The whole world is deceived by Satan and the Day of Atonement provides the solution to end the great deception.
Next Thursday, we will observe, what my children used to call, "the longest day of the year"! We will observe the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is probably for all of us the most solemn day of the entire year outside of, obviously, the Passover. Passover depicts for us something very special, but we realize that the Day of Atonement pictures fasting, it pictures casting of lots, it pictures sacrifices, all woven together to create an interesting theme for all of us to partake of on that particular day.
The Day of Atonement pictures an essential next step in God's plan of salvation, not to be found in the symbolism of the Passover. This step can be taken, and it must be taken before humanity can experience what you and I experience: true peace - true peace for the whole world. Christ restores man's relationship with God through the day of reconciliation, through the day of forgiving, through the day of pardons, as the Day of Atonement pictures for us. We see that the Passover focuses on individual forgiveness, and escape from death; but the Day of Atonement, more on what we describe as communal reconciliation with God; communal, meaning the sense of the world, as opposed to the individual. Therefore, the primary fulfillment of atonement is in the future - for the world. And we recognize that reconciliation atonement pictures for us something that's already in effect as the people of God.
So, why is this so important to the world? Why is this day, the Day of Atonement, so important to the world? Well, we have one scripture that tells us the reason why, and of course there are dozens of others, but this one scripture depicts for us probably the truest, most great understanding that we can understand about what God is doing on the Day of Atonement when He says, "the serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world (or as it's translated, 'the whole inhabited earth') is cast out." We must realize that deception has been total, and deception has been complete.
In keeping with the theme of atonement, what I'm going to do today is, I'm going to entitle this sermon: "The Great Deception" - "The Great Deception". And I'm going to take you through some interesting thoughts about it in relationship to a number of scriptures, and then talk about some possibility thinking, some probability thinking, and all of this which has to do with the future.
I'd like you to turn, if you would with me, to the Book of Revelation. We're going to start there in Chapter 11, and we're going to begin to read in Verse 15 of Revelation 11. You and I, if we go back for the last twenty years, would have to say these statements: "Who would have believed - who would have believed" … and then we begin to talk about the Berlin wall having crumbled; and we have one Germany. Who would have believed that the satellite nations around Russia would become simply nations on their own. Who would have believed that the Baltic states would be completely free to run their own governments. Who would have believed that the KGB and parts of the Communist world have been simply disintegrated. Who would have believed, brethren who would have believed that in that period of time these things would occur. And who would have believed that for a period of time only one great super power would exist on this earth. And that same super power on 9-11 would be hit and thousands of people would be killed by a terrorist attack - who would have believed it? And then this week, who would have believed that we came so close - and yet so far we have not had happen to us what they thought might happen. But all of these things have come to pass in our time, and we have seen them as they have unrolled before us, and we ask the question: "Who would have believed?"
I'm going to tell you an incredible story. It's found in your Bible; it's found in the writings of the Catholic Church; it is found in some of the statements made by their Popes, by their leaders, by their saints, by their elders, that we're going to find out that this world is going to go into a deception that we have never seen the like of in all of the history of mankind, in the way that it's going to unfold. So, we're going to talk about, what I describe as simply, an incredible story, that perhaps you will not understand today; perhaps you might not agree with or understand it in the same way that we're going to unroll it for you today, but I think you're going to see that at sometime in the future much of what I say is going to come to pass. So we're going to talk about what the Bible says is going to happen; we're going to talk about some possibility thinking; we're going to talk about some probability thinking.
What kind of world, we ask the question, will Jesus Christ come back to? And why? Notice over in Revelation, Chapter 11, and Verse 18 of Revelation 11 - we'll just talk about this - the seventh angel had sounded; the kingdoms of this world became the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ; and then it tells us in Verse 17:
Verse 17: "We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken Your great power and ruled.
Verse 18: The nations were angry, Your wrath has come; the time of the dead that they should be judged, that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."
Here it is - we see the problem: a hostile, truculent, angry world - a people we're going to see who will fight Christ at His return. And the question is - why? Why would that happen when we have a world of 1.4 billion people who claim to be Christian? Why will it be that we're going to see those individuals (some of them) turning on Jesus Christ when He returns? Obviously you have another part of the world of the 6 ½ billion, but the point is, 1.4 billion of those are supposedly, quote, "Christians", end quote. We ask another question: "Why will the beast and the false prophet be cast into the lake of fire instead of simply being "zapped"? The Bible tells us that the beast and the false prophet are seen to be thrown bodily into the lake of fire. Is there a reason why God will do that? We have to ask the question, why is this society in this condition? How did it get that way? And why must these two men be dealt with?
