Earlier, we discussed the Anti-Christ taking control of a revived form of the old Roman Empire, an empire comprised of both political and religious power. This prince will not come as an evil megalomaniac, ala, Adolph Hitler. He will come as a false Christ. Anti does not necessarily mean against or opposed to, as much as it means “in place of.” In place of is much closer to the original meaning. The anti-christ will come as a kind of “Christ”, an imposter, an “angel of light.” As we discussed, there will be the promotion of a false “New Age” religion emerging from the ruins of the rapture.

After The Vanishing Ch. 13

Spiritual Deception

By Dave White

In general, this false religion will be an amalgam of all the world’s religions, with tolerance for all a core belief. Interestingly, tolerance will not be extended to the growing multitude of formerly “fence sitting” Christians who know exactly what’s going on and are now sold out to Jesus Christ as the savior of the world and the ONLY way to heaven.

Remember, earlier we discussed God taking all the options away from mankind? At this point, the question is shall we believe the truth or a lie?

Truth or Lies

Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Not much room for compromise there. You’ll only have two choices: Jesus Christ or the “other” Christ. The hour of decision is now. Time is running out.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as Apostles of Christ.

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11: 13-15)

Over time, this “tolerant” religious philosophy will be used by Satan as a unifying force for his world government. Just as in the days of the old Roman Empire the religious component of the empire will give authority to its political subjects. Notice in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 quoted earlier: “the one that is coming in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and then verse 10 speaking of deception, wickedness, and not receiving the love of the truth so as to be saved. Now, because the man took such pleasure in sin, and was/is so far from the truth, God sends a deluding influence (Verse 11) so that they (you?) would believe what is false! This is clearly describing a religious or spiritual deception taking place.

Evidently, Satan and those acting in accord with Satan will be granted supernatural powers to perform signs and false wonders. How much of these powers are real or staged we don’t know. But Satan will have extraordinary powers during this tribulation. Finally, we see the ultimate religious deception in verse 4 of 2^nd Thessalonians 2, where Anti-Christ commits what Daniel the prophet and Jesus Himself describe as:

THE ABOMINATION WHICH CAUSES DESOLATION,

taking the seat in The Holy of Holies, the temple of God, displaying himself to the world as God. But we’ll describe that event, which comes 3½ years after The Rapture, a little later.

The False Prophet

There’s another character we need to expose in connection with the coming world religious system. In Revelation 13:11 he’s described as “The Beast from the Earth,” and in Revelation 19 he’s described as “The False Prophet.” Either way, this guy is no good.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon.

He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

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. (Revelation 13:11-14)

This is Anti-Christ’s partner in crime! Many bible scholars believe this false prophet must be Jewish, in order to convince the Israeli’s to go along with the counterfeit peace treaty. The key to Anti-Christ’s rise is his ability to politically unite the world after The Rapture and “solve” the Arab/Israeli conflict. It would seem more plausible that Israel would need a fellow Jew at the heart of any peace negotiations or deal with her avowed enemies. In addition, “Just as the sea of nations (Revelation 13:1) are gentile, the use of the “earth” is representative of Israel. “Land” with the definite article and not otherwise defined always refers to Israel. Israel is the promised land. It is the place where God chose to put His earthly throne. The earth (land) which will one day be the inheritance of God’s chosen people, is used symbolically to identify The False Prophet as a Jew.”¹⁰

It’s interesting that the False Prophet in many ways is equal in power to Anti-Christ, yet knows his role. The bible does indicate that both derive their power from Satan (Revelation 13:2). He exercises all the authority of the first beast and makes ALL the earth worship him. He performs miracles and false wonders, yet he doesn’t attempt to ascend to the throne.

Jesus Christ had John the Baptist announcing to the world, ”behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”(John 1:29).

It seems Satan will have the false prophet, through signs and false wonders, directing the world’s attention to anti-christ. Amidst the death and destruction of the rapture, these two partners will emerge, energized by Satan himself.

Yet he goes further still:

And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:15)

The False prophet devises a system to cause all that do not worship the beast to be killed! Remember, we’re interpreting a 1st-century vision by the Apostle John, it would be so convenient if he would use the words “television” or “Internet technology” or “holographic images” but, unfortunately, those words didn’t exist back then. But let’s look close; “He gave breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak” could easily be a description of a worldwide television or internet broadcast. Did you know that technology exists within a television set or an internet connection to actually “see” or monitor what is going on inside your home? In other words, you could be compelled to watch certain broadcasts, pledge allegiance of some kind and compliance could be monitored.

It certainly was illegal, circa 2000, but after the rapture, there’s doubt there will be any laws to stop this action. Needless to say, the false prophet will, in time, compel the world to worship Anti-Christ.

It was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given him. (Revelation 13:7)

And so, this “benevolent” dictatorship is starting to get sinister, showing it’s true colors. It reminds us again of Tragedy and Hope by Quigley, “You’ll be fine as long as go along.” Don’t do it! Resist! Back to Revelation 13:

And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or their forehead. And HE provides that no one will be able to buy and sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is 666. (Revelation 13: 16-18)

Again, here’s the false prophet right at the epicenter of this ominous world system. He causes everyone to take the mark. He provides that no one will buy or sell, and He is given authority to track down the “Tribulation Saints”-those who did not find Christ until after the rapture, resist the system and remain faithful.

“The number of the Roman Beast is 666. Down through the years, Bible expositors have tried to figure out exactly what this means, but it’s really no big mystery. Since the number 6 in the bible stands for humanity, I believe the meaning of 666 is the man trying to imitate the trinity of God (three sixes in one person). Anyone who acknowledges this blasphemous trinity by worshipping the 666 Beast will be separated forever from the true triune God” ¹¹