As we make our way through the study of the book of Revelation, we are coming to the 13th chapter of Revelation, and we have introduced for us the final character who will perform in the closing scene of the last day's drama. We're going to see him for who he is. And in being introduced, he completes what is lacking in what I am calling and what many interpreters call the Unholy Trinity which is the title of tonight's sermon, "The Unholy Trinity." So I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 13. Although the Antichrist is going to be on the scene before the seven year Tribulation begins. He will have to have been in some form of leadership on the world stage prior to that time. It is during the Tribulation that he will actually achieve the prominence that will cause him to emerge from whatever obscurity he might've had prior to that. It is at the halfway point of the Tribulation as we talked about many times that he is then going to reveal himself for who he is and remove all doubts as to the dark character, by which he's possessed. According to the ninth chapter of Daniel this Antichrist is going to initiate a peace treaty with the nation of Israel at the beginning of the seven year tribulation or the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. Those are the same things. And in the halfway point of that seven years or in the middle of the week as Daniel nine says, he will break that treaty. And it is at that three and a half year point that this Antichrist is going to turn against Israel in a spiteful act of betrayal. And he is going to, in that moment be filled with the very presence of Satan and will then demand not only as he persecutes the Jewish people and persecutes those who've come to Christ during the Tribulation, but he will demand that everyone in the world worship him. So we are going to look at him and he's already been introduced in Revelation as the beast whom we're calling the Antichrist. And then eventually we'll get to that final character that I referenced a moment ago. So let's look beginning in the first two verses of Revelation 13, John says, "I stood on the sand of the sea, "and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. "The beast had seven heads and 10 horns. "And on his horns he had 10 crowns, "and on his heads he had a blasphemous name. "Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, "his feet were like the feet of a bear "and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. "And the dragon gave him his power, "his throne and great authority." So just to let you know, this 13th chapter of the book of Revelation is what connects us with the visions of Daniel and Jesus teaching in Matthew 24. And Paul's teaching in 2nd Thessalonians two. And I want you to see this chart that just shows you what I'm talking about. That what we will see as we move through this chapter is that this chapter is connected to and an extension of Daniel's visions that we've looked at, that was in Daniel two and Daniel seven, Daniel 11. Jesus teaching in Matthew 24 which is His most extensive section in the gospels on prophecy, Matthew 24. And Paul's teaching about the Antichrist in 2nd Thessalonians two. And I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Matthew 24 passage and with the 2nd Thessalonians chapter two passage. So when we were looking into the 12th chapter last week, we saw the dragon. We interpreted that as representing Satan. We didn't even have to strain over that one because in the ninth verse of chapter 12 it told us that it was Satan. But that Satan has seven heads and 10 horns, this dragon that represented Satan. But when we see this beast coming out of the sea he has the same characteristics. We talked about that as well last week. Now, what I want you to think about is this seven headed, 10 horned beast having these qualities in common with the dragon who is Satan. And the fact that this beast is seen, he's depicted as a beast coming from out of the sea in verse one of our passage. Now consider this, the sea is what connects all seven continents of the world. So for this beast to be coming out of the sea, it tells us that this is going to be someone who has dominion over the seven continents. In other words, this beast will be a ruler over the world. He's coming out of the sea. Now, when you contrast him with the dragon, this, the dragon, we know Satan is a spirit. The Antichrist is a human being, a flesh and blood man. And the Antichrist called the beast here with his seven heads and 10 horns. What's the difference? The difference is that on the dragon, the crowns were on the dragons seven heads, but on the Antichrist or the beast, the crowns are on the 10 horns. And this lets us know that the Antichrist seeing that crowns are on his horns, this depicts for us a political or governmental power, which he will exercise. Now, the number 10 is no accident, whether it is 10 horns on the dragon or 10 horns on the Antichrist. It hearkens back to the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream that Daniel interpreted for him in Daniel two, where if you'll remember the head and the chest and the torso and the thighs, and the different kingdoms that the image represented. But the feet with the 10 toes represents a revived Roman empire. So there were 10 toes that consisted of clay and iron co-mingled, which meant that though they represent a coalition of nations it was a fragile coalition. So those 10 toes on the foot of the beast from Daniel chapter two, we see that number 10 in the horns that are on this beast. But even