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And in chapter 13 of course we have the famous passage about the Antichrist and the mark of the beast. That's what I'm going to preach about tonight is the subject of the mark of the beast because a lot of people they've heard that term or they know a little bit about what that is, but they haven't really fully understood what's going on in this passage with the Antichrist and the mark of the beast and so forth. Of course we have in verse 18 the proverbial 666. Everybody's probably heard of that. Even people who've never been in church have heard of that and been familiar with that. It says in verse 18, here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 603 score and 6. Of course a score is 20. So 603 score and 6 is 666. Now I want to show you why the mark of the beast is even given out in the first place because we've all heard about it, there's a mark that you're going to have to receive in your right hand or your forehead in order to be able to buy or sell on this planet. And it's going to be in all nations, all languages, all parts of the world, this is going to be in course. But if you ever stop to think why the mark of the beast is going to be given out, if you ever stop to think why the Antichrist and Satan is going to implement this plan, let's look at this passage a little bit. It says in verse number 7, and this is talking about the Antichrist, it says, 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. If any man have an ear, let him hear. So this is talking about a man someday who will make war with the saints and overcome them. If you have power over all nations, this man is going to literally be a world leader that's going to rule over the entire world. And that period that he's going to rule over the entire world, the Bible says, is 42 months. Three and a half years, he will be in charge of the entire world as a world dictator. And the Bible says that 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. Now that means that the Muslim world is going to worship him. I mean, over one billion Muslims on this planet, they're going to worship this man. That means that the Asian world, those in China and Japan who have these religions of worshiping their ancestors and Buddhism and reincarnation, they're going to worship the Antichrist. That means that the Roman Catholic world, which is over a billion people, they will worship the Antichrist and believe on him. That means that people who are throughout all the world of all different religions, not those that are saved, but those that are unsaved, will be brought together and rally around this man and literally bow down and worship this man. And the Bible says that those who are on the earth will be commanded to worship him. And it says in verse 14, this is the false prophet who comes along and he's doing miracles. And it says, and 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, the beast is another name the Bible gives the Antichrist, 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. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. So this is going to be a one world religion that's enforced to the point where, hey, if you're not going to worship the beast, you're going to be killed. You're going to bow down and worship this man. You will bow down and worship him or be killed. And it says in verse 16, that he causeth all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. So on one hand, you have those who are not worshiping the beast, whose names are in the book of life. They're going to seek to kill those people, the Bible says. And then on the other hand, you have those who will bow down and worship the Antichrist. They're going to be compelled to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead to identify them as those who worship the Antichrist or worship the beast. They say, what are you talking about, Pastor? What's the point about this? The point is this. The purpose for the Antichrist causing people to have to get a mark in their right hand or in their forehead in order to be able to buy or sell. The purpose of him implementing this system is to kill the believers, to kill the saved. Because if you look at verse 7, that's fine on what it says. It says it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. His goal is to be on the warpath against God's people. To kill God's people, to cause them to be put to death, anyone who will not bow down and worship him. Now, Satan has always desired to be worshipped. If you remember, that's how he came to Jesus, and he came to Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 4. And he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And he said, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. He offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would bow down and worship him. Satan desires to be worshipped. He desires to take the place of God. That's what it says in Isaiah chapter 14. And so the Antichrist's goal with the mark of the beast is to destroy believers, destroy the saved, to physically kill them. And so to do that, he's going to, first of all, cause them to be put to death just for not bowing down and worshipping the beast. But also, he's going to say, you can't buy or sell anything unless you have this mark in your right hand or in your forehead. And that's going to cause people not to be able to buy food. They're not going to be able to live and buy the things that they need because they can't buy or sell without this mark. Now, a lot of people are confused about this, and they say, well, Pastor Anderson, what if a Christian takes the mark of the beast? But who was he? They're not going to because the Bible makes it real clear that those who are in the book of life are not going to worship the Antichrist. The saved will not be deceived. And if you remember, the Antichrist's goal is to kill all Christians, true believers. So he's not going to allow anyone who's saved to receive the mark of the beast. Now, let me illustrate this to you further. In 7 verse 7, it was given an end to make war with the saints. Now, who are the saints? We'll go back to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter number 7, God pretty much spells out the exact same thing. Daniel chapter number 7. And honestly, we can see some of these things already happening in our world today. Obviously, we're not to this time period yet that's being prophesied in Revelation. But we already see today the religions of the world coming together. What's the most favorite religious affiliation that you love to hear everybody say? What does everybody say about being a Christian? I'm non-denominational. I mean, how many times do you hear that? That is so popular. And when I was a child, it just wasn't so. When I was a child, you're Baptist, you're Presbyterian, you're Methodist, you're Pentecostal. But now, the craze and the popular thing is just non-denominational. We're just all inclusive. We just all, everybody's welcome and we don't believe in any doctrine. We just all put that stuff aside. We all believe in the same Jesus and we can all join in. This is in preparation for this where we see a breaking down of the barriers of religion. You see, it used to be that the