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Alright, we're here in Revelation chapter 13 and we're continuing through the book of Revelation and if you remember last week we talked about the resurrection of the Antichrist and I decided to split this into two sermons because there's a lot of information and the name of the sermon is The False Prophet and the Mark of the Beast. The False Prophet and the Mark of the Beast. And so look at what it says in verse number 11 here about the false prophet. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon. So notice how it says another beast, okay? It had just referred to the Antichrist and obviously the Antichrist referred to as a beast, you know, throughout the Bible. And what it said about the Antichrist is that he will have his deadly wound healed. He will be resurrected from the dead, okay? Now when it says the false prophet's coming up out of the earth, that's the vision John's seeing. He's not being resurrected, okay? Only the Antichrist is, but the Bible's going to mention this character, the false prophet, and this is kind of like the right-hand man of the Antichrist. And so what you have to understand is the devil always likes to counterfeit what God does. Now we know with God we have the Holy Trinity. We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, okay? Now with the devil, he has kind of like the unholy trinity, okay? The devil lines up with God the Father, okay? The Antichrist lines up with God the Son and the false prophet lines up with the Holy Spirit. And just as in the Bible there's more information on God the Father and God the Son than the Holy Ghost, it's the same thing with the false prophet. There's not as much information about him as there is about the devil and the Antichrist, but he's kind of like the right-hand man of the Antichrist that's going to be used during the end times. It's kind of like a counterfeit of the trinity that we believe in, okay? And so he's just kind of like the Holy Spirit, just in the other way, because he's the one who's kind of giving the help to the Antichrist. He's the right-hand man. Notice what it says in verse 12, and he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him. So he has all of the same power that the Antichrist has. And the reason why is God allows the devil to give them that power. Now God could stop them from having that power, but God allows the devil to give them that power. Then it says, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. So the false prophet, his mission, his goal is to get people to worship the Antichrist, okay? The one whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Notice how it says he does great wonders and fire comes down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Now that sounds a lot like 1 Kings 18. Turn to 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings chapter 18. Now this is a chapter I love to go to because obviously the story of Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, it's one of the most interesting stories in the Bible. But that verse in Revelation made me think about that because if you remember in 1 Kings 18, there's kind of like this battle between Elijah and all the false prophets of Baal and the false prophets of the grove. And notice what it says in verse 21 of 1 Kings chapter 18. 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 21, And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. And so Elijah says, I'm here against all these false prophets. And he's telling the people, hey, you know what, if you want to worship the devil, if you want to worship Baal, go ahead. Just make your decision. Okay? And sometimes we can feel like that as believers when there's people that are kind of like they can't figure out what they believe or what they're going to worship. Okay? And they say, make your mind if you're going to worship God, worship him. But if not, then worship the Baal and his false prophets. 1 Kings 18, verse 23, 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 23, Let them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods. And I will call on the name of the Lord and the God that answerth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. So here in 1 Kings 18, there's this battle and Elijah basically gives, you know, the false prophets of Baal the first shot. Okay? I mean, imagine if you were playing basketball one-on-one and you're playing to one point and you said, you know what? I'll let you have the ball first. Okay? That'd be kind of an arrogant thing to do because it's like even like the worst player in the world can throw up some lucky shot and beat the best player. Right? I mean, just takes one lucky shot. But Elijah says, you know what? I'm going to give you the first shot. You can call on your false gods. And if he answers by fire, then you know what? Elijah lost this competition. He lets them have the first shot. Verse 25, and Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves and dress it first, for ye are many, and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. So notice how they have many gods. Okay? Call on your gods. Verse 26, and they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And so they're crying out from morning until lunch time, 12 o'clock. Now I presume that 8 a.m. is my guess. Maybe about four hours. I mean, it's a long time. They're praying on to their false god. At the very least, we're talking about several hours. It doesn't give us an exact time. But they have several hours where they're calling out to probably every single god they have. Right? They're calling out to their gods. I mean, even the Hindus might get through every single god they have in four hours. Right? It's like, we'll try Shiva, then we'll try Vishnu, we'll just go from god to god or whatever. And they try all these gods, and there's no answer from these false gods. Then in verse number 27, it says, And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them. So Elijah makes fun of them and said, cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awake. Okay? And so don't get mad at me if I mock false prophets from time to time. Okay? I don't really do it a whole lot. It's like, hey, maybe your god's, you know, taking a nap. Right? Maybe he's in a journey, you know, maybe whatever's going on. So Elijah is mocking them and their false gods. Verse 28, And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. Now notice how it says when they cut themselves after their manner, they had a pattern of actually doing this when they were trying to get ahold of God, that they would actually cut themselves and cause themselves to bleed. Okay? So that kind of shows you that these people are probably possessed when they're doing this. Okay? It's not very normal to cut yourselves. And in the secular world, when you have people that listen to like gothic music and it's really dark, like Marilyn Manson, Black Sabbath, you know, whatever's been in the last 20 years. I don't really know, you know, but that sort of music where they're very like vampireish and they look very dark, like an Aswang or vampire, whatever's how they're dressed. That sort of music is very satanic. Okay? And that sort of music can actually invite unclean spirits to possess somebody who's not saved. Okay? I believe that. And I'll preach that again in the future. I've got a sermon idea about that. But here's what I want you to understand. Cutting yourself like this, when you have people that listen to that music, they're often the people that will slit their wrists. Right? I mean, there's people that try to kill