666, Part 1

Church more comfortable for the unbeliever the church has effectively stopped believing anything uncomfortable and certainly communicating so it is. Is it any wonder that our own culture is now entrenched more than ever in Eastern religion cults than any thoughtful and at the same time, the number of churches representing mainline denominations closing their doors at a rate of 3 to 5 churches every single night that's true because many churches have abandoned the truth of God's word. Well, what we see today is simply a foreshadowing of what's going to happen during a period known as the great tribulation, the Antichrist will masquerade as the Messiah, but he will in fact the entire world with a false gospel, Stephen Davey has been working through a series entitled Antichrist and the many faces of evil. Today we begin the final lesson in that series a lesson simply entitled 666. Let's get started. John the apostle is been describing for us the faces of evil behind the system of the coming world one world government. One world economy one world religion chapter 12 we been given the truth of the red Dragon. Another title for Satan's thirst for blood and killing will take center stage no more, masquerading as an angel of light. He is exposed as a killer hater of Jews, Christians, anybody that would follow the God of Abraham in Revelation 13 we were introduced into two men who will be enabled and empowered by the Dragon to carry out his ultimate mission. By the way, it transcends the killing of Jews and Christians. It is to receive the worship of the entire world.

That's what is after 20s along the forever senses fall from heaven, and these two men will do his bidding, and they're going to see it come to pass. The first man revealed us in chapter 13 is the antichrist called the first beast, he rises to power among other European leaders and nations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The prophecy of Daniel finally comes to pass, as the revived Roman Empire takes form in the coalition allows antichrist to take leadership. He will be prime minister, president and potentate all rolled up and and one dictator. Then we were introduced to the second man the false preacher or priest false prophet and he is the minister of propaganda with delegated power.

He is going to be able to mesmerize the world by his amazing signs and wonders his miracle working power and the message he will attach to his power that authenticates himself supposedly as being a representative of the true God is. You are not or should the Christ antichrist is God incarnate. Worship him. This will occur during the period of time known as the tribulation is seven-year. Following the rapture of the church by Jesus Christ, and when will the rapture happen, you ask why you cannot do lots of other preacher on TV tell you when I don't know. I will tell you it's soon. That's as good as I can give you. When I told but we are told that it could happen at any moment, and when it doesn't happen in the twinkling of an eye. Paul told the Corinthians in first release 1552. We know the apostles were all waiting for Paul thought he be alive when it happened. First Thessalonians 417. Peter thought the creation of the new heaven and the earth was just around the corner. Second Peter 313 John the apostle believed he was living in the last hour. First John 218, and every generation of true believers. There is the anticipation of the rapture of the church and those Christians who don't believe the rapture will take place before the tribulation.

There can be really happy when they find out it was true after all. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. By the way, the same body of believers to whom he revealed the details of the rapture is a letter Paul commended them for being committed to Christ, so much so that he says you have put away your idols to serve the true and living God and to wait for his son from heaven. This was the topic of the church.

Their conversation maybe today this was the burning of hope in their heart. Even John ends the book of Revelation, the record of his vision gets all the way to the end of it.

In Revelation 2220 and he answered by saying Jesus so you it's so moving.

John is seen at all in his vision he sees the coming wrath. He sees that the rise of the Antichrist. He sees the coming Armageddon. He sees the coming kingdom. He sees the final judgment. He sees the creation of the new heaven and a new RBCs.

He is given a vision always Ashley given a tour of what the believer has in store. No wonder he ends the book of Revelation by saying, Lord Jesus. Let's get to the next player part of the plan to go to the next day you tell you friends.

I cannot help but believe we are nearing that day I will tell you this person will know while studying the text of Revelation 12 and 13. I have been inundated with illustration after illustration of how the table was being set for the coming tribulation and all that follows it.

And of course believing the rapture clearly taught in Scripture takes place before that them that would even be sooner. The conditions are as ripe as ever for the upward call of Christ and the unveiling of a one world government, and the one world religion in our generation.

Listen, I believe the tribulation scene is nearly prepared in my view, which leads me to say again, if you're here without a reservation for the coming glory of heaven, paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ shed for you and in his singular work of atonement, which you place your faith and believing he is the living Lord of you haven't done that. My challenge to you today is run to the cross. There don't wait your number but Kyle Borja, the president of the former Soviet Union, Gorbachev Gorbachev, everyone say he said this in Madrid, Spain. After 9/11, the victims of the September 11 attack on the United States will not have died in vain. If world leaders use the crisis to create a new world order. We have that phrase again. He says if we act as we did after September 11 uniting efforts of fighting against terrorism. If we maintain this coalition will not only prevent a new Cold War, but we could get a new world order that is so desirable for all of us.me. We read the texts. This world is headed for a fiery ball in the judgment of God and the creation of a new earth and new heaven.

Why that kind of statement because the world is clamoring for some semblance of peace.

The world certainly is clamoring now more than ever for a world leader, United coalition, United world order global world system like never before. Because of that in this series of studies in all of these illustrations. Many of of of them. I've shared with you.

Not only will warn the unbeliever to come to faith in Christ alone, but sound the warning to the church to be more discerning than ever. John the apostle wrote that the spirit of antichrist is ever present and it will culminate in the final coming antichrist, the deceiver first and second daughter filled with a warning about the antichrist are those who denied Christ is God incarnate somebody else is a master teacher is a good man is the next prophet in line all that, but he's not the exclusive Savior of the world, now you're really treading deep water. There these are deceivers and liars genre. The first John 222 is second John 17. Think about for the Hindu to abandon his 3000 gods. In order for the Buddhists to stop praying for the arrival of the fifth Buddha in order for the Muslim to forget Mohammed moved past him in order for the world will effectively abandon the their gods and their traditions and their religions and their profits.

Things would have to become so convoluted and so confusing and so desperate spiritually that somebody, anybody with any semblance of spiritual power and with some answer authenticated by power be followed without reservation guy we sailed my laceration comes along and says let me bring down fire from heaven to prove I am truly representing God. The world will be ready. We there now what if we are indeed the last generation in the church prior to the rapture will be as passionate as the early believers who thought they were to living in these last days.

Perhaps before the coming deceiver, wouldn't you assume if that were the case of Satan tries to read the signs of this generation. He doesn't know the date of the rapture anymore.

We do but is clever. He has a global system of communication when you assume that the enemy of the church would unleash a fresh onslaught of diversions and distractions and dilutions among those who believe Christ the Savior of the world. In order for people to be set up for deception. They would be best if they were ignorant of the Bible right is our culture evermore ignorant of the Bible today. They must not believe in the authority of Scripture right they must be led to doubt the uniqueness of the Bible and the inspiration of it through its author and the profits he selected. This is a description of our generation inside the church, as well as outside. There was ever a time when the church needed to get the gospel right would be the day.

As far as I can tell you the church in our generation is now beginning to unravel the basic beliefs of the gospel. The most fundamental parts of that event accepted by the reformed church. The church after the Reformation for some 500 years now. In my ministry over the last 25 to 30 years the enemy has attacked the foundations of doctrine like never before in the past 500 and and not from not from without, but as Paul warned the Ephesian elders by false teachers within the church ladies and gentlemen, Satan most often as I've said before, does not attack a church he joins it and ever so quietly as the apostle wrote secretly, quietly, subversively distorts the gospel so much so that you ultimately have as you progress along that line.

The ultimate denial of the gospel is that ever happening today. I give you several illustrations of the emergent church.

I give a few more here. One pseudo-church leaders effectively distorted the gospel has quite a following by the books of the Christian bookstore from his interview in a Christian magazine actually and in his book. He said this, I can't find one place in the teachings of Jesus or the Bible for that matter where we are to identify ourselves as sinners first and foremost. Now this doesn't mean we don't sin.

That's obvious, but the greatest truth of the story of Adam and Eve isn't that it happened but that it happened. The greatest truth of the story of Adam and Eve is that they send in that we do to.

I don't think so.

The greatest truth about the story of Adam and Eve is that they send and God atone for their sin and forgave them that's the glorious truth that the greatest truth about the fall of man is that God moves to redeem fallen sinners, that word becomes more and more popular the further down the road. We evaluated Rob Bell statement there in the light of Paul's own testimony that he read again what he said and then go to the Bible, which is a great place to go. Here's what he said I can find one place in the teaching of Jesus and the Bible for that matter where we are to identify ourselves first and foremost as sinners listen to Paul who said it is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance. In other words, everybody ought to think this way feel this way, full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came in the world came into the world to save sinners, foremost. Foremost is always identifying until first and foremost as a sinner that Paul wrote it this way and undertakes. This is the demonstration of the love of God how that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The greatest truth about sin is not that it happened, or that it happens to me, the greatest truth about sin is that price board on his body on the tree, that we been dead to sin could live in a righteousness first Peter 224 ever so slightly, twisting the gospel. A colleague of Bill Cody before in our sessions. In this particular text.

They fit well within this inclusive universalism, Mama.

They were Brian McNerney distorted the gospel. You further.

He wrote this article in the Bible the word save means rescue it emphatically does not mean save from hell or give eternal life after death as many preachers seem to apply in sermon after sermon and all the people said Amen and all people said and I will imply over and over again, save he said means get out of trouble. That trouble could be sickness, war, poverty, imprisonment, or any kind of danger."

