(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, it's funny, just now, as I was being read, I was looking at my Bible, and sometimes when you're reading the Bible, there will be these little labels telling you what each section is about. Your Bible probably has something like that here at the top of the page, or little sections. And it was labeled above 2 Chronicles 7, these first few verses, the Shekinah glory of God. And the funny thing about that is that when you see that word, you think, and I always thought growing up in church, you hear pastors just kind of pepper that in to their speech, the Shekinah glory of God. You would assume that that's like a Hebrew word that is in the text or something, or that like when we see the word glory in this text in verse 1, the word glory, the verse 2, verse 3, you think that, oh, well, that must be the Hebrew word for glory. But in fact, you know, if you just read this in Hebrew, that word is nowhere to be found in this passage. That is not even a biblical word. That is a word that comes from later kind of just Christ rejecting Judaism and kind of Kabbalah Talmud types, not from the Bible. And we talk about that in our film, Marching to Zion. And that doesn't really have anything to do with the sermon, but it just kind of cracks me up how they just put that right in the Bible like, hey, this part's about the Shekinah. They just put this Judaizing concept, right? And if you remember, I believe in the Marching to Zion film, when we talked to the rabbis, they talked about how Shekinah is the, you know, the female aspect of God and, you know, perhaps maybe God is both male and female, you know, the guy said and so forth. But if you haven't seen the Marching to Zion film, you can check it out for more on that. So the Bible says in verse number 1 here in 2 Chronicles 7, now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house and the priest could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and praised the Lord saying, for He is good, for His mercy and doerth forever. Let me just kind of remind you a little bit what's going on here. So the house of God, the temple, this Old Testament structure, the permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant as opposed to the tabernacle, which was a portable facility, was finished in chapter 5, right? And at the end of chapter 5, if you remember, a cloud filled the house and the cloud was the cloud of God's glory, sort of like the cloudy pillar by day when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness or the pillar of fire by night. And so this is something that comes up repeatedly in scripture, the cloud or the smoke that fills the house. And we saw that at the end of chapter 5. Then in chapter 6, verse 1, Solomon said, the Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. And he's referring to that cloud as a sign of the fact that God is blessing or sanctifying this house. It's basically God putting His stamp of approval on the temple, that He's going to use the temple, that His eyes are going to be opened under the temple and that this is a good place for them to worship God, and so forth. So he's sort of sanctioning it by allowing that cloud to fill the temple. Then in chapter 6, Solomon gives this big, long prayer unto God, asking God to bless Him, to bless His kingdom, to bless the temple. And then that finishes in verse 1 of chapter 7. And then now in addition to the cloud of God's glory in the house, now we have fire coming down from heaven in verse 1, consuming the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And of course, when the children of Israel saw the fire come down, then, you know, obviously they're pretty blown away by that. They fall on their faces. They're worshiping God. What's interesting about this is when you think about what the Bible teaches is going to happen in the end times, okay? And I strongly believe that there is going to be a third temple built. Some people don't believe this. They don't think that this has anything to do with end times prophecy. But there are several prophecies in the New Testament that talk about, you know, there being a temple or that indicate that there will be another temple that's built. It makes sense anyway because we know that the Jews, they want to have the temple rebuilt. And you know who wants the temple rebuilt even more than the Jews are evangelical Christians who've been so Judaized and Zionized that they just really want to see that temple built. And they're all excited about the Jews being back in the promised land. And they think that the Jews are God's chosen people even though they're on a bobsled to hell because they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you don't have the son, you don't have the father. But that's what a lot of people believe. And we can see that that's where this thing is going that ultimately it seems that the temple is going to be rebuilt and that the antichrist is going to enter into that temple. I want to review a little bit of that with you and show you how it kind of ties in with this 2 Chronicles chapter 7 passage. So flip over if you would to the New Testament to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 in the New Testament. Second Thessalonians chapter number 2 is a really important end times passage. Now look, obviously the most important scriptures on the end times are in the book of Revelation, right? Revelation is our primary text for studying eschatology, for studying the end of the world, for studying what's coming and the events surrounding the second coming of Jesus Christ. Revelation is our most important primary text. But also Jesus Christ did some really explicit teachings on this subject to his disciples in what's known as the Olivet Discourse. Also in Luke chapter 17 and also just throughout his sermons and parables, there are references made to the end times and we can get great information there. Also the epistles of Paul talk about the second coming of Christ and give us a lot of great