The Beast and False Prophet

Ron Weinland

November 24, 2012

It was good having Johnny Harrell speak last Sabbath; a lot of people talking about some of the different things covered there.  Very interesting going through that, especially some of the things in the life of Paul and realizing how things have always been.  Thankfully that's all getting, soon, ready to change.

As we continue to draw closer to the end of this age God is continuing to refine our understanding and events that are going to come to pass, and as part of that refining process God is correcting misunderstanding and error; that's been a continuing process for God's Church through time, certainly after Sardis, into Philadelphia, and then in this final age as well.

So anyway, within this process we've come to more clearly appreciate indeed the expression 'the present truth'.  God has allowed misunderstanding and error to exist and it's part of a process of why that is and it's always been in His power and in His timing to lead God's Church into greater understanding, truth, and revelation.  And we've spoken of that as well as a progressive revelation.  It's been that way for 6,000 years, that through time God has given more and more of His plan, and the closer we get to certain events and greater revelation to be given, God gives more.  And so, understandably so, by the time we came to Christ's life 2,000 years ago, obviously it took a quantum leap forward as God began to express, to explain things to His people about that which was in a spiritual plane in understanding in a far greater way than they ever understood, obviously, and especially in the pouring out of His spirit to a Body rather than just to individuals with whom He'd called and worked with through time.

I think of recent examples of some of this process.  I think of the example that includes the 50th Truth, some of that refining that went on at that time concerning the timing of Christ's return and understanding the importance of the wave sheaf offering, just as much as that which we understood  later on concerning the wave loaves offering, two loaves, and those being offered up, that there is a timing involved there that is very specific and that being Pentecost, and certainly the things we learned through that process.  I think of one that I was appreciative of coming to a little before May 27th, and that was the death of two witnesses.  That was welcome relief, although sometimes the things we go through, I'm not sure that it would be too much worse.   And then of course May 27th, the timing, speaking of the 'day' of Christ's coming and understanding that that 'day' is prophetic.

So there are things that God continues to refine and to help us to have better understanding.  As I've been given time to preach and to teach for more of God's Sabbaths I think a little over a week ago now I was at a Red Sea moment, if you will. Before Johnny gave his sermon I was contemplating, thinking about this Sabbath today - and it was a big Red Sea moment and a lot of those things happen when it concerns sermons anyway.  But this was a big one and it was kind of interesting...on Sunday morning  Laura and I woke up early and we turned on the TV and surfing through some of the channels looking at the news and so forth and we came across one of the scattered groups telecast and so we started watching a part of it and this telecast was given by one of the teachers I had at Ambassador College at one time and so I listened to a part of what He was saying about some things in prophecy - had to do with Daniel 7, some things in Revelation 13 as well, various things about the end of this age - but he was talking very specifically as he went forward here, talking about the beast and the false prophet that will be 'cast into the lake of fire'.  And right then and there it hit me - here is the sermon.  I knew what it was supposed to be about - I didn't know what it was all about yet, but certainly I knew that's where it was going because something struck me in a very powerful way that there is a problem here that needs to be corrected.  Kind of interesting, I was telling Laura about it than a few days later, a couple days later, what the sermon was going to be about and when this happened and she said while she was listening to it the same thing hit her.

The title of the sermon is, The Beast and the False Prophet.

It's a part of a process because of how we grow - even going all the way back two years ago to the Feast in 2010, certain things that were given that didn't seem to fit here, didn't seem to make sense in our past understanding of various events.

So, let's turn over today to Revelation 19 and pick up some of this.  I am excited about this!  I am amazed how God just continues to give us more and more and more, to give us greater understanding, especially because of the times we're in, revealing things before they come to pass here in this final 'day' so that we better understand then when they take place and not to have, in some cases here, some of the misunderstanding that would cause confusion specifically for His Church.

Revelation 19:11 - And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He who sat upon it was faithful and true, and in righteousness He does judge and make war. So it's very specific here.  It's talking about the return of Jesus Christ, all these things in context about His coming and those events that are going to take place, and being King of kings and Lord of lords, those things that are stated here about His return and obviously some of the things we understand of those who are to come with Him, an army that comes with Him, 144,000.