themselves by slitting their wrists and you say, what would make somebody do that? You know, oftentimes because they're possessed by a devil. It's really dark and satanic weird stuff. And look, don't think that music's just neutral. It's no big deal. It's like, no, it's a very dangerous thing if you got the wrong type, right? Wrong type of music. Okay? And the way they're acting here is they're cutting themselves after their manner. This was a pattern they had when they had to get ahold of God, that they cut themselves with knives and lancets. Look, that's indicating to you that they would often get possessed. Okay? And it should not be shocking to us that false prophets would be possessed with devils. Okay? Now, we understand that false prophets will often just go through the motions and just be phonies like a guy like Benny Hinn. You know, he has all these healings and a lot of them are fake, but I don't believe all of them are just like completely made up. I believe oftentimes they're dealing with dark spirits and casting devils into these people and things such as that. And I have no doubt an evil false prophet like Benny Hinn would be possessed by many devils at least from time to time. Okay? And so that's what's taking place here. And they're cutting themselves after their manner, blood's gushing out, but there's no answer. And it came to pass when midday was passed and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. Okay? This is a long time that there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded. So he gives them a big shot to call it to their false gods. No response. Now, we know the end of the matter, Elijah pours on all kinds of water, then he calls on God and then boom, fire comes down basically immediately. But here's what I want you to understand about this. In this story, they call out to their false gods and there's no answer from heaven. But in the end times, what it said about the false prophet, go back to Revelation 13, I'll show this to you. What it said in Revelation chapter 13, what it said in verse number 13. Revelation chapter 13, verse 13, Revelation 13, verse 13, and he doeth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. You say, what's your point? My point is this is going to be the greatest deception the world has ever seen. Right? Doesn't the Bible say that it's going to be so convincing that if it were possible, it shall deceive the very elect. You say why? They're even able to call down fire from heaven when big famous false prophets in the past were not able to do that. This is going to be the biggest deception ever. And you know, it's interesting because sometimes the devil's plan kind of lines up with what God also wants. Sometimes you see that in the Bible because the Bible says God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. God allows us to take place. Okay? And there's many reasons and we're preaching this whole book on Revelation to see how the judgment has to come on this world and God allows wicked people to get what's coming to them. And I want you to realize this is the greatest deception by far the world has ever seen. And if it were possible, us that are saved could be deceived. You say why? Because in 1 Kings 18, it's God's man who calls down fire from heaven. But when you see a false prophet calling down fire from heaven, which is something you only see God doing in the Bible, when you see the antichrist be resurrected from the dead, that's going to be pretty convincing, my friend. This is going to be the greatest deception the world has ever seen. Okay? You think in the Bible about the plagues of Egypt and how the sorcerers were able to re-perform some of those plagues and then sometimes they're kind of half able to re-perform it or they're able to add to the frogs but they can't remove them. It's like, well, that doesn't really do you much good. It's like, why don't you remove the frogs instead of adding a bunch of frogs, you know, or whatever? But, you know, you see that they're able to do some of those plagues and they do have some power but God is going to allow the devil to empower these people to be able to do just about anything during the end times. Okay? This is going to be the greatest deception the world has ever seen. Okay? Go to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. And the Bible actually speaks about this in many places. Okay? And so, you know, the truth is we don't know the exact percentage but a lot of people during the end times are going to become reprobates because you think of the world now and we could have a different opinion on what percentage of people are children of the devil out there but nobody's going to say that 20% of people are children of the devil. There's no way, right? I mean, there's nowhere close to 10%, right? We don't know what percentage of people are children of the devil but very few people are God-hating wicked evil people. They're out there but it's a small percentage. You know, during the end times after the Antichrist rises again from the dead, oh, there's going to be a large percentage of people that are going to be reprobates. You say, why? This is going to be the greatest deception by far the world has ever seen. It's going to be so convincing that all of these different religions that have different opinions on things are going to kind of line up together and say, we'll worship the Antichrist as our God. Okay? Matthew 24 verse 24. Matthew chapter 24 verse 24. Matthew 24 verse 24. For there shall rise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Now I believe when these false Christs and false prophets are arising, I think they're basically helping promote the Antichrist cause, okay? And so I don't think they're claiming, you know, that I am the Christ, but they're probably getting on board and supporting the Antichrist and the agenda of the devil and things such as this. But they're going to show great signs and wonders. And if it's possible, even us that are saved could be deceived. Okay? It's interesting because I've never seen anything in this world that made me think, well, man, I could see how Islam could be right. I've never been able to see how Islam could be right. But during the end times, it's going to be very, very convincing. Okay? You're going to see miracles happening all the time. And obviously as a saved person, you're not going to be deceived, but you can see this is going to deceive a lot of people. Turn to second Thessalonians chapter two, second Thessalonians chapter two, second Thessalonians chapter two and second Thessalonians chapter two is the famous chapter. Perhaps one of the best chapters to prove a post-Trib rapture as the Bible clearly reveals the Antichrist, the man of sin will be revealed first. But I want you to see what it says in verse number eight, second Thessalonians chapter two, verse eight. It says, and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Okay? The wicked referring to the Antichrist, the Lord's going to come and he's going to destroy him with the brightness of his coming. But verse nine, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And so I want you to see this, that when it's saying after the working of Satan, that's not referring to a timeframe like, Oh God, Jesus comes after the devil. Now what it's saying is the Antichrist, okay, he's doing these miracles after the working of Satan with the power of the devil. Okay? So it says after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, that's referring to the devil and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. See that's not referring to Jesus Christ, that's