information. Folks, the New Testament should always be our primary source when we're studying end times Bible prophecy. You will find that people who have wrong eschatology want to live in the Old Testament and constantly show you all this Old Testament stuff. Here's the problem with that is that a lot of the Old Testament passages that they're showing you are not necessarily relevant to the second coming of Christ. Many of them are about the first coming of Christ or many of them are about events that have already happened, already taken place, and they'll try to bring those into the New Testament. Now, some of that's legitimate, but at the end of the day, no one's teachings should be able to contradict the New Testament. The New Testament, when Jesus is predicting stuff in the future, we know it's in the future at least from Jesus when he's talking. And when Paul is talking about things happening in the future, at least we know that they're in the future from when the Apostle Paul is talking, whereas if you're reading something in Ezekiel, you know, centuries and centuries before Christ, some of that stuff already happened back then, and it's not even necessarily relevant. So the New Testament is the clearer teaching. That's why false teachers love to just park it in the Old Testament because it's easier for them to twist things because things aren't as clear in the Old Testament, and we should always base our beliefs on the clearest scriptures, not on things that are obscure. The Old Testament is more obscure than the New Testament. That's why the New Testament should always be our primary source of teaching, okay? The New Testament is more up to date because some of the things in the Old Testament have already happened and already been changed and already, you know, the Bible says the priesthood being changed is made of necessity, a change also of the law, right? Certain things in the Old Testament have changed since then, whereas the New Testament is the up-to-the-minute, relevant revelation of God's Word and His plan for the end times. Now when it comes to studying the epistles of Paul about the end times, two epistles that are just chock-full of information about end times are 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Obviously the Apostle Paul has some great teachings on the end times in Philippians chapter 3, for example, or in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. That's obviously a super important text when it comes to end times prophecy. But 1 and 2 Thessalonians, it's brought up in almost every chapter. And so if you really want to get some good, clear teaching from the Apostle Paul on the end times, 1 and 2 Thessalonians are an important scripture to look at. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is interesting in particular. Look if you would at verse number 1. The Bible reads, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except the come of falling away first. Now let me just break this down to you quickly, saying don't let anyone trick you into believing that the day of Christ is at hand. If anybody says, hey, Jesus is coming today, they're full of baloney. Why? Because that day shall not come except the come of falling away first. So if the falling away hasn't happened and if the man of sin has not yet been revealed, then they can't tell you the day of Christ is at hand because it's not. Okay. Now again, this is the importance of having a King James Bible because these modern messed up versions, they'll say, oh, don't let anybody tell you that the day of Christ already happened. That's a totally different statement here. The Bible is saying, don't let anyone tell you that it's at hand and look at the context because that day will not come until X, Y, and Z happens first. Now that makes perfect sense in your King James, doesn't it? Hey, don't let anybody tell you that it's about to happen because X, Y, and Z has to happen first and those things haven't happened, ergo, don't let anyone tell you that because he's talking to, when he's writing this, the Thessalonians, those things haven't happened yet. Well, guess what? It's 2024. They still haven't happened. So we should still not let people tell us that the day of Christ is at hand because it's not. Okay. There are some things that have to happen first. So he cannot come today. He cannot come tomorrow. He cannot come next week. There is a series of events that the Bible tells us must happen first. What are those events? Let no man deceive you by any means, verse three, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. That's what needs to happen first. A great falling away, a great apostasy, and then the man of sin, who we commonly call the antichrist, must be revealed. What do we know about this guy? He opposeth, verse four, and exalted themself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he, as God, sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Right? So when we go into this scripture, one of the signs that we look for as Christians to know whether or not Christ is about to return, the sign that we're looking for is for the man of sin, the antichrist, to enter in to the temple and declare himself to be God. Okay. That's one thing that has to happen first. Okay. This is also, in other scriptures, pointed to as the abomination of desolation. Okay. The Bible says when you therefore see the abomination of desolation, right, and just to paraphrase, he's saying, look, that's when you know that your redemption draweth nigh. That's when you know that these things are nigh at hand. And so what we see here is that there's got to be a temple in order for him to enter into the temple. Now some people make a big deal about the fact that it's called here the temple of God as if that somehow means that God actually sanctions the new temple or the third temple or that it's actually God's temple. But let me ask you this. Is the antichrist actually God? No. So when the Bible says here that he as God instead of the temple of God showing himself