Protestant and the Catholic were at odds with one another. And they said, hey, we don't believe the same thing. We're at odds with one another. Today, we see Protestants and Catholics joining together and joining hands. And basically, all the Protestant children are coming back to mama of the mother Catholic church the great whore of Revelation 17. And we see that Catholicism is being accepted as Christianity today. That's why when you go to the Catholic, or I'm sorry, the Christian bookstore. It's turning into the Catholic bookstore. I mean, you go to the Christian bookstore. And when I was a child, I went to the Christian bookstore. They sold books that attacked the Catholic church. They sold books that say, give this to your Catholic loved one that they might be saved. It'll show them what's wrong. When you go to the Christian bookstore, they're selling rosary beads. They're selling Catholic Bibles, Catholic saints, statues. Every kind of Catholic paraphernalia and prayer book is being sold at the Christian bookstore. And it's being totally accepted. We're starting to see the same thing with Mormonism. Where Mormonism is starting to be more and more accepted by Christians as part of Christianity. And everything's non-denominational. It's funny, I had to take my son Isaac to the hospital. And we're at the hospital. And this nurse comes in, and he had asthma problems and so forth. He's better now. This lady comes into the room, and she's one of the nurses. And she said, hey Isaac, do you like dogs? And he said, yeah, I love dogs. I'll take care of my dogs at home. And she said, oh wow, we've got a great opportunity for you if you love dogs. Because we're doing this thing. The dogs have been trained to, I guess what it is, it's just a children's hospital. They bring dogs to the room to basically play with the kids a little bit, make them feel better. Because the Bible says a merry heart doeth good like medicine. So having a good attitude and a cheerful spirit helps you get better. So they bring these dogs and so forth. So they say, you can actually give some treats to these dogs because they're having a little ceremony for the dogs and they're doing treats. So I hear the word ceremony, and I'm thinking to myself, okay, maybe they just graduated from training. Maybe they trained the dogs, and they just graduated from training. I didn't think they were going to be the cap and yellow or anything, but I'm thinking they're graduating from their training or whatever. So I said, sure, yeah, let's go. Let's go down there. So we start going down there, and it's told to me that this is the blessing of the dogs. What does that mean, the blessing of the dogs? I asked the lady, and she said, well, they didn't say Catholic. They said, the chaplain of the hospital is going to bless the dogs. And I said to the lady, the nurse, I said, well, is this a Catholic thing? Is this Catholic or something? She said, no, no, no, it's non-denominational. Totally non-denominational. I said, I don't know. Is this going to be against my religion? She's like, what religion are you? I said, Baptist. It's just that she's just basically going to, you know, he's just going to feed some treats to the dogs. So we go down there, and we get down there, and there's all these dogs. And there was a really cool dog. It was a huge St. Bernard. I mean, massive St. Bernard. Who's ever seen a really big St. Bernard? I just think it was huge. And it had the little brown barrel around it. The little tab and the little Swiss Army symbol. So we got to see the St. Bernard and the dogs. So this lady shows up, and she's the chaplain. And she's going to bless these dogs. And she stood up, and she said, you know, dog is God spelled backwards. And she said, I don't think that's a coincidence. I'm sitting down. And then she said, you know, we, and she's talking about humans. She said, we have a long way to go before we're as good as they are. And God's given them us as an example to us. And she said, do you see anything? Oh, yeah. She said, I said to the nurse, I said, yeah, this is really weird. And the nurse was like, yeah, I don't know what to own. The nurse was like, yeah, I never see anything like this either. And she said, you know, I went to seminary for eight years, this lady said. The chaplain. She literally went to seminary for eight years. I guess she'd have to go to seminary for eight years to come out believing this kind of stuff. But she said, you know, she said, these dogs, you know, usually, she said, usually when you bless something. She said, I just want to pray for the dogs, you know, to bless them. And she said, you know, which, I mean, I guess pray for your dog, but this was weird. But she said, she said, usually when you bless something, you use water or oil. But she said, you know, I don't want to mess up their fur or anything. And so she said, yeah, I'm just going to basically bless the dog. And she basically, she just gets on her knees and sits next to the dog, holds its face in her hands, and just tells her, oh, you're going to bring so much joy to so many kids. And like blesses the dog and just lets the dog just lick her on the face. You ever seen people do that? And it was licking her on the mouth and everything. You know, she was talking about licking her, licking her face and everything. And it was just really weird. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. And she's blessing these dogs. And what else did she say? She said something else weird. But anyway, I can't remember all the weird parts of the story, but it was weird. But it just goes to show that, you know, hey, this is fine for everybody. It's non-dominational. And my son Isaac, he told me, and I didn't hear this, so you're going to have to take it up with him if you don't believe him. He told me he heard her say to one of those dogs, I baptized you in the name of the Father. I didn't hear it. But I asked him, and he swore up and down. He said, Dad, I heard her. She said... So I'm taking this work for it. I don't know. But it was pretty weird. It just goes to show you today the weird stuff that people will do in the name of religion. Where they're sitting there and, you know, they don't talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ because that would be a little too denominational. If she starts talking about Jesus died on the cross and you've got to believe on him that you can't lose your salvation. Yeah, you've got a doctrine. So we can all kind of... I mean, everybody loves dogs. We can all rally around letting a dog lick you in the face and, you know, and blessing the dogs because it's non-denominational. But honestly, everybody today wants to be non-denominational. Why? Because it's a breaking down of the boundary. I don't want to be non-denominational. I can't even pronounce it. I'm so against it. I can't even pronounce the word. I get tongue twisted when I try to say it. I'm Baptist. Amen. I'm not a Catholic. I don't want to worship with Catholics and Presbyterians in Memphis. I'm Baptist. I believe the Bible is God's word. Amen. Amen. I don't believe in bowing down the saints and statues and Mary and holy water and blessing the dogs and all this kind of stuff. And I'm telling you, this non-denominational