The Power of Deception

The world watched in shock as news cameras and journalist recorded the horrid scene for the world to observe. Hundreds of bodies were lying on the ground. All were wearing white T-shirts, and blue dresses, or tan slacks. Children were in parents, arms, while couples, held onto each other. The oddity is that nobody moved.

This was the picture from the jungles of Guyana of the peoples temple of Jonestown. More than 900 people died after their leader prescribed a concoction of potassium, cyanide, and potassium chloride, flavored with strawberry flavor aid.

How could Jim Jones have such a powerful hold on so many people? It’s helpful to know a little history about James Warren Jones. He grew up in an Indiana town. Early in his life he had a preoccupation with death. He held funerals for all kinds of animals. When he was older, he began his own church, the Community National Church, which became The Peoples Temple. He later moved the church to a community north of San Francisco. Then he took the church to the northern part of South America, to the country of Guyana. Jones claimed once to have had a church attendance of 20,000 people.

His services became increasingly bizarre. He supposedly “healed“ people by pretending to take out of them cancers, which were actually bloody chicken gizzards. His associate, Ross, states, “Jim stopped calling himself the reincarnation of Jesus, and started calling himself God… Who made the heavens and earth.“ This is according to the December 4, 1978, Time magazine article.

Jones demanded all his member’s money and property, accumulating a fortune of about $15 million. His followers were called upon to carry a picture of himself in order to ward off evil. According to a Newsweek article of the same date, “Jones threw his Bible to the floor and yelled, ‘too many people are looking at this instead of me! ‘“

My friends, if it happened with Jim Jones, it is certainly able to happen again when the antichrist appears. The antichrist will be a political leader, a military leader, and one who will seek to be worshiped.

As Christians, we must be aware of Satan‘s schemes and resist them.

The Scheme of Political Unity.

Revelation 13:1–10 (NASB95)

Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also 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 to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

The word “antiChrist“ is used only four times in the Bible. Every time it is found, it is seen in the letters that the apostle John wrote. Daniel refers to the antichrist in a variety of ways. Daniel 7 calls him the “little horn.“ Daniel 8 describes him as “insolent and skilled in intrigue.“ Daniel 9 labels the antichrist as “the prince that shall come.“ Daniel 11 says he is “a mighty king.“ 2 Thessalonians 2 describes him as “man of lawlessness.“ Here in Revelation 13.1, we know him as “the beast coming up out of the sea.“

Throughout the Bible, we realize that the sea and the land were understood to symbolically, within the Jewish community, to signify specific locations. The sea represent the nations of the earth, which are separate from Israel. In other words, this beast (or antichrist), will be a Gentile. He will have a powerful influence upon the entire world.

He has 10 horns, 7 heads, 10 crowns, and numerous blasphemous names. The majority of commentators suggest that the horns describe the authority and power of this beast. With this beast, we can also identify the horns with kings or nations as seen in the passage in Revelation 17.12. So more than likely, this individual is actually the leader of a 10-nation federation. Because these are crowns, we can assume that he is a political leader. It is also very obvious that this beast is completely against God. In other words, he is against or anti—Christ.

Verse 2 further describes this beast as an individual with characteristics like a leopard, a bear, and a lion. As we read a description like this, we would wonder if there is some explanation for what this represents. It seems that John is describing literal events, using figurative language. In order for us to understand this better, we have to go back to Daniel 7.1-7.

Daniel saw four beasts, which came up out of the sea. The first beast, the lion, represented the Babylonian empire. The second beast was like a bear, which was a description of the Medo-Persian empire. The third beast resembled a leopard, showing the Greek empire. This is understandable, since the Greek empire, which Alexander the Great ruled, was able to gain world dominion and control, in a very swift and speedy manner. Daniel simply describes the fourth beast as “dreadful and terrible,“ which accurately depicts the Roman empire.

However, Daniel didn’t stop there. In Daniel 7.7, he saw that the Roman empire had 10 horns. When they destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the Roman empire was made up of a league of 10 nations. That empire existed for a little over 400 years, falling apart around 476. We can assume that the Roman empire, or something similar to it, will one day be reestablished. There are individuals who believe that the European Common Market might be the beginning to such a revived, Roman empire. Others speak about the One World Order, which has been in the news quite a bit in the last couple of decades. In actuality, we do not know.

Now looking at what John saw, in comparison to what Daniel saw, we are able to gain further insight. When the Medo-Persian empire took over the Babylonian empire, it completely wiped out any remnant of Babylonian rule. Then, when the Greek empire took over the Medo-Persian empire, as quickly as it did, it was able to take over the entire empire. Finally, the Roman empire took over from the Greeks. They swallowed up all of the previous empires. That is why the antichrist has the various characteristics listed. This political leader will engulf and swallow up every other empire in existence.

