Who is Like the Beast?

RV166-02

Hinduism

Rajiv Gandhi, as a Hindu, in fact, has joined his assassinated mother in the suffering of Hades, awaiting their entrance into the lake of fire, which will be their eternal destiny, as rejecters of Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Millions of Hindus will follow these two esteemed political leaders into hell. This is what 1 Timothy 4:1 refers to as doctrines of demons, for Hinduism is the great basic doctrine of demons of a counterfeit religion. It began with Nimrod at the Tower of Babel, and it has continued to this very day, blossoming out worldwide in a new form called the New Age Movement.

Life after Death

Jesus is the Only Way

John 3:16 makes it clear how one enters God's heaven: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

Acts 16:31 puts it succinctly: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

The apostle Paul, the great apostle of the grace of God, summed it up in a magnificent way in Ephesians 2:8-9, when he said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that (salvation is) not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as the result of works, that no one should boast."

Finally, when writing to his associate Titus, the apostle Paul again declared, in Titus 3:3-7, the issue of going from moral guilt to moral perfection by being clothed with the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ: "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved the various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." That's the unsaved lifestyle of the sin nature: "But when the kindness of God our Savior, and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." And remember that the word "justified" means being clothed in the absolute righteousness of God, so that you are now as perfect as Jesus Christ.

The Bible is very clear, and the Gandhis have rejected the clarity and the authority of Scripture. I know with a certainty (beyond the shadow of a doubt), that now, both Rajiv Gandhi and his mother wish that they could speak once more speak to the nation of India, and warn them of the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ, and to warn them against the terrible consequences that await them, to hopefully prevent them from coming into the terrible place in which they now find themselves. Hinduism is one of the evidences of the truth of that sobering statement that Jesus recorded for us in Matthew 7:13-14, where Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad, that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow, that leads to life, and few are those who find it." Hinduism is an example of the truth of this statement – that only a few people will find their way through the small gate and the narrow way that leads to eternal life.

John 10:9 tells us that Jesus is the gate. He is the door into the sheepfold.

John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is the way. He is the road into heaven.

Hinduism is growing rapidly in the United States, especially under the guise of the New Age movement. But it is a false religion. It is Satan once more bringing together the religious forces of the world into the ultimate world religion that the antichrist will have as the basis of his kingdom.

The Antichrist

The United Nations, however, has not been able to prevent wars, nor has it been able to restrain tyrants which are bent on conquest. The recent Gulf War, however, has raised the prestige of the United Nations in this respect, because the nations of the world are now more inclined to bring themselves together to give up their national sovereignty, and to join a world government. This is due in part to the current economic interdependence of nations. It makes world government through the UN seem more attractive. The United States itself is hurrying to create a powerful trading bloc with Canada and Mexico in order to be able to compete with the United States of Europe, which comes into being January 1st, 1993. Japan itself is breaking loose from the United States as a trading partner to form its own Asian trading bloc.

The common bond between all of these economic entities is the United Nations. The United Nations wants an independent military force so that it can enforce its edicts upon the world. This current worldwide acclamation to the idea of world government has set the scene for the arrival of the antichrist and his world government in the tribulation. This idea is no longer unthinkable, even to many Americans. After the rapture of the church and Satan's expulsion from heaven, he will seek out the antichrist to groom him to rule the earth. Satan, at that point in time, will indwell the antichrist. Satan, incarnated in the antichrist, will finally attain his goal of being worshiped like God by mankind.

The Revived Roman Empire

What God has done is thus far He has prevented a total socialist world government from coming into being from Nimrod at the Tower of Babel to David Rockefeller in our day with the Council on Foreign Relations. Between these two men, there has been a constant effort to move mankind toward world government and to restore the final expression of world government as it existed in the form of the Roman Empire.