easier to see is the correlation between the fourth beast in Daniel's vision. If you'll remember, he saw these four different beasts that represented four kingdoms. And in Daniel chapter seven and verse seven, it was on the head of the fourth beast that there were 10 horns. So all I'm doing is I'm saying to you that these 10 horns, whether they are on the head of the dragon who is Satan as John saw, or on the head of the beast coming out of the sea, as John saw. They take us back to the 10 toes on the foot of the image in Daniel two, and to the same 10 horns that were on the head of the fourth beast in Daniel's vision of four beasts in Daniel chapter seven. So what do we believe about these 10 horns? Well, we believe that they represent a 10 nation alliance that will emerge in the last days from across the part of the world that once comprised the ancient Roman Empire. And if you were to just Google ancient Roman Empire and click on maps, you would see that the ancient Roman Empire encompassed on the Western most end of Europe, what is now Spain. It reached eastward across the continent of Europe even taking in Britannia, which is modern day England. And it moved all the way over to modern day Turkey. It took in Palestine where the Holy Land is and it even took in the Northern coastline of the continent of Africa. So the Mediterranean Sea really was that body of water which united the different parts of the ancient Roman Empire. And so what we believe is that out of a revived Roman Empire in the last days, and perhaps we're living in those days, there will be a 10 nation alliance of some kind out of which this Antichrist, who is depicted as a beast coming out of the sea in Revelation 13, is going to emerge. Also in verse one of chapter 13 it says on these 10 heads, there was a blasphemous name. Which tells you that if these 10 horns on the head of the beast represents this 10 nation confederacy which is the beginning of his establishment of multinational power that on those heads is written a blasphemous name. It tells you that from the beginning of his rule over other nations, his reign will be characterized by blasphemy. Right there in verse one. And we know that blasphemy is the sin of insulting and assaulting the name and the character of Almighty God. Then when we continued reading as we did there in verse number two, it says the beast which I saw was like and compared him into a leopard and a bear and a lion. And these three beast to whom John compares this beast that we know to be the Antichrist. These are reminiscent of Daniel seven. And you see, this is why when we were studying the Book of Daniel, we talked over and over again how we were going to see the things we were studying in Daniel reappearing in the last book of the Bible, where we are now. And now we see it more than ever before here in the 13th chapter. I mean, we have got to be constantly going back to Daniel to understand what's being depicted in visions to John in Revelation 13. It was in Daniel seven that we understood the vision of the leopard to represent Alexander the Great, who was the world conqueror who established the Greek Empire. And he moved swiftly conquering all parts of the known world at that time, like a leopard would move swiftly. And then the bear that was leaning up on one side in the Daniel seven vision represented Medo-Persian. And this beast is said to have feet like a bear. And then if you'll remember, the lion represented Babylon in Daniel chapter seven. And this Antichrist of Revelation 13 is said to have the mouth of a lion. So when you stop and think about that the different beast that depicted the different kingdoms in Daniel's vision. The Antichrist has resemblance to all three and you say, well, what about the fourth from Daniel seven which we know to be the Roman Empire, this beast himself is the essence of the revived Roman Empire. So by looking like a leopard, having feet like a bear, having a mouth like a lion, he is the combination of each of these secular and blasphemous and ungodly world powers from antiquity. So the Antichrist represents the culmination of all secular Gentile, political and governmental power. All of that is in the vision of what he looks like, being compared to a leopard bear and a lion. But here's what I want us to think about the last part of verse two. I want you to underline the last sentence in verse two it says, "The dragon gave him his power, "gave him his throne "and gave him his great authority." What does that tell you? If the dragon is Satan, it tells you this, that this ruler, this human being who is going to establish a multi-national confederacy of nations. This ruler is going to be empowered directly from Satan. In fact, we believe, as I talked about in our study from chapter 12 last week, he is going to be literally possessed, in dwelt, the very presence of Satan is going to take over this man's existence. And so there's no question as to the source of his power, his throne, and his authority. Last part of verse two, all right. Let's look in verse three. John says, "And I saw one of his heads "as if it had been mortally wounded, "but his deadly wound was healed. "And all the world marveled and followed the beast. "So they worshiped the dragon, Satan "who gave authority to the beast," who is the Antichrist. "And they worshiped the Antichrist, the beast "saying, "Who is like the beast "and who is able to make war with him?" Now, there's been a lot of speculation as to what it means that when John saw one of his heads and the beast had seven of them. One of his