin if you do that by faith. So wherever you are, you
could say, Lord, I admit it. I am a sinner. I know that, and I'm
sorry for my sin. I know that Jesus died
on a cross for me. He shed his blood for me. And that he rose from
the grave for me. And I turn from my sin. I turn from my past,
I leave it behind. You know all about it. But I turn to Jesus to save
me, and I want to follow him. Help me to do that. In Jesus' name, amen. As believers, we know that
the only person who deserves our worship is Jesus Christ. How will you share
the truth that you've learned from this message? Let us know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/giving. Thank you for joining us
for this teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque.
