“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, (13)
And deceiveth 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, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” (14).
And he had power to give life unto 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.”
...Revelation 13:13-15
The Antichrist and the False Prophet. Video Slide: Revelation Visualized.
Two Beasts: The Antichrist and the False Prophet
There are some very exciting things coming up here in this chapter. Two “beasts” come immediately into view. One emerges out of the sea, and the other out of the Earth. The word “beast” is here translated from the Greek word, “therion,” and means “a dangerous animal.” That is an accurate description of the character of these two men.
In this chapter, we are going to see the One-World Religious System, headed up by the religious beast, along with the One-World Government, headed up by the “beast out of the sea (of people).” The religious beast is going to convince the whole world, through religion, to worship the “beast…out of the sea,” who is an anti-God, anti-Messiah, and deceiver, just as you have in your liberal churches today. It is the same thing. “Worship me!” “Come to me.” “Confess your sins to me.” the preacher says. No, he is an Antichrist. He is not Jesus Christ, because, if he loved Christ, he would point you to Christ.
The Apostle John warned us about the Antichrist; characterized as the “beast…out of the sea,” in this chapter, and about the many Antichrists, or false teachers, that we have all around us, today. You will find this in 1 John 2:18,
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist (the Beast out of the Sea) shall come, even now are there many antichrists (false teachers); whereby we know that it is the last [eschatos] time.”
These two beasts, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, come into power after the Rapture, the precipitating event which begins the Tribulation Period. That great event could happen tomorrow. It could be today. There is nothing in prophecy that has to be fulfilled before that time comes. Christ is not coming to the Earth, but He’s coming in the clouds, and we’ll be caught up to meet Him. Then begins the 7-year period of time known as the Tribulation Period. This is the time when you will have the One-World Religious System, and the One-World Government. We are getting acclimated for this day and it will happen right on schedule, just as God describes it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17,
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first (16): Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (17).
We are seeing the fulfillment of that here in Revelation, Chapter Thirteen. Let’s begin:
The Antichrist, the Beast Out of the Sea
Revelation 13:1a. Antichrist: A Man of the People.
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
First of all, in reading this, we see the importance of letting Scripture interpret Scripture. We cannot just read one part of a verse, such as, “I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea.” Well, is that the Loch Ness Monster? You find out, as you read on, that the Word of God interprets itself. “The sea” here represents a multitude of people. We find a very clear explanation of that in Revelation 17:15,
“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
Therefore, the “beast out of the sea rises out of, “..peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” This “beast out of the sea” is the Antichrist. This is going to be Satan, himself, indwelling a human being, and putting himself up to be the one-world ruler. He does this in the middle of the Tribulation Period, and the last three-and-a-half years, he rules and blasphemes everything about God.
Revelation 13:1b. Seven Heads and Ten Horns.
”..having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,
Chapter 17 informs us there are six kings who rise and fall, quickly, in the first chaotic months, or weeks, after the Rapture. The seventh king is the Antichrist who, in Verse 14 of this chapter, “had the wound by a sword, and did live.” He dies, and becomes the eighth king of Chapter 17:10. The “ten horns” and “ten crowns” are the rulers of the ten kingdoms who, in Revelation 17:12, rule ten kingdoms in obedience to the will of the Antichrist, for a short time:
“These have one mind, and shall give their power (be in subjection to the Antichrist) and strength unto the beast (Antichrist)” (17:13).
We can, now, finish Verse One, as we have identified the “ten horns.”
Revelation 13:1c. “Upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
Daniel 7:25 tells us:
“And he [Antichrist[ shall speak great words against the most High [God]…”
He speaks against God, and all of God’s children, who are those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Revelation 13:2. A Character Reference.
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon [Satan] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
This “beast out of the sea” that John sees in Revelation13:1,2, embodies all the characteristics of the beasts described in Daniel, Chapter 7. John sees them in reverse order, as he is looking back through time. Daniel saw them looking forward through time.