In the middle of the seven-year tribulation period, the Bible tells us that God will finally permit the restoration of the seemingly dead Roman Empire with the antichrist as the emperor. Europe and the Mediterranean areas once covered by the Roman Empire will again be the core of this revived empire. Daniel revealed that the Imperial Roman Empire would be revived in the form of ten nations joined together in a confederacy (Daniel 7:23-24). The antichrist makes his move at a certain point in time following the rapture of the church. He makes his move, and by a power play, conquers three of these nations in this confederacy, and the other seven decide to capitulate and join him.

The whole world will be amazed, then, to see the imperial form of Rome once more politically alive, with an actual emperor ruling it in the person of the antichrist. This revived empire will be governed by a small, elite group of men – political powers and economic powers in the world. At that time, when the antichrist becomes the head of the ten-nation confederacy at the beginning of the tribulation, he will move quickly to establish peace in the Middle East. He will not be, at this point in time, a world ruler. He will just be a ruler of the area of Western Europe and of the Mediterranean area. The peace that the antichrist will immediately establish in the Middle East is, of course, as you know, the very area in which the United States and other governments are, even today, scurrying about trying to make peace between the Jews and Arabs. Our secretary of state, Mr. Baker, is rushing from one country to another in the Middle East trying to bring peace. It's not going to happen.

The Antichrist's Treaty with Israel

This treaty with Israel will seemingly be a wonderful thing for the Jews, because under the protection of the antichrist, the Arabs will be kept at bay. The Jews will be permitted to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem, and they will be able to re-institute their Mosaic worship system with the animal sacrifices and the whole thing. It is astounding that the Jews today are rushing back to Israel from all over the world, including, as I told you last time, the black Ethiopian Jews. If you read your Dallas Morning News last week, it was all over the newspapers: This astounding airlift of bringing black Ethiopian Jews descended from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba back to Israel. The Jews are going back to their homeland, and Israel itself is calling upon the United States to help them financially to be able to provide housing for these people, because the nation is being overwhelmed.

Why is this happening? It is God bringing the nation of Israel back together to where it will have its final dramatic crisis under the antichrist. Halfway through the seven-year tribulation period, after three-and-a-half years, Daniel 9:27 tells us that the antichrist will break the treaty that he has made with the Jewish people. The reason he does this is because, at this point in time, Russia will have made her move with her Arab allies to invade and destroy Israel. God Himself will destroy Russia and the nations associated with her. The United States at this time apparently will have been reduced from a world power status, so the United States will not be an issue. Consequently, the antichrist will find no one standing in his way of taking over the rule of all of the earth. World government will finally come into being, and the Roman Empire, in its full glory, will be alive again. Daniel 7:23 describes that.

As the leader of a one-world government, the antichrist will very quickly move to do what tyrants have done from time immemorial. And as was characteristic of the Roman emperors, the antichrist will proclaim himself as God. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 says, speaking of this coming antichrist, "Who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." Once he turns against the Jews, he himself enters their temple, and sits upon his throne there in the holy of holies, and declares himself to be the living God. He will also place a statue of himself, which his chief priest, the false prophet, will use to direct worship toward the antichrist.

The New Age Movement

Well, Hinduism has prepared people for a man to sit upon the throne of a world government and say that he is God. The object of tribulation worship, of course, will be to worship Satan, who will be incarnated in the antichrist. The antichrist will blaspheme the true God. He will also persecute all born-again believers who refuse to worship him. Daniel 7:25 predicted that. Jesus reiterated that in Matthew 24:21-22. True believers are going to be persecuted by the antichrist. The antichrist will be working through the power of Satan, as John points out in the book of the Revelation.

Paul pointed this out in 2 Thessalonians 2:9, when he said, "That is, the one who is coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders." Satan's miracles through the antichrist will be so impressive that even genuine saved people will almost be deceived into viewing them as the works of God. The Lord took time to point that out so that believers who are living in the tribulation, who see the works of the antichrist, would not be deceived.

In Matthew 24:24, we're told: "For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible, even the elect." It is only those who understand the principles of doctrine who will be preserved from such an error.

Now, in Revelation 13:4, the earth has seen the revival of the Roman Empire. It is amazed at what seemingly was dead and done for has now come back to life. The whole earth is ready now to follow the antichrist as he demonstrates the great demonic satanic powers that he has. And we're told in Revelation 13:4 that, "They worship." The "they" is up in verse 3: the whole world: "And the whole world was amazed." In verse 4, "they" refers back to the whole world. So, here you have a condition where worldwide worship is now being directed toward the antichrist from every nation on the face of the earth.

However, they are worshiping the dragon. The dragon is now incarnated in the antichrist, and he is the one that they really are worshiping. The point here is that people know this. In the years just prior to the rapture of the church, there will be a great occult revival. People will be into séances; into speaking with demons; into astrology; into horoscopes for their personal guidance; and, into witchcraft or Shamanism, all to gain one's desires. You can now buy guidance, books, and the paraphernalia in many stores to come in touch with the powers of the demonic world.

This is the condition of our day. This is going to constantly increase to a higher intensity as the rapture approaches. All the things which are forbidden by God under the Mosaic Law, on pain of death, are what people are doing today. Hinduism, as the New Age movement, is going to become a popular religion worldwide.

I read an article this past week of the extensive inroads of the New Age movement in Poland, among people who have become disillusioned with Roman Catholicism, and they don't know where to go now. What they're going into is the occult power of the New Age movement. Eastern mysticism, based on that idea of the deity of man, is the great lie of Satan. This occult religious climate that is going to readily lend itself to the worship of Satan himself in the tribulation. With the worldwide removal of Christians from the earth at the rapture, along with the person of the Holy Spirit, who now restrains evil, there'll be nothing to keep back the antichrist from exercising his power. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 make it clear that once the Holy Spirit is gone with the rapture of the church, then there is no restraint upon this man. Mankind then will plunge headlong into Satan worship and the exercise of demonic powers.

That's exactly what John is telling us here in Revelation 13:4 – the whole world is now worshiping Satan. People will now understand the cosmic conflict between Satan and God, and they will take Satan's side in the conflict. And Satan's miracles will convince people that he is invincible.

The reason they respect Satan is because they know where the power of the antichrist is coming from. John says that they worshiped the dragon Satan because he gave his power to the beast. People will recognize that the power which is demonstrated by the antichrist comes from Satan. God is rightfully worshiped as the Supreme Being who created all that there is. He alone is the source of all good. He alone deserves the worship of man, the creature. This is a clear principle in the Mosaic Law. Yet in the tribulation, all of humanity is worshiping Satan as the Supreme Being, one of the creatures that God made. But Satan claims to have evolved, rather than to have been created by God – this one who is the source of all evil. Unsaved people are going to be drawn to Satan because he is powerful. The mistake they make is not to realize that God is all powerful.

Who is Like the Beast?

Who is Like God?

In Isaiah 40:25, God is speaking to Isaiah: "'To whom then would you liken Me, that I should be his equal?' says the holy one." So, the question once went properly in respect to our God: "Who is like Him?" No one is like Him. He is incomparable. They now compare the antichrist and Satan as equal.

Well, God is going to answer the question: Who is like the antichrist? Who is like Satan? You have that answer, and you may read it at your leisure, in Revelation 19:11ff. There you will see the demonstration of who is like the antichrist, and who is like Satan, and it will be clearly demonstrated, as you see there, when God makes His move, that no one is comparable to Himself. No one is like God. The antichrist is a trivial person. So, any leader in the world today can be compared to Nebuchadnezzar, who literally was turned into an animal for seven years, because he did not recognize the authority of God in the affairs of people.

This is the problem that we Christians run into. What do you want in life? What person do you want? What possession do you want? What position do you want? How often do Christians (maybe even with legitimate desires) maneuver and scheme and figure out and promote? And it never occurs to them that the first thing you do to get the person; the possession; the position; or, whatever it is you desire, is that you talk to God about it. First you pray, and it is so easy for Him to hand it over to you then. Instead, we always think that we have the capacity to bring these things about.