But I want to pause here just for a moment concerning this word 'judge' and 'to make war'. This is going to come up a little bit later because both words are present in Greek indicative action, which represents contemporaneous action as opposed to action of the past or the future.

So this event here of 'judging and making war' shows that it's happening right then at His return, this matter of judging, this is when judgment comes, this is when the world has been judged up to this point, if you will, things that Christ is going to continue to do on that day as He returns, as the governments of all mankind are brought to an end, as this world's system and Babylon are brought to an end and God establishes the Kingdom of God.

So it's a time of judgment.  It's also a time for making war at that specific time.  The 7 Vials that are poured out on that final day are very much about war and about things that God is going to do directly from Himself to mankind in bringing about an end to the world, and end to this age.  A lot of other things God has allowed up to this point in time for man to do, for man to be involved in, in wars and so forth.  In this one here on this final day these are things that God does and Jesus Christ does on this particular day.  So that's why it's, in that respect, represents contemporaneous action as opposed to action in the past or the future.  It's talking about right then and there at His return.

Now let's go on...  So it says, in righteousness He does judge and make war; literal war!

Verse 12 - His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. Very powerful words and how they're expressed here and the events we look forward to and the return of Jesus Christ and establishing the Kingdom of God on earth.

Verse 14 - And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses; now, some have asked in times past, "What are these?"  I haven't got the foggiest idea if they're some kind of literal type of spirit being or whatever, I don't know.  What are they?  There are things that God has revealed in times past of things that have happened that talk, speak of various things in certain language.  So we really don't know what this means but it can be a literal thing in the spirit realm - we flat don't know so we'll just have to wait until God shows us.  At that time there the 144,000 will sure know.

And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. So again, representing certain things here.  These may represent certain things, some of these things may be, obviously, literal in a spirit realm, in a spirit world.

And out of His mouth went a sharp sword; now, we understand there are things here, again, that there are things that are literal in scripture and there are things that aren't. Obviously this is something that is not literal, a sword coming out of a mouth.  It's like fire coming out of ... how does that state that in chapter 11 here- people have kind of made fun of, "When are you going to do this..." type of thing to two witnesses.  'Revelation 11:5 - and if any man shall hurt them fire proceeds out of their mouth...'  They don't understand what the 'fire' means.  They don't understand what it means 'to come out of the mouth'.  "When are you going to..."  It's like a dragon or something; it's ridiculous, it's foolish.  These things are symbolic of various things and yet people generally take things physically first, obviously, and especially in the world, they take things physically and so they think a lot of these things that happen are literal physical events.  No, they're not.  Fire doesn't come out of an individual's mouth.  It's things that are spoken that produce a certain thing in life - destruction, as an example, that we'll talk about later on.

The 'sword' coming out.  We understand what the sword is, we talked about this in times past... everyone should really understand that.  Even in the world they should but they don't, talking about 'a two-edged sword', talking about that which has great power, the Word of God by which He judges the world, the things that are accomplished, the things that are done.

And so again here, talking about a sword, a sharp sword went out of His mouth, that with it He should strike the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: this is about God's word, this is about that which is going to be lived and enforced finally - God's way of life, God's government, the truth as far as one Church in the world is concerned.  No churches are ever going to be allowed to rise up again.  No government other than God's is going to be allowed to rise up and exist on the earth.  That's what's going to be destroyed and put down.  And so that has to do with the word of God and the power to accomplish it coming from Christ as the King of kings. And that's what this is talking about.

And it says... and He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. Not a pretty picture in what it's describing here, as it describes it in other prophecies as well, when it gives the example here, just like grapes that when you stomp on them to press out the juices that this is the example of what's going to happen to mankind that resists God.  Mankind is nothing compared to God, and the ability to bring an end to that which resists God is a small thing for God but it's about the only thing that man will really listen to, sadly.  And so that's why such power and might is used at the end of an age to bring in a new age.

And so it talks about this winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God that happens on that day, especially in those 7 Vials that are poured out on the earth.

Verse 16 - And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written, as I mentioned earlier, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the Great God; So here it's using an example of something of flesh-eating birds to be drawn together to eat upon that which is dead.  And that's very descriptive language, obviously, that's being used here, but God does things, speaks of things in a very distinct and powerful way when He speaks of those things that man should be in awe of and fear to go against Him, to fight against Him.