referring to the Antichrist who's going to have after the working of Satan, have with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And so the Bible says people that would reject the message of God and reject the message of Jesus, people that wanted to live bad lives and they rejected the truth because they wanted to live a wicked life. Okay? Because the Bible says deceivableness of unrighteousness. They didn't like the love of the truth and the gospel. Verse 11, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. And what you notice is that God allows them to be deceived, okay? God allows these wicked people to be deceived and to believe in a lie. If God wanted to stop the miracles, he could. If God didn't want to let the Antichrist come here and wreak havoc, he could stop it completely. If he didn't want the Antichrist to rise from the dead, the Antichrist is not rising from the dead. God allows this, okay? He allows people to be deceived. And look, in today's world, people that reject the message of salvation and want to live wicked lives and become children of the devil, God can send them strong delusion to believe false things. And you know, one thing I have seen in my life, which is kind of scary, is you have people that will come to a church who, you know, before they were in church or before they got saved, they were like a really bad person. And then all of a sudden they get saved and then they love a church like this. And then they seem like they're like you. And then a year down the road, it turns out, oh, they're not like us at all, right? We had someone at Verity Baptist Church who's still making videos on YouTube after three and a half years. It's like, dude, get a job, okay? It's like after three and a half years, still just at home making all these videos and everything, like just railing on Pastor Menes. And it's just like, you know what? He acted like he was one of us. But even by his own testimony, before he believed, he used to mock God. He used to mock God, get saved, and then all of a sudden he was with us for a while, but it turns out he leaves and he believes all these weird things against the Bible and stuff like that. So look, I believe sometimes people that are bad people, the devil actually recruits them and they get religious, but they're not saved, okay? You look at the stories of a lot of these prophets that are really famous and start these religions, before they get saved or reach enlightenment, they're really bad people. I mean, Joseph Smith is an example. You can read stuff on Joseph Smith and he's like a sorcerer practicing black magic, and then all of a sudden God specifically, when he's a sorcerer, sends angels to talk to him and he starts the Mormon religion. It's like that's kind of funny that you are a sorcerer, a black magic practicer, and then you're a bad person, and then God's going to specifically send someone to talk to you? It's like that's not the same thing as Paul the Apostle who was deceived, who was trying to live what's a good life, but he didn't know what the truth was, okay? So I believe people like that, often the devil recruits them, these really wicked people, and then they get religious, but they're not saved, okay? And so I believe that's what often takes place. Verse 12, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So these are people, the people that are going to be on the devil's side, they enjoy unrighteousness. They enjoy doing what's wrong. They enjoy wickedness. They don't like the God of the Bible saying thou shalt not. They like to be able to do whatever they want, okay? That's why people don't like churches that preach the truth because it offends them. It's like, oh man, I got to change my life. I don't want to do that. And so look, you know what? People often go to a church where they feel spiritual. They feel emotional. And it's like, look, there's a problem if a preacher's standing up behind the pulpit and preaching the Word of God every single service and you never feel guilty. It's like, good night, because I do things wrong in my life. I'm not perfect. And it's just like the preacher, I mean, you'd expect if there was one person to tell you you're wrong, it should be the preacher, right? Even more so than your mom and dad. You know, if you do wrong, that you should hear it preached against, but you don't hear that in churches. Why? Because people like the darkness. They like to do things that are wrong. That's what the Bible teaches. Turn back to Revelation 13, Revelation 13, Revelation chapter 13. So who is the false prophet? Well, I mean, he's the right hand man of the devil. He is the right hand man of the Antichrist to help the Antichrist and promote his cause. And what it says in Revelation chapter 13 verse 14, and deceive at them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles, which he had power to do in the sight of the beast. And so he does these miracles and it deceives people and people fall for it. Okay. You say, well, who is this guy? Who is the false prophet? What does the Bible say about it? The Bible doesn't say a whole lot about it. I don't know for sure who this is, but look, this isn't going to make Catholics in this country happy, but I believe this is going to be the Pope personally. Okay. And I'll give you a couple reasons why, and I cannot prove this. This is not two plus two equals four, but I want you to understand there's been a big, big change in the Catholic Church over the last 40 years. I mean, they completely changed because their message used to be no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. But now it's just like they bring everybody in and say, you can be saved. We accept baptism from every Protestant from Baptist. However that water was put on your head, even if it was just poured in your mouth. That's good for us. You know, we don't care. It's like, it's fine with us and everything. They accept everybody. Now Pope Francis, you can watch videos on YouTube. This kid walks up to Pope Francis and he's like, you know, my dad died. He's like, I'm scared. He's in hell. And he asks him, he's like, you know, could, did he go to heaven? I mean, and you know, the Pope tells him, asks him, was he a good man? And the kid says, yes, he was a good man. And the Pope says, don't worry. He's in heaven. You can find that on YouTube if, if YouTube hasn't removed it to try to make the Pope look nicer. I mean, I've seen it on many different videos, this kid coming up to him and it's in, I think it was in Italian or whatever where he said it, but I mean, basically he just said, yeah, he's in heaven. If he's a good person, boy, the Catholic church has changed a lot. And see, here's what you have to understand. The Pope's before Pope Francis, nobody liked them, right? I mean, outside of the Catholic church, everybody disliked them. I mean, Pope Benedict looked like the emperor from Star Wars. It's like, man, he looked evil. It's like, you look at him, you see side by side pictures and he's like the guy who's electrocuting people in Star Wars. If you've ever seen that, it's like, man, he looks like the devil. Okay. And not only does he act like the devil, he looks like the devil. And it's like, Pope's before that, people weren't crazy about them. But did you know Pope Francis is like a rock star in the world? I mean, everybody loves him. I mean, everybody loves him. He's from Argentina, the world's most famous athlete, you know, Lionel Messi probably, I mean, soccer player, you know, outside of here, very, very famous guy. He's like the Michael Jordan around the world. Look, he's like a friend of the