- John sees: 1. Beast with 7 Heads & 10 Horns, 2. Leopard, 3. Bear, 4. and a Lion
- Daniel sees: 1. Lion, 2. Bear, 3. Leopard, 4. Terrible Beast with 10 Horns
“The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” The “dragon” is none other than Satan, himself. The Antichrist is the only person, besides Judas, that Satan indwells, personally.
Revelation 13:3. Resurrection?
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”
He is a counterfeit of Jesus Christ. The Antichrist suffers a death wound by the sword. He dies, then, we find out he has power to have a resurrection. He was wounded unto death. Revelation 17:9-11 bears that out. He speaks against God, and all those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Revelation 13:4. Misguided Worship.
“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”
People are amazed at the trickery of a magician who seems to saw a woman in half, or seems to make the Statue of Liberty disappear. That will be nothing in comparison to seeing the Antichrist suffer a death wound by a sword (v.14), and come back to life.
The word “worshipped” in Verse 4 is the Greek word “proskyneō,” and means to “prostrate one’s self in homage,” and comes from a root word meaning “to kiss, as a dog licking one’s hand.” The Antichrist will have no problem winning over masses of people!
Revelation 13:5. The Antichrist’s Character Described.
Revelation 13:5,6, give us a description of Satan’s man in the Tribulation Period, the Antichrist, in which he continually opens his mouth in blasphemy against God:
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
“Forty and two months” is three-and-a-half years. He has “a mouth speaking great things…” The word “great” is translated from the Greek word, “megas,” meaning “high, large, loud.” “Blasphemies” is translated from the Greek word, “blasphēmia,” and means “blasphemy, evil speaking, railing.” Therefore, the Antichrist will be a loud mouth, constantly railing against the God of Heaven.
Revelation 13:6. The Great Blasphemer.
“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
The first “beast,” or the Antichrist, sets himself up according to 2 Thessalonian 2:4:
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
In Matthew 24:15:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:”
He hates everything about God, and those whom God has redeemed. He presents to the people on Earth that he is the God of Creation. He has always wanted to be that. The Five “I wills” of Satan, in Isaiah 14:13-14, show that Satan has always been in conflict with God. Isaiah 14:15 reveals that God says he is going to be brought down to Hell. Even though Satan probably knows the Scripture better than you do, his pride will not allow him to give up, and he knows his time is limited.
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the Earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12).
The Tribulation Period is Satan’s last campaign in his war against God, which began when God pronounced his sentence in the Garden of Eden. We find that in Genesis 3:15:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Revelation 13:7. The Antichrist Declares War On Believers.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Christians do not have the friendship of the world. Not in the Tribulation Period, and not now. Notice what our Savior says to His Disciples in John 15:18-21:
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me [Christ] before it hated you (18). If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you (19). Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also (20). But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me” (21).
You are just not going to have fellowship with the unsaved. Look at John 16:1-3:
“These things have I [Christ] spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. (1) They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, (2). And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me” (3).
We see another example. Maybe you are a Christian, and your friends and family resent the time you spend serving the Lord, or learning His Word. Notice what Christ said in Matthew 10:35-38:
“For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law (35). And a man's foes shall be they of his own household (36). He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (37). And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (38).
Revelation 13:8. The Lamb’s Book of Life.
“And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him, slain from the foundation of the world.”
This verse is sometimes used to support the satanic teaching that God chooses a person; and, then, predestinates them to be saved. Therefore, their names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and the rest are not.
We can learn, exactly, when our name is placed in the Lamb’s Book of Life, from Psalm 139:13-16:
“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb” (13).
The word, “covered,” in Verse 13 is the Hebrew word, “SAKAK,” a prime root which means “to entwine, set, gain together.” In other words, God was overseeing the coming together of the sperm and the egg inside the mother’s womb.
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (14).
In Verse 14, the word “fearfully” is the Hebrew word, “YARE,” a prime root meaning “to fear.” David is praising God in reverential fear, astonished at how God can make the human body so perfect. He forms the eggs in a woman and the sperm in a man, and when they are put together, another human being is born.
“My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (15).
The phrase “the lowest parts of the Earth,” illustrates the impossibility of seeing the center of the Earth, which would be 4,000 miles down, since the diameter is estimated at 8,000 miles. This only illustrates that it is impossible to see inside the womb at conception, but...God can.
“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (16).
Your name, and the name of every human being, is recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life at conception. It will remain there until the day you die. If you are saved, your name will never be blotted out.
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Revelation 3:5).
“He that overcometh” is your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as explained in 1 John 5:4,5.
“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (4).
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
If you die unsaved, your name will be blotted out, and your eternal destiny will be Hell. Read Psalm 69:21-28. We will not quote all the verses; but Verses 27, and 28, will suffice.
“Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness (27). Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous” (28).
Revelation 13:9. “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”
God’s Word contains truth from Genesis to Revelation, and it was written for you! Open it and read it. It is your responsibility.
The Antichrist, indwelt by Satan, is going to imitate Christ. He is going to say, “ I am Christ.” He always wanted that position. In Matthew 4:8, 9, Satan told the Lord that he would give him “all the kingdoms of the world…if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” What a joke! The kingdoms already belonged to the Lord. He is just loaning it to Satan, and humanity. Christ can save men, and even with the power of Satan, and his demons working against Him to deceive, the power of God is still greater. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, can illuminate your minds. He can give you discernment, and by prayer and reading the Word of God, you don’t have to be tricked by Satan or fall into his traps. 1 Peter 5:8 warns that we should...
”..Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
“Satanology, or the doctrine of Satan, is properly a part of Angelology since Satan is a fallen angel. It is that part that deals specifically with the ruler of the fallen angels or demons (Matt. 25:42; Rev. 12:7-9). The study of the rest of his hideous kingdom, the fallen angels or demons, is sometimes called Demonology. The career of Satan, which extends from the dateless past, before man's creation (Job. 38:7), to eternity future, is inclusive in the Bible and forms a major and an important doctrine of the Word of God.
Some people might question, “Why we should even study about the devil. After all, there is enough trouble in life. Let’s just leave him alone.” But to do so is to ignore a considerable portion of God’s revelation to us in Scripture. Satan is mentioned throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. While our need is to dwell on the riches of Christ rather than on Satan and the demons, we do need to know this doctrine of the Bible that we might be alert to who and what he is. As a major area of God’s revelation, the study of Satan teaches us about his character, purposes, the nature of temptation, and the Christian’s provision against him. The Bible’s teaching about Satan is part of “the faith,” the body of God’s revealed truth. So the Apostle Peter exhorts us to be alert to the devil and his tactics by standing “firm in the faith,” the body of truth that we need know and believe.” (Bible.org, J. Hampton Heathley)
Revelation 13:10. What Goes Around; Comes Around.
“He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
This can be explained very simply from Galatians 6:7.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
The False Prophet, the Beast Out of the Earth.
Revelation 13:11. The Fire-Breathing Lamb.
“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.”
And, then, we come down to Verse 11, and we find another beast. This is the Religious Beast. He looks like a harmless Lamb; but “He spake as a dragon…” The False Prophet is the Antichrist’s spokesman, and Satan’s “right-hand man.” He functions like the “press agent” of today in his work to maintain the Antichrist’s public image as the “authentic Savior and Messiah.” Satan was identified as the “great dragon” in Revelation 12:9. This religious beast speaks “as a dragon,” because he is directed by his “higher power,” Satan, himself. There is a great difference between the “Unholy Trinity” and the real one. In the Trinity that is God, there is no jealousy. They are equal. In the Unholy Trinity, Satan is the power behind the other two. He, personally, indwells the Antichrist, and one of his strongest demons indwells the False Prophet. (Ephesians 6:12).
Revelation 13:12. The Antichrist’s Worship Leader.
