A Specific Counterfeit
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A vital distinction must be made at this point. The rider of the Revelation 6:1-17 white horse does not represent all false religion. This first seal does not encompass belief systems such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and others. What the rider does represent is a counterfeit Christianity—a counterfeit Christ. This is so obviously then “another Jesus”—and the one that the apostle Paul warned about (II Cor. 11:4).
Anything that passes as a counterfeit must seem authentic. Counterfeit money is designed to closely resemble real bills and coins. Any differences are very subtle, else the user is not fooled.
In the same way, the counterfeit of the true Church has to seem real. It appears “spiritual” and thoroughly organized. It appears to be well-established, with centuries-old “roots” reaching back to the original apostles. To the undiscerning, this “Jesus” and his teachings look, sound, feel and seem like the genuine article. But they are not the Christianity of the Bible—the one taught by the true Jesus Christ.
We will see that this false religious system is a counterfeit of God’s true Church!
Almost immediately after Jesus founded His Church, Satan devised a counterfeit to keep the masses unaware of the message the true Church was proclaiming after Jesus’ death. Read again: “The god of this world [the devil] has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (II Cor. 4:4).
Satan’s purpose has been to deceive mankind about God’s truth, and he has done this through his counterfeit religious system, masquerading as genuine Christianity.
Matthew 24:1-51 Reveals More
Recall that Jesus foretold the confusion and misunderstanding that would surround this rider’s identity! He disclosed events that would occur prior to His Second Coming. You will remember that the first event was synonymous with the white horse. Answering His disciples’ question pertaining to the sign of His coming and of the end of the age, Jesus first warned of religious deception in the sequence of what would occur.
Let’s review this all-important element of Jesus’ Olivet Prophecy to now set a larger stage: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5). Only after this did He proceed to mention war, famine and pestilence. The “many” are the vast majority of thought-to-be Christian ministers who say that Jesus Christ is Christ (the Messiah), but who do not believe or teach what Christ taught, nor do they come with His authority.
Later in the same chapter, Jesus expanded upon these verses: “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (Mt 24:11). According to this and related prophecies outlined throughout this book, not only would false prophets arise to deceive the great majority, but they would also infiltrate the true Church, causing many of God’s servants to fall away.
Toward the end of the last days, and especially during the time of the prophesied false religious leader of Revelation 13:1-18, false prophets were foretold to increase in number and means of deception. Here is Christ’s chilling warning: “For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not” (Matt. 24:24-26).
Here Jesus shows that false prophets will work miracles. Human beings are always impressed by such “signs and wonders,” regardless of their source, and will only too happily attribute the power of the performer to God.
Matthew 24:1-51 also mirrors the time sequence of the two riders of the white horses. The real Christ does not return (as shown in Revelation 19:1-21) until the time of the seventh and last trumpet (Matt. 24:27-31).
Beginning in the first century, false Christianity almost immediately arose, while war, famine and pestilence—depicted by the other three horses—continued more or less as they had always been. The counterfeit system became more firmly entrenched in the third and fourth centuries, but this was only a precursor—a tiny type—of what would follow at the end of the age.
Since false teachers and ministers have been plying their trade for centuries, Jesus’ warning for the end of the age must involve a big increase in the power, prevalence and influence of false Christianity. Think of it this way: at the very end, the white horse suddenly accelerates from a relative standstill to a full run!
False Christianity, war, famine and pestilence have continued off and on for the last two millennia. But this does not mean that the first four seals of Revelation 6:1-17 were opened almost 2,000 years ago, and have been slowly accelerating to an all-out sprint just before Christ’s Return. (Realize that John did not record the Revelation until about 65 years after Jesus spoke to the apostles in Matthew 24:1-51. He would certainly not introduce things sealed that had already been unsealed long before!) So then, the absolute explosion of these things—these conditions—in the last days is such that Jesus is telling us (in Revelation 6:1-17 and Matthew 24:1-51) that the tremendous increase of these things is the opening of the seals!
This and the next five chapters will bring a chilling picture of how this is happening, and will continue to happen.
Warnings from the Apostles
Before examining some history of this counterfeit Christian system, let’s review a number of scriptures that warn of a movement that attempts to pass itself off as the standard-bearer of truth, but that is shrouded in mystery and deceit. Despite these inspired warnings from Peter, Paul, John and others, most have been ensnared by this clever fraud:
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try [test] the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I John 4:1).
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [license], and denying the…Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 3-4).
For the mystery of iniquity [lawlessness] does already work...” (II Thes. 2:7). (Again, false teachers always deny the necessity of keeping God’s Law.)
Briefly referenced earlier, the apostle Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians defines how effectively these early false teachers misled the unsuspecting: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him [or ‘put up with it’]” (II Cor. 11:3-4).
In I Cor 11:13-15, we saw Paul singles out ministers who appear to represent the truth and the true Christ, but are actually led by “another” spirit: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
Can you comprehend the gravity of this passage, viewed in an end-time context? Most do not recognize false ministers because they appear to be ministers of light—just as the “god of this world "appears to be the true God. The devil is an effective counterfeiter! He counterfeits true ministers with false, true doctrines with false and the true God with the false god—himself!
Peter added to Paul’s warning with a similar one: “There shall be false teachers among you, who privily [craftily, secretly] shall bring in damnable heresies…And many shall follow their pernicious ways” (II Pet. 2:1-2).
Paul also warned that this condition will worsen at the end of the age: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come…evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (II Tim. 3:1, 13).
Deceit is not new to planet Earth. But Paul warns of deceivers—“seducers”—growing worse “in the last days”!
With this foundation laid, we are now ready to examine how this counterfeit system began. As this is done, bear in mind that it is not my purpose to attack or slander churches or individuals. But the Bible and history clearly identify a large and powerful false system, with its offshoots (or “daughters”), and there is simply no escaping directly identifying this system.
Growth of Counterfeit Movement Parallels True Church
Not long after the establishment of the New Testament Church at Jerusalem in AD 31, men motivated by a different spirit than that given to the disciples on Pentecost began to infiltrate and influence the Church. The result is well known to honest historians.
The German historian Johann Lorenz von Mosheim wrote of the early Church: “Christian churches had scarcely been gathered and organized, when here and there men rose up, who, not being contented with the simplicity and purity of that religion which the apostles taught, sought out new inventions, and fashioned religion according to their own liking” (Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1).
Author Jesse Hurlbut called this period after the time covered by the book of Acts “The Age of Shadows.” He wrote, “...of all periods in the [Church’s] history, it is the one about which we know the least…For fifty years after St. Paul’s life a curtain hangs over the church, through which we strive vainly to look; and when at last it rises, about 120 AD with the writings of the earliest church fathers, we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul” (The Story of the Christian Church, p. 33).
A study of first-century history confirms that a corrupted form of Christianity appeared on the scene shortly after the start of the New Testament Church on Pentecost AD 31, brought by agents such as Simon Magus (the word magus means “magician” or “sorcerer”)—then the leader of the Babylonian Mystery religion in Samaria.
Simon Magus can be considered the founder of the heretical movement in the New Testament age. Ironically, many who rejected this man unwittingly followed his practices. Among them were Justin Martyr, Jerome and other writers of the second and following centuries.
Simon’s first contact with God’s Church is found in Acts 8:1-40 “But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God.
And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done…” (Ac 8:9-13).
After Simon was baptized, he witnessed the Holy Spirit being given with the laying on of the apostles’ hands. Showing his true motivation, Simon offered money for this power (Ac 8:18-19).
Starting with other Samaritans, Simon Magus later managed to attract a large following in Rome. Many there considered him a god, erecting a statue to him on the Tiber River. Much of his success could be attributed to his magic demonstrations, such as demon-assisted levitation (Ecclesiastical History). These supernatural parlour tricks later earned him several audiences with Nero (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, vol. 25, p. 129)