heads appeared to have been mortally wounded. Is this a symbol of a prophecy that the Antichrist is going to appear to have died, to have suffered a fatal wound of some kind. And then in verse three it says, "His deadly wound was healed." Is it going to be such that he experiences what looks like a death and a resurrection? Well, it's interesting for us to consider that because it would have to be something on that scale for the result to be, in verse three for all the world to marvel and follow after him because of this miracle that the Antichrist experiences. Now remember, we've said before that everything real that God has and does Satan tries to produce a counterfeit or a fake. And when we were studying back in chapter 11 these two mighty witnesses who are going to have supernatural powers and can call down fire on their enemies, and they're going to survive persecution and opposition. People are gonna be afraid of them but they're gonna be preaching the gospel. These two witnesses eventually succumbed to death. Their bodies are on display in the streets of Jerusalem, but miraculously, they are resurrected. Isn't it interesting that for God's two mighty witnesses to be resurrected after all the world was glorying in their deaths. So the Antichrist will simulate that same type of death and resurrection, according to many people's interpretation of verse three. And of course, don't forget this that Jesus Himself died and was resurrected. So if Christ died and was resurrected and we believe in Him because He was raised from the dead miraculously by the power of God, then it is no wonder that the Antichrist is going to simulate death and resurrection because he is going to be the false Christ. So verse three is very revealing about this mortal wound and this miraculous recovery. Don't forget also that in Revelation chapter five and verse six, John said he saw a Lamb standing but showing signs of having been killed or slain. So whether it is Revelation five that the Lamb of God who is Jesus was standing although He had been slain, a sign of His resurrection or the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 who were slain, but resurrected. Here the Antichrist is going to fabricate the same type of phenomenon. And because of it everybody's going to marvel over his power. And after he is raised, what happens? The world marvels and follows after him. And then it says, listen, they're not even worshiping according to some, you know God like Buddha or Mohammed, or are some religion or sect like that. It says very clearly that because of his miraculous recovery they just flat out worshiped the dragon who is the beast. So this is going to be a satanic worship that characterizes the last days when the Antichrist succumbs to this mere fatal blow or at least in appearance, fatal blow and resurrection. And then did you see the questions they were asking in verse four, who is like the beast and who is able to make war with the beast? So you have the mimicking of death and resurrection resulting in a satanic form of worship that is directed towards this Antichrist himself and ultimately towards the spirit that inspires him, who is Satan? All right, so verse five, "He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, "and he was given authority to continue for 42 months." And remember, we talked about whether it's 1,260 days 42 months, or a time times and half a time. All of those are interchangeable references to the last three and a half years of the Tribulation. So he's given his authority to keep up his blasphemies through the last three and a half years. And in verse six it says, "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God "to blaspheme God's name "to blaspheme God's tabernacle" which we believe to be heaven. "And those who dwell in heaven." Verse seven, "It was granted to him," to the Antichrist. "To make war with the saints "and to overcome the saints. "And authority was given to him "over every tribe, "every tongue and every nation. "All who dwell on the earth will worship him. "That it is those whose names have not been written "in the Book of Life of the Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world." Okay, so you see a lot right there. Now I wanna tell you something. If you were to read verses five, six, and seven and then you go back and study Daniel chapter seven and 11. What you would find is, you would find that it almost looks as though John right-click copied and pasted passages from Daniel seven and 11 into verses five, six, and seven of chapter 13 because all that he saw in the Book of Daniel, what Daniel was given a vision of was this beast or this Antichrist all the way back in the exile when the Jews were living in Babylon Daniel saw all of this. And now in the Book of Revelation where you're seeing that all which Daniel was seeing is being pinned on the tail of this beast of Revelation 13, who is the Antichrist. I'm talking about his pompous words, his blaspheme, the time that he will have to persecute the saints and to speak against the people of God. So what I want you to think about in this passage here that we've just read is that there are going to be two primary realms of dominion enjoyed by the Antichrist. And the first one is political. Political. Because if you look in verse seven where we just read it says, "It was granted to him to make war with the saints." But look at the last sentence. "Authority was given him over every tribe, "tongue and nation." So he is given the power to rule over every tribe, tongue and nation. That can be nothing other than