And it says in verse 18 - So that you may eat the flesh of kings, so everybody is going to be put into the same category here, in that respect, it doesn't matter who they are.  That which brings to an end, that which comes to an end involves everyone as far as this world is concerned, amongst everyone.  So it says, you will eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and them who sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, both small and great. So in other words it's just making a distinction that it's going to impact everyone as a whole across all boundaries in the world - not every individual, but it's going to strike at all these areas of mankind, of life.

Then we come to verse 19 that I mentioned in the very beginning, where it says - And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together 'to make war'... reason I pointed out the previous verse in verse 11 is that this is not the same kind of word that's being used here at all; similar toward, of expression here about 'making war' but it's used entirely differently as we'll come back to it later here.

So it says here, And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him who sat upon the horse and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that worked miracles before him, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

God is showing us here that there is a big problem with the interpretation of the beast and the false prophet being cast into a lake of fire...and the problem of misinterpretation is going to be illustrated by reading a couple of things that I found on a particular group site that I went to just to see what was being said out there, how it was being said.  I know what we taught in the past and this follows some of the similar lines but some add different things to some of the things that Mr. Armstrong wrote, although they claim they don't.

But anyway, in this particular website that I went to concerning verses having to do with the fourth beast - that's what it's explaining here - the fourth beast in Daniel and the ten horns that go along with some of the things that we have discussed on the chart having to do with Revelation 13 recently.  Anyway, it's stated on the website concerning these verses here...it says...

"It is now clear..."

So a long dissertation goes on explaining some of this and then it finally comes to a point where it says...makes a conclusion...

"It is now clear that the beast cannot be a human being or a church.  Remember, the kings come out of a kingdom.  The obvious meaning of the ten horns is that they are also ten separate and sequential kingdoms because they all come from the fourth kingdom which is described as ruling the earth."

And so indeed, showing those ten different kingdoms there in Daniel 7 and sequential kingdoms, indeed correct, but making a distinct point here showing that what other people believe about some of the things that are written in scripture - this individual is making a point here that the beast cannot be a human being or a church.

So in this quote, again, very clear here what he's discussing, what he's covering, some of the things in essence the Church has held onto for a long, long time.  Now, I want to read part of this because I want to make sure I don't miss some of this, some of the points I've written down here.  But in this quote the Roman Empire was being discussed and it was concluded that the beast is not any human being but it is about kingdoms, ten to be specific, and the tenth is obviously the one that's yet to come out of the ten nations of Europe constituting a final revival of the old Roman Empire.

Now, in another area of this website there is a section entitled, 'Who or what is the Beast of Revelation,' and there are some unique conclusions concerning this tenth kingdom that is yet to rise.  So in this booklet here it brings you all the way up toward the end of the age, discusses some of these things, and it brings you up to, finally, the end of the age and to those ten nations that finally emerge under the final revival of the Roman Empire here.  And so in here there are some unique conclusions concerning this tenth kingdom that's yet to arise and there are a lot of things... as I was going through this I was dumbfounded.  I was dumbfounded at first by how much God has blessed us to see and understand so many things about the end of an age, errors that we have addressed, like 2 Thessalonians 2 and people still believing out there that there is a 'man of sin' that is yet to arise, who they believe is this false prophet at the end-time.  And yet God has blessed us to understand who the 'man of sin' was, and very, very clear it's about the Church.  And the scriptures in 2 Thessalonians 2 are very clearly about the  timing of the coming of Jesus Christ.

I just marvel at that, because we are so blessed!  Sometimes we don't grasp how blessed we are that we've been able to continue to grow and God's Church is always to grow, but I marvel at how much we've been blessed.  Anyway, I want to read some comments here of what was stated in this particular book because I mentioned clearly earlier here how it was stated, 'It's now clear how the beast cannot be a human being...'  So the individual goes on in this booklet and says....

"It is necessary and helpful to summarize what we have learned so far. Some believe the Revelation 13 beast is the woman who rode the Revelation 17 beast."

So I guess speaking of other religions out here and some of the concepts and ideas that people have about the end-time.  He says...

"This cannot be, because the woman is a church and the beast is the government."