You see, this Day of Atonement that we're dealing with has to do with a reconciliation and a removal of a veil of deception that has come upon this world for thousands of years. And we don't know how great that is until we see it all unrolled, or rolled out for us to understand and to look at. How much does the devil know about the plan of God? I think he knows probably quite a bit, because he spent eons of time as the anointed cherub that covers; he was involved probably in the planning and the strategies of God the Father and Jesus Christ in the third heaven when he was a covering cherub; I think he knows God's plan, in general. I think we see that he understands that by what he tried to do in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, when he knows the scriptures, and then he twists the scriptures, as we saw in both of those examples in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. And he has been at work, obviously, in the minds of evil and deluded men throughout all the ages, as the Bible tells us in Revelation 12 and Verse 9. His whole purpose is to thwart the plan of God - to thwart the plan of God. And the Day of Atonement tells us it will be the crescendo time in which this deception will begin to have its removal - it will have its removal from the eyes of billions of human beings who will walk this earth.
The Bible says very simply that Revelation 12 and Verse 12 tells us he's very angry the last three and a half years, and he comes down in great wrath upon the church, and upon the saints, and upon the world, and upon anybody that simply will refuse his actions. And he knows that he has but a short time, and therefore he is extremely angry. But we also know one other thing, and that is, he has used the oldest religion in the world, known to us as Mystery Babylon, with its roots in Nimrod and Semiramis, going all the way back to before Christ, to a point of 4,000 years before Christ on this earth; we saw the movement of Mystery Babylon starting with Nimrod and Semiramis and an entire system, a religious system, that you can read about in dozens and dozens of books that show, that for the truth of God, there was always the parallel deception. And for 6,000 plus years we have seen that deception continue to unfold, and it will reach its greatest point when we come to some of the events that will occur, that will allow us on the Day of Atonement to have the removal of that deception from this world. We recognize that he will use this particular system again under the guise of a term called, "A Christian Church" - it's called a "Universal Church". And the point is that he will perpetrate his deception upon a deceived world, using that church to drive it.
Go back and look at what happened here in the United States when this "Holy man" (as he is called) came to the United States, and the media was falling over, all over itself in order to show some deference to the individual. Looking at how many people were looking at him in such a way that it was shocking to watch people fall over in deference toward the individual. If you think that is something big, you should see what's going to happen in just a few years from now, as the Bible points out. In 1963 - 64, the Vatican purchased property in the Holy Land for the purpose of building what they called "a palace for future visits". They already know that the key place in the world that we live in is going to be Jerusalem - it's going to be the focal point. And Daniel 11, Verses 45 on, tells us that he will plant the tents of his palace in the seas and the glorious holy mountain; speaking of this particular power that would come down to Jerusalem at the time of the end - and yet he shall come to his end...
So we recognize that the ground work has been laid in 1963 and 64 to go down for future visits. We also recognize that the prophecy tells us that he will be there and that he will carry out his particular deception in that part of the world. In fact, there will be two of them that will be there: the beast and the false prophet. It tells us also in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 7, Verses 24 and 25, that he will think to change times and laws for 3 ½ years - the exact same 3 ½ years that the two witnesses will be in Jerusalem; the exact same 3 ½ years that we see the Bible tells us in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 12, would occur. And there are actually four, maybe five places where that last 3 ½ years tell us that the whole world comes focusing in on that period of time. It says:
Daniel 7: 25 "He shall speak great pompous words against the Most High, and he shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and intend to change times and laws for a time and times and a half of time.
And it will be given into his hands, and you will see changes so that we will be having a more difficult time keeping the Sabbath - you won't know which day of the week you're in - they're going to try very hard to do what they've always done, and that is bring about control of the world that they want control of.
Let's go over to the Book of Revelation - Revelation, Chapter 13. Let's begin to unveil what we're going to be seeing occur at this particular time. This is Revelation, Chapter 13 beginning in Verse 1 - he said:
Revelation 13:1 I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.
Verse 2: Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.
So we recognize that this is referring to the time of the end when there will be the last resurrection of the Roman Empire. And this individual empire has all the power of the other three. And so we recognize that it says:
Verse 3: One of its heads was wounded ….and
Verse 4: They worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast;
People don't know they're worshipping the devil, but they are. This is what the Bible said would happen. And then it says in:
Verse 5: He was given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
Again, three and a half years. Again this three and a half year period keeps popping up everywhere in the Book of Revelation, and in other places.