political power. Do you realize that politics is power? And so if he establishes and is granted the power to rule over every people group in the world, do you realize that Jesus Christ is coming to establish a kingdom when Jesus Himself the true Christ will do that. So once again, the Antichrist in this grab for power, which he'll be allowed to have to establish this worldwide rule, his rule is going to be a counterfeit to Christ's millennial reign. So even what's being described in verse number seven, the Antichrist's ruling the earth is just a counterfeit and a short-lived version of it, by the way for the real thing, when Jesus Christ will come at the end of the Tribulation and truly and completely rule over every nation, tribe and tongue. But I wanna say something to you about this because when you think about the book of Revelation there is no way to divorce politics from Revelation. I'm not saying necessarily to divorce current politics from Revelation but politics determines the rule and direction of nations. And when you see that this Antichrist is going to have political dominion around the world then it means that politics is referred to in the Bible. Every time you see reference to a king in the Bible there's politics in the Bible. Every time you see references to nations in the Bible there's politics in the Bible. We are living closer and closer to the times that are depicted in this book. And I am watching very carefully the direction that we will be taking in the next several years because I have deep and serious concerns over it. So you just might as well get over it, build your bridge and get over it because I will not be intimidated. In fact, I chuckle when I hear things like that I'm leaving the church because you're too political. You have no idea how political I could get if I took the filter off. And it's not because I'm a loyal partisan I'm not loyal to a person. I'm not loyal to a party. I am loyal to Almighty God and to this Bible. So if you don't wanna hear that and you think I'm gonna offend your sins. Oh, listen you wanna talk about people getting upset is when you criticize President Trump when I criticized him a few weeks ago about not calming the crowd down before they marched down there, I'm not blaming him for what happened. But I said, I wish he would have handled it differently. And you'd have thought that I committed blaspheme. I'm telling you whether you're Democrat, Republican whether you loved Obama or Biden or Trump or Bush or whoever, you and I have got to get to the place where we swear allegiance to Jesus and Jesus only. Oh, I mean I'm telling you right now, this is preaching right here. And I can't tell what's, how people are taking this but I really don't care because I just feel led to say all of that, and I feel a lot better. (laughs) Now he's going to have a political realm, this Antichrist but he's also going to exercise a religious dominion. Because it said there, "All who dwell on the earth "will worship him unless they are in the Book of Life," which means unless they're saved. So when you hear worship, you're talking religion. You say, "Well, that's not true religion." What is true religion? I'm telling you when you see worship you're talking about religion whether the true God or the Lord Jesus Christ are part of it. Worship is a religious exercise. And when it says, they the people of the world worship this man, this Antichrist, this is a form of religion that he will use. And we'll see that expanded upon. Let's look in verse nine. "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 faith of the saints." Now leave that up for a moment because in verse nine it says, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." I just wanted you to see that because in the second and third chapters of Revelation when Jesus spoke to the churches, if you'll remember, He said, "He who has an ear to hear "let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Here it simply says, if anyone has an ear let him hear, the fact that this is stated without the reference to the churches is yet one more reminder. And I think evidence that the church is not on earth at this time, the church has been raptured because the only other time this is mentioned is in the letters to the churches. And here it appears without reference to the church. I think that's worth noting. But in verse 10, this is what I want you to understand about that. Verse 10 is simply saying that, "He who leads into captivity." Meaning if this Antichrist is going to drive the Jewish believers and Christians into captivity, to drive them into the wilderness, like Jesus talked about in Matthew 24, it says that he himself is going to suffer captivity. All verse 10 means is that a Holy God is going to see that the Antichrist reaps every crop of misery he has sown in the field of human existence. He will reap whatever he has sewn. All right, let's look at verse 11. "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." Which we just talked about. All right, now, here we have entering the stage this third player who will perform in the closing act of the end times drama. And he is the one who will oversee the religious component of the one world government of the Antichrist. Remember we said the Antichrist will have dominion over in the political realm over governments and leaders, but he will also exercise dominion over the religious realm and people's worship. And it is this dude right here who is depicted as a beast coming from out of the earth. This dude right here is the religious leader who will