Then a little later under a heading entitled 'Mass World Deception' it states:

"Recall that the Revelation 17 woman is a false church that rides the beast with seven heads and ten horns.  We have established the beast she is riding is a great world empire that exists until Christ returns."

All true.  Then a little farther down it says...

"Two individuals, known as "the beast and the false prophet," will lead this religious system..."

Why the shift?  How can we all of a sudden make a shift from a beast that is a kingdom to a beast that is an individual?  And that's what God is showing here, that's what God is clarifying, that's what He's correcting.

Then he goes on in the next paragraph and says....

"The embodiment..."

Because this is how we used to get there, this is what the idea was, because of what it says in Revelation 19:20 about two being cast into a lake of fire.  How do you cast two into a lake of fire if they're not individuals?  It says....

"The embodiment of the final beast will be a charismatic figure who arrives on the world scene shortly before Christ's return."

So, in other words, because there is an individual who is the embodiment of this kingdom, that individual can represent the beast and therefore that individual can be cast into a lake of fire.  That isn't so.  That isn't what this is about and that is what God is very clearly clarifying in all this stuff that He's given to us in time's past, things that do not fit that are not a part.  And that will become clearer as we go through the sermon - at least I hope it does for all of you.  It's clear and exciting for me, and inspiring to see what God is giving to us.  But anyway, it goes on to say and states just a little bit farther here...it all states in another area....

"Also, the final great false prophet will lead the world to worship the beast as God."

Now, that kind of a statement is really out there! Because it's saying here that in essence, that whoever this false beast is, he's going to cause the world to literally worship this individual.  And I think of this world in the 21st century, of something like that happening...people going to worship a man as God?  That's insanity!  I'll just be real candid with you - that's candidly insanity!  It doesn't fit anything scripturally whatsoever!  But if we're not careful we can take things physically out of the Bible and read things into them that really don't exist, and candidly, a lot of this still comes out of Protestantism...still comes out of Protestantism and out of books that have been written about the end-time, about commentaries, and a lot of it has come out of even the Catholic church, of all things, and their writings.

Anyway, we'll come back to this last statement here in a moment, that was made here.

Let's go back to see what it says in Revelation 19 concerning the beast and the false prophet.  We're going to return here several times to drive the point home of what's being stated and break it apart.

As with so many things that God has given us throughout our time in 'PKG', He has had us focus on what is true rather than what is false, in the sense of arguments and interpretations, and been trying to understand what is wrong.  So we're not going to spend a lot of time here going into trying to understand why certain things have concluded the way they are and why people try to understand things in this manner, but rather just to give what is true, and then we're able to see what is in error.  We did this in the very beginning with 'PKG' as God began to work with us, with Passover.  Rather than going into arguments....   and there are tons and tons of arguments and scriptures that are twisted and distorted, trying to prove 14th/15th Passover, and there is really no objective, no purpose of going into and trying to see why people have come to those conclusions.  Candidly, who cares?!  If you know the truth why do we care?  Why would anyone care what scriptures they twisted and distorted and why they misuse them?  It's a fruitless ordeal to try to do those things - you'll be doing that from here on out and then if you're not careful, a person's not careful, they don't come to the knowledge of the truth anyway.

So what God has had us do, rather, is to strictly focus on what is true and what is said, and that's been an inspiring thing to see, and especially beginning with that process there about Passover, then it went on to Pentecost, and then it went into many other doctrines that God had us look into and understand.

Revelation 19:19 - And I saw the beast; so is it speaking of an individual or a government?  ...and the kings of the earth, and their armies, 'gathered together', means 'brought' or 'led' together, with each other, 'with' each other, meaning in essence here the different kings and their armies, they're brought together to make war against Him who sat upon the horse and against His army.  Now this expression, 'to make war' that we mentioned earlier about 'making war'.  When Jesus Christ is returning and it says He judges and He 'makes war', in the Greek language it is a tense that is used that is contemporaneous, happening at that time, happening at that moment, cannot be something of the past and the future, it's happening right then at His return, that's what He's doing when He's returning, that's what it's talking about here.

