Note from Jan: Prophecy teacher Jack Kelley writes about a man who may be waiting in the wings: The Antichrist. The world longs for a leader. The world thought they had it in Barack Obama in 2008. Now they wonder again. As we see evil arise in a shocking manner in these "days of Noah," be encouraged that it is leading to a day when there will be a shout and the sound of a trumpet. And in the twinkling of an eye, we will leave this throbbing planet. I can almost hear the hoof beats of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Look over a ridge and you will see them on the way.
September 19, 2012
The Bible has a lot to say about the person we call the antichrist.
When he first comes on the scene he'll quickly garner the world's attention. More than just being likeable, he'll be seen as a man with a brilliant future ahead of him, a charismatic personality who will immediately attract and hold everyone's interest. And when he takes center stage after the Battle of Ezekiel 38, many will believe he has the solution to all their problems. In a world reeling under the twin disasters of the mysterious disappearance of millions of Christians and the outbreak of nuclear war in the Middle East, he'll be a voice of calmness and reassurance. If it seems to them like he has an almost supernatural ability to get control of things and lead the way to peace, it will be because he does. He's Satan's man, masquerading as the savior of the world.
In an early success, he'll broker a treaty in the Middle East that will astound everyone (Daniel 9:27), causing the recently defeated Muslim nations to agree to the building of a Temple in Israel. Using Ezekiel 48 as his authority, he'll show everyone involved that the new Temple doesn't belong on the current Temple mount, but slightly more than 20 miles to the north in Shiloh. Sharing a space with the Dome of the Rock and the al Aksa mosque will not be required. After thousands of years of strife, it will appear that peace has finally come to that war torn part of the world.
Not everyone will immediately be convinced to line up behind him, and for those who aren't, conquest will be the answer. He'll justify the need for war by convincing them that a lasting peace depends on everyone submitting to the authority of a single government. Those who don't come willingly will have to be persuaded.
In the process there will be an assassination attempt that will leave him blinded in one eye and crippled in one arm (Rev. 13:3, Zech. 11:17). But once again he will astonish the world. They will have thought him to be dead, but suddenly he'll be, alive again. As a result, His power and influence will grow exponentially. And soon, although it will have required much bloodshed, the world will be forced to accept him as their leader and wear his mark as a sign of loyalty.
Because his goal is not to be just a world leader, but to be worshiped as their god, he will stand in the temple he helped to build and declare that he alone is God. Using Satan's power to deceive and the supernatural assistance of an apparition who calls herself Mary, he'll bring Islam, the Eastern religions, New Age paganism, and what will be left of Christianity together into one world wide religion with the sole purpose of worshiping him.
In Rev. 12:9 the dragon was identified as the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, and yet just one chapter later we learn that the people of Earth will worship him. How could the one who has traditionally been known as the very personification of evil suddenly become an object of worship? The answer comes in two parts.
Part One. The Luciferian Doctrine
Lucifer is a Latin word that means light bearer. It comes to us by way of the Hebrew phrase, heylel ben shachar, found in the Hebrew version of Isaiah 14:12, where it refers to Satan. Heylel means shining one, and was translated into Latin as Lucifer. Ben shachar means son of the dawn.
In 2 Cor. 11:14 Paul said that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. This tells us that in appearing as Lucifer, Satan is not revealing his true nature, but merely the counterfeit facade he uses to deceive mankind.
Experts say the Luciferian doctrine is a radical revaluation of humanity's ageless adversary, Satan, and have called it the ultimate inversion of good and evil. There are many variations of this doctrine, but they all boil down to the claim that Lucifer is actually the champion of mankind, desperately trying to bring mankind through his final phase of evolution, the spiritual one. This is when humans will become as gods, like the Serpent promised Adam and Eve, and will finally be able to live in peace and harmony in the utopian environment mankind has dreamed of since the fall.
But first man will have to win his freedom from the evil Adonai (Hebrew for Lord) who has been holding him back, and that's really what the end of the age is all about. Mankind is finally ready for an all out effort to defeat Adonai and wipe out His followers, and under Lucifer's direction and control, success is assured. In other words, it's not Jesus who came to be the Savior of mankind, it's Lucifer.
This is not a new idea. As we saw, it was first presented in the Garden. It's also the motivating force behind Psalm 2:1-3, which we've looked at before.
According to experts, the essence of the Luciferian Doctrine can be found in every religious system except Judaism and Christianity, and that's why both have to be destroyed. Even the anti-religions of Darwinian evolution, secular humanism, trans-humanism and others can be linked to the Luciferian Doctrine. This shared core belief is what will make it possible for all the religions of the world to unite behind the antichrist and worship Satan, while thinking they're in the right for doing so.
Part Two. The Powerful Delusion
When the Church leaves, the Age of Grace will end and those who have refused to believe the truth will be deceived by the miracles, signs, and wonders that Satan will display on Earth. These include the many appearances of the Marian apparition with her call to religious unity, often accompanied by supernatural healing and signs in the heavens, and the apparent, although imperfect, resurrection of the antichrist.
By the way 2 Thess. 2:10 is one of the Bible's strongest statements in support of our freedom to choose whether or not to allow the Lord's death to pay for our sins. How could Paul say unbelievers will perish because they refused to love the truth and be saved unless they could have chosen to accept it?
God has always allowed, and even helped mankind to take our desires to their ultimate conclusion. This is a great blessing for those who desire to spend eternity with Him, but a curse for those who want to be rid of Him for good. Never will this be more obvious than in the time of and just following the Rapture.
We who want more than anything to dwell in His presence forever will receive our heart's desire when in the twinkling of an eye we'll be whisked off the planet to begin our adventure in Eternity. But God will send those who have rejected His offer of pardon a powerful delusion that will make them certain that they made the right choice. This delusion will cause them to believe Satan's deceptions with such conviction that they'll follow him to an eternity of torment in the Lake of Fire.
Please note that I don't believe this delusion will apply to those who won't have made a firm decision either for or against God at the time of the rapture. According to Rev. 7:9 untold numbers of people from all over the world will come to faith following the seal judgments of Rev. 6 and be martyred for doing so. I think the Rapture will have been the final sign they needed to make up their minds and give their hearts to Jesus. They won't be part of the Church, but they will have avoided eternal punishment and will be with the Lord forever.
Throughout Daniel's 70th Week , even after numerous judgments that are obviously from God, most of the people of Earth will continue to reject Him. These examples tell the sad story.
They'll curse God and refuse to repent because their belief in Luciferian Doctrine will result in the greatest paradigm shift in the history of the world. Evil will be seen as good. Wrong will be seen as right. Darkness will be seen as light. One of the most telling signs of the End of the Age is the extent to which this is already happening in the world. But what we're seeing today is nothing compared to the way it will be when God causes His powerful delusion to descend upon the left behind people of Earth. It will elevate the Luciferian Doctrine to a fervently-held religious belief, with Satan as the object of their worship.
Psychiatrists define a delusion as a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact. We can't imagine anyone thinking they could defeat God, but this will quickly become the mindset of the world after the Church is gone. The delusion God sends will help the unbelieving world to take their desire to be rid of Him to its ultimate conclusion. It will allow them to believe they're justified in uniting against Him, and that they actually have the ability to defeat Him.
It's strange, isn't it, how the world thinks we're the odd ones? But while they're lining up like a bunch of lemmings ready to march off the cliff to their doom, we'll just be getting started on our adventures in Eternity. No longer conforming to the pattern of this world we've been made new in the attitude of our mind and have put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24). Because we're in Christ we're a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). And where our eternal destiny is concerned, that makes all the difference.
You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.
(Here's the unedited version of this article.)
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Awaiting His return,
Jan Markell
Olive Tree Ministries, Inc.
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Blessings,
