The Antichrist is going to have that kind of power. A much bigger power than that of Hitler. And he’s going to be much more of a plausible guy, not such an ostensibly evil guy.
He’ll probably come in saying “peace and safety”, offering a solution. Seemingly a good man. But behind him will be the power of the Devil.
In fact, one of the interpretations of the 666 prophecy is that the six now (Cathy may be able to tell you this), but the first letter of Christ is X
and the last letter (Ancient Greek) is Christos sigma.
So that in the 666 the first letter is and the last letter is sigma. But the letter in the middle is , one that looks like a serpent.
So, on the two sides you’ve got Christ, on the inside you’ve got the serpent.
That speaks about what we’re going to be looking for.
He’ll come, he’ll look like a Messiah, like a good guy coming to save the world but, in the centre of it all, there’ll be this Antichrist, this ‘serpent’, a thing from Satan.
And he’ll have these supernatural powers.
I want to go to another scripture before we close, which speaks about them.
If you go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1 says:
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2
In other words, the Antichrist has power to deceive people. He comes according to the working of Satan, with all power signs and lying wonders, with an ‘unrighteous deception’ if you like among those who perish.
Why do they perish? Because they don’t receive the love of the truth.
Again, there are going to be two sides you can join.
You can either join Jesus Christ or the Antichrist. There’s no one in between.
Either you receive the love of the truth or you’re going to receive the deception.
That sounds a bit ‘black and white’. That’s what it is: it’s one or the other.
And, if you don’t receive the love of the truth, you’re going to be open to the deception.
Today we can see that, as people reject Jesus, they’re open to all kinds of deceptions, more and more deceptions.
They believe the lie; they believe what’s not true.
If you want to be saved from the lie and the deception, believe the truth which is Jesus.
However, what he says here is that he’s going to come with this power, the power of Satan, with lying wonders.
Again, that’s another reason why not everything supernatural is from God.
You must test it if it’s a miracle. A genuine miracle will always glorify Jesus, always being the Spirit of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of man.
If it is not, if it’s glorifying even the preacher, then it’s not of God.
But there are going to be lying signs and wonders.
It says: As in the days of the Roman emperors of the Bible he aspires to be worshipped as God.
His coming is currently being restrained. But when the restrainer is removed, he’ll be revealed, working these supernatural signs. And those who refuse will receive the strong delusion.
There are multiple delusions going out now that’s why you must check out things, check out even what I’m saying. Check it out with the Word of God.
Because in the Word of God we have the truth but there are all sorts of delusions taking place, many of them being propagated by the mainstream media, some of them being propagated by the church, by the professing church, but all of them designed to make people turn away from the true God and look for another solution.
A lot of them are designed to make people fearful of what will happen if they don’t turn to the answer which had been given to them by the globalist forces.
“If you’re afraid of COVID, we’re going to save you from it with the vaccine.”
“If you’re afraid of climate change, we’re going to serve it with our program to put the world to rights. But you’re going to have to submit to us, and you’re going to give up some of your freedoms in order to do that.”
“You must do what we tell you to do”
And this is going to lead towards a growing dictatorship which will also always end up denying some aspect of the truth, the nature of Jesus, the problem of humanity which is sin and the answer to the problem of humanity which is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
The message of the Gospel will be suppressed because that is what the Antichrist is against that and what the forces of Antichrist are going to be against.
So, if you live in a time where you see a lot of forces going out to, coming out against the truth of Jesus Christ, that’s another sign you know that you’re in the last days before Jesus returns.
Now, it’s always been there. I mean, right from the beginning, but it’s going to be intensified as you get nearer to the end of days, and there will be more and more false truths and false Christs, and false prophets, and more suppression of the truth of the Gospel.
In fact, in a lot of churches today, the truth of the Gospel is being suppressed.
You know I write the magazine Light for the Last Days and that we send it out all over the country, in fact, we send it out to a lot of countries in the world.
The most common thing I back get from people is that ‘we never hear anything about this in our church’. They just don’t speak about it! It’s been suppressed!
What Jesus did the first time what He’s going to do the second time in the end of days, it’s suppressed in the churches today.
2 Thessalonians also tell us that the victory will take place when Jesus returns, when the Lord’s One will be revealed. The Lord will consume the Antichrist with the breath of His mouth and destroy him with the brightness of His coming.
One of the things which you notice with all of the prophecies concerning the Antichrist, whether it’s in Daniel, Revelation, or here in 2 Thessalonians, as well as in Jesus’ words in Matthew 24, they all conclude with Jesus coming with all power and glory.