Pope. It's like the Pope is a rock star. He's not considered boring anymore. And he's cool because he says, do whatever you want. He's bringing in the LGBT. And I want you to understand the Catholic Church changed. I don't think it's going to go back to the old ways. And I believe the Catholic Church and the Pope is going to be a means to bring everybody on board. Because you know, if the Pope brings out a position, every Catholic is going to get on board. What have we seen over these last seven weeks? And what have we seen before, you know, at this church, the Protestants are going back to mama, right? The Orthodox Church is going back to mama. They're returning to the mother of harlots, the Catholic Church. And so the Protestants and the Catholics are like, yeah, it was just a big misunderstanding 500 years ago. It's like, we didn't mean to kill each other. We didn't mean to kill, you know, the Baptist and everything like that. And so they're going back to mama. And so the Orthodox and the Protestants, they would get on board. But you know, the Pope has actually reached outside Pope Francis, the Catholic Church, and people that are like, agnostic type and non religious say, hey, we like the Pope. And I believe the Pope is going to be used as a means because he's probably the most famous religious person in the world, I would say, he doesn't have the power he used to have, but he still has a lot of power. Okay. And I believe he's going to be the means I believe he will be the false prophet probably a lot younger than Pope Francis is, but he's going to be the cool guy everybody wants to get on board with. And you know what, that's probably going to help get people on board with the message. Okay, so we saw the false prophet. Let's talk about the image of the beast. Okay. It said in verse 14, and deceive with them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And so when it's talking about making an image to the beast, this would be idolatry. Okay. Now all these religions that practice idolatry, whether it's the Buddhist, Hindus, Catholics, or any religion that practices idolatry, they're going to tell you that they don't worship that idol. Okay. It's just to remember their God or whatever. But as you see in this chapter and throughout the Bible, when you're making an image and you're bowing down to it, the Bible says you're actually worshiping it. Okay. So they can say they're not worshiping it, but they are worshiping it. Okay. A lot of Buddhists say they don't believe in God, even though they believe in reincarnation and stuff like that. But here's the thing about this. It's like, I can tell you who the God of the Buddhist is. It's that big idol of Buddha you see everywhere. You say, why? That's what you're always worshiping. Right. I mean, don't say you don't believe in God when you're worshiping that idol. Okay. And so, look, when you have an idol and you're putting food in front of it, right, and you're praying to it and things such as that, look, you're worshiping whatever that is. Okay. That's what we see. But there's going to be an image of the beast, and people are going to be expected to worship this. Okay. You say, what is this image? Verse 15, and he had power to give life onto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. The Bible says this image is going to speak. Now can you see how this is very deceiving to unsaved people when they're making an image actually speak? Okay. Now look, I don't think this is going to be a handmade idol personally. And the reason why is because there's only 75 days from when the Antichrist declares himself to be God to when Jesus comes back. Now I'm sure there's going to be a lot of handmade idols, but what's taking place here? I don't think this is a handmade idol that's going to speak. I believe it's maybe a hologram or something, some sort of image they can project everywhere. But in today's world, you can understand where people would have to worship this because with cell phones and things like that, everybody around the world could see this. And they could make a decree and say, you must worship this image, and if you don't, you'll be killed. I believe they're going to have the power to present this image all over the world. I believe it's going to be everywhere and people that are reprobates, they'll have no problem killing people that aren't going to worship this beast. And so you can see how we're going to be on the runs for our lives because this image is not going to be in one location where nobody sees it and you can escape or whatever. I believe it's going to be all around the world and the image is going to speak and lots of people are going to bow down and worship this image and seal their fate to being a devil. And here's the thing, if you don't worship it, you could be killed. Now we could think about what is this and how is this going to happen? And I'm not really sure. I'm sure cell phones are going to have to do it. Go to Daniel three, Daniel chapter three. And look, I don't really have that many guesses, you know, but with our modern technology, I don't think it should be surprising to us that they would have the power to present this all over the world. Okay. Daniel chapter three, Daniel three. I mean, here's the thing in today's world, there is a lot of power the government has. I mean, they know everything that's going on throughout the world. And look how much more will they have during the end times with even more modern technology. Now, we don't really even know how much power that the government has. But look, you hear plenty of stories about how people have conversations on the phone and then the government was wiretapping or whatever, and then they get warned. I had a friend of mine. I've said this before. He worked at Best Buy, and he made a joke about Barack Obama, you know, on the phone to a friend of his. And the next day, this guy, like, visits Best Buy, which is like an electronic shop in America, and he visits him. And then, you know, my friend was like a salesman. He would sell computers and things like that, accessories. And so this guy was talking to him and everything, and he said what he did for a living. He said he worked for the government, you know, the US government, and he said his job was to monitor basically things that people said, if there's any key words, any threats to the president, etcetera, etcetera, and he talked to him about it for five minutes. And he said, so just to let you know, never say anything like that. And then he walked out of the store. He had no interest in buying a computer. It's like his job was to basically just, hey, investigate before something happens. Okay. It's like if they have power to basically track the things that you say on the phone, who knows the sort of power they're going to have during the end times. So look, be careful the jokes you make on Facebook or through email or through text messaging because you never know when that might be pulled up in front of you one day and your boss says, hey, you're fired because of this joke you made about the Catholic Church a dozen years ago. And look, I'll be honest, when I was younger especially, I made a lot of jokes and said things, and it's like, man, I wish I could take it back now because I'm sure it's out there in the cloud, as they say somewhere, because nothing's ever really deleted from the internet. It's out there somewhere. And it's like, look, I'm sure that they can have access to that information. And look, you know what, you know, basically what I'm saying is during the end times, the government is going to have the technology to do just