Verse 6: And he opened his mouth to blaspheme against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
And he has a name that we will see a little bit later; shows how he blasphemes God by using that particular name. And Verse 7, it says:
Verse 7: It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And the authority was given to him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
So, his power is great during this time. Notice, dropping down to Verse 11 and through Verse 18. Notice what it says:
Verse 11: And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon.
This is the religious power; the first one is referring to what we call the Government power, and this is now you see the religious power that will come to be seen in the world: he has two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
Verse 12: He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. - Notice Verse 13:
Verse 13: He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of all men.
Verse 14: And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs that he was granted to do…
If you go back to Chapter 24 of the Book of Matthew, Verses 21 and 22, it tells you with Jesus' own words - He said:
If someone tells you this is Christ; Christ is here; Christ is there - don't you believe it. And then he said: Great false christs and prophets would arise, deceiving many. He said: they would be performing great signs and great wonders - all kinds of things that would make them look like they were the servants of God. Even to the point where Jesus said that they almost - almost would deceive the very elect. So we begin to understand that at this last three and a half year period on this earth, this individual, plus this other man, begin to use the powers that they have been given to bring about the control of Jerusalem and that part of the world; but there is a problem. That problem begins in Revelation, Chapter 11 with two men who just aren't going to let it happen; they're just not going to stand for what is going to happen. Notice what it says here in Chapter 11, beginning in Verse 1. Now we begin to see that during this three and a half year period, in which these two men begin to show their muscle spiritually, you're going to see a most interesting war that will take place. And this is what we find is going to be interesting, and that is the fact that these individuals will perform the same type of miracles as the two that we're speaking of (the beast and the false prophet, but especially the false prophet). And their miracles will be greater - their miracles will be greater because they will frustrate this entire system, because this system cannot get control of them, in the area of Jerusalem. Notice what it says:
Revelation 11:1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship therein.
Now let's stop for just a moment - Richard is not going to tell you that a temple is what is talked about here; he's not going to tell you that when the sacrifices of the Jews are given and then they are stopped, that it is in an actual temple. I'm not going to go there because we have to realize that there may be more to it than just being called a temple with a full-structure building like the dome of the rock - there may be something that is what we would call simply a structure that would be set in order to bring about the Jew's ability to sacrifice for a certain number of days, and then to be cut off. But the thing that you would find about this particular event is that these men, in some way, have some kind of control in this area of the world - they have some kind of control in this particular area of the world. They will be there at the same time as the beast and the false prophet, so therefore there is some type of control that occurs in this area. And it goes on to say in Verse 2 - notice:
Verse 2: "Leave out the court which is outside the temple, do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.
So we recognize, again: we know where it is, because in another place it tells us where our Lord was crucified; it tells us that the whole world will see what is going on, because in the last three and a half days the bodies of these two witnesses would lay in the street, and they would not allow them to be buried, and the whole world will see it. That's what it says. And the only way you can see it is world-wide television. This is a big event - this is huge - this is awesome. But the point is that we see that this is what is going to go on during this period of time.
Verse 3 : "I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." So we recognize that now the world has a choice to watch : the world has the beast and the false prophet; the world sees the two witnesses. God has His servants there - God says that they measure the temple, and outside of this particular area, whatever it is, they have the ability to control it - but in this area where the beast and where the two witnesses are, they are not allowed to take control of that.
Now there are two interesting theories that are found in the world that we live in - one of those is the Dome of the Rock (which is Muslin controlled) is going to be there, and that they don't have to be taken over by the Jews if they're going to sacrifice on the temple mount, because it was built on the area of Mount Moriah, and therefore, it is (supposedly) - that's where Mohammad went to heaven - it also is the place where Abraham was to sacrifice his son.
Well, we have an interesting thought: the Jews haven't done a thing about that particular area of the world; they haven't gone in there and saying, you know, "you're in our holy place". The Jews have been very quiet, and I think you'll find that there are two theories that are setting forth for us to look at, and that is the fact that there is a temple mount possibility that where the ancient temple of Jerusalem stood, may not be the exact place where the Dome of the Rock is situated. There are three articles that have appeared, starting in 1983. A.S. Kaufman wrote an article in April - the March/April issue of Biblical Archaeology and Review of this particular part of the world. Since that time two more articles have been written in which they say that, no, the actual holy place is right where the Dome of the Tablets is, which is down a number of yards away from the Dome of the Rock. And if you line up the Dome of the Tablets with the Golden Gate, and then you go straight up to the Mount of Olives, you get a straight line. The Jews are smarter than people realize; they know what they want to do. They're not letting that out that they believe that the Tablet, the Dome of the Tablets, is the place where it is - but when you read their articles, and they let little things slip out, little at a time, you recognize there are two theories that are found here.