movement is just a way to try to unite all so-called Christians. But what they're doing is they're trying to unite saved, unsaved, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Pentecost, everybody united together. And then there's a bigger movement to try to unite Islam with Christianity and Eastern mysticism with Christianity. I was doing the fire alarm system in a Catholic school. And in the Catholic school, there was a guy in the religion class teaching the Catholic students as I was doing the fire alarm. He taught the Catholic students about the Tao Te Ching and Eastern mysticism. And then I walked into a science class at the Catholic school and he's teaching them evolution. So you see, they're bringing all of it together. The atheistic evolution believers, the Muslims, the Eastern mysticism, the Catholics. And you hear these big-name preachers like Billy Graham saying, well, I believe that Muslims are saved. They're following the light that they have. We'll see many of them in heaven. And then you'll hear even Baptist preachers say, holy, that guy in Africa, he's saved. As long as he looks up at the sky and calls out to whatever god he knows. You hear people say these things. And it's a breaking down of the barriers today. When God divided the light from the darkness, he divided the truth from the lie. And we see it all going toward this one-world religion. And then we see a one-world government forming. We see the European Union. It used to be all separate countries in Europe. Now it's just pretty much, you could drive around Europe. If you drive around Europe now, you don't even go through a border. I mean, you drive from Germany to Austria to Hungary, you don't pass through a border. Because it's all pretty much like the United States. It's just the European Union. It's all connected. And you're seeing the United Nations take power as sort of like a world government body. So you can see the stage being set for these things. That's why it's important that I preach about these things and explain these things. Because a lot of people, they don't even see it. They don't even understand what's happening. We need to understand the times that we're living in. We need to look at the Bible and say, wait a minute, this one-world government is not of God, it's of Satan. One-world religion where everybody's worshiping the same thing, that's part of the Devil's plan. But go to Daniel 7 and let's look at some similarities here. You see, this stuff was prophesied all the way back in the book of Daniel. It says in verse 7, After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, and it devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. Now remember in Revelation 13, the Bible is likening the Antichrist unto a beast with seven heads and ten horns. So here he talks about that same type of beast with ten horns. And he says, I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. Now notice that phrase at the end, a mouth speaking great things. Keep your finger in Daniel 7, go back to Revelation 13, and keep your finger in both places, because we're going to go between the two and compare these things. Look what the Bible says about the Antichrist, and notice how it ties in exactly with what's said in chapter 7 of the book of Daniel. It says in verse 5, look at Revelation 13-5, And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. So you see, it's emphasized about the Antichrist that he has a mouth that speaks great things and blasphemies. Back in Daniel 7, look what it said in chapter 8, it says that there was given in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. So he's going to be a great public speaker, and in Daniel 7 it says he has to speak great things, and in Revelation 13 it says he has to speak great things, but that those great things will be blasphemous things. Blaspheming God, blaspheming Heaven, blaspheming those who dwell in Heaven. Blasphemous things like declaring himself to be God, declaring himself to be the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, returned. It says in verse number 21, and he's talking about that horn that had the eyes and the mouth speaking great things. It says in verse 21, I beheld that the same horn made war with the saints. Do you remember that from Revelation 13? He made war with the saints and prevailed against them until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom, and on and on he goes on and on. Look at verse 25, he shall speak great words against the Most High. Remember it said he would speak great things and blasphemies? And shall wear out the saints of the Most High. Now what does it mean to wear them out? Think about that. What does it mean to be worn out? When you're running, right? I like to run, and when you're running you start to get worn out. Do you not? What does that mean? Fatigue, tired, fainting. The Bible says he'll wear out the saints. I mean the saints, those who are saved, and I'm going to prove that to you in a moment, those who are saved, the saints, they're going to become worn out and fatigued and tired from being persecuted by the Antichrist. It says he'll wear out the saints. And it says he shall wear out the saints. Earlier it said he'd make war with the saints. And it says he'll think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. That's when the saints will be given his hand until a time and times and dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end, and the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom unto the whole heaven shall he give to the people of the saints. Notice this term over and over again. Saints, the saints, the saints. He said he'll give this to the people of the saints of the Most High whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Go, if you would, to Romans 1. So let's just do a quick recap, and I hope you can stay alert and stay alive and follow the sermons tonight. But we saw some things about the Antichrist. We started off by reading the whole chapter before I start preaching of Revelation 13. Then we noticed the fact that the Antichrist or the beast of Revelation, his agenda is warfare against the saints. Didn't we see that in Daniel 7 and in Revelation 13? We saw that he carries out this warfare by uniting the whole world. He unites their governments and he unites their religions to where he is in total power. Everybody is supposed to worship him and he's going to put to death anyone who will not worship him. And it says all the nations of the earth shall worship him whose names are not in the book of life. And he's going to cause those who worship him to receive a mark in their right hander and their forehand. And you can't buy or sell without it. Therefore, the people who aren't worshiping him, they don't get the mark. You don't worship the Antichrist, you don't get the mark. You've got to worship him to get the mark. And that's his way of further persecuting the saints by not allowing them to buy or sell. They can't work. They can't go to work. And look, this is not... You say, come on, this is far-fetched, this is crazy. Look, you don't think it would be very easy to stop people from going to work if they didn't have a certain ID? Because think about it, if you look at it now, you've