about anything. And they will present an image all around the world. Okay. Daniel chapter three, verse 10, Daniel three, verse 10. Now in the Old Testament, we have an example of, of worshiping an idol with Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel three, verse 10. It says, thou, O king has made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sack, butt, sultry, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. Okay. So Nebuchadnezzar makes this big golden image and he requires people to worship it. Now Nebuchadnezzar kind of looked at himself almost like he was God. Okay. It's pretty crazy to think he actually gets saved later on in his life. You never think he would have gotten saved. But he forces people to worship this idol and basically everyone agrees to it. And what ends up happening is if you don't get on board with worshiping this golden image, they're going to want to kill you. I mean, imagine if this big statue of Buddha was rolled out, you know, you're at the grocery store and all of a sudden they roll it out, you know, right at the front of like Robinsons or whatever. And you're required to bow down and to rub the tummy of Buddha, you know, and put some food there or whatever, you know, whatever to do the Buddha. You're expected to do that before you can do any shopping. That's what would take place and let's say that was a mandate of the government and like everybody's on board with it. Just like in the story of Nebuchadnezzar. What's going to happen is when you don't do that, people are going to try to turn you in. Right. During the end times, if you don't get on board with worshiping the antichrist wherever you are, people will turn you in and you're not going to be able to run and hide from everybody. The only thing that's going to keep you alive is that God is providentially keeping you alive so you can preach the gospel and get people saved. Okay. And so here in Nebuchadnezzar, they basically turn in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And in verse 11, and who so falleth not down and worshipeth that he should be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. The difference is going to be during the end times, this image is going to be everywhere. And there's plenty of bad people to catch every single move that you do. Okay. Go back to Revelation 13, Revelation 13, and here's what's interesting about this. These reprobates that are going to be on board with the devil and the antichrist, they're going to think that they're doing God's service. They're going to think they're doing what's right. They're going to think, I mean, there's a lot of religious people out there today that are not saved and they honestly think what they're doing is right. They believe they're promoting a good message. I mean, if you look at leaders of false religions, they honestly believe what they're saying is correct. People that attack easy believism and they attack the fact that salvation is by grace through faith, they think they're doing a good thing. They honestly do. False prophets, leaders of whether it's Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or Cali or whatever religion you look at, they think they're doing what's right. They think they've got the right message that they're promoting and look what's going to happen during the end times, people are going to think it's right that we deserve to be killed for not worshiping the antichrist in this image. Okay. Revelation chapter 13. So first we saw the false prophet, then we saw the image of the beast and you say, okay, there's this image that you have to worship. Couldn't you just kind of avoid worshiping it and no one would notice this? Well, no, because there's also going to be a mark that you're required to take. Okay. Revelation 13 verse 16, and he causeth all both small and great and when it said both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. So no matter what your age is, no matter your level of power, whatever, you're required to take a mark in your right hand or in your foreheads. Okay. And if you don't, guess what? They're going to kill you for not doing it. Okay. Go to Revelation 14, Revelation 14, Revelation chapter 14. So when it comes to this mark of the beast, you know, the number 666, what's the destination of those that take this mark? You know, what's going to be the end of people that take this mark? Are these people that they can take the mark of the beast and one day they can believe on Jesus Christ and go to heaven? Now, the Bible is very clear that the people that take the mark of the beast have no hope of ever being saved after this, they seal their fate when they take the mark of the beast. Okay. Revelation 14 verse nine, Revelation chapter 14 verse nine, and the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice. If any man worship the beast in his image, the beast referring to the antichrist in his image, the idol that's all around the world and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the mark of the beast mentioned, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Does that say they might drink of the wine of the wrath of God? It says they shall drink. The Bible is very clear that the people that take the mark of the beast, they have no hope of going to heaven. They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. Notice verse 11, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. The Bible says that those that take the mark of the beast, they will go to hell, they will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, they will be tormented forever. The Bible is very, very clear about that. Turn to Revelation 20, Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20. Now here's the thing. There are crazy religious teachers, no matter what the topic is. I mean, you got these dispensational preachers and look, I preached against dispensationalism before. I don't hate it as much as Calvinism. Maybe I need to work on that. I don't know. I'll preach against it in the future. But you got these dispensational preachers that are always these pre-trib people that believe salvation is like all over the place. Salvation's like 50 different ways in the Bible. Sometimes it's multiple different ways at the same time in different locations. All this crazy stuff. You got these dispensationalists, and many of them will say that you can take the mark of the beast, and then they say you can still get saved. What they'll say if you take the mark of the beast in your right hand, what you have to do is cut off your hand. And they'll go to Mark Chapter 9 and say, well, if your hand defends thee, cut it off. We're actually going to be preaching a series on Mark Chapter 9 verses 43 through 48 here in just a few weeks. It's going to be a five-part series probably. But they'll say, you know, in Mark Chapter 9, if your hand defends thee, cut it off. You got the mark of the beast in your hand, cut it off, and you can still go to heaven. You say, what if you got the mark of the beast in your forehead? Well, you can't cut off the forehead, so you have to go through the eyeball. That's what they say. I'm not making this up. They say, you know, pluck out your eye, as it says in Mark 9. It's like pluck out your eye, and then somehow, you know, you can reach that mark and remove it. I mean, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. It's like, you know, why would people even believe that? And here's what's interesting about this. The Bible's just super clear that those that take the mark of the beast have no hope of going to heaven. You know what the problem is? Very few people