People are going to think that the antichrist is in the position that he is in because he is a great man, and that he has the great power of Satan. They are going to make the same mistake of thinking that this man is where he is because of his efforts. Christians who operate on that basis are going to find themselves disillusioned, and denied what they seek every time. Who is like the beast? The beast is nothing. He's trivial. The question truly is: who is like God?

Why do they admire him? Because the beast is a man of integrity? No, because: who is able to wage war with him? They don't worship the antichrist because of integrity, but because of his military power – the brute mafia-like force that the antichrist will have. The same principle of force, interestingly enough, was what Muhammad taught his followers. In the Koran, Muhammad taught his followers that they are the true religion raised up by the true God, and that this religion must be imposed upon mankind, and that the infidels will not accept Allah as their God (which was the chief demon god in the pantheon of the Arab Bedouin tribes, the nomads, and whom Muhammad was led by Satan to pick as the god). In the Koran, Muslims are told that if an infidel will not accept Allah, kill him, which is why it has been a bloody religion from the first. This is why terrorism is a very natural expression of the religion of Islam.

So, the same principle of force that has been characteristic of Islam will be characteristic of the antichrist. Those who will not join him will be put to death. If tribulation humanity really knew that Satan has just been kicked out of heaven, and that the antichrist is merely his creation, they would realize that they are riding a losing horse, both in their devotion to Satan and to the antichrist. Both of them are losers. Tribulation humanity worships Satan through the antichrist because they willfully reject the doctrines of Scripture. I cannot stress that enough to you, because people who will be left behind on this earth after we are gone are not the low-IQ gang. They are not the people who have no positions of power. They are not the non-achievers. They are going to be the leading elements of Satan's world system. They are going to be powerful people. They are going to be wealthy people. They're going to be educated people. They are going to be high-IQ people.

Now, how can people like this bow down and worship the antichrist and his image? How can people like this give their devotion to Satan? When we listen to talk shows, we may hear people saying, "I'm a follower of Satan. He is my god. He is the real power of the universe. He is the guy who has been abused by your God. But he is going to win. And I worship Lord Satan." We shake our heads and say, "Boy, how crazy can you be?" But all the people that you see on nightly news who are reading the news to you – the news men, and the sophisticated liberal media – those are the people that are going to worship the antichrist.

How can that be? How can people be so deluded? 2 Thessalonians 2:10 gives you the answer. This antichrist works through the guidance and power of Satan, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the true so as to be saved. They did not love Bible doctrine and become fans addicted to it. They did not care about Bible doctrine relative to how to be saved. They had their own system. They didn't care what the Bible said – the verses I directed you to earlier this morning, nor did they care about what the Creator God had to say about the rules by which they must live their lives.

Yes, upon the great sin of homosexuality and lesbianism, there is eternal judgment of death. We do not live under a theocracy, as did the Jews. When homosexuality cropped up among the Jewish people, the people guilty of that were immediately executed. We are not under that theocracy system, and therefore, we cannot do that. But God still runs His world. If there's anything that is true about AIDS, it is the fact that God is executing His judgments upon homosexuality and lesbianism. He is putting to death those who are guilty of that heinous sexual perversion.

Why do people do that? Because they are ignorant of the Word of God. And if they hear it, they don't care about it. Go back to the first of Romans. Paul describes how people began with the knowledge of God. They knew true doctrine, and it was passed on. But gradually they didn't care. They didn't care about it. They ignored it. They didn't think they had to feed upon the Word of Scripture day-by-day. The result was that they degenerated into the most abnormal sexual sins, and they degenerated into worshiping animals and idols. People who are negative to the Word of God, which has been communicated to them by knowledgeable believers, are doomed by God to believe Satan's lies. You must understand that.