Ladies and gentlemen, that is not the gospel infective to be saved means you get out of the trouble of sickness or poverty can Christians get the flu and run out of money it if getting saved means we are delivered out of imprisonment, then the apostle Paul is in double trouble because he spent most of his life impoverished in the last few years of his life in prison. This is the twisting of the truth. This is the beginning of a new error of apostasy evident in our church today. So much so that Christian publishers are publishing this nonsense and is being purchased. I could go on and on. I am going on on just a little bit longer here today say this.

Listen for the false preacher the false prophet to come along in Revelation 13 and basically convince the world to worship the Antichrist less than four years after the church's rapture could mean it could mean that the church is a mainline institution is abandoned. The truth of the gospel and an illiterate world biblically is a sitting duck for the deceiver.

Where was the church's toes are said church was limping from one gimmick to another. Like so many drunks in the fall. The average evangelical church has been putting on a show to court to seek her for the last 30 years in my ministry. It all began. He hasn't caught him by the way, in an effort to make the church more comfortable for the unbeliever the church has effectively stopped believing anything uncomfortable and certainly communicating so it is fitting is it any wonder that our own culture is now entrenched more than ever in Eastern religions and cults in any time for and at the same time, the number of churches representing mainline denominations where so many of them have Ichabod written over the door and he with her dead but they're closing their doors at a rate of 3 to 5 churches every single day in this country.

In America, now a mosque is completed every 30 days. There are now more Muslims in America that Episcopalians not that Episcopalians or any denomination have the answer.

My contention is that institutionally the organized church may very well abandon the gospel in the world will be right for the coming final deceiver. How could it happen that they would follow him and mean how do you go from a church on earth. True believers, rapture, and then in less than four years.

We now have the world in Revelation 13 bowing before a statue representing the Antichrist claiming that he is God. How does the world fall for a talking image in a fire bringing profit. The apostle Paul tells us how.

Listen to this text for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting their ears massaged tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers who condone their own desires. That's how they get teacher to tell live however you want to live your fine door that sin judgment held just have a great day and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths and owners of any such great confusion in the latter days.

People will turn away from the truth of sound doctrine and fall head over heels in love with the latest fad the latest myth, the latest God so preceding the deception of the false prophet, you have a confused world and a confused wandering religious systems. Well, even religious leaders would become morally neutral and spiritually confused. I was at a description of our culture today or what it's us when my staff pastor sent me this email this week. As you may know, the African branch of the Anglican church is more solid biblically than its American counterpart. If you knew that the litmus test as we watch it unfold in the news is the ordination of practicing homosexuals to leadership in the church. One interesting exchange occurred at a conference, but 24 months ago between John Shelby Spong, Episcopalian bishop who longer processes and African bishops within the denomination that this particular conference. Bishop Spong was trying to convince the African leaders to give up their views and accept homosexual leaders of the church. The African bishops, on the other hand were holding fast they were refusing to budge based on Scripture. Finally, in a moment of frustration as articles that bishops mom lashed out at them with the reason the, the, the African bishops believe the Bible so literally is because they have been so recently converted from paganism to which the bishop from Uganda responded the reason Bishop Spong does not believe the Bible is because he has so recently been converted to paganism tragedy is this is leadership in the church if it is paralyzed, the church, where does the world go for a moral anchor for the truth if the church is no longer solvent light society will be caving quicker than before. There will be no demonstration of the truth of Christ and the gospel of our Lord.

And so the world will wonder even more quickly and become so confused, so much so, that is ever this week, I Love Lucy cannot be put on primetime because they smoke, but you can have gratuitous sex on primetime TV, confused red. Another illustration of four worlds moral confusion. There was a discrimination lawsuit filed against eHarmony about 24 months ago and is just now become news they finally reached a response. The article read online dating service eHarmony is responded to a discrimination lawsuit by agreeing to launch a new site for same-sex single can be called compatible partners according to chairman and founder, former evangelical psychologist Neil Warren and Anton Johnson. The company's VP, legal affairs, eHarmony will now welcome all single individuals who are genuinely seeking long-term relationships, friends, if there was ever a day when the world is prime for somebody seated believing there was ever a generation ready to embrace some some kind of liturgy and New World religion global economy. It's our generation today. Thanks for joining us today your own wisdom. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davey Stevens, not through with this lesson, but were almost out of time so organist stop right here and bring you the conclusion tomorrow. You can learn more about us. If you visit our website which is wisdom online.org. Once you go there you will be able to access the complete archive of Stevens Bible teaching ministry. We also post each day's broadcast. So if you ever miss one of these lessons, you can go to our website and keep caught up with our daily Bible teaching ministry.

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