understand that there are people that are alive that are walking dead men that have no hope of getting saved. I mean, you know, here's the thing. If you were to say to people that are Christians or go to whatever church, and you say, well, those that take the mark of the beast are going to go to hell, they're going to say yes, generally. And then if you ask them, so you're saying when someone takes the mark of the beast, they can never be saved. No, I'm not saying that. There's always hope of salvation. But you do believe everyone who takes the mark of the beast will go to hell. Well, yeah. Well, then you're saying they don't have a hope of being saved. It's like it's a big contradiction, but they don't want to admit the fact that throughout the Bible mentions, people can lose their chance of being saved. Now, here's the thing. We have never said and we never will. We're not saying a saved person could lose their salvation because that could never happen. What that teaches us is no saved person will take the mark of the beast. Because remember, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. None of us are going to be deceived. Now here's the thing. You say, isn't it true throughout history that people would deny Jesus like Peter and things such as that? That is true. But here in the Bible, to basically take the mark, you're basically bowing down and worshiping the antichrist. This is something a believer's not going to do because it's one thing to get scared and to back down. But basically you're saying, yes, I believe in the antichrist. I hate God. Whatever you're going to make you say, I take this mark. I blaspheme God. It's going to be to the point no believer is going to do that. No believer will take the mark of the beast because God promises us that we have eternal life. But he also promises that everyone that takes the mark of the beast will go to hell. Revelation 20, verse 4. Revelation chapter 20, verse 4. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given on to them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshiped the beast. So those that had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reign with Christ a thousand years. Those that are going to live and reign with Christ a thousand years, they did not take the mark of the beast. This is mentioned many times throughout the book of Revelation. If a person takes the mark of the beast, they seal their fate. Go to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12, Matthew 12. And so look, the Bible is very clear. There are things that a person can do where they basically seal their fate. They have no hope of being saved after that. They're never going to go to heaven. One thing is to take the mark of the beast. Now dispensational preachers preach this, but I've also heard Calvinist preachers say this, that you can take the mark and then still end up getting saved. I'd like to know what verse in Revelation you're talking about. Because the Bible is very clear that every, and look, this is not something where you get tricked into taking the mark of the beast. People have this idea. I understand that when you go to jobs and they're basically putting a scan in your hand or whatever, people are like, oh, this is the stuff the Bible's talking about. But I want you to understand something. Although that's the modern technology that they're going to use, you don't get tricked into taking the mark of the beast. It's like, oh, I was at my company and they said they're going to put this in my hand so I could sign in and out. Oh, I accidentally took the mark of the beast. You don't accidentally take the mark of the beast. Because what you see in Revelation chapter 13 is that when you're taking the mark of the beast, you're bowing down and worshiping the antichrist. And I get that these computer chips and stuff can be scary to us and it does show us that the end times is closer. That's completely different than taking the mark of the beast, though. The mark of the beast is when you make a conscious effort to bow down and worship the devil. And look, I understand that this sort of stuff you're seeing pop up in companies. This existed a long time ago, that technology, though. Now, it says the number of the beast is 666. And we don't necessarily know exactly what that means. I understand a lot of times in barcodes you'll have 666 pops up. I don't know what that is, you know, exactly what the mark of the beast, you know, the significance of all of that. I mean, there's like a million movies on YouTube you can check out if you want because anything that's not clear in the Bible is always the ones where they make lots of movies. We're going to do a 10-part sermon series on what is the mark of the beast, okay? Now, I'm just showing you things the Bible clearly says tonight because I'll be honest, I don't know exactly what it is. I know that it's in the right hand or in the forehead, exactly how that goes about. I do know, though, that when you take that mark, you are showing that you worship the devil, and you're not going to be able to buy or sell without that mark, okay? So, nobody is going to accidentally take the mark of the beast. It's like, oh, man, I just went to the grocery store to get groceries, and they asked me to put my hand in this little scanner, accidentally took the mark of the beast. It doesn't work that way, okay? You're going to have an image that you're forced to bow down and worship, okay? Matthew chapter 12, let me show you another example of basically doing something where you have no hope of being saved. Matthew chapter 12, then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil blind and dumb, and he healed him. So, Jesus heals this man possessed in so much the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, okay? And so, basically, when they see Jesus Christ actually healing someone of being possessed, what you see here is this. The Pharisees say, you know what, you did that by the power of the devil. You didn't do that by God's power. It wasn't the Holy Spirit. You did that by the power of the devil. Verse 31, wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. So, all manner of sin and blasphemies forgiven, I believe that means all types of sin, all types of blasphemy, okay? But obviously, this is not forgiven. So, there are other things besides this that will not be forgiven either, okay? I mean, God forgives you for a great number of things and all manner of sin, but there are certain actions you can do where God says your forgiveness is gone. Verse 32, and whosoever speaketh a word against the son of man, which is Jesus Christ, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, which means while you're alive on earth, neither in the world to come. What he's saying is, you can never be saved, okay? Now, go back to Revelation 13, Revelation 13, Revelation chapter 13. Now, I've had a lot of people ask me about the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and a lot of people are really confused in their Bibles when they do not understand that people can become children of the devil, because it's very clear this is not gonna be forgiven in this world, neither in the world to come. And if you don't think that's referring to here on earth versus in the afterlife, I don't know what you think it's referring to. I mean, it's very clear it's not gonna be forgiven here, neither in the world to come. So, the people that blaspheme the Holy Ghost, the Bible says they never have forgiveness. They're never gonna be saved. They become a child of the devil. Now, we could talk about whether or not this is possible today, because Jesus doesn't walk the earth today. He's not performing miracles that they're gonna deny. But I will say this though, that in the scriptures of the Jews, in the Talmud, they say Jesus Christ was a sorcerer. That is what they teach in the Talmud, that he practiced black magic. I mean, they teach a lot of blasphemous things about Jesus Christ. They teach that Jesus Christ will spend eternity boiling in a hot excrement, poop, whatever you wanna call it. That is what they teach in the Talmud, okay? And so basically, in their own teachings, they teach that the miracles of Jesus Christ, he actually did by the power of the devil. They accuse Jesus Christ of being a sorcerer in the Talmud, in the Jewish writings, okay? Now, I don't know if that's the same thing as when this happened in Matthew 12, because in Matthew 12, it was done right in front of them. And they said, he only did that because he had the power of the devil, okay? But here's what I want you to understand from that. You can do certain things where you can lose your hope of being saved, okay? There is a line, and look, you can cross that line where there's the point of no return, okay, as an unsaved person. Now, we don't wanna go overboard on this though, because sometimes people will give the gospel to their dad or their mom. And they say, man, they didn't get saved. I hope they're not a child of the devil. It's like, do you have any reason to think they're a child of the devil other than the fact that they heard the gospel once and they didn't get saved? I know people that have heard the gospel 30 times. I know people that have heard the gospel over and over again for years and years and years, okay? Just because, I mean, if you give the gospel to someone at the door and they don't get saved, look, it's very unlikely they're a reprobate, okay? They probably have many more chances, cuz many times you hear the gospel and the Bible says they don't even understand it. They get these things, but it kinda still goes over their head. They just don't grasp how simple salvation is. I mean, it's so simple that it's complicated to people, right? I mean, it can't just be a gift. And they'll try to give you 50 reasons why, well, is this what you mean by a gift? It's like, no, we mean a free gift, no works, no money, nothing required. Jesus paid it all, and a lot of people hear that and they say, yeah, but there's gotta be something you gotta do. Look, a lot of people just don't grasp the gospel. And what we need to understand is this, that God is very long suffering. He is the God of the second chance, and the third chance, and the fourth chance, and the fifth chance. But here's what I'm saying. He just might not be the God of the 100th chance, though, or of the 200th chance, though. I know someone from college who grew up in Saudi Arabia. He grew up Muslim, but he was kind of agnostic. He didn't really know what he believed. And I became friends with him in college, me and my friends. And I gave him the gospel over, and over, and over again. My friends gave him the gospel over, and over, and over again. And I remember one time there was a big event that took place. There was a tragic death of one of our friends. And so when something like that happens, oftentimes it's a good opportunity to preach the gospel to someone, right? And I remember one of my friends, he tried to preach the gospel to him. And he said, listen, I never want to hear anything about Jesus Christ ever again. And he went from listening to being very angry about it. And basically, and I don't know for sure that he sealed his fate. I just know for years he heard the gospel over and over again. And he said, I never want to hear anything about Jesus ever again. And the truth is, when people hear it over, and over, and over again, sometimes they do make choices to say, you know what? I will never believe this. And sometimes they do seal their own fate. It's kind of funny because that same person a couple years later, one of my friends went to a convenience store with his brother. And he saw him after a couple years or whatever. And his brother asked them, is that guy a sodomite? Is he a homosexual? And my friend's like, no, I don't think so. And it does make me wonder, it's like, did this guy just reject God so much that he hated God and he became a wicked, evil person? Because the Bible does say people that love unrighteousness. And instead of the love of the truth, they love unrighteousness. Because the gospel message, the truth of salvation, it's a message of love, my friend. Jesus died and paid for our sins. But some people can hear it and reject it and reject it. And they can decide, not only do they not believe it, but they hate it. And they consider the message of salvation evil. They love unrighteousness. And there are people in this world that they hate these words. They hate the God of the Bible. They hate the message of salvation. And eventually, God might say like with Pharaoh, okay, I give you chance after chance after chance after chance, your fate is sealed. And they become a child of the devil. And you say, how is it that there can be people out there that they seem like they do not have a conscience? It seems like they don't have any morals and they don't care about people. People that would molest a little child. People that would kill people for fun. I'm not saying they got angry and they killed someone, but they enjoy killing people. Serial killers that enjoy this stuff, how does that happen? They were not born that way, my friend. God did not create them with those wicked, evil desires, but they rejected God and then eventually God gives them up to their own sin and says, you know what, I'm done with you. And then they go on this downward spiral until the day they die where they get worse and worse and worse and worse. Cuz they love unrighteousness and they just get more and more unrighteous. They do something that's really wicked like this and they say, you know what? I'm no longer satisfied with that. I'm gonna go to this. In Sacramento, he was called the Golden State Killer. It was a very famous serial killer who killed like 20 people or whatever. And he got caught a couple of years ago. And we were actually talking about it at our church at Verity Baptist cuz somebody thought they knew who this guy was. There was a lot of circumstantial evidence. And then all of a sudden it's like, it caused everyone to talk about it, kind of be afraid if this guy is not someone at our church. But somebody at our church knew someone, someone they used to be friends with, who did a lot of crazy things. He would tell his wife, I'm going hunting tonight. He would be gone all night and come back in the morning. It's like, nobody goes hunting at 10 o'clock at night. Okay, so there's a lot of weird things about this guy, but it didn't turn out, it turned out to be somebody else. But they just caught the Golden State Killer like a couple years ago. But when you read about his story, he started out where he was just basically robbing people's homes. And he robbed people's homes for a couple years. And after that, he went from robbing people's homes to raping women, to the point where he went from that to starting to kill people. And you see the downward spiral in his life and you say, why is that? Because it no longer was exciting to rob people's houses. They love unrighteousness and it loses the thrill. And these people, they're only gonna get worse and worse with time, okay? And eventually, the guy was caught and everything. He killed a lot of people, a lot of harm over a long period of time throughout California