“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast [Antichrist] before him, and causeth the Earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”
Along comes the Religious Beast, and he influences all of the religious people. Not the saved. All the church-goers who are not saved. If they had been saved; they would have gone at the Rapture. This is the One-World Religious System. We know this is the Religious Beast, for the reason that he causes the people of the Earth to worship the Anti-God, Satan. When we get to Revelation 17 and 18, he directs the One-World Religious System. He is identified as the False Prophet in Revelation 19:20.
Revelation 13:13, 14. Fire From Heaven!
This “beast” had power to do specific miracles.
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the Earth in the sight of men,“ (13)
“And deceiveth 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, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (14)
As we saw in Verse 3, one of the heads of the first “beast,” the Antichrist, had a wound and “his deadly wound was healed.” Here we find out that it is a “wound by a sword.” Wasn’t it a sword that was shoved into the side of the Lord Jesus? The Antichrist is going to have a resurrection, and he is going to mock Christ by labeling Him as the False Christ, presenting himself (Satan) as the authentic Savior and Messiah. It is ironic that Satan can never cause people to worship him in person. He has to use indirect means, i.e. indwelling a human as a mock incarnation, and having the False Prophet tell humanity “that they should make an image to the beast....”
Revelation 13:15. The Image of the Beast
“And he had power to give life unto 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.” (15).
They build an image to this man who is the Antichrist.
Revelation 13:16-18. The Mark of the Beast.
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads (16)): 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 (17). 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 Six hundred threescore and six” (18).
The number is “666,” and you are going to have that placed on your forehead, or on the back of your hand, so they can identify you. If you do not obey, you will die. This mark identifies you as a person who has given his allegiance to the Antichrist. If you do not take the Mark of the Beast, you are not going to be able to get food for your children. You are not going to be able to get any hospital care if they get sick. To get any kind of medical care, you would have to take the mark.
Let me show you what can happen if you refuse the mark. The Ten Kings, of Chapter 17, have the responsibility to enforce, and punish by beheading, those who refuse the mark. The Antichrist will appoint them as overseers of a world which has been divided into Ten Provinces. He sets the kings over them and they are responsible to the Antichrist (Rev. 17:13,14), just like the Governor of a state. Since we have now come to the middle of the Tribulation Period, the Antichrist is ruling in the city of Jerusalem from the temple there. He has established himself as the “real God,” now. He demands that everyone take a mark showing their allegiance to him.
Unless they have laid in supplies and can, somehow, remain undetected for the last three-and-a-half years, many Christians are going to die in this last three-and-a-half years. In Revelation 20:4, we find there are those who say, “No, I am not going to take the Mark of the Beast. I reject this diabolical system. I am a Christian.”
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto 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 worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years“ (Rev. 20:4).
Satan kills them, but only the body. In other words, Satan has killed them, and God just takes them to Heaven where “they live and abide forever.” Satan thought he had annihilated them, but they had just begun their first one-thousand years of eternal life. The only thing Satan did was change their location from Earth to Heaven. How glorious it is for the Christian to know that I am “absent from the body, and present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
The Majority Is Usually Wrong!
Those who will not take the Mark of the Beast will be Christians, who do not go along with the multitude. Most people say, “Don’t make waves! If everyone is doing it, it must be right.” Most of the time the multitude is wrong and the minority is right.
Let us think back to the time when God had Moses send the twelve spies into the land of Canaan. He said, “You go in there, and you spy out the land.” The twelve came back with their report. They were Caleb and Joshua, and ten other spies. Ten of the spies said, “Oh, there are giants there. God is going to send us in, and our children are going to be killed, and we are going to lose everything!” You had ten “wimps” that came back who did not believe God.
There were two men, Joshua and Caleb, who stood up and stilled the people. They said, “Let us go in at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. God says we can have victory, He will fight for us.” The whole congregation of Israel spent that night weeping and wailing. They even began to talk about going back to Egypt. Caleb and Joshua attempted to reason with the angry multitude.
“Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not” (Numbers 14:9).