When it's been talking about the return of Jesus Christ, John expresses something that he sees...but where was it?  ...what was it?  And this is what he says...gathered together to make war against Him who sat upon the horse; so in this particular area here, this particular expression, 'to make war', it's used more like an idiom.  An idiom is something like an expression, 'It's raining cats and dogs.'  Now, we understand what that means.  There are different times I've used expressions that some people use in certain regions, that's more of a regional type thing, or by a certain people, or whatever, that they understand.  I've used certain expressions that sometimes they've wondered what I'm talking about over in The Netherlands.  I remember one, not too long ago, about 'getting off the pot'.  They didn't understand fully what that meant.  The only thing they could think of was marijuana, 'pot'.  That isn't what I was talking about.  We use that expression here in the States and we understand what that means.  There are expressions like that in Australia and different areas where sometimes people have to try to glean out of the context or find out from someone else what an expression means.

Another one, idiom, 'The rocket launch went off like clockwork.'  Well, we know what that means, the precision and everything that was there.  It wasn't a matter of working on a clock.  There are expressions that have meaning if you understand what it's talking about and what is being used.  And so is this expression here, candidly, 'to make war'.  In this particular case, again, refers only to the reality of the event or action and not to the time in which it took place, as an idiom here that's used.

So again, John is just simply looking at something here that's always been.  That's what he's telling us, that's what he's talking about here.  This is what he is seeing because this is what Jesus Christ is coming to do away with - the very thing that he sees that's always been there, always fighting against Christ, always fighting against God's people is the very thing that he sees, who are there to make war.

We understand it's not a literal physical war, that's why it's more of an idiom, and yet it involves war.  We understand the kind of war and how they do it!  It's not literally bringing together and fighting in a war, like Christ when He returns - that is war as far as God's is concerned - He destroys, people are killed, entire peoples are killed in some cases when God does what He does in those last 7 Vials.  Very powerful what's described there on that final day of Pentecost, on the day Christ returns.

Let's go back and look at some of these things now about some of the expressions and things that are used here, because again, to me it's opened up an incredible door in other things that even God's going to reveal here as we go along that are so simple, but not until it's time and not until we're there.

Revelation 12; it goes through and talks about some of the kind of warring that we understand that takes place from the spirit world through governments, through religious organizations, that have always been there against God's people, to hurt God's people through time.

Revelation 12:4 - And his, speaking of Satan...And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, this is where it was given to Mr. Armstrong to grasp, to comprehend that this is speaking of what happened when Satan rebelled and that a third of the stars, referring to angelic beings, followed Satan, made a choice to follow him.  They became known as demons.  And it says... and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, speaking of God's Church but first of all here starting with Jesus Christ!  From the very beginning of His life here is that being working through governments too, to try to destroy God's plan and God's purpose...And so this is what John is recounting when he shows all this time that has passed through time, what has taken place through armies and so forth that are gathered together to make war against Christ and against His people.

And so it says here, the dragon stood before the woman that was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a male child, again, very explicit here speaking of Jesus Christ, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and His throne. So going through and talking about the resurrection and what took place and where Christ has been now for nearly 2,000 years.

It says, And the woman, speaking of the Church then that began on Pentecost 31 AD, fled into the wilderness, where a place was prepared by God, to feed her there, that He should feed her a thousand two hundred and three score days. So that 1260 days, that 1260 years in a period of time that we just recently went through and discussed, some of the things that happened with this government that began and this false church that was given power, and then the attack from this group upon God's people.  1260 years!  And yet God gave enough protection to feed, to give spiritual food so that the Church would continue on and grow in spite of the persecution and the things that were taking place.  Because when the Church first started it didn't have this opposition.  It was in the form of Satan through government still and some of the things that were happening, but it became much stronger after this period of time, during this 1260 years when they had to have special help from God and favor from God.  And so we've already discussed some of those things in the previous sermons talking about some of this material here.

We understand this kind of warring that has always been there through time, and especially starting with Christ and with the Church.  And so that's being discussed here in Revelation 12, those things concerning the Church.  It doesn't go back to the previous 4,000 years but it's primarily talking about this period of time.