If you, as a Christian, choose to be indifferent toward doctrine, you're in trouble. You can't just say, "Well, yeah, it's OK. I'm not opposed to it, but I'm not a fanatic. You know, I'm not going to go out and start listening to tapes this week. I'm going to go out and start saying, 'Hey I have to study the Bible every day – nothing like that." I'll tell you what's going to happen to you. You will gradually absorb (and be willing to take on yourself, in subtle ways) the lies of Satan.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:11, the apostle Paul pointed it out this way: Because these people, which he talked about in verse 10, did not receive the truth, they could not be saved, and they did not receive the truth for living – "For this reason (because they were indifferent to doctrine) God will send upon them a diluting influence so they might believe what is false." And one of the greatest lies that the human race believes is that man is God. That's the lie. That's the great delusion. It's happening exactly as Paul said. Those who will not know the truth of God's will accept the lies of Satan, and God will judge him accordingly.

The tribulation people will be so spiritually insane that they will actually find pleasure and comfort in what God's character declares to be a vileness and a wickedness.

God will permit them to believe what is false. Then verse 11 says, "In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth (the truth of doctrine), but took pleasure in wickedness." They think they're having a lot of fun and living a wonderful, good life. The insanity that now possesses the human race is exemplified in our government now saying, from the mouth of our president, that we want to come into line with the practice of other nations, and to permit people with the deadly disease of AIDS to come into the United States as immigrants. Up to now, we have said, "There are diseases that are so deadly we do not permit people to come into our country as immigrants with those diseases." Now we are going to accept the practice of bringing the deadly disease. Now what kind of thinking controls people to do things like that? Those who do not say, "God is right. That is a vile perversion, and upon it is the stamp of death.

Remember that Satan does not oppose the presence of religion in this world. He is, in fact, the creator of the world's religions. What he opposes is the truth of doctrine. What he opposes is Christians taking that seriously. This is exemplified by Hinduism, a great religion that Satan has created. It is also exemplified by the perversions of Judeo-Christianity, such as in Roman Catholicism. What Satan opposes in this world is not religion, but the true worship of the true God instead of himself.

The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross as the sacrificial Lamb of God the Father to pay the penalty once and for all, in death, for the sins of mankind. 1 John 2:2 tells us that He is the propitiation (that is, the satisfaction) for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world.

In John 5:24, this principle of Christ as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind is reiterated, when Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. Satan cannot give anyone eternal life. He cannot save anyone from hell, including himself. Satan pretends to be equal with God, but he is a false God, and he has a false Christ.

Once more, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, this pretension of Satan is pointed out by the apostle Paul: "Let no one in any way deceive you. For it (that is the tribulation and the rapture) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed: the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." Satan pretends to be equal with God, and he will place himself in that temple of the Jews as God. All that Satan can do for people is to enslave them to the lusts of their sin natures. Satan will indeed, very briefly, receive worship in the middle of the tribulation, and during the closing years of that era, before his reign is terminated by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is amazing that such a thing can happen. But again, I must remind you that it will happen to the most intelligent people on this earth, and to the most sincere people imaginable, for the simple reason that they do not know the Word of God. We have a lot of Christians who are scurrying around, trying to solve problems in their lives; trying to get things together; trying to figure out where things are going; trying to figure out what they should do; and, trying to make the decision on their own moves, who are in total disaster and total confusion, because they don't know the Word of God. And what they know, they treat indifferently and ignore.

What is it you want in life? What possession? What person? What position? God is the giver of all good things. Those who know His Word, I can guarantee you, will be the recipients of those blessed gifts. Some of you still have not caught on that God our Father sits in heaven, tapping His foot, waiting to cause your cup to overflow with blessing, just because you haven't developed a cup into which He can pour it. That's the spiritual maturity structure of the soul. A Christian who does that becomes so addicted to the Word of God because he finally realizes that he's got hold of life in great reality, and he has life in its finest hours this side of eternity. May that be our experience.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1991

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