Powerful False Miracles
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Back to 1The Bible’s Greatest Prophecies Unlocked!
The leaders of this dominating false system will be directly possessed by the devil! This will give the False Prophet tremendous power to deceive and perform miracles. Satan, having always wanted to replace God with himself (Isa. 14:12-14), will speak through this human religious leader and declare to the whole world that he is, in fact, GOD!
This Bible warning is unmistakable. The miracles he performs will deceive the vast majority!
The work of the False Prophet will continue all the way to Armageddon. Now read Revelation 16:13: “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan], and out of the mouth of the beast [civil end-time ruler], and out of the mouth of the false prophet [religious leader guiding the Beast].”
Rev 16:14 states, “For they are the spirits of devils [demons], working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” These “spirits of devils” are the fallen angels who followed Lucifer (now Satan) in his insurrection against the Creator. What many call the “Battle of Armageddon”—which is merely the location (the valley of Har-Megiddo) where the armies “gather”—the Bible declares is actually called, “The battle of that great day of God Almighty” (approximately 65 miles north of Jerusalem).
Here is how the Bible describes the Beast and False Prophet working together: “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him [Christ] that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image…” (Rev. 19:19-20).
Now let’s read the full description of how the False Prophet works. It is crucial to see the reach of his power, influence and ability, through miracles and lying wonders, to bring the whole world to worship the Beast—the final civil Roman/European ruler.
This following longer passage in Revelation 13:11-17 removes all doubt that the two-horned beast is the woman of Revelation 17:1-18 (and is the same as the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8), and the final False Prophet represents this woman church, working in concert with the Beast: “And I beheld another beast [the second beast] coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives them that dwell on the earth by the 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 [first beast], which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast [first 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. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 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.”
The False Prophet embodies all that counterfeit Christianity has represented through the centuries. In the near future, when the modern-day descendants of Israel are taken into captivity, many will see the awful, bitter reality of this system’s killing machine firsthand.
Understand that when the peoples of the earth witness these miracles, they will be deceived into thinking that this false system is of God, and that they are able to successfully fight what they will perceive as supernatural invaders! Again, these two men—both final antichrists—will no doubt be possessed by demons or even the devil himself, who personally drives this religious-political-military-economic system toward the final battle.
While more could be said about the Beast and False Prophet, this is sufficient for the purpose here. For more detail about this subject, answering virtually every conceivable question that could be on your mind, read our thorough booklets Who or What Is the Beast of Revelation? and Revelation Explained at Last!
Bible Definition of Antichrist
Now is the time to stop assuming about the antichrist—and to PROVE (I Thes. 5:21) the truth of this truly colossal issue. Open your Bible. Come to know what God says about antichrist—and permit the Bible to interpret itself!
The word “antichrist” is found only five times in the Bible, and in only four scriptures, all written by the apostle John. Originally written in Greek as antichristos, the word means “an adversary or opponent of the Messiah”—in other words, against Christ. Remember this.
In the first passage, notice how John warned: “It is the [a] last time: and as you have heard that ANTICHRIST shall come, even now are there many ANTICHRISTS…” (I John 2:18).
It says, “MANY antichrists”—plural, more than one. So then—and this is central in importance—the term is not limited to one person. You have probably never heard this before.
John continues by explaining that antichrists can come from within God’s Church: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest [obvious] that they were not all of us” (I John 2:19).
Here is the point not to miss. Sooner or later, antichrists always become obvious to God’s people.
Some history. John wrote these verses near the close of the first century and the end of his 60-plus-year ministry. Of Jesus’ apostles, he lived the longest by far after Christ’s crucifixion, and was the only one still living at the end of the first century. John had witnessed the birth of the true Church on Pentecost, A.D. 31. He saw it grow like the proverbial mustard seed as it spread across the Roman Empire—and he saw it come under vicious attacks, as well as suffer religious deception. The apostle John was very familiar with antichrists.
According to Halley’s Bible Handbook, the antichrist “…is commonly identified with the Man of Sin (of II Thessalonians 2:1-17), and the Beast of Revelation 13:1-18. But the Bible itself does not make the identification. The language implies that John’s readers had been taught to expect an Anti-Christ in connection with the closing days of the Christian era. However, John applies the word, not to One Person, but to the whole group of Anti-Christian Teachers. The New Testament idea seems to be that the Spirit of Antichrist would arise in Christendom, manifesting itself in many ways, both Within the Church and Without, finally culminating in One Person, or an Institution, or Both.”
Make no mistake. Antichrists have continued throughout the 2,000-year history of God’s Church—and into our time. In fact, the greatest number of them—and the worst ones—are at work today. And these deceivers operate in and around all of the groups and organizations of professing Christianity.
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