do the bidding of the Antichrist. Now when you look at verse 11, we see that this beast has two horns like a lamb but spoke like a dragon. And now imagine, a meek lamb, and you know the sound that a lamb makes but his voice is like that of a fire-breathing dragon. Well, it tells you that we know who the dragon is from the 12th chapter. The dragon is Satan. This lamb who appears to be meek and mild actually speaks the words of Satan. And I believe it is safe for us to say that this lamb, this beast who is compared to a lamb is the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. Or should we say dragon in sheep's clothing? Now, did you see where it says he had two horns in verse 11, two horns like a lamb? A lamb's horns are only small bumps on his head. So that tells us that this religious leader is not as powerful, politically speaking. He is going to utilize as we'll see in a moment, worship and economics. He will have monetary power in the world. But one thing we do know is that in verse 12, he exercises all the authority of the first beast, who is the Antichrist. So he is operating with the full empowerment of the Antichrist. We don't know what that'll look like but his primary purpose is to use religion to manipulate people into worshiping the Antichrist. So between his religious deception and the governmental power of the Antichrist to intimidate and even kill, together they're going to create a worldwide personality cult towards this leader, who is the Antichrist. So we call this religious leader as he's referred to in Revelation 16, the false prophet. Now I want you to see this. The religious leader of the end times, kingdom of the Antichrist is called the false prophet in Revelation 16:13. And just as the Antichrist is Satan's agent, the false prophet is the Antichrist's agent. We need to leave that up there for a moment because you need to see the Antichrist is Satan's agent but the false prophet is the Antichrist's agent. He is his religious wing man, if you will. Now, obviously the false prophet also works for Satan but the false prophet is going to be directly linked to the Antichrist who will have lured all the nations of the world into his web of a coalition. So the Antichrist is a human being. The false prophet is a human being but both of them are fueled by Satan I personally believe these are two literal human beings. Let's look in verse 13, "This false prophet performs great signs "so that even makes fire come down from heaven "on the earth in the sight of men. "And he deceived 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." So you see that he deceives those who live on the earth by signs and wonders. Verse 15 says, "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 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." Now, for those of you who've not studied the book of Revelation, you're probably just now hearing something that you have heard at least referred to whether you've read it or heard it read before. These characteristics of the Antichrist and of his false prophet, and of how they set up shop and how they operate their ammo as it were. Even people who aren't Christians have heard about what I've just read concerning the last days when the Antichrist is in the final chapter of his universal dominion before the true Christ comes and sets up a lasting dominion. But here's what I wanna do is just walk through a few of these things we know about the false prophet. First of all, he is going to oversee a universal religion. Now I want you to think about a universal religion. It means that this will be a religious mechanism that will have a presence and we'll have a set of beliefs. And that people from all over the world will belong to this religious system over which this false prophet will preside, a universal one world religious order. We've often talked about a one world global order of nations. But part of that, as we're seeing in Revelation 13 is a universal one world religious system. And Satan will raise up this false prophet to be the head of this universal religious system. Obviously because he is in alliance with the Antichrist who is going to be the fiercest political leader in history. This false prophet is going to merge church and state together. Now I'm using the term church very loosely because the Church of Jesus Christ we believe will not be on planet Earth anymore, but there will be a merging of religion and government during the last days time of the Antichrist. And this is very important for us to keep in mind because you know, I'm a Baptist and I don't wear that label and talk about it a lot because I believe that all people who are saved are Christians and that's what matters most. And other denominations have their own rich history in the gospel, evangelical denominations. But one of the things that Baptists have always believed in is the separation of church and state, not keeping Christ out of government but more importantly, keeping government out of the church. And we must always be cautious whenever we see religion and government power merging together. We always have to applaud Christian influence on government but we must do so with both eyes wide open because here's the problem, throughout history whenever church and state, and we can use as an example the Empire of Rome, when Constantine Christianized the Roman Empire in the fourth century. I've heard it described this way, when Christianity was merged with the Roman Empire the tails started wagging the dog. And what it means is that when you get in bed with the government, the