We should take comfort in the thought that nothing, that concerns God’s people, goes unnoticed in Heaven. Just at the moment the angry mob, or “majority,” took up stones to get rid of Caleb and Joshua, Jehovah, Himself, came down.
“But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel” (Numbers 14:10).
“And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation...” The people all saw it, and it must have been an awesome sight! The people had followed the multitude. They took the advice of the ten. The minority, or the two spies, were right, but the multitude followed the ten.
In Numbers 14:11,12, we find God was ready to get rid of them all, and start over with Moses. But Moses begs God to “pardon their iniquity,” which God agrees to do in Numbers 14:20:
“And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:”
However, there was still a price to pay for their sin of unbelief, and lack of trust. As a result, God passed a sentence on the multitude who were wrong. Their carcasses would fall in the wilderness, and after wandering for 38 years (40 minus the two they had already spent wandering), “a year for a day,” God would take their children into the Promised Land. See Numbers 13 and 14:31-38. (Read all of Numbers 13 and 14. It would be a good bedtime lesson for your children.)
Satan never takes time out from his war against God, and his favorite weapons are fear, doubt, and deception. It is very clear from 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:12-14; Daniel 11:21, that he plans to sway the multitudes during the Tribulation Period. He is going to say that “I am God.” He will be a counterfeit Messiah for the Jews, and his plans are already in motion!
This may seem repetitive, but Satan has many ways to deceive, and we are now going to expose another one of his counterfeits. His latest deception is to replace the Lord Jesus Christ through using the new Bible versions.You find out that Satan was first named “Lucifer,” in Isaiah 14:12. This is the only time the name, Lucifer, appears. In Isaiah 14:12-17, the five “I wills” of Satan are found and we will read them all the way down.
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (12) For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north (13): I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (14). Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit (15). They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the Earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms (16); That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?” (17).
In other words, “Is this the puny little runt who has deceived you into Hell?”
The Anointed Cherub wanted to be “like the most high.” However, jealousy breeds contempt and we find in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, he is going to say “I am God.” He will not stand for competition, but will demand that everyone worship only him. It is the character of Satan and his goal to be worshiped as God. This rules out the Catholic Church being the total One-World Church. It will only be a part of the Antichrist’s One-World Religious System. He will never stand for competition from any Pope or plaster “saint.”
The religious system of the world, that is run by the False Prophet from Babylon, allows ALL religions to continue during the first half of the Tribulation Period. The only stipulation is that they cannot cause trouble by proselyting from another religion.
During the Tribulation Period, the Beast out of the Earth, the False Prophet, begins a public relations campaign that will transform the image of Satan, from his true evil character, to one that will inspire people to worship him. The key part of this evil plan is that the multitude must absolutely believe he is God.
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13, 14).
Isaiah 14:12-17, and Ezekiel 28:12-19, reveal the cause of Satan’s fall from the position of the “Anointed Cherub that covereth” to become the most evil personage of all time, Satan, the Adversary. We only discover the basics in these two passages, and he has a history which extends from the dateless past, before man's creation (Job. 38:7), to his end in the Lake of Fire, which was created by God “for the devil and his angels”(Matthew 25:41). Satan would like nothing more than to see what God says about him in the Bible removed, or, at the very least, misinterpreted, or disbelieved. Somehow, the “Lucifer, son of the morning,” who has fallen must be “like the Most High.” No problem! Just change your name to the person you want to be. That is where the new versions of the Bible come in. This is “identity theft” taken to the highest level.
The Devil’s Ace Trump
We find out almost all of your new translations take the name, Lucifer, out. Isn’t that amazing? The changes did not come from the original Hebrew language, but from the Theology of the New Verson editors. Especially, the view expressed by one NIV Committee member, R. Laird Harris. He contends that Isaiah 14 is not about Lucifer and his descent into Hell, but about a king from Babylon and his interment in the grave. The NIV is one of the largest selling, corrupt, so-called Bibles on the market today.
The New International Version is just one link in a chain tied to Helen P. Blavatsky, a Luciferian (Satan worshiper). She is quoted as saying in her book, The Secret Doctrine:
* “Esoteric philosophy admits neither good nor evil per se, as existing independently in nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the Kosmos, in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in his human nature, his ignorance and passions. There is no devil or the utterly depraved, as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be spirits of Light and of Darkness; thus LUCIFER – the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought – is metaphorically the guiding beacon, which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for Lucifer is the LOGOS in his highest, and the “Adversary” in his lowest aspect – both of which are reflected in our Ego.” (Vol. 2, p. 162)
The Luciferians, or the Theosophists, say that Helen P. Blavatsky did not even believe in a literal God, or a literal Devil, as if that were a good thing. Note that in the above statement she does believe in “spirits,” and that, even though she claimed not to be a Satan worshiper, she does believe in a “spirit” named Lucifer, who is a “guiding beacon who helps man to find his way through...life.” She gives the Devil another of our Savior’s titles, calling him the LOGOS. Talk about identity theft!
Let us examine Isaiah 14:12 and determine what the original Hebrew actually says.
The Hebrew is: hêlēl bēn shakḥar. The correct translation is “Lucifer, Son of the Morning.” That is what appears in the Hebrew manuscripts. The NIV, and the NASB, give an English translation as if the Hebrew said,“shakhar kôkāb bēn shakḥar,” or Morning Star, Son of the Morning” or “Dawn.” Yet, the Hebrew word for star, “kôkāb” appears nowhere in Isaiah 14:12. Also “morning” appears only once, as the King James Version shows, not twice, as the new versions indicate. The word “kôkāb” is translated “star” dozens of other times by the NIV translators. “Morning and “dawn” is likewise used hundreds of times. The new version editors know that “kôkāb” is “star,” since they translated it that way in Job 38:7. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were trying to re-make Jesus Christ, “the bright and morning star, casting Him as the villain in Isaiah 14:12. Revelation 22:16 tells us that it is Jesus Christ who is the Morning Star. Satan is very tricky! There is more information on the new Bible versions in Appendix III.
The Devil’s “Ace Trump” is to convince you that you cannot understand the Bible. That’s a lie out of Hell. If any preacher can understand the Bible, YOU can understand the Bible. It only amounts to this. How much time do you use to read, and study it? If you have time, no preacher has anything more than you. You have the gray matter, you have the brains, you have the intelligence, and you have the Lord who said:
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Are You Being Brainwashed?
I do not want to leave this chapter without giving the “Devil his due.” He has many ways of getting people ready for the Tribulation Period. As we have said previously, the Antichrist has an image of himself built, and everyone has to give their allegiance unto him. This is just like you have today.
You will see statues of Mary, and of all of these “saints,” on the corners of the streets and on the highways, or certain corners of roads. It is going to be almost identical. When the Antichrist says, “Worship me,” there will be images all over, just like you have the images of Mary today. People actually worship these statues of Mary. They actually worship that stone image. Of course, God condemns that in the Bible. The Second Commandment says...
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the water under the Earth” (Exodus 20:4):
The organizations that propagate this error, say that you need to keep the Ten Commandments to go to Heaven, yet, they only keep nine out of ten.What a joke! The statues we have around today are worshipped, even though God condemns that in the Bible.
This is religion, but it is not Christianity. The Antichrist will do the same thing as people are doing today. They are already programmed. You do not have to brainwash a person to worship a statue of Mary. They are already brainwashed. The Antichrist is going to do the same thing.
I am just going to say this. It doesn’t matter whether it is Catholicism, whether it is “Baptist-ism,” or whether it is Lutheranism, or Mormonism. When you drive down a road, and worship a dumb idol made out of stone—there is something lacking! You have been brainwashed, I don’t care what you say. I serve a Living Savior, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ who liveth and abideth forever. I don’t care what that stone statue is made out of, whether it represents Christ, or Mary. We are never to worship anyone except the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, 1 Timothy 2:5 tells us,
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”