Thursday, 16 March 2017

Revelation: The Resurrection of the Beast.

I am posting chapters from my sister's book, "The End is near. End Time Bible Prophecy Anyone Can Understand." Available at lulu.com

Continued from previous post...

The US involvement in the Middle East is only the beginning.  Iran, North Korea, Syria and others are perceived as threats to the Western world and Daniel says that the US  will expand its campaign to the East and North.
The False Prophet

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  Revelation 13 continues with its description of the United States’ religious leader’s powers, one of the two horns on the lamb that arose out of the earth.  

“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.  And he deceives those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.”  Rev. 13:13, 14  

This religious leader, in the guise of a lamb or in sheep’s clothing, is going to perform signs that are meant to deceive people into believing that he is sent by God to organize an image to the beast, when in fact he speaks like a dragon and is inwardly a ravenous wolf.  The signs he performs may be powers given to him by Satan, or they may simply be slight of hand magic tricks.  We cannot know.  What we do know is that he will be convincing enough to make people follow him unquestioningly and to make an image to the beast.
The apostle Paul was talking about the end times when he said this: “…one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.  For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”  1 Thess. 2:9-12  

People will often believe what they want to believe when it seems to benefit them the most.  God allows this as each person on earth has been given free will to love God and accept the truth, or love wickedness and believe what is false.
Resurrection of the Beast
          We saw in chapter four and five of this book that the Pope was taken prisoner in 1798, wherein the Catholic Church lost its power and suffered a fatal wound (Rev. 13:3).  However, in Revelation 17:8 it says, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.  And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.”  

It looks like the beast “is not” but the beast will rise again from the “abyss” of obscurity into which it had fallen after 1798, and it will regain its power in the end times (see also Rev. 11:7; Rev. 13:12, 14).