government eventually takes control of what you do. So this is why I believe that Christians must be cautious of any move that so aligns our allegiance to Christ with any political philosophy. Do I align with a political philosophy which most represents biblical values? I will vote for that system of beliefs that most aligns with my biblical values, yes, but I do not pledge allegiance to that system or to a group that oversees that system, or to any one person who represents that system because there is this very fine line that we have to guard against. And therefore, when you look at it in this light, the church has gone, there will be this universal religion that hops in bed with the political power of the Antichrist, and politics and religion will have universal reign over people's lives. And it's going to be an abomination when it is played out. But what we saw when we read this description of what the false prophet is going to do, he is going to use his religious system to require that everyone be marked either on their hand, their right hand or their forehead and that unless you comply with his requirement, and it will be to worship the Antichrist and to accept the religious values of the end times one world government. Unless you do that with the indication, whether this is literal or figurative there will be some mark or indicator. And we now know all of this, although, 1984, the fictitious novel by George Orwell is not biblically rooted. It certainly is compatible with what is being described in the 13th chapter Revelation. And now what we have with technology where they track and trace every move, I could tell you right now how to go into your iPhone and how you can pull up a map where your carrier and the provider of your phone, manufacturer of your phone has tracked every place you have been. They are listening to everything you are saying. Even, unless you turn your phone off you are being surveilled. We are putting their devices everywhere in our homes. They are watching, they are listening. It is Big Brother. And this false prophet is the fulfillment of all of that. Because once they know who you are, where you are, where you go, what you say, that reveals what you believe whether you're compliant, and unless you received their mark which means you sign over your allegiance to them with actions to back it up. Verse 17, ought to shock the daylights out of us, it says, look in verse 17, "That no one will be able to buy or sell "unless they have "agreed to the conditions of the false prophet." Meaning that religious compliance with the one world religion is the condition for executing economic transactions. And we are already seeing this right now. We are seeing large corporations cancel, book publishers breaking contracts to which they're legally obligated, just because people in our culture have a different view than they have. And listen, we even have journalists in this country calling out for people with whom they disagree politically to go through a deep programming, detoxification in their point of view. A deep programming indoctrination that removes conservative values from those who belong to a certain political sector. And I want you to understand this is eventually going to work its way into the school system where teachers are going to be required to poll the little boys and girls in school classrooms, and to say, who did your mommy vote for? Who did your daddy vote for? Does your mommy believe abortion is wrong? Do your mommy and daddy talk about values and whether it is right for a little boy to become a little girl? Whether it is right for two people of the same sex to get married? And the system even in our country, I believe this with all my heart so help me God is going to use little children to rat out their parents and to get their parents on no fly list with airlines. To get their parents jobs terminated simply because of their ideological views, their moral views, their religious views, and even their political views. And see, this is the kind of thing when I talk about it you have these people who are so ignorant that they think that I'm endorsing a political view of some kind. The people who believe that are just plain and simple, ignorant. And what I'm wondering is where are these people gonna be when they think, I don't wanna hear anything about how the Bible relates to what's going on in the world and in our country today. Well, I'm sorry. I just, I can't keep it. I can't keep from saying it when I see that I'm reading my Bible about the last days and what I'm seeing happen in my life this very day is moving us closer to what I'm reading about that I've always thought was so far off. My people, it is not far off. We are fast approaching what we've always thought was so far into the future. So one of the questions I would ask is what is religion anyway? Well, I can tell you this, unlike what we've always thought religion doesn't require a temple. Religion doesn't require a church building. Religion doesn't require a mosque. Religion doesn't require, you know, some priestly system that we're used to. Religion is anything that results in someone yielding allegiance of their life which is something that is reserved only for God. Of course, it can be other gods. It can be false cults and things like that. But I wanna tell you something, partisan loyalty can become a religion. A philosophy can become a religion. I believe that radical environmentalism. I'm not talking about being a conservationist and taking care of the environment, but radical environmentalism is just as