got to have ID to go to work, do you not? What's the first thing when you get hired? Okay, I want to see your ID and your Social Security card. That ID can be revoked. And you notice that the big issue in the news you hear about a lot, and a lot of people get fired up about it. I don't, but a lot of people do, about the illegal immigration. It's a big deal to a lot of people, and that's a big issue with them. And a lot of people say, we've got to stop these illegal aliens from working, and so we've got to make sure that they all are in a database. Have you heard this kind of stuff? Everybody's got to be in a database, and you've got to run that number with the federal government. It's called E-Verify. You've got to run that number with the federal government and make sure that person is legal to work. Now, if you look at that and you say, oh, that's a good idea to make sure that everybody's legal. But wait a minute. Can you see how that could easily, once that system's in place, now you put the antichrist at the top of that system, and he says, okay, E-Verify, you've got to have the mark of the beast, or you're not going to get your paycheck. You're not going to be able to work. And I'll tell you right now, you're not going to last long without being able to go to work and without being able to go to the store and buy stuff. That's going to be tough, isn't it? That's going to wear you out. And so you can see this is a very effective way that the antichrist is going to persecute God's people, the saints. Now, a lot of people will blow this off today. And they'll say, Pastor Anderson, why are you preaching this sermon? This has nothing to do with us. Well, okay. And this is what they'll say. And they'll say, the saints, that's not Christians. That's not the saints. They'll say that's the Jews, or that's some other group, or that's... Now, here's what's interesting. First of all, I'm preaching it because it's in the Bible. And I'm supposed to preach the whole Bible. I'm not going to stop at Revelation 5 and say I'm not preaching anything else. I'm going to preach the whole Bible, including chapter 13, because all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. That's why I'm preaching it. But number two, I'm preaching it because this could pertain to us. You say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson, this might not even happen in our lifetime. Right, it might not. But it might happen. We don't know. Does anybody know when Christ is coming back? I don't know when he's coming back. You don't know when he's coming back. It could be in our lifetime. It could be a hundred years from now. It could be five years from now, ten years from now. We don't know when it's going to happen. It could be four years from now. We don't know when it's going to happen. And so it's just smart to just know what the Bible says and understand it. And believers in the 1700s, they should have known what this meant. They should have understood this in the 1800s. God gave us these scriptures for a reason. We need to know this stuff and especially us that may be living in the latter days when we see the E-Verify and we see the casteless society and we see the social security number and we see the one world United Nations and we see all these barriers being broken down in religion. This could be something that could happen in our lifetime. But a lot of people say, well, Pastor Anderson, we're going to be gone before that. The rapture's going to take place before that and we're all going to be gone before that. But wait a minute. Who's the antichrist even after? Who's he even making war with? The saints. And people say, oh, and how many times have I heard this? They'll say, well, you know, we're not going to be here because this is what they'll say. The church is never mentioned from Revelation 4. Hold on a second. Listen to me now. They'll say the church is never mentioned from Revelation 4 to Revelation 19. That proves that we're going to be gone because the church is never mentioned. And then they'll say, in Revelation 19, we see that Jesus Christ comes on the white horse and he's bringing the saints with him. So there you go. But here's what's funny. In chapter 19 when Jesus comes on the white horse, the Bible says he's coming with all his saints in 1 Thessalonians 3.13. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints when he's bringing him back from heaven. So it's funny how all of a sudden in chapter 19 the saints is the so-called church. So what about the saints in chapter 13? Oh, the church is never mentioned. Well, what about the saints? Isn't that who the Antichrist is making war with? Now you say, well, the saints is not the church. The saints is not the church. And somebody else, I've heard people say it's the Jews. I've heard people say it's only saved Jews. I've heard people try to grasp this different way to say, well, that's not Christians. That's not believers. Or they'll say this, that's people who got saved during the tribulation or some nonsense. But remember, the whole reason the tribulation even starts is the Antichrist goes out to make war on the saints. Well, if they all just disappear, who's he making a war on? Okay, so he's cast out of heaven and he says, I'm going to make war with the saints. I'm going to bring... Oh, they're gone. Who do I fight? Who is the war against? Okay, but look, a lot of people don't know this basic doctrine because we shy away from the word saint because why? The Catholic Church has all these saints that they worship. So then we as believers somehow think saint is a bad word when saint is the most common word in the Bible to refer to us. The word Christians is only used a couple times. You know what he calls us? Saints, saints, saints. That is the most common term. Now, he calls us the brethren. He calls us brothers and sisters. He calls us Christians. He calls us believers. I like those terms. But he calls us the saints more than anything. Now, let's see if it holds water when people say the saints is not New Testament believers. It's not all believers. We need to take these words back is what I'm saying. You know, priests drive. Somebody said, oh, that's a bad name for a street. Is this a Catholic area? I said, no, it's a Baptist area because I'm a priest. Somebody asked me. I walked into a hospital. I parked in the clergy parking spot. I walked in. They said, are you a priest? I said, yes, I am. Amen. Did you punch your finger out? Yes, I did. Hey, don't sit there and tell me I'm not a priest. You're not a priest. Hey, you're a priest. The Bible says that all believers are priests. He's made us a holy priesthood. Jesus is the high priest. We have access to God. We are the priesthood. Part of being a Baptist and why we even call ourselves Baptist is we believe in the priesthood of the believer. But people don't know that doctrine, where the Bible teaches that we're all priests. I'm not going to turn to that. But tell me if it holds water when people say the church is never mentioned. Let's see if the saints are tied in with the church at all. First of all, we're in Romans 1. Now Paul writes all these epistles to the churches, right? He writes to the church at Rome, does he not? He writes to the church at Corinth. He writes to the churches of Galatia. He writes to the church at Ephesus. He writes to the church at Philippi. He writes to the church at Colossae. He writes to the church of the Thessalonians. Let's see if you can find a pattern here. Romans 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God. Who's he writing to in verse 7? To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, hey, if God is your Father, you are the saints. He said, I'm writing to the church in Rome. And then he turns around and says, I'm writing to the saints that are at Rome, to God our Father. And it says, beloved of God. He's writing under the church. He writes to the saints. Go to 1 Corinthians 1. I mean, folks, we're not going to turn to all of them, but he says this in every epistle, pretty much. I mean, he says it over and over again. He says in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 1, Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth. Who's he writing to? The church, is he not? The church at Corinth, the local assembly of believers. To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be what? Saints. With all them, and who is a saint? He'll tell us. With all them that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Does he say certain Christians are saints? Certain really good Christians. And that's what the Catholics teach, right? If you reach this level, you reach sainthood. You're a really good Christian, you're a saint. Or they'll say, oh, that's just the Jewish believers. That's just Israel. When you try to show them the saints in Revelation 13. No, he's real clear about it. You're in Rome, you believe, you're a saint. You're in Corinth, you're in the church, you believe, you're a saint. You call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ anywhere in the world, he said in 1 Corinthians 1. He said, you're a saint. Go to 2 Corinthians 1. He's trying to drive this point home. I mean, I'm not relying on one verse here. I'm not leaning on two. One verse would be enough in the first place. But I mean, so many scriptures. And to me, I just have to ask myself, when they don't know what the word saint means, I just have to ask myself, have you ever even read the New Testament one time? That's what I wonder. Because if you read Romans, it would have been the first thing you read. If you read 1 Corinthians, it would have been the first thing you read. If you read 2 Corinthians, you might have read verse 1 of chapter 1 when he said, Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Silichorath, with all the saints, which are in all the kayaks. Now, when he's writing to the church, is he writing to a building? No. Here's a letter. Read it to your building. When he said read it to the church, you know who he wants him to read it to? The saints. Because that's what the church is. The church is made up of the saints that are assembled together in that location, whether it be Rome, whether it be Corinth, and so forth. Skip Galatians. Go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1.1. The Bible reads in Ephesians 1.1, Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints, which are at Ephesus. And I think it's funny because in Ephesians even, all six chapters mention the saints, all six of them. In chapter 2, verse 19, it says, Now therefore, and he's talking to the Ephesians who are Gentiles, Oh, by the way, the Romans are Gentiles. By the way, the Corinthians are Gentiles. By the way, the Galatians are Gentiles. Ephesians, look what he calls them in verse 19. Now therefore, you're no more strangers than foreigners. He's saying, you used to be a stranger, you used to be a foreigner, but now you're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Chapter 3, verse 8, Paul said unto me, Who am less than the least of all saints? He said, I'm the chief of sinners, but I'm a saint. Why? Because everybody who's a saint is a saint, that's why. Look at chapter 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Why? For the perfecting of the saints. That's why we have a pastor in church. Anybody will agree that this passage is referring unto the church. And he talks about the church and elaborates on the church and he calls them the saints. He says in chapter 5, verse 3, But fornication in all uncleanness and covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. He's saying, you're a saint, you better act like a saint. Don't be a fornicator. Don't be these other unclean things. He says in chapter 6, verse 18, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Philippians 1, 1, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons. So are only the bishops and deacons, are they the only ones that are saints? Just the ones who are, you know, the really good ones that have reached that sinhood status where they're a bishop, they're a deacon, they're an important member of the church? No, he said, I'm writing to all the saints. He said in Hebrews 13, you ought to turn there, but he said, Greet them that have the rule over you and all the saints. Everybody in the church who's saved is a saint. Because do you get the picture? Do I have to read the rest? I don't think I do. Over and over, it's just clear that the churches are filled with saints. That's what it is. That's what a church is. It's a bunch of saints. And anybody who reads just the first verse of each of the epistles of Paul, that's going to come really clear to them. It's going to make a lot of sense. So, with that in mind, we see that the Antichrist is making war against the saints. Do we know who the saints are? Believers. The saved. You say, we're going to be gone. We're not mentioned. Well, there we are, getting all worn out, getting persecuted, getting attacked, and so forth. Go to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. And so a lot of times when people hit you with questions that you don't have an answer for, sometimes it's not you that's the problem, it's the question that's the problem. See, a question I get hit with all the time is people say to me this. They say, well, what if somebody who's saved takes the mark of the beast? But the problem with that question is that the Bible says that nobody who's saved is going to take the mark of the beast. And you say, well, wait a minute, that doesn't make sense because what if somebody just really wants to buy food? Look, it doesn't matter whether you think it makes sense. The Bible says it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen. If the Bible says the ones that are going to be worshipping him are people whose names are not in the Book of Life, that's pretty clear. And if the Bible is pretty clear that you have to worship the beast to get the mark, it says that in Revelation 14, it says that in other places, Revelation 20, for example. He talks about it in verse 4, how those who worship it are the ones who get the mark. Okay? If the Bible says over and over again that you've got to worship him and that the elect, those who are saved, will not be deceived by it, they're not going to be worshipping him. They're not receiving the mark. Because the Bible's clear, if you get the mark, people will say, well, are you going to lose your salvation? You can't lose your salvation or God's going to have to stop