that he is God, well, he's not as God. It's not actually the temple of God, and he isn't actually God. All three of these statements are about perception, right? He is calling himself God. He's entering into the so-called temple of God, and he is claiming to be a so-called God. That's what's going on here. So obviously these are not statements about reality. These are statements about what he's claiming or what people are perceiving that he as God is entering into the temple of God, showing himself to be God. Well, you can't really truly show yourself to be God if you're not God and the antichrist is clearly not God. But he is deceiving people into believing that he as God is going into the temple of God and showing himself to be God even though none of these three things are actually true. Does everybody understand? You see, it is not of God to rebuild the third temple. God is the one who destroyed the second temple. And the reason why God sent forth his armies and destroyed the temple is because of the fact that the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, so he was punishing them by burning their city to the ground and destroying their precious temple, just as Jesus predicted would happen in his parables. Also, the temple has been destroyed because God's will is not that animal sacrifices continue to be offered. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, slain once for all. We do not need animal sacrifices. Offering an animal sacrifice is to imply that Christ's sacrifice was not enough. This is why when Jesus Christ died on the cross, the veil in the temple was rent in twain. The veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place was torn in half to indicate that we don't need this system of Levitical priests anymore to have access to the Holy of Holies. We can just waltz right in through the blood of Jesus Christ and we have total access and the tearing of the veil is a symbol of the fact that, hey, we're in the New Testament now. The death of the testador signals the beginning of the New Testament. The Old Testament, the Bible says, in that he saith the New Testament, he had made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. That's what the Bible says in Hebrews 8, verse 13. And so, in order for this to happen, literally, if you take this literally, which I don't see any reason not to take this literally, especially when we look at other scriptures and compare them with this, you know, there has to be a temple in order for him to enter into the temple and everybody's talking about building it. Everybody's excited about it. You know, it's clearly going to happen. And so, someday the temple is going to be built and the Antichrist is going to go in there and claim to be God. Now let's keep reading here. It says, remember you not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity does already work. Only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan. Right? So the Antichrist's coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. So I want you to notice that the Antichrist is coming empowered by Satan to do lying wonders, right? And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now, with that in mind, let's go over to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13. So what we learned from Paul's epistles in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, right? And this is written before the book of Revelation that, you know, the earliest scriptures in the New Testament are Paul's epistles, right? The first part of the New Testament that's written down are Paul's epistles, right? Certainly before the book of Acts, right? Because Acts is telling us all about Paul's life. Paul's writing epistles during his life, okay? And so, you know, this is the earliest stuff. There's no reference made to the four gospels in any of Paul's epistles because they haven't been written yet, okay? There's no reference made to them in the book of Acts either because they haven't been written yet. So the earliest scripture, you know, we're getting some information from Paul telling us, look, the man of sin, I already told you this when I was with you. I preached this to you in person but now I'm writing it to you. Look, he is going to enter into the temple. He's going to declare himself to be God and he's going to come with the power of Satan and do lying signs and wonders in order to deceive those who are not saved. And the unsaved will be deceived by him. God's going to send them a strong delusion so that they will believe that lie that the Antichrist is telling them when he declares himself to be God. Many people will fall for it. So with all that in mind, hopefully you're following the sermon so far. With all that in mind, go to Revelation chapter 13 and we see, of course, the Antichrist here described as the beast and just for sake of time, I'm just going to jump forward to verse 6. It says, he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And so, you know, the Antichrist, the Bible says, is going to be worshiped by all kindreds, tongues, nations. He's going to have power over all kindreds, tongues, and nations for 42 months, okay, which is three and a half years. So he comes to power at the midpoint of this seven-year period known as Daniel's 70th week. He reigns or has power for 42 months. He continues for 42 months starting from that midpoint, okay? And the Bible says people all over the world are going to be worshiping him whose names are not in the book of life. Now jump down to verse 11 though. It says in verse 11, I beheld another beast come up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon and he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. So the first beast is talking about the Antichrist, okay? He's the one who earlier in the chapter, he receives a deadly wound and then his deadly wounds healed and everybody's wondering and marveling saying, who is like unto the beast? Who's able to make war with him and all the nations are under his power and they're worshiping