When Jesus comes, there will be no contest. The Antichrist is thrown straight into hell and Jesus sets up His Messianic Kingdom and reigns for a thousand years. Praise the Lord!
He’s going to reign, and, as King of kings and Lord of lords, to set up His reign from Jerusalem. And, because I believe the Bible, I believe that’s going to happen.
The last word will NOT be with Satan, the last word will NOT be with the Antichrist.
Jesus’ coming is not the end of the world, it’s the end of the age.
After the end of the age, He’s going to then set up the new age, the good new age in which Jesus reigns from Jerusalem.
The only people who will be there are those who have now believed in Jesus, those who have died in faith, those who’ve been caught up in the Rapture of the church, those of Christ at His coming: they will all enter into the new Kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom of the thousand years.
Those who don’t, will be shut up and will end up later with the destruction of the world and the new heavens and new earth in which Jesus will reign forever.
There’s one issue I haven’t mentioned which I’m not going to go into here. It’s the timing of the Rapture of the church.
Does it happen before, in the middle, or at the end of the Tribulation? Before the Antichrist comes, in the middle, or at the end?
I’m not going to go into details because it’ll take me too long. But there is an interesting passage in Thessalonians which indicates to many that He comes in the middle because the Antichrist must come first.
The answer to that question is that the departure comes first which is the Apostasia, that is, being taken from one place to another.
I’m not going to go into that because it might confuse you right now. I will explain it another time.
We will look into it perhaps next time I speak on this subject.
I believe that there is a pre-Tribulation Rapture in which the
saints are taken out before the Antichrist comes and then, after he comes, a number of people, a huge number of people will be converted, become Christians. These will be persecuted.
Then, Jesus returns and judges the world according to how we have responded to the Gospel.
But if it is not like that, then we might go through the Tribulation and face persecution and death for our faith.
What I say to people is: ‘be ready for both’. Be ready for Jesus to come, which could happen at any time if the pre-Tribulation view is right.
But be ready also to suffer and to die for your faith because that may be what will happen to you.
Whatever you do, Jesus wins. And, if you believe in Jesus, you’re on the winning side.
When Jesus returns, the kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God, of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.
And this is the blessed hope of the church.
We’ll read our scripture from Titus chapter 2, verse 11, which says:
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. 15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.
Titus 2.11-15
These verses speak about both the first and second coming of Jesus.
What did He do the first time? He came to bring His Salvation; He came to redeem us from every lawless deed and purify Himself, His own special people.
That’s what happens when you believe the Gospel. You’re redeemed and you become a child of God. Therefore, you have a glorious future in the world to come.
Having done that, you should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and in a godly way in this present age.
It doesn’t mean you live a boring life, but it does mean you turn away from certain bad things which are in the world, and you live a new life under the control of the Holy Spirit.
It also means that you have a hope because you’re looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and saviour Jesus Christ.
The end of this will be that Jesus Christ is going to come back. He’s our great God and our saviour, and He’ll come back this time not as a suffering servant to suffer and to die, but, this time, as the King of kings and Lord of lords with all power of God at His disposal to put right this world, and to judge the world in righteousness.
Now is the day of Salvation now is the day to call upon the Name of the Lord and to find eternal life through faith in Jesus.
So, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and you have a wonderful future.
If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re on the side of the loser and you’re going to hell, and you’re going to be there under the Antichrist, and you’ll suffer, and you’ll die without Christ and be eternally lost.
I hope that everybody here has already believed in Jesus. If not, now is the day to do it.
Everybody listening to this talk as it is put on the internet, make sure that you have faith in Jesus Christ. In which case, you have an eternal hope, and eternal future.
Repent of your sins and believe that Christ died for you and rose from the dead, and that He is coming back again to judge the world in righteousness.
In which case, praise God! We can look up and lift up our heads as our redemption draws near.
Jesus is coming! Amen.
Let’s just have a word of prayer then, I’ll hand back to Andy.
Lord, we thank you for the help we have in Jesus. We thank you that you have come once to redeem us, that you’re coming again to judge the world in righteousness.
We see the things going on in our world, we know that humans don’t have an answer to them, but you do. And we pray Lord that you help us to believe in You and to trust You.
Lord, as we’ve read there is a lie coming, there is a deception,
help us Lord, open our eyes to the lies which are around us, to the deceptions, and help us see the truth to be set free by the truth in Jesus Christ, amen.