being God. Because God promised, he said, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. God can't lie. If somebody lies, they're not gone. Because God can't lie. It says in two places in the Bible. Hebrews 6 also says God cannot lie. And so this foolish question of what if, you know, what, it's always, don't you hate questions that start with what if? What if monkeys start falling out of the sky? Does the Bible record any Christians taking the mark of the beast? Does the Bible ever mention anybody who believes on Christ taking the mark of the beast? Does the Bible not explicitly say that those who worship the mark of the beast, their names are not in the book of life? Does the Bible not explicitly say that those who worship the mark of the beast will spend eternity, not a temporary time, but eternity in the lake of fire and brimstone according to Revelation 14? Does it not clearly spell out that those who believe on Jesus Christ shall never die, shall never be heard of the second death, shall not perish but have everlasting life? Don't get hung up on these dumb questions. It's a dumb question. It can't happen. Now, stop and think about this for one moment. Does the anti-Christ want Christians to take the mark of the beast? Well, hold on a second. Why is he giving out the mark? And see, this is why I'm preaching about this because a lot of people haven't maybe thought this all the way through. Your instinct is probably to say, yeah, because he wants to beat you to sin and take the mark of the beast, but you're forgetting the whole point of the mark of the beast. It's to separate. It's to separate. Thank you. That's the word I was looking for. The whole point of the mark of the beast is to isolate the true believer, to isolate those who are really saved. And I'm going to show you in a second Thessalonians how effective the mark of the beast is going to be to isolate the true believer. Because those that are saved will not be deceived, the Bible tells us in Matthew 24. Those who are names in the book of life, they will not be deceived. They will not be taking the mark of the beast and believing on the anti-Christ according to Revelation 13. The goal of the anti-Christ is to make war with the saved. How does he implement that? By saying you can't buy or sell unless you do something that they're not going to do. How does he implement that? He doesn't want, get this folks, pay attention to this point. He doesn't want Christians to take the mark of the beast because he wants the Christians to be killed. He wants them to die, he wants them beheaded, he's at war with them. He wants to defeat them and he's going to win. Now he's not going to defeat them all, but he's going to win, he's going to take power, he's going to control the world. But before all of them have been killed, of course Jesus Christ is going to come in the rapture. And the Bible says that those who endure that and survive to the end of that, those that are alive and remain, are going to go up in the rapture and be saved. And they're not going to face that death, they're going to be saved physically. Obviously they were already saved spiritually when they believed on Christ. But the Bible is clear that his goal is warfare against the saints. He doesn't want Christians taking the mark of the beast. He wants to use the mark of the beast to isolate and separate the sheep from the goats. He wants to isolate them where they can't buy or sell. He wants to isolate them so that they can be put to death. He wants to separate, because look, can I look at you and tell who is saved and who is not saved. There could be unsaved people amongst us. I'm sure that there probably could be a Judas Iscariot in the room tonight. It's the one that I hand this off now. Now I said that I taught Judas too quickly. But anyway, so stop and think about this for a minute. Just use a little logic here. Is it possible that the devil might be able, and the devil is the one who's controlling the anti-Christ. The Bible says that the dragon gives him all his power and is seen as great authority. Isn't it possible that maybe the devil has a way to make sure that no Christians take the mark of the beast? If the Bible says none of them are going to take it, first of all, that's good enough for me. I just believe that. But if the Bible says they're not taking it, and the Bible says they're not being deceived, don't you think that the anti-Christ could have a way to make sure that no believers, who maybe they just really need to just buy some food or whatever? Now, think about it. There's a few ways this could take place. What I've kind of thought of through the years, because I've thought about this, I've wondered about this. I thought to myself, you know, maybe when you worship the beast, you have to say something that's so blasphemous, or do something that's so repugnant and repulsive to the believer, that no believer would ever be able to bring themself to do it. That's kind of what I always thought to myself through the years. Because I thought to myself, it must not be as simple as just going to the post office, you know, going to Walgreens, and it's like, okay, check this box for, yep, I worship the beast, yep, the anti-Christ is God in the flesh, okay, you know, okay, roll up your sleeve, you know? You know, and they inject you with your little mark of the beast in your hand, you know, your microchip that you scan to buy or sell or whatever it is. You know, we don't know how it's going to be. But I don't think it's going to be just go to the post office, fill out this form, okay, some nurse comes over and puts the mark of the beast on you. I don't think it's going to be just the post office or Walgreens. I think you're going to have to worship the beast, because that's what the Bible says. Every time, every time it mentions the mark of the beast, it says you've got to worship the beast. That was one thought that I had. But you know what? The further we go into technology and the weirder the technology gets, I'm starting to think that it might even go further than that. And this is just a guess, this is just a theory, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it. Because I like to spend time on things we know for sure from the Bible. This is just kind of a theory that I have as I see things going through the world. You know, there might be a way where they can technologically tell whether you really need it. Now you say, no way, that's crazy stuff. But hold on a second, they've had lie detectors since what, the 60s and 70s? Now here's the thing, you say well lie detectors aren't accurate. Yeah, that's because they were developed 50 years ago. Okay, but guess what? They've improved, but they're still not that accurate. We don't know what technology is going to be out there. How do we know what they're going to have in 10 or 20 years where they can basically, you know, you go in there, let's just, and again, this is just fantasy land for a moment, okay? Let me take off the coat of the lines right here. This is just my opinion, okay? Think about this, here's a little scenario for you. This is just a little fun part of the sermon, we'll come back to the Bible. Imagine this, the anti-Christ at war with the saints, one world government, one world religion, you must worship beasts and if you don't, you're going to be killed. And not only that, but you can't buy or sell, you can't go to work, you're going to run out of food, we're going to wear you down, we're going to wear you out, we're going to hunt you down and find you and kill you. See, this isn't a very pleasant sermon. Well, I didn't write it, why do you come to church? I mean, that's what the Bible teaches, I'm preaching the Bible. It's not always that pleasant. But hold on, so imagine this, I'm looking in the cupboards, there's no food in the cupboards. I've got no money, I've got no food, I'm starting to get worn out, right? And let's say I'm pretty weak in the faith, I'm not a strong Christian, I'm not a strong believer, and I'm a little bit weak and I just say, you know what, forget this, I'm going to go down and take that stupid microchip, mark of the beast or whatever. It might not be a microchip, I don't know what it is, but you know, it's something in your hand or in your forehead that allows you to buy or sell, but you know, I'm just going to go down there and just bite the bullet, I don't need it, God knows my heart. I'm just going to go down there, now don't you think you can see that happening? People just saying, well, forget this, I don't really believe in the anti-Christ and God knows that, I can't lose my salvation obviously, I'm just going to go down there and just do it. Can anybody, is everybody following the event? Okay, so you show up at Walgreens. You know, and it's like, you get there, and that's just, you know, maybe it's post office, we'll find Walgreens, okay. So you get to Walgreens and you show up and you say, okay, I'm here to get my mark of the beast, okay. And obviously they're not going to call it that, okay, that's what God's calling you. You know, I'm here to get my verified, you know, sick implant, you know, for the love of our wonderful leader, you know. You know, throughout history, people aren't going to worship him, people worship Hitler. Did you know that when they said to Hitler, seek Heil? I speak German, I know what that means. You know what Heil means? Salvation. That's what Heil means. When you look up in the Bible, it talks about being saved and it talks about salvation. In the Martin Luther Bible, you know, the Bible that people used in Germany for hundreds of years, the Bible that everybody used when Hitler came into power. I've read the Martin Luther, don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I've read the Martin Luther German Bible twice cover to cover. And you know what the word Heil means? In the Bible in Germany, it means salvation. And if you look up verses in the King James Bible that say salvation, those verses will say Heil. In the Martin Luther Bible, I'm telling you the truth. And you know what, seek means victory. Victory, salvation. Have you ever watched those old German propaganda films that Hitler played? They're singing about him and talking about how he's our savior. He's bringing us salvation. He's our Lord. He's our master. I mean, they worshiped him. They worship Mao Zedong. They worship Kim Jong Il. They worship Joseph Stalin. They called it the cult of personality. Even the communist leaders who came after Stalin, like Khrushchev, said that Stalin was a cult. That's what they said. They said they worshiped him and he was a cult. David said that about their own nation. And this is the kind of leader the Antichrist is going to be. So you know, yeah, I'm here to get the mark of our beloved leader, our wonderful savior, the Antichrist. And they're going to say, okay, just sit down right here and come on, step in. You've got a few people in line in front of you. We'll see you. Okay, so you know, some guy walks in, some Roman Catholic walks in. He's out in a couple minutes with his mark at the beast. Some Muslim walks in, some woman. She's got the whole covering and everything. She comes out with the mark of the beast, no problem. You know, the Hindu walks in. She's already got the mark of the beast on her forehead, that Hindu dot. Just kidding. She gets right out. She just replaces one dot with another. Now, imagine, true believer. You know, maybe a little sweat's coming down their face a little bit. You know, I've got to do this. I'm hungry. You know, my family's hungry. They walk in. Okay, you know, just slide your hand into the machine where it puts the mark in your hand. They slide it in and then maybe you have to recite. And I mean, we're already trained to recite stuff. You know, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic. So just be like, I pledge allegiance unto our wonderful leader. And then a little siren goes off. Wait a minute. You're busted. You don't need this. We're going to have to take you and do it a little further. This is going to have to go up one level to the supervisor. And in fact, you're not going anywhere. You're going to be second in. Again, this is just, I'm just trying to put a little skin on the Bible, just trying to give you an idea. I'm not saying it's going to play out just like this, but I'm just trying to give you a feel for how it could play out. You know, it's Sunday night, okay? We're a hell of a lot with it. You know, some kind of a monitoring of your vital signs. Who knows what kind of a brain scan. We don't know what technology they're going to come out with. It gets weirder all the time. Some kind of a brain scan or some wave or some vibe where they can tell, boom, this guy's lying. He's not one of us. He's not worshiping our fearless leader. He doesn't even believe on it. Whatever. So there's this little, you know, this little, you know what? And then the police come. And then you're arrested. And then you're put to death. Yeah, you disappear. Nobody even knows. You're put to death. That's how it works. So think about this. Think about how infected that would be. Because of all the weak, all the weak Christians, they're always going to be lying. They might line up for it. They're just lining up to be killed. Think about that. And then the ones who are like, man, I got to, I'm headed for the hills or whatever, you know what I mean? Or I'm just going to hide out. I don't know what I have to do. But the bottom line is, you know, they're probably the ones that are going to make it. They're not going to be just turning themselves in. Now, maybe that's not how it's going to be. I don't know. I'm going to put my phone back on and talk more about the Bible. But anyway, but it is biblical. The scenario I laid out could be true within what the Bible says. I think it's pretty possible. Now, maybe if it's 100 years from now, technology will be totally different. The world will be totally different. But I can see it happening soon. It could happen. I remember I was talking to this guy, and basically, you know, he'd been brainwashed with everybody else, like, oh, the rapture is pretty true. You know, I mean, get real, man. Have you ever read Matthew 24? It says after the tribulation, the trumpet sounds, he comes in the clouds. Don't waste my time with it. I'm not even going to be spending time on it tonight. I'm sick of it. I've reached on it for an hour and a half the other day. Okay. Here's the thing. This is what, when he saw what the Bible said about this, he said, man, he's like, I don't even know what to do, though, when it starts happening. He said, you know what? He said, when this stuff happens, this is somebody from California. He said, I'm just slapping a 93 Rock sticker on the back of my car, which is like the rock station. He said, I'm just slapping a 93 Rock sticker on the back of my car, and just drive to Phoenix and just see what you guys are doing. I guess that was going to be, like, his cover. You know what I mean? Like, kind of a rock and roll sticker, like, to not get pulled over as a Christian, you know? Anyway, I thought that was pretty hilarious. This is the last place we're going to turn. Let's just quickly finish up. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It says in 2 Thessalonians 2, now we beseech you, brethren, verse 1, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. So what he's telling you is that there are people out there, they're going to try to tell you that the day of Christ is at hand. Look up, he's coming any day now. He's going to be here today. He might be here before the service is over. Send in your check now, okay? But he says here, don't let anybody shake you or tell you that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means. You see, there are people out there that are trying to deceive you. Their names are Kirk Cameron, Tim LaHaye, Ray Comfort. It says, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come. He says, look, they're going to try to tell you it's at hand, but it shall not come, except they're coming falling away first. And, did he say, or? Yeah, no, he said and. So this is also going to happen. He says the day is not going to come until there's a falling away, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Don't have time for it tonight, but it's in my notes. Daniel 9, 27, Daniel 11. He talks about these things. We're going to skip it, though, for time. Okay, he claims to be God. He sits in the temple of God. He says he's God. Remember ye not. Now, did I convince you? You were shaking your head at the beginning. Did I convince you toward the end of that scenario, Chris, or are you still not buying it? Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in this time. Who be revealed? It said the man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition, a few verses up. For the mystery of iniquity does already work, and that's what I'm showing you. These things are already at work. We're not in the tribulation, but these things are at work, the one world government, the one world religion. It's at work. It's happening, slowly. He says 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, with all power and signs and lying wonders. Of course we saw the Antichrist doing miracles, performing great miracles, doing signs, doing wonders, making fire come from heaven and so forth. We saw him, his coming was after the working of Satan. Satan gave him his power as authority. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and then the perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Now notice, who is being deceived in verse 10? Those that perish because they received not the love of the truth. Now remember, he said in Matthew 24 that he would be so crafty and so slight that if it were possible he would deceive the very elect. It's not possible. He's not deceiving them. It says here, he's going to deceive those that perish. And he says because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. So is he deceiving saved people? See how consistent this is? The Antichrist deceiving unsaved people. And it says, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness. So the Bible says that when the Antichrist comes, the unsaved are going to be sent a strong delusion. Where they'll believe it. They'll believe the lie. That they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness. You see, God is going to basically send a delusion upon false religion. Because you say, I don't think the Hindus are going to go for it. I don't think the Buddhists, you know, the Hindus believe in a thousand gods anyway. You know, one of them might be the Antichrist or whatever. You know, I don't know if the Buddhists are going to buy it. I don't know if the atheists are going to go for it. They're so atheistic. They're so into science. Yeah, but maybe when they see these miracles, they'll be like, science can't explain this stuff. This is real. This is aliens. You know, whatever they think is aliens. But you know, so the atheists, I don't know if they're going to buy it. I don't know if the Catholics are going to go for it. I don't know if the Jews are going to go for it. But you know what? He'll send a strong delusion. They will believe the lie. But are believers going to be under a strong delusion? No. Believers will know. They won't be deceived. Now, whether you believe my little scenario or not, my little theory, you know, the whole Walgreens scenario plan. Will you believe that or not? Christians are going to believe the lie, and Christians aren't taking the mark of the beast. So there's going to have to be some way that he prevents them from doing it. Maybe, I mean, think about it. Aren't there some things that you just couldn't bring yourself to do? You know, like Peter. They came to Peter and they said, like, hey, Peter, aren't you one of his disciples? No, no, I don't know him. And then he felt bad about it and cried about it. But, you know, isn't that a little different than somebody telling you, okay, now bow down to Satan and, you know, oh, Satan, you know, you'd be like, whoa. Who knows? But anyway, why am I preaching this? Because the mystery of iniquity is already at work. Be sober, be vigilant, understand these things. And, you know, I think a lot of people just, they don't read the book of Revelation because they say, oh, I don't understand it. It doesn't make sense. You know, hopefully this can help to make a little sense of it tonight. And to see these things happening in our world and to understand, hey, stay away from the ecumenical movement. Stay away from blessings of dogs that are non-denominational. I mean, if somebody says they're blessing dogs, they better be bad at this. You know, I might, you know, I might pray for my dog if it gets sick or something, if it gets well. But you know what? If you've got a non-denominational dog blessing service, go over all your members and take it from me, I've been there. As far as that works for us. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and we thank you for warning us. You know, wouldn't it be terrible if this just started happening and we didn't even know what was happening and we were just confused and we didn't know what to do and it's just so much better if we could be warned. And so thank you for warning us. Sadly, most Christians are just totally ignoring the warning. Sadly, most churches across America, this sermon is not being preached at all. They have no clue what the mark of the beast means. They don't know about the one world government. But Father, help us to be warned so we can prepare ourselves spiritually for what's coming and not be taken unawares. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.