him? So you have a one-world government reigned over by this man. You have a one-world religion because everybody is uniting around him as a Messiah or as a Christ. He's the Antichrist which means instead of Christ, okay? But then this other beast comes along and he is known as the false prophet, right? So we have the Antichrist and later in Revelation, he's going to be called the false prophet, okay? So the false prophet is a special false prophet. Obviously there are lots of false prophets but this is like the capital F, capital P false prophet. Just like there are lots of little Antichrists but then there's the big one, the capital A Antichrist. The false prophet is who is being described here. He's the one who causes the people on the earth to worship the Antichrist. So he's some kind of a preacher or religious figure that points people to the Antichrist and says, hey, this is who we need to be worshiping. This is the second coming of Christ or this is the Messiah. This is the Jewish Messiah, whatever. He's going to promote this guy, okay? And it's probably going to be someone that people would listen to or trust. It's going to be like someone like Billy Graham or something, right? Everybody loves Billy Graham, atheists, Catholics, Baptists, whatever, except the real Baptists know that he's burning in hell. Lying false prophet. And by the way, don't tell me, oh, he used to preach it straight. Really? That's funny because people have uploaded all kinds of videos to YouTube and Facebook showing him preaching works-based salvation in the 1940s and in the 1950s and the 1960s in every era teaching heresy. Okay, so no, he's always been what he is, a false prophet. It'll be someone like that, someone who just everybody loves. And by the way, if the world loves a preacher, he's a false prophet, 100%, because Jesus said, if they hated me, they'll hate you. He said, if they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call them of his household? A disciple's not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. Are you better than me? Because Jesus is basically saying, look, if you think that you're not going to be hated of this world, you must think you're better than me. If I'm hated of the world and you're following me, you've cracked the code, how to be righteous and not be hated of the world, something that Jesus couldn't even accomplish. See how stupid that is? Here's the thing. Either Billy Graham is better than Jesus or he's not following Jesus because every preacher who's actually following Jesus is hated of this world. They're not loved by, I don't know, Dan Rather or something, you know, whatever. I mean, look, Billy Graham was just all the news people and the media and worldly leaders. They all loved him because he's a false prophet, that's why, 100%. And he's not the only one. He's not the first one. He won't be the last one. So some other Billy Graham type guy is going to come along that kind of has great crossover appeal to a lot of different denominations. My dad was really disappointed because my dad always said, like, Billy Graham's the false prophet. He's got to be. But then he started getting super old and then my dad's like, well, I guess Billy Graham wasn't the false prophet, man. Satan's going to have a hard time coming up with a better false prophet than Billy Graham. He was perfect. But you know, I'm sure the devil's got somebody up his sleeve. It's not Joel Osteen because, you know, it's got to be somebody that everybody likes, you know, people talk too much smack about Joel Osteen. I just can't really see Joel Osteen being the false prophet. That'd be a super lame false prophet. Well, I just think this is it. I just think this is the second coming, you know? I mean, I just think this is him. You know, it's just like, come on. But anyway, the false prophet, when he comes along, it says he calls it the earth, verse 12, and then when 12 they're in to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. Because remember, the antichrist goes through like this kind of dying and coming back thing to mimic the resurrection of Christ, okay? And then it says, this is the thing I really want to focus on, he doeth great wonders, verse 13, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. Now, this is the tie-in that I think is really interesting with 2 Chronicles 7. In 2 Chronicles 7, at the dedication of the temple, in order to show that God is sanctioning this temple, fire comes down from God out of heaven, and when the people see that, this is the signal that, oh, this is God's power, this is God's presence in the temple. Could it be that when the third temple is built, that there will be a similar demonstration in order to convince the skeptics that say, I don't know if this third temple is of God, I don't know if this is really the Messiah, but can you imagine if fire comes down from God out of heaven, then they're going to say, whoa, this is just like 2 Chronicles 7. This is what God did with Solomon's temple, and he's doing it again. Now, you say, well, you're just guessing, you're making that up. Well, not really, because it's right here in verse 13. He makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. All I'm doing is saying that that bringing fire down from heaven is probably connected to the dedication of the temple. Why? Because of the fact that we already know from 2 Thessalonians 2, I'm just putting the pieces together, if we know from 2 Thessalonians 2 that the Antichrist is revealed as the Antichrist by entering into the temple of God, and we know that there's not a temple of God right now, right, that there's going to be a temple of God that's built. It's probably going to be built during that, Daniel's 70th week, during the tribulation time in that first part of Daniel's 70th week. I believe that that's when the temple's going to be built. So the thing is, if we see the temple begin to be built, if we actually see the thing starting to be built, it could be likely if there's a war going on and the temple's being built, it's very likely that we are in the tribulation period at that point. But we won't really know for sure until we see the abomination of desolation. We don't really know for sure until we see that man of sin revealed as such by entering into the temple of God and declaring himself to be God. Why do I say that? Because there could be some kind of an abortive attempt to rebuild the temple, right? Because there have been a couple times throughout history when the idea of building the temple was there and even work began to rebuild the temple, even since 70 AD. That has already happened in the distant past. So if the temple starts being built, that doesn't for sure mean that we're in the tribulation because it could be an abortive attempt, it starts being built and then it falls through. It doesn't get finished or it doesn't come all the way to the point where the Antichrist is dedicating the thing and declaring himself to be God. But I just think it's really interesting that Solomon's temple is sort of ratified with this fire coming down from heaven and then the devil apparently is going to do the same thing at the dedication of the third temple by making fire come down from God out of heaven and saying, hey, look, worship the Antichrist. And you see, Christians have such bad eschatology, they have such bad teachings on the end times, they're basically just setting people up to receive the Antichrist. And here's what I mean by that. The typical evangelical church, the typical Baptist church teaches that when Christ returns there's going to be a new temple and that it's going to be a godly temple and that there are going to be animal sacrifices when Christ returns. I mean, what stupidity to think that there are going to be animal sacrifices when Christ returns. Of course, where do they get this wonderful piece of information? From the Old Testament. It's certainly not from the New Testament. The New Testament is never going to predict that animal sacrifices are coming back. No, the New Testament is just teaching, no, that's over, Christ is the lamb slain, once for all, it's done, it's over, no more Levitical priesthood, it's Jesus now, he did it once for all, it's done. But they'll go back to some Old Testament obscure dark passage and teach that animal sacrifices are coming back when Christ returns. What in the world? Why would we move backwards, my friend? We're going from Old Testament to New Testament, the New Testament is eternal. Never go back to Old Testament. It's done, it's over. And so it's crazy to think that we need to kill some animal to somehow, you know, signify Christ's death. Folks, that makes no sense. We already have something better. We have the actual crucifixion to look back on. We don't need to, you know, kill an animal in remembrance or something. You know, of course, the dispies and Zionists and people who believe this will claim like, oh, well, you know, it's a way to look back on the, by killing the animal. It's like, you know, it's like, but can you show me that nonsense in the New Testament, please? Because I don't see it anywhere. Nowhere do I see an animal sacrifice looking back on the cross. You just made that up right now. And it's stupid and it's retarded and no, and again, no. And so they're teaching Christians, oh, at the second coming of Christ, it's going to be animal sacrifices. What else are they teaching Christians? They're teaching Christians, oh, there's going to be a new temple when Christ comes back and he's going to, he's going to dwell in that temple. What else are they teaching Christians? They're teaching, oh, when Christ returns, all the Jews are going to accept him. The Jews are all going to get saved when Christ returns. Isn't that what they teach? Okay. Think about how this is just priming people for the Antichrist because when the Antichrist shows up, there's going to be the temple. When the Antichrist shows up, there's going to be animal sacrifices. When the Antichrist shows up, the Jews are all going to receive him as their Messiah. Jesus said, I'm coming to my father's name and you receive me not if another coming of his own name, him you will receive. Of course, the spirit of Antichrist is the spirit that denies that Jesus is the Messiah. It's literally Judaism. Judaism is Antichrist because they deny that Jesus is the Christ. They deny that he is the Messiah. And so it's just, if you look at a lot of these end times teachings that are out there, they're just priming people for the Antichrist. And if you think about it, even post-millennialism is in many ways priming people for the Antichrist by teaching, oh, we're going to evangelize the whole world. We're going to get more and more Christian until we evangelize the whole world and then Christ returns. But then, again, that plays into this idea of the Antichrist showing up and everybody believes in him. We're all Christian now. Only one problem is the Antichrist. And so if you look at these various eschatologies, most of them are in some way priming people to receive the Antichrist, whereas our view, the scriptural view, it doesn't have this optimistic view that says, oh, when Christ returns, all the Jews are just going to believe in him. And, oh, we're going to evangelize the whole world. No, because we know broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many there be which go in there. And that's how it's always been and that's how it always will be. It's always the minority that gets saved. That's how it was before. That's how it is now. That's how it's going to be in the future. The majority is on that broad way that leads to destruction. But this optimistic view about the end time, sometimes that's what you'll hear people talk about, the optimistic view about how the Jews are all going to get saved. You are a real optimist because that's the most optimistic thing I've ever heard in my life. You must be a really up person to be around. I like your attitude. Wow, that's like optimism to the extreme. But no, it isn't going to