So, you could easily see both of these religious groups still having some play at the mount, but you have to realize that when these two men are measuring the temple of God, when they are standing there on the temple mount, there is something where they are, because the Jews were sacrificing and they're gone; and they are out of sacrificing for twelve-hundred and ninety days before the abomination is set up to bring about the final coup-de-grace by God. So you begin to see that we have an interesting little set of problems. Now is it possible that God protects this particular area by the two witnesses? Let's go over to the Book of Zechariah, Chapter 4 for a moment. Let's do some "possibility thinking". Notice, I want to be sure that you all know: there's possibility thinking and two particular temple mount possibilities; there's possibility thinking in what we use the term "temple", and we want to look at also the fact that there is possibility thinking when we look at the two witnesses here in Zechariah, the 4 th chapter. Zechariah, Chapter 4, beginning in Verse 1 - it tells us:
Zechariah 4:1 Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
Verse 2: And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I am looking, and there is a lamp stand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps.
Now the churches in Revelation - the church in Revelation is looked upon as the seven candlesticks in this particular type of candle set-up. We also recognize that you see this so far as the temple. Now when you read this over in Zechariah 4, you have to say, is it the church, or is it the temple? So the answer to it - I shouldn't use the word "temple" - is it this place that they will be, or is it the church? Now these two men are (according to the Bible) - are candlesticks, so therefore my interpretation by the first chapter of Revelation, is, these are members of God's church - the time of the end; I don't think these are Jews that have come onto the scene. I do believe these are individuals who are anointed, who are ordained of God to do a specific work, and that work is actually to withstand the beast and the false prophet for three and a half years, and to do whatever they need to do to a world that has been deceived by them. And so we recognize here, it says:
Verse 3: "Two olive trees are by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other one on the left."
Verse 4: And I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, "Who are these, my lord?"
Verse 5: And the angel who talked with me answered and said, "Do you not know who these are?"
And then he began to tell them. Dropping down to Verse 11 -
Verse 11: And I answered and said unto him, "What are these two olive trees, at the right of the lamp stand and at the left?"
Verse 12: And I further answered and said to him, "These are the two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains".
So, we're talking spiritually - we're talking about probably the very fact that these two men, anointed with God's Holy Spirit, are going to do powerful, dynamic works, as Revelation 11 tells us. And then he says in Verse 13:
Verse 13: Then he answered me and said, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord."
Verse 14: He said, "These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth".
So, we recognize in this particular case that this tells us that these two individuals refer back to Revelation 11. Let's go back there to show you that he actually quotes the basic essence of this particular verse over in Revelation 11 - Revelation the 11 th Chapter beginning in Verse 4. He said:
Verse 4: These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth.
So, we recognize, he gives us definition to who the two witnesses are, and you recognize that these are individuals by the internal evidence of this particular chapter, that they are the two candlesticks, meaning that they are a part of the church.
Now you see in Verses 5 and 6 that they have great power - they have great power to do a certain number of things, and that is, fire proceeds from their mouth - I have no idea what that means - I'm not going to try to interpret it. And it devours their enemies, and anyone who wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.
And so they have power to do a number of things all over the earth - this is what you read in this particular case. Now, there's something very interesting that goes on during this three and a half years: if these two men are given great power - if the beast and the false prophet are given great power - what kind of interesting problem in Jerusalem will you have? Well, you're going to have a problem, because you're going to have two super-powers of four individuals having one giant battle going on. Now, keep in mind, I want to take you to II Timothy, Chapter 3 for a moment - I want you to read something with me, because I find this profound when you put it together with some of the examples from the Old Testament. This is II Timothy 3 and Verse 8 - he's talking about people that have problems, that they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof - from these people turn away, Paul said. Then he goes on talking about always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth - now notice Verse 8:
Verse 8: Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth:
Now we get names - we get names of those that resisted Moses and Aaron: their names are Jannes and Jambres. One was a prophet, or what you would call a "Holy man", and the other one was a magician. Both of them were empowered by the god of this world to perform miracles. Now let's take a look at it, just for a moment, because I think there's something very interesting here to think about. When you look at Exodus and the plagues, we see there is an actual fight that goes on between Jannes and Jambres and Moses and Aaron in the court of God. We take this parallel, we take this example, and we bring it into the New Testament, and you have to say there is some relationship between the two witnesses and the beast and the false prophet that are there in Jerusalem.