rigid as any religion out there. It is something that calls people to worship the earth. That's religion. Secularism can become a religion. Where groups like the ACLU are trying to purge from American society all vestiges of Christianity. That can be just as religious as the religion they're trying to to subvert. I believe that being woke and the philosophy of wokeness. If you don't know what it means to be woke, I am telling you that wokeness is a religion. I believe that critical race theory has all of the trappings of a religion, because according to critical race theory, as well as intersectionality what you have to do is you have to look in the mirror, and if you look a certain way you have to apologize that you are guilty of being born the color you are. So just like salvation, you have to repent of your sins in order to be saved. So with critical race theory you have to repent of your identity and of the sins of your ancestors in order to be baptized into acceptability in the culture. Now you may not know what any of these things are but I hope I'm throwing seeds out there that land in the soil of your heart, because unless you just wanna be ignorant, unless you just don't wanna know what forces are out there, everything that I've just walked through is I believe it is all part of what's been chopped up in the kitchen and thrown into the pot to make the beef stew of the one world religion of the Antichrist. And we're moving there quickly. Anything which sets itself up in competition with the gospel, in contradiction to the gospel, or as a replacement of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a false religion. And this last days, apostate universal one world religion is a false religion. And not only that, it leads to the worship of Satan himself. And we see it right here in the Word of God. The last verse of the chapter says in verse 18, "Here is wisdom. "Let him who has understanding calculate "the number of the beast, "for it is the number a man. "And the number of the beast is 666." Now it's interesting because six is the number of humanity. Seven is the number of totality. Six is shy of seven, letting us know that we fall short of the perfection of God. So six is the number of man. The Antichrist is going to epitomize all of the rebellions that have taken place, whether it was in the Garden of Eden by taking of the forbidden fruit, or whether it was the sins that preceded the judgment of God in the flood of Noah, or the erection of the Tower of Babel by the people in the plain of Shinar and God scattered their language. And you just go all through history. The Antichrist is going to epitomize and embody and personify all of mankind's rebellion and blasphemy against God. He is the ultimate super man. But for his number to be listed three folds, six, six not just six but six, six and six, again is reminiscent of a trinity. Because this satanic power embodied through the Antichrist is going to be a counterfeit just as there is a Father and a Son and a Holy Spirit who are the Holy Trinity. I want you to notice this chart before I pray. And that is the comparison between the Holy Trinity and the Unholy Trinity. In the Holy Trinity there is God at the top, in the Unholy Trinity the first person of the unholy godhead is Satan. The second member of the Holy Trinity is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. The second member of the Unholy Trinity is this Antichrist who will be Satan in the flesh, a real human being. The third member of the Holy Trinity is the Holy Spirit who goes all over the world, drawing people to worship Jesus, right? That's what the Holy Spirit does. He is the one who pursues people to draw them to Christ. The False Prophet will be a human being who accomplishes the same purpose that the Holy Spirit accomplishes. Just as the Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus, the False Prophet will draw people from all over the world into worshiping the Antichrist who is Satan incarnate. And there it is, it's all laid out, isn't it? So that's why they're six, six and six, because this Antichrist with that number is the embodiment of the Unholy Trinity of the final moment before Christ comes. And the Holy Trinity establishes a true and righteous worldwide universal dominion here on planet Earth. Well, I wanna thank you for letting me get a little bit rough and old time AG tonight. That's kind of the way I'm used to preaching. And I've been trying to tiptoe through live stream, but I felt I better let out what I had in me after soaking up this chapter for the past two days, I felt like I just had to let everyone know tonight that we can't just put our head in the sands and study the book of Revelation without trying in some way to see what might be happening in our own country and world, that we can connect these things to. So thank you, no matter who you are whether you like me, love me, agree or disagree, I love you. And I hope you know it. Father, thank you for letting us study tonight. I thank you that I get so excited when I study this. And at the same time I get frustrated because I want people to see, I want people to know, I want people to understand, and we know that when your Word gets inside of us, we have eyes to see things we could not otherwise be able to see. Deliver us from seeing things just through American lenses through Republican, Democrat, black, white, Hispanic Asian lenses, but to see things through God's lenses, to see earth from heaven's perspective. And may our only allegiance be to You, oh, Holy God. In Jesus name. Amen.