happen, it's bogus. And so what we see here is that the false prophet is going to make fire come down from heaven on the earth and the sight of men. I think that this verse right here, Revelation 13, 13 is further support that there is going to be a third temple because it sort of ties together what we read in Second Thessalonians 2. Because some people will act like, well, Second Thessalonians 2, maybe that's the only evidence for a third temple in some people's mind. Obviously, there are lots of other scriptures that we could look at and sort of build the case for the third temple being built. But I think that this is another brick in that wall of saying, hey, look, why is he making fire come down from heaven on the earth and the sight of men? Well, it could be a duplication of what we saw in Second Chronicles, chapter number 7. Of course, the other thing you could point to, and if you would, flip back to Second Chronicles 7. Another thing you could point to is the face-off between Elijah and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel where, again, Elijah calls down fire from heaven. And what you have to understand is that Satan can mimic many of the miracles of God. Okay? So the devil has power. The devil does not have unlimited power. He doesn't have as much power as God has, but the devil does have power. He is a powerful being. And so he is able to do these lying signs and wonders. And I believe that when the Bible says lying signs and wonders, it's not saying that it's not actually a lying sign and wonder. It's actually just a magic trick. He's just really good at doing magic tricks. I think what it's saying is that it's a sign or wonder that is backing a lie, okay, is a lying sign and wonder. And if you remember, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, the Bible says that if there arise a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he prophesies unto you, he does a sign, he predicts a sign, and the sign comes to pass, and what he says actually happens, and his prediction or his sign or his miracle happens, but he's telling you to worship other gods. He says, this is a false prophet. Put him to death and whatever. And you say, well, if he's doing a miracle, doesn't that automatically mean that he's telling the truth? I mean, if he's got this power to do a miracle? Well, according to Deuteronomy 13, no. So how do we know that he's a false prophet even though he's doing a sign or a wonder? It's because he's telling you to worship other gods. And how do we know that it's wrong to worship other gods? Because the Bible says it's wrong to worship other gods. Deuteronomy says it's wrong to worship other gods. Moses is preaching that it's wrong to worship other gods. Exodus and the laws that are given on Mount Sinai say not to worship other gods. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, right? Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, him only shalt thou serve. And so we need to do the same thing where we test any teaching, preaching, prophecies. It should all be tested with the Word of God. And even if the miracle is real, that doesn't mean that the truth is being told because there are lying signs and wonders. Now obviously most of the so-called miracles that are out there are just fake. They're just fake. It's so funny when you talk to the Catholics about their so-called miracles and they just believe in it so much. I mean, I had this Catholic guy tell me, I had witnessed this guy several times and he just wasn't getting saved. I had this Catholic guy tell me, you know, oh man, you know, the shroud of Turin, there's just so much evidence. He said, you have to be a complete idiot to reject all that evidence after you've seen it. And I just said, well, I am a complete idiot because I don't believe in it. But you know what's so funny is that Catholics will tell you like, oh, you know, all these scientists have verified it's impossible, it's a miracle. Isn't it funny how like no one in the actual like secular scientific community will ever back up any of these Catholic miracles? It's just some, they find like, you know, there's a billion Catholics. So they find one bozo scientist, you know what I mean, that will just back up their miracle or whatever. Some guy who's just, you know, I don't know, like certain bozo scientists that we know among Baptists, that just kind of comes along and just certifies their miracle or whatever. Like for example, here's their, you know that picture of Mary that you just see absolutely everywhere in Phoenix, who knows what I'm talking about. It's like the same picture. It's like a, it's like a slightly brown skinned Mary and she's like got her like arms out kind of, or no, she doesn't have her arms out. What, what is it? I don't know. You know what I'm talking about, but she's got like this little, she's got like this little guy under her and he's doing like this little thing with something in the place with the people, you know. But anyway, you know what I'm talking about. I can, I'm not very good at describing this picture because I, you know, I just don't care. Okay. But anyway, there's a picture, it's, it's the, it's the Maria de Guadalupe. So it's, it's, it's like Mary, but it's like a Native American Mary. Okay. And, and here's where this image comes from because usually, usually the Catholic Mary is like Snow White, just like the Snow White Jesus that they have, which obviously Jesus wasn't from Sweden. So he's, he's not, he's not this blonde haired, blue eyed white guy. Okay. The, the Swedish Jesus, you know. But anyway, this, this Indian Mary image supposedly is from a miracle. And you can literally, you can literally go to Mexico and see this thing. The original. And the reason that there are just millions of that picture everywhere is because they're copying this original that they claim was like supernaturally delivered from heaven. That picture supernaturally came from heaven and was given, and this was like certified by the Catholic church as a true miracle and that that picture came straight from God and Mary delivered it to this guy. Cause there was this guy several hundred years ago and he had this vision and then he basically was supposed to, he went to go tell the priest that Mary wants us to build this church here. And then the priest didn't believe him. So then he goes back to the mountain, Mary appears to him again and tells him to take this flower that was like blooming at the wrong time of year. He puts the flower in his cloak, takes it to the priest, and then when he unrolls his cloak, that picture's just on his cloak. And like, and then the Catholics claim like, oh man, you know, like it should have like faded away by now. We, we can't figure it out. All scientists from all over the world have tried to debunk it and they can't. Of course, it's sort of baloney and there's no real scientists that have ever verified this except just some zealous Catholic couple of yes men scientists or whatever, nobody actually takes this seriously. I don't think that's a lying sign and wonder. I think that's just a lie. I think that's just fake. I think somebody drew that picture. They painted that picture and they just made up a legend about it because in fact the story started like a hundred years after the thing was actually painted. If you actually try to trace back the story, you can't find any mention of that story until like over a hundred years after this image was created. So it's just a made up fable legend. The Shroud of Turin's just fake. It's just fake, okay? The, the picture of Maria de Guadalupe, it's fake. It isn't real. Benny Hinn, you're not going to believe this. It's fake. Those, those preachers that are knocking people over and, and, and, you know, they're just like, and they fall on the ground and stuff. That stuff is fake. Those people are actors or they're just being hypnotized. Look, I've been to a hypnosis show at the fair. It was just like a Pentecostal service, right? They're hypnotizing people or whatever. A lot of that stuff is just totally fake, but let's just say for a second, let's just say for a second, the Shroud of Turin is actually something that defies all science and defies all explanation, which I don't believe that for one second, you know, if you fact check this stuff, it doesn't pan out. But let's just say that that Mary picture really did just appear. It really, I mean, the guy just unrolled his cloak and the Mary picture just appeared. Let's just, let's just, let's just suspend our disbelief and let's believe that. And the thing is, miraculously stayed clear for the last few hundred years and, and we can all go crawl on our knees through broken glass to go kiss the thing or whatever in Mexico, as long as the tacos are good, I'm in. Okay. But the point is, let's just say that that picture were real. Let's say that the Shroud of Turin were real, then you know what it is? It's a lying sign and wonder is what it is. Then it's just the power of Satan. It's just the power of the devil. You say, how do you know that? Because I know that the Roman Catholic Church is full of crap because they don't line up with the word of God. Period. And I don't care if the Pope, I don't care if next time the Pope speaks, he just starts levitating and flying around and stuff. I'm still not gonna believe in him. I don't care if fire comes out of his mouth and nose and ears. I don't care if he starts putting out lightning and stuff out of his fingertips. I'm still not gonna believe in him. You know why? Because the Bible is the final authority and that guy does not teach what the word of God teaches. There's nowhere in the Bible that teaches us to worship Mary. There's nowhere in the Bible that teaches us about this long-haired Jesus. It's all made up, friends. I don't believe in it. I'll never believe in it. I don't care what the scientific proof is. It's called lying signs and wonders. But you know what a lot of people, if they see a true miracle, a true blue miracle, cuz most atheists and agnostics are not really impressed by the Shroud of Turin. Or that, I wish I could remember what it's called, that Maria de Guadalupe canvas or whatever deal. They're not really impressed by that stuff. But if a lot of atheists and agnostics, if they were to see a true blue miracle that they really couldn't explain, many of them would say, then I'll believe. Well, that's what's gonna happen in the end times, my friend. The devil's gonna come along, the Antichrist's gonna come along. And I don't believe that this is just gonna be an elaborate pyrotechnics display. You know, I think that actually, he's really going to bring fire down from heaven. He's gonna do great, cuz the Bible says, he doeth great wonders. It doesn't say he pretends to do great wonders, or he looks like. It says he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth and the side of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles, which he had power to do in the sight of the beast. It doesn't say he's faking it. He had power to do those things. And if you remember, when Moses faces off with Janus and Jambres, right, the sorcerers of Pharaoh, they also had power to do some pretty amazing stuff. I don't think that they're faking it when they make their staffs turn into serpents and stuff like that, because that, I mean, you know, and then, and then of course, Moses' snake eats their snake. But yet, they had limits to their power, because remember, certain of the plagues of Moses, they could duplicate. And then other plagues, they were not able to duplicate, and they said, well, this is the finger of God, you know, we can't do this, we can't duplicate this. And if you remember, at Mount Carmel, the prophets of Baal were not able to bring fire down from heaven. They tried. They cut themselves and cried out to Baal, and he did not answer them. But yet, in the end times, the false prophet will have the power to truly make fire come down from heaven on earth and the side of men, consume the burnt offering, whatever that we saw in 2 