Now you notice that: Number one - that when Moses and Aaron threw down their rod to make it into a snake - what happened? Then the Holy men, Jannes and Jambres, threw down their rod and it became a snake too. What happened? Then Aaron's rod swallowed up their rod, showing greater power, showing greater authority, showing greater ability to override what they had done.
Number two: You had the rivers and the waters that were turned to blood by both Moses and Aaron and by Jannes and Jambres. And what happened? The miracle was greater by Moses and Aaron than it was by Jannes and Jambres - again, a second one where they were put down.
Number three: There were frogs that were brought forth by Moses and Aaron and Jannes and Jambres - and guess what? There was a greater miracle of frogs by Moses and Aaron than Jannes and Jambres. Remember that? It's all there - the first three plagues that occurred.
Number four: There was the lice, and the magicians could not bring forth lice; so they were able to bring forth snakes from rods; they were able to bring forth blood from water; they were able to bring forth frogs - but all three of them were lesser. Then they came to the forth one, and here is where the magicians said the following: " This is the finger of God." - this is the finger of God. Somewhere in the last three and a half years of the beast and the false prophet and the two witnesses, somewhere in all of that, somebody is going to say: "these two guys have got it - these guys are not anywhere near what they are" - it's going to frustrate the beast and the false prophet to the point that the beast is going to have a problem with the false prophet at the end - and the Bible says in Revelation 18, will burn the whore - that's what the Bible says.
So, you begin to recognize that this is a very interesting thing. Now let's go to the next statement that says, after the lice situation, it says when these two men said, "this is the finger of God", what did Pharaoh do? He hardened his heart - he hardened his heart when they said, this is the finger of God. You will find that there is some relationship between the two men being cast into the lake of fire, and the fact that we see that Pharaoh hardened his heart through these particular miracles that did occur. What we come to realize is that God's servants come out ahead until God takes away His protection and gives the beast and the false prophet one last chance, and when they do what they do to the two witnesses, I do believe you see that these two men may have had the greatest witness of all: seeing the power of God that was there in Jerusalem. It will be a scary place for those two men, when it's all said and done - it will be a scary place for those two individuals.
Now, let's go on just a little bit. Let's go to Matthew 24 - take you to Matthew 24 because we want to unroll a little bit of this particular section in Matthew 24, and we want to see some of the possibilities that are found here - (notice the word I just used - I said possibilities) - but here in Matthew 24, beginning in Verse 15, we read the following:
Matthew 24:15 "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), -
Now, how can the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place if there's not a place called the "holy place"? And how can that abomination get in there if the Bible says in Revelation 11 that the two witnesses were measuring the temple? You've got a little problem, because it tells you then that the beast and the false prophet, or especially the false prophet, will not be able to get into that place until he has been given permission to do so.
Now there are three events which are talked about: Number one, armies would surround Jerusalem - and as soon as armies surround Jerusalem , then it says: because of the abomination you should flee. So, it seems to indicate it's a "last moment" type of thing - the people had to flee out of Jerusalem because of this abomination and the armies coming in now to take control.
Number two: It tells us that something would be standing in the holy place - some people have conjectured that it would be a statue. But the third thing is that it would be a certain person that would be standing, or would be in the holy place. Now let's stop for just a moment and take you to something I think you'll find very different from perhaps what you may have heard over the years. We need to learn something and understand something in the writings of the Catholic Church. When you begin to read some of the material that is put forth by the Catholics - when you look at what the Popes say, when you look at what the "holy people" say, what the saints say, what some of their prophets like Nostradamus say (and others), you begin to realize that there's a hodgepodge and a mixture of all kinds of prophetic ideas out there.
I have a book entitled "Prophecy for Today". I found it after losing it about forty years ago. And I got it back! It was printed in Fresno, California in 1956, and it's a compilation of hundreds of writings by these people who prophesied certain things, whether it be Pope Innocent the Third; or the not so innocent Pope, Innocent the Fourth; or somebody like that. But the point is, that you had all of these individuals that were quoted, and you had them all over the place in their prophecy, but one of the most interesting things is to see where much of those things underneath, go. And it always exonerates and always upholds the Pope - it always upholds him. And the interesting thing is that there are certain things that will occur, so that when you look at their prophecies and their writings you will find that in the Catholic encyclopedia, in the Ante and Post-Nicene Fathers, and then in this particular book of quotations, you find that they say that Christ comes first and the anti-christ comes second. You want to get what the message is? Do you understand what that message is? Now, they don't come right out and say it, but you'll find that it flows through their writings. We're going to quote to you some of those writers and what they have to say.
But the point is, that we believe that anti-christ comes first, and that Christ comes second, based on the Scriptures that we read in II Thessalonians 3. So let's go over to II Thessalonians 3 for a moment, because we want to understand how great this deception is going to be. (This is II Thessalonians, Chapter 3 - I'm sorry, Chapter 2, beginning in Verse 3). Notice what it says:
II Thessalonians 2:3 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 be revealed, the son of perdition,
Over the many years that I've been a minister of the church, and a member of the church, I always thought that the falling away had to do with church members leaving the church; I concluded that that is true, that church members will fall away at the time of the end - some. But the great falling away that we're talking about - the term is not even found "great falling away" here in the Bible - but the falling away that is found here I believe has to do with something far greater than some church members leaving. It has to do with a condition that will find itself in the world that we live in, because we read the statement that is found in verse 10. Notice what is says:
Verse 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.
We're talking about the fact that the Bible is not simply going to be believed. We're going to find that the whole process of understanding how this church operates - it's going to be operating on: number one - it's going to be operating on Papal authority; number two - it's going to be operating on the writings of the fathers; and number three, the Bible finds a distant third, if it even finds its place there. Now how can 1.4 million Christians be in this condition? Well, it's very simple - it started in 1960 when we saw the universities and the seminaries in the United States of America teach the concept that you decide for yourself what is right and wrong. And we have gone to situation ethics in this society to the point that even one of the men running for the President of the United States believes that - you can check it out for yourself; but the point is, that here is what we see - we see that this individual would come on the scene because there was a falling away from truth. Notice Verse 11:
Verse 11: For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
What's the lie? The lie goes all the way back to Genesis 3, that the devil said "you can decide for yourself what is right and what is wrong". And he's perpetrated that upon a world of unsuspecting human beings. You'll find that wherever you go in the Bible, talking about the lie, you will see the people are given license to go out and commit sin, because they can decide for themselves - "do your thing", you know. That's the whole concept that we see from this particular point of view. So we recognize this is going to occur - is it occurring? You bet it is. According to what Barna says, 60% of Americans - I'm only going to go to the Americans - because I have nothing on the world. 60% of the Americans believe in the Bible. How often do they read the Bible? Generally they read it once a week. Where do they read it once a week? They read it in church, when they go; some few read it outside of that. Only 37% of the Americans believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, like we do - that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, God-breathed word, and that man is to live by that - it is the thing that you stand on. Only 37% believe that, so what happens when you live in a world when this individual begins to do the things that he's doing? Notice what it says:
Verse 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.
And then he goes on to say in Verse 8:
Verse 8: And 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.
Verse 9: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.
And you and I say, "We won't be deceived" - if it were almost possible, it says, in Verse 22 of Matthew 24; the righteous, the elect, could be deceived - that's how close it will come. Why? Because people forgot what the book said, and they look to signs, they look to wonders; they look to those things as the key as to where God was working. They forgot about there in Deuteronomy 13, about how you can check out a false prophet. We live in a day and age when we are so accepting of multi-cultured approaches to things - that we just say, "live and let live". So there's where we are. But notice what it says:
Verse 10: and with all unrighteousness of deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Verse 11: And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
So, we begin to understand the fact that when these individuals begin to preach and teach these things, you begin to realize it's based on the fact that we have lost our foundation - but it's also based on the material that is written in their writings, which is going to come forward out of their writings as the time permits, and the place permits it to happen. And so we realize that when we see the time of the end and the problems that will occur between the beast and the false prophet and the two witnesses, you will realize that the fight that goes on for a period of three and a half years, minus three and a half days, is an enormous battle, and many, many people will be deceived. And when those two witnesses are killed, and their dead bodies lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days, people all over the world will rejoice because these individuals made their life so miserable. And that gives the false prophet the ability to have full control.
Is that the time - is that the time that God is going to say, " I have given you one chance to repent" - and he didn't take it. Is that the reason why he will be cast into the lake of fire with the beast? You think about that as a possibility. You begin to realize how interesting this thing is as it unfolds before us.
Now, what will the Pope base these things on? I said, the writings of the church are part of it - the major thing we see, Papal authority; we see the writings and the traditions of the fathers and we find also, the Scriptures. So, let me take you through some possible problems that we will see us face when it comes to the question of the Bible. By its own admission, the Catholic Church bases its own definition of the articles of faith on its own interpretation of the Scriptures and traditions, as explained in the writings of the early church fathers - this is where they go. Listen to what it says - it goes on and says this (this is from the Council of Trent; the History of the Council of Trent) - it says:
"Then it was approved by all that the traditions should receive, as equal authority, with the Scriptures". That it was approved, that actually the writings of the fathers should be on equal footing - that they would be like this. Now, you stop and think about what that is going to do to us. Going on, he said: "Any attempt to dispute their interpretation by the use of plain Scripture is going to be greeted as it was at the time that these people came to that - it's going to be greeted with the declaration, or the cry, of anathema" - and they will be branded, of course, as we will be branded, as heretics if we were there.
He goes on to say in this same article on the History of the Council of Trent (the first one was page 145 if you wish to look it up yourself) - this is on page 152 - it said: "The Holy Scripture cannot be expounded against the assent held by the holy mother of the church, nor against the common consent of the fathers". Where do you go then? Where do you go? We're the only ones among a few of the people that live in the Protestant world that believe the inerrancy of the Scriptures, and that we believe that the true Christ will come and depose this false christ. What kind of an interesting world is it out there that is being so deceived? Listen to this particular statement - this comes from this particular book, called "Prophecy for Today". It says: "Toward the end of the world, anti-christ will overthrow the Pope" - anti-christ will overthrow the Pope. That's in the encyclopedia (the Catholic encyclopedia) and it's also in this particular book. So it's in the writings: you have the encyclopedia; you have the Ante-Nicene, Post-Nicene Fathers, and these writings as well. Because they will not admit the truth, this particular church believes the anti-christ will be the one to unseat the Pope, while every true Bible prophecy commissions the true Christ with that particular job.
Notice another one - and this, again, comes from these quotes, and I can just open them up and show them to you - it says: "Anti-christ will fight a successful battle at Megiddo , or Armageddon, in Palestine, in which he will become heir of the world. The kings will send armies into the holy land, but the anti-christ will slay them all." Now, if you go back - let's go back to Revelation 19, Verse 19 so you'll know that were seeing an exact opposite of what they are prophesying that will happen. This is Chapter 19 and Verse 19 - he said:
Revelation 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse and against His army.
So, we begin to realize that you have the exact opposite - you have the exact opposite thing that is going to occur, and we realize that these are the statements that are made by the saints - are made by the fathers - are made by popes. And they're written down so that they can draw from them at any time to say, "Hey, this is on equal grounds with the Scriptures" - and so forth and so on.
One more - listen to what it says: "After the destruction of Rome, the anti-christ will appear and exalt himself above Pagan deities, and the trinity". That means the statues of Mary are going to go "ka-boom"! It means also that the trinity, which is the one doctrine that calls us a bunch of "cults" - (anybody that believes not in the trinity is called a cult) - and we, with just a very few people, are called a cult because of that belief; that's number one in what they say. It goes on to say, "Coming to Jerusalem, he will succeed through false preaching, miracles, gifts - terror-aided throughout by the devil. An evil spirit will come out of the air and descend upon his followers; he will feign a resurrection from the dead, cause rain to fall and perform other wonders, all through the power of the devil. The Jews will welcome him." Interesting! That means very simply what it says.
Now let me take you to the Ante-Nicene Fathers - I'm only going to give you one or two quotes out of the Ante-Nicene Fathers - Hippolytus is a very well known name in the Ante-Nicene Fathers. He is what is called, one of the early church fathers upon which the Catholic Church depends for inspiration and dogma. I'm going to quote to you from the section - you can go back and read it for yourself, but here's what he said - his prophecies were made about 170 A.D., and I think it's very interesting. Hippolytus begins in this particular section of the Ante-Nicene Fathers under Hippolytus, Section 29 - so you can go back and read it for yourself, and know that I'm not "pulling your leg", and I'm telling you the truth of what they're going to say.
Hippolytus begins by saying: "Believe not the enemy that is to come and to be seen, for he is an adversary and a corrupter and a son of perdition and deceives you, and for this reason he will kill you and smite them with the sword". Now, if you read Revelation 1:7, Christ said, every eye is going to see Him - and then it says in Chapter 19, here in Verse 15 (I believe), we have the Scripture that says: Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, but with which He's going to strike the nations - Chapter 19 and Verse 15. So you see the exact opposite that you're going to have to face. How do you reason with that? You don't - you don't. What happens to a world that needs the Day of Atonement? What happens? They're going to fight Christ, and they're going to have to learn who has been deceiving them for 6,000 years. And isn't it interesting to recognize these things have been laid out in the writings of these individuals for the time of the end, to be used as they see fit.
Going on, Hippolytus says one more thing, and this is in Section 33 of The Ante-Nicene Fathers: " In the presence of all he exhibits himself as taken up into heaven with trumpets and sounds and mighty shoutings of those who hail him with indescribable hymns. The heir of darkness himself, shining like light, at one time soaring to the heavens and other times descending to the earth" - and on and on they go. This is what I Thessalonians, Chapter 4, Verses 16 and 17 say, that the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch angel and the trump of God. You know that Scripture - we read that all the time during the funerals - we read it during Trumpets, and we read it at other times as well. And I think we begin to realize how important it is to understand what is happening.
I have literally dozens of quotes, but you just don't have the time to do that, and I want to bring the sermon to an end in a moment. But I wanted you to see how the Council of Trent, the Catholic encyclopedia, the Ante-Nicene Fathers and Prophecy for Today, all work together to give us a picture of what is going to happen, and how the world has been "set-up" since the 60's (at least to my knowledge) with the idea that the Bible is not the inspired, infallible, written word of the Creator God - how they will be deceived, and will not even look at the Bible to believe that what they are being told is an absolute awesome deception that will occur.
Let me read just one more area here - he says: "A more modern prophetess of the Catholic Church has this to say about the time of the end". It says: "Whole nations will join the church shortly before the reign of anti-christ. These conversions will be amazing - those who shall survive shall have to conduct themselves well. There shall be innumerable conversions of heretics who will come, and return to the bosom of the church" - meaning that there's going to be a great drawing by the Catholic church; that's what it's actually talking about, that we're going to see that occurring, when people will give up their beliefs and turn over themselves, according to what they see this particular individual doing.
We come to one last quote that I will give you today - and I…. and again, there's lots more that can be talked about - but he says: "The public service of God shall be extinguished" - meaning simply that the public service refers to the Catholic Mass - it won't be allowed, because obviously you can't buy God; that's one of the first things that will go.
But the last one, again, I think is very interesting. He said: "Listen to the Satanic delusion: Anti-christ will be an iconoclast" (that is, against idols). "Most of the world will adore him - he will teach the Christian religion is false" - (you know, what you and I believe - that's false) - excuse me - what they believe, (excuse me, I made a mistake there) - that the Christian religion that the people believe is false. "Confiscation of Christian property is legal -Saturday is going to be observed instead of Sunday - and he will change the ten commandments; that is restore the ten the way they should be - (but the one about idols). And so we begin to realize that he has these abilities, and it goes on to say: "He will begin by affecting respect for the law of Moses". So when you look at these things, and you begin to read some of the things that are said in all of the writings you read, and really see what is waving through, and filing through some of the writings that you find in material that was okayed by the Bishop of the church there in Fresno and Monterey, California in 1956, you begin to realize what you and I are about to have bequeathed on us as we live into this particular time of the end.
Perhaps, as you look at this, you can better understand the Scriptures which say: The nations were angry, and then blaspheme the name of God - and the armies of the earth fought against the true Christ. Maybe we can understand a little bit better when we see some of the things that they're going to be putting forward, and when, obviously they are going to have to come to a decision, and their decision is going to cause the punishment of God to come upon the whole world.
Perhaps when we come to this Day of Atonement that's coming Thursday, that we can better understand what a gigantic job we will have in restoring the truth to a deceived world - truly Satan the devil has deceived the whole inhabited earth. This season pictures the beginning of re-education for the world. As I said to you in the beginning of the sermon - I said, this Day of Atonement is communal, because the world itself has to come to be relieved of its total deception, and we're going to have a part in that - obviously, Jesus Christ starts it by removing the spirit of this world, and then dealing with those areas that need to be dealt with first and foremost, to begin His millennium. I think we are blessed to be able to know that our Bible says something totally the opposite of what this false church will propound - and aren't we glad we understand that!