We ask ourselves, how can this happen? The answer is simply that Satan gives the power to this ruler to do exactly what Satan wants him to do. In fact, we read that an incredible miracle takes place which causes the whole world to follow this antichrist, according to verse 3. At this point, the antichrist is assassinated. However, Satan “heals him.“

As a result, the world set itself to worship the antichrist. He fully accepts the worship of this world. But you and I know that the only individual whom anyone should worship is God alone. Not only do we read that the antichrist gladly accepts worship, but by doing so, he blasphemes God.

For those who are intrigued by math, we see that this antichrist rules for 42 months, or 3 1/2 years, or the last half of the tribulation. According to Daniel 9.27, the antichrist will be revealed at the beginning of the tribulation period. He will then make a peace covenant with the nation of Israel, while building his kingdom during the first 3 1/2 years. Then his absolute and total control will take place during the last half of the tribulation period. It is then that full recognition of who he is will be made known.

According to Revelation 13.7, he will make war with the saints. This makes sense, as we know that he has already accepted worship, and is opposed to everything that is of God. Again, we ask ourselves, who are the saints? More than likely, these are those who have become believers as a result of the ministry of the two witnesses and 144,000, which we will read about later.

As interesting as all of this information that I’ve shared might be, it would be quite easy to miss a very important point.

The world, with all of its intelligence and knowledge will still follow blindly after anyone who will promise them everything they think they want. Smooth-tongued deceivers can cause even the smartest individuals to be deceived if they are not firmly based on God’s Word.

I highly respect those who have chosen to involve themselves in the political arena in order to attempt to promote a God-honoring agenda. However, this is not the ultimate answer. I believe that God has called all Christians to make our impact upon the world, primarily by how we live our Christian lives. You see, legislation, and government do not provide answers for eternity. We can never accept what the government might offer as a solution, especially if it is against what God‘s Word says is the actual solution.

We wonder, who are those who follow the antichrist? Simply, they are the ones who put their hope in this planet, and what humanity can accomplish. They are the ones who will refuse to trust in Christ. They are the ones whose names are not written in the book of life.

The Scheme of Religious Uniformity.

Revelation 13:11–18 (NASB95)

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as 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. 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. 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 on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to 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 six hundred and sixty-six.

We see that the antichrist is not alone. There is actually another person associated with him who will help him to gain the worship of the world. We call him the “false prophet.“ He is the one who comes out of the land. Again, a Jewish audience would understand that one who comes from the land would be a Jew. Logically, we can assume that this false prophet is a Jew. This is probably why he is able to gain so much influence for the antichrist.

The Bible also likens this false prophet to a lamb. Now the only other Lamb in Revelation would be in reference to Christ. So this would make this other beast, or false prophet, a counterfeit of Christ. This individual appears to be the one who will be very involved with all things which are religious.

The Bible says that he speaks like a dragon. Well, that would make sense, because Satan has given him power, whom we already know as the dragon. This false prophet does whatever is necessary to get the people to worship the first beast, who is the antichrist. This false prophet can do this, because of his being given the ability to perform signs, wonders, and miracles, which validates him to those who are not following Jesus. This would supposedly make him an authentic prophet. However, we must remember that Satan is a counterfeiter. Satan has equipped people throughout the ages with the ability to mimic God‘s miracles. It happened in the time of Moses and Aaron with Pharaoh’s sorcerers and magicians. It happens today when false preachers and teachers use certain Bible verses out of context, then claiming that they are from God, when, in fact, they are counterfeits of Satan.

Even today, there are many who state that they are performing signs and wonders. Personally, I am convinced that these are from Satan. The reason for my saying this is that they do not focus attention upon Jesus Christ, but rather upon the event. Plus, much of what they do contradicts the Bible.

This false prophet even calls down fire from heaven. He makes an image to the first beast. Then this false prophet enables the image to speak, causing the people to think it is actually alive. At this point, the false prophet tries to force all the people to wear a mark showing their allegiance to the antichrist. If one does not wear the mark, whether on the forehead or the right hand, then they will be unable to purchase or sell any goods.

What is the mark? The Bible tells us it is the number of man, 666. Humanism and false religion deny what the Bible says about men. In fact, they try to represent men as having God-like qualities, even to the point of worshiping what their hands have made or the world in which they live.

Conclusion

My friends, I challenge you to be very discerning about what is taught; even from within the walls of a church building. Whenever people give any document, tradition, or any other writing, as having more authority, or even as much authority as the Bible, we must label it heresy, and know that it is of the devil. I don’t care who the person may be who says it. It does not matter what the past record is of someone or some organization. Unless Jesus Christ is first and His Word is the absolute authority, we must boldly point it out as heresy to anyone who listens.

The power of deception is very real. Satan’s schemes come in all sizes and shapes and colors. Deception is often not plain and obvious. Deception can often come from places and people we would have never dreamed.