and everything like that. But that is what a reprobate is. Someone who's gonna get worse and worse cuz they have no conscience. But then basically they'll try something and they'll wanna do something worse and worse and worse and worse, okay? Now look, I wish I didn't have to say this. I wish it was just, I don't know, like popcorn and candy and everything was great out there. But the truth is, there's bad evil people out there, okay? And the Bible mentions it. And when the Bible mentions it, we mention it. Because obviously God wants you to know about it. If God wanted you to be just ignorant about it, he wouldn't talk about it. He wants us to know about things like this cuz he wants us to protect our children. He wants us to realize you can't always trust people and things like that, okay? Now go to Revelation 13, we'll close up. Revelation chapter 13. Look, I only bring this up because the Bible's talking about it tonight. Taking the mark of the beast, these are people that become very bad people. And they wanna kill people that are believers. These are bad people, okay? Revelation chapter 13 verse 17. What is the result of not taking the mark of the beast? What is the result? Verse 17, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is whiz. So in verse 17 it says that you cannot buy or sell if you don't have this mark, okay? So basically, you can't eat. The only way you're gonna eat is cuz God's going to provide for us somehow, okay? We don't know how this is gonna take place. What we've seen in this sermon series is this, that in the first three and a half years, God is supernaturally providing for us. It's gonna be even worse at the midway point though, where God is gonna have to provide for us or we would starve to death. And look, I don't believe anyone's, I believe people are gonna be martyred during the end times. I don't believe we're gonna starve to death though. I believe, yeah, it's possible our heads might be chopped off or burned or whatever during the end times when the antichrist declares himself to be God. And we reject that. I don't believe any of us are gonna starve to death though, okay? But we're not gonna be able to buy or sell. You're not gonna be able to walk into Robinson's and just get some groceries and walk out. It's not gonna work that way, okay? Verse 18, here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man, and his number is 600, threescore, and six. So let me close up with a couple things here about this number 666. When I was in high school, I'll be honest with you. Before I was saved, I didn't know anything about the Bible. I didn't know a single Bible verse. I could not quote anything in the Bible. I could not have quoted John 3.16. Now I went to church from time to time in our Protestant church growing up, but pretty much my religion most of my life was soccer, okay? I played soccer year round. I played on Sundays. I wasn't really in church much. I'll be honest, this is how ignorant I was. I didn't even know what the number 666 was. I hadn't even heard the number of the beast, what it signified. But I remember I had a CD that I listened to. There's this band, it was called Iron Maiden. And look, on their albums they have like skulls and all this dark and satanic stuff. But the big song they sung, their most popular song was called The Number of the Beast, okay? And it talks about 666, the number of the beast, etc., etc. And what you have to understand about these rock bands, going back to the fact that music is not neutral, they worship the devil. I mean, The Number of the Beast, that's the song that made them popular. Jimmy Page, and I know this is kind of off topic from the rest of the sermon. Jimmy Page, who was the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, look, he wore the number 666 on his pants when he performed in concert. And he bought the house of a Lester Crowley, which was a famous Satan worshiper. I mean, he was so moved by being an atheist and a worshiper of Satan, that he bought the house of a Lester Crowley, which was a famous Satan worshiper. I mean, Black Sabbath was the name of Ozzy Osbourne's band. It's like, what do you think Black Sabbath is meant to represent? It's like not Sunday or whatever, it's a beautiful Saturday. Black Sabbath, because they're satanic, okay? You think of Pantera, they're a famous hard rock band, or they were. And it's like Jesus Christ is known as the son of Pantera in the Talmud scriptures, the Jewish scriptures, because they say Mary cheated on Joseph with Pantera, and Jesus was born. And so a rock band decided to name their band Pantera, because it's basically satanic, okay? So when it comes to this music, these people, they worship the devil. And look, it should be no surprise to us that rock stars, no matter what country they're from, they worship Baphomet, right? They worship the devil. We had somebody recently who wanted to come to our church, who was a rock star, and it turns out he worships the devil. And it's like, yeah, it's a good thing that I didn't say, hey, come on in. This environment's great. Somebody who worships the devil, and he wants to get baptized by me. And it's like, you can go online and see he worships the devil. It's like, no, you're not coming here. And it's like, you ought to be thankful for a church that doesn't just let any weirdo and freak in here. Someone who worships it. I mean, he literally, I sent this message to men at the church, because I was like, man, this guy looks weird or whatever. And people looked at him and they told me, because I was ignorant about it. Brother Timothy said, that's a Baphomet. I was like, what's a Baphomet? And it's like a goat worship, it's like a goat, right? It's like a goat, it's like worshipping the devil. And this guy wants to come to our church. He says, hey, I want to visit, I want to get baptized. And then you can go on in the last month where he clearly worships the devil. Now, why would someone like that want to come to our church? Because he obviously wants to cause some sort of problems, okay? You ought to be thankful for a church that doesn't just say, hey, it's an open door, you can be a pedophile, come on in. You worship the devil, come on in. Now, what we see in the book of Revelation, people that worship the devil are bad people. And when people take the mark of the beast, they will become an evil person if they were not before that. But look, it's no different in today's world. If somebody worships the devil in today's world, you know what that means? It means they're a child of the devil, okay? And it means that's not the sort of person we're gonna let come into our church and just think they're okay. No, they're a bad person. There's no new thing under the sun. The rock stars of yesteryear, they worship the devil. Apparently, the rock stars of today worship the devil too. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. And just getting to be in church, God, and getting to see your message here in Revelation 13. And a lot of these things are kind of dark things. They're not the most fun things to talk about, but all scripture is important, it's in there for a reason. And we can learn things even from weirdos and freaks that worship the devil today, that wanna be a part of our church, God. And help us to be wise about these things. Obviously, you're a loving God, you're a God of peace, but there's also, us as believers, it's not just all love, love, love. There are bad people out there, God. And help us to understand the message of the end times and learn these things in Revelation. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.