Chronicles 7. I think that that's how it's gonna go down. I think it's, I think it's, if you put the pieces together, it becomes pretty clear why he's bringing the fire down. You know, it very well could be a reference to 2 Chronicles 7. And so it says in verse 3 of chapter 7, and when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. See, the Jews require a sign, the Bible says, right? The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Foolishness to the Greeks, a stumbling block to the Israelites, to the Jews, but to us which are saved, the power of God. And you see, it's so funny how the Zionists, dispensationalists, pre-tribber types, they'll sit there and teach, well, the Jews require a sign. And so when Christ returns, they're all gonna get saved. But folks, you've gotta get saved by believing the word of God. That's how you get saved. That's why Jesus said, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, but there shall no sign be given it. But the sign of the prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, the sign is the resurrection of Jesus. The word of God is what you have to believe. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. So you can't just reject the word of God, reject the word of God, and say, I wanna see a sign, and then the sign comes, and then, now all of a sudden we're gonna get saved. That's not the way it's gonna go down, my friend. They're gonna reject the word of God, reject the word of God, show me a sign, the devil's gonna give him a sign, and they're gonna be like, sold. That's the truth, my friend. And if you actually understand and grasp the truth of what's gonna happen in the end times, you will see that these other wrong end times views are literally priming people for the Antichrist. I mean, think about what, think about the kind of things pre-Tribbers say. I'm not waiting for the Antichrist, I'm looking for Jesus Christ. Oh, well, perfect. You're looking for Jesus Christ, and who's actually coming? The Antichrist. You're perfect. You're ready to roll, buddy. I mean, think about this. What if I warned you, and I said, hey, listen to me. Before your husband comes home today, there's another guy that is impersonating your husband, that is gonna show up and claim that he is your husband, and he's gonna show up looking like your husband. Before, you know, and then you're like, well, I'm not looking for that guy. I'm looking for my husband, amen? Amen, I'm looking for my real husband, amen? It's like you're basically just saying like, I'm ready to be duped by this guy. That's basically what you're saying. I mean, just stop and think about this. It's not that complicated, folks. The Bible says after the tribulation, Christ will come in the clouds, the trumpet will sound, and he'll gather the elect. And the elect ain't the Jews, my friend. The elect are the saved. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justified. Those who are justified by Christ are the elect. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, the Bible says, to Christians. And so we can see how these wrong end times views, and by the way, also, you know, the preterists and the post-tribulation, or excuse me, we're post-tribulation, the post-millennial types, those types. They'll often say things like, oh, you guys have such a pessimistic eschatology. We're just really optimistic about things. Well, great, you're just ready to buy into all the happy, smiley kumbaya surrounding the anti-Christ. About how we're all getting along, and Hindus and Muslims and Jews and Christians are all rallying around this guy. It's so wonderful, he's the second coming. Except he's not the second coming, he's the anti-Christ. It would make no sense to have a guy, back to my illustration about the guy who's coming to your house, ladies, and he's claiming to be your husband, coming home from work, it would make no sense if he shows up an hour after your husband already got home, right? If your husband gets here first, and then the anti-Christ shows up, the anti-husband, I should say. If the anti-husband shows up after the real husband's already, it's not gonna work. I mean, how did Jacob trick Isaac? You know, he's gotta get back before Esau, right? Esau, if he gets there first, obviously, Isaac is not gonna believe that Jacob is Esau if Esau's already been there. If Jesus already returned, nobody's gonna believe in the anti-Esau, okay? But the reason that Isaac received the anti-Esau is because Esau hadn't shown up yet. So guess who's coming first, the anti-Christ, then Jesus Christ, okay? And what does the Bible say? The day of Christ is not at hand, that they shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, who opposeth and exalts himself above all that is called God of this worship, so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, okay? That has to happen first. The fake Jesus going into the fake temple, declaring himself to be a God, he's a fake. And so, that's really all we have time for tonight. I'm not gonna go too much into the rest of the chapter, because we've already talked about a lot of this in the previous chapters, and this can be taught in other sermons, and so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you that we do not have to be deceived, Lord. You've commanded us not to be deceived, because there are people that are out there lying and saying that the day of Christ is at hand, and that Jesus Christ can return at any moment, that he's coming before the tribulation, even though your word clearly says after the tribulation, Lord. Please help us not to be deceived, Lord. Help Baptists in general to open their eyes to the false, lying teaching that they've fallen for, believing that the Jews are God's chosen people, and that the raptures before the tribulation, and all of these wrong things, Lord, that are literally prepping this world for the Antichrist, Lord. Help us to get sound doctrine from reading and studying your word and believing it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.