Let's move forward now to Revelation 13:1 - And I stood upon the sand of the sea, so again, John explaining things that he saw just as much as he did in Revelation 19 when he says, 'and I saw'...this is what he saw, not a moment at Christ's return but something that was leading up to why those events were happening on that day; that's what verse 19 and 20 are about.  And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, and so again, just recently we've gone through some of this but God is blessing us with adding more today as far as understanding what this is talking about in these verses in chapter 13; and again, talking about the seven revivals here of the Roman Empire and the final one that will have ten nations that are gathered together, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.  Again, those things that are spoken against God - both by the government and by the religious power - because the government, as we're going to see as we go through this, the government has always upheld those things... candidly, started this in the first place through Constantine and the things that he did.  He is the one who started this more than the church did, he is the one who adopted certain things and began to put certain things together in a very powerful way that cast this great church forward with the kind of power that it had, which involved a lot of politics and power and the things that human beings will do to get their way.

Verse 2 - And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: so now all the different beasts together in a very powerful beast, as we go through this period of time that lasts for a long period on the earth compared to some of the other kingdoms before.  And so here is this particular kingdom, especially because of the seven revivals.  And you think of the power that it had through time here.  I think of some of the things that came along eventually as far as weapons were concerned and the kind of power they had to conquer - and they had a great deal of power to conquer indeed, on the earth, that was given to them.  And then it goes on to say, and his mouth were as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power; so again, it always came from Satan on these different kingdoms and so forth, but it's primarily this one here more than any other - Satan is there and what he does and what God allowed him to do in these different kingdoms then in their different revivals, because it talks about later on these different revivals and the power that they have each time, but it's in between when he doesn't have power, when he's confined again, he's not allowed, he wasn't allowed during this entire period of time to have power throughout the entire time to influence others or to have power over them, but in the revivals he did, great power that was exerted on the earth in that respect, just as in this final time he hasn't been given that final power yet, he hasn't come out of the 'pit' if you will, of his place of restraint, and given the kind of power to exercise here at the very end.  He hasn't been given that here yet.

And so it says here, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat, just like in 2 Thessalonians where it talks about 'where you sit', it's power, it's authority, it's about government. And so Satan gave this power, he was the one who was behind all this and brought it to a head each time....and God allowed that, and great authority.

Verse 3 continuing on here now - And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: Now again, this is awesome to me that after we've just gone through this talking about Constantine, talking about the things that happened back in that time so that we can better understand the first head and what happened, that it was not dead, there was a part of it that remained alive, and the part that remained alive had to do with that, again, with the church that was beginning to be started there.  So there was life there and yet for a time there it was wounded and then brought back to life again with Justinian.

So it says, And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; so it appeared to be dead but it wasn't, there was something still there.  And it says... and all the world marveled/wondered at it, marveled at the beast. At the power that was there, of what they saw on the earth.  And they worshipped the dragon; so that's the bottom line.  The bottom line is that when Satan has power to deceive he lies and he gives things that are false within whatever system he works, and we can see that through time.  And every system he's worked we see that, beginning with Egypt and all the gods, god families, elohims - because that's what the word was being used back there.  When God came along and said He was Elohim, when He started talking about Elohim and started giving those things to the Jewish people in captivity, it was in direct contrast to what Egypt had in the belief of their gods and their god families, because a lot of them had to do with families.  And He said He is the only one.  And so that's why He used those words in such a powerful way, but also for the Church to understand, when it was God's time to reveal it, as Mr. Armstrong was given, that we're to become a Family, Elohim, in God's Family, that's the purpose of our existence, our life, and human life is in time to become a part of God's Family.

And so again here, it all boils down to still worshipping...everything that's out here, it's false!  The economic system, the governmental systems, the religious systems in the world, they're all false, because of the power and influence of this being who's twisted and distorted and lied and caused these things, inspired mankind in a perverted and distorted way, not with God's inspiration - that's why it's false, because it's false inspiration.  That's why the word 'prophet' is used in some places, because it has to do with 'inspired speaking' or 'inspiration that comes from God'.  That which is false does not come from God. That which is inspired in that respect, from a spirit source, that influences others that is false is about that which doesn't represent God, it doesn't come from God. The reality is it comes from Satan, and people who latch a hold of those things unwittingly so worship that being.  They don't understand that.  People don't understand in the world that because of what they grasp a hold of, Easter, Christmas, Sunday, that by doing those things it has nothing to do with God, it has everything to do with this dragon, with this being.  And they don't understand that, they don't believe that.  They believe it's something good and that's why they're in Egypt, they're in spiritual Egypt. They're deