Four Forces of the Last Days.

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We spent time in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation this morning. This book has a special blessing on it. I think the reason is, the closing days of the Church Age will be so filled with lies that the authority of Revelation will be questioned. Four evil forces are mentioned: Antichrist, the False Prophet, Babylon, and the lukewarmness of the Church of the Laodicean. We of today would prefer a friendlier Christ, not the Christ (Lamb) of the Book of Revelation. However, those who adhere closely to the warnings of the Book of Revelation are wise and have the blessing of the Lord on them.

(5/20/2007) We don’t hear too much about Antichrist after the eleventh chapter of the Book of Daniel, until we come to the Book of Revelation. Antichrist has been with us from the first century, according to the Book of First John, but apparently will increase in influence until just before the Lord returns. We need to recognize this danger.

While I am on the subject of danger and deception, we need to remember that Christ advised us to ask the Father that He not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Whether or not we fully understand the need for such a petition, we do well when we obey Christ.

Antichrist emerges from the sea, that is from the multitudes of mankind. Antichrist is man making himself a god. I believe, from the Book of Daniel, that the Antichrist spirit will be personified in one individual, whether man or woman. However, the spirit of Antichrist is in all of us until we deny ourselves, take up our personal cross, and follow Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Antichrist is the spirit of the world. The world always attempts to make its way without God. It is natural for a human being to make decisions and solve problems according to his experience, wisdom, and knowledge. God has given us a brain, hasn’t He? However, our brain is not to be used to plan our life but to understand what it is Christ wants us to think, say, or do.

From my point of view, the greatest single need in the Christian churches of our day is to learn to listen to Jesus. From the way we rush about, buried under problems, looking for solutions, one would assume Christ will not communicate with us; or is unconcerned; or has left it up to us to do the best we can.

Both the Old and New Testaments portray God speaking clearly to people—from major issues right down to the smallest detail of the construction of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. Why, then, do we suppose in the twenty-first century God no longer will speak to us?

It is not uncommon today to hear believers saying the Lord told me this or the Lord told me that. From what I have seen, I think they really are hearing from the Lord. But then they pursue their life as though Christ will speak only in certain instances and not in the case of the multitude of decisions and issues with which they are confronted.

The Christian denominations are notorious for making plans without hearing from the Lord. The leaders of the denomination apply common sense. They look where the need appears to be and then pour their resources into solving the particular problem. Then they pray mightily that God will bless their undertaking.

But in numerous instances Christ did not tell them to do anything. They are reacting to what they suppose Christ wants, or to their own expectations or the expectations of others, or out of fear that they will be left behind in some manner. This tendency to assume what Christ wants is prevalent in the ministry, as well as among the people the ministry serves, as far as I can tell.

The Bible commands: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

This method for living on the earth is directly contrary to the scientific method: observe; hypothesize; test; measure results; revise the hypothesis if necessary. Directly contrary!

The blessing today is on the person who is "in control." When we lean upon our own understanding we default to Satan. We humans are only dust. We are no match for the spiritual titans who are at war. When we do not look to Jesus Christ, we default to Satan—which is exactly what he desires.

Satan urges us to obtain power and security through the acquisition of money. Christ invites us to obtain power and security through the Spirit of God.

Satan urges us to gain wisdom and knowledge through education: Christ opens the door to wisdom and knowledge through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

The spirit of the world and the Spirit of God are totally opposed, the one to the other! The basic struggle of the Kingdom of God is righteousness against wickedness. The current misapplication of the grace of forgiveness has so obscured this struggle that the warnings of Revelation appear to apply to anyone except ourselves. We Christians of the twenty-first century are almost totally deluded, as we seek the build the Kingdom of God according to our own understanding of the Kingdom and of the Lord God and His ways and goals.

After Antichrist comes the False Prophet. Where Antichrist comes out of the sea, the multitudes of peoples, the False Prophet arise from the earth, that is, from the soul of human beings.

Antichrist is the desire and willingness of human beings to make decisions and act independently of their Creator, or to declare their Creator nonexistent. The False Prophet is the desire of Christian people to use the name and power of Christ and yet maintain their own life and ways of doing.

Notice that in the case of both Antichrist and the False Prophet, man is attempting to preserve his own life and ways independently of hearing from the Lord Jesus.

The False Prophet has the two horns (double power) of the Lamb but speaks with the voice of the dragon. The dragon says, "I, I, I will do this; I will do that." And the False Prophet acts according to his own understanding and attempts to call on the promises of Christ that if we ask anything in His name, He will do it.

Listen to the ministries of our day and see if they are setting forth their own ideas and plans, ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens ME"), or they meekly are expressing what Christ has directed them to say and do.

The antidote for the poison of the False Prophet is to deny ourselves, take up our personal cross, and follow the Lord. The False Prophet is Christianity without the personal cross of the believer.

We find, in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation, that the False Prophet assists Antichrist. They work together to control mankind. It is the False Prophet who orders mankind to set up an image in honor of the beast and is given power to give breath to the image so it can speak. It is the False Prophet who will force everyone to receive the mark that gives the authority to buy and sell.

Will the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement be divided into a majority who seek to use God to accomplish their own ends, and a minority who take up their cross of suffering and wait patiently on the Lord?

Will the majority then interact with the secular governments, setting up the image (of gold—Nebuchadnezzar!) so money is worshiped? Will the majority then proclaim Christ intends to give them most of the money of the world in order to demonstrate that they have been chosen? Do we hear this abomination being preached today?

Will the Antichrist government, at first at least, se the political advantage of getting together with the multitudes of Christians who have been brought into the churches as the churches have called down miracles in the name of Christ?

The Lord spoke to me one time in Alabama and said, "The "faith" and "prosperity" messages will fade for a while and then return with great power. Is this what the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation is telling us?

The common denominator of Antichrist and the False Prophet is that man remains in control. The only manner by which we can survive and minister during the dark days that lie ahead is by "dying in the Lord" until it becomes Christ who is working and not us.

666 on the right hand or forehead means the individual (Christian or not) is acting or thinking independently of hearing from the Lord Jesus. Compare this with the name of Christ and the name of Christ’s Father written on the foreheads of the firstfruits to God and the Lamb, of Chapter Fourteen of Revelation.

Babylon the Great is described in the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of Revelation. Babylon is organized religion. The reference possibly is to the Roman Catholic Church, and to her daughters, the Protestant churches.

The name is taken from the attempt of people to build a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens. It is confusion. Religion is man attempting to please God and use God for man’s purposes. Salvation is God reaching down to man to make man in God’s image. Religion (Bablyon) always will seek to murder those who want to serve God apart from the religious organization.

We see this tendency also in the Muslim religion, as its adherents seek to murder those who desire to serve God in another manner.

If I understand the Book of Zechariah, the headquarters of the unified Christian religion will be established at the original site of Babylon, in the nation of Iraq. The Christian leadership will rule the world jointly with Antichrist, until Antichrist no longer will accept a divided leadership, and he and the ten kings destroy Babylon with fire.

As for the fourth problem, the lukewarmness of the Laodicean churches, it is appearing today—at least in America. Many congregations profess to love Christ, and their doctrine and services are scriptural to a certain extent.

But there is something missing! It is the fierceness that is required if we are to press through the overwhelming spirit of the world and serve Christ with a pure heart.

Do you know why the Father has anointed Christ with the oil of joy? It is because Christ passionately, fervently, embraces righteousness and renounces wickedness. This passion, this fervency, comes from God.

The spirit of the churches of Laodicea know little of such a passion. They have developed a doctrine of grace that effectively destroys the struggle between righteousness and wickedness, not being able to perceive the church people to a great extent are still behaving wickedly—with the molestation of the their children, for example.

The Laodicean believer is casual. He has added a religious life to his regular pursuits on the earth. He is trusting that grace will take care of any imperfections in his behaviour.

He has little concept of what it means to grow in the ability to embrace righteous behaviour and reject wicked behaviour. When he sees the term "righteous" or "righteousness" in the New Testament he automatically translates this imputed righteousness. But in most instances these terms are referring to actual righteous behaviour.

The Laodicean believer scorns any attempts at honesty, faithfulness, truthfulness, self-control, as being the "dirty rags" of self-righteousness. Thus he is totally confused and deluded.

Consequently he does not have a passionate love of righteousness and hatred of wickedness that are such an important part of the Personalities of God and Christ. Thus he is not in God’s image.

Christ wishes the Laodicean would either join Christ or join Satan. However, such a clear decision would offend the Laodicean. He does not want to be able to say "for me is live is and to die is gain." He certainly does not want to go to such an extreme. Yet he professes to believe the Bible is God’s Word.

On the other hand, he does not want to give himself unconditionally to Satan. But he would not mind a little sin. So the Laodicean believer is nauseating vomitus to the Lord. The Laodicean would never accept such a description of himself, because he has a "nice" Jesus who is helping him and his family lead a somewhat well-rounded, wholesome life.

Christian, make no mistake. Antichrist, the False Prophet, Babylon, and the churches of Laodicea are with us today in power. There is a blanket of spiritual oppression on us today in America such that it is difficult to think clearly. But Christ will give us a clear mind, clear perception, the ability to make righteous decisions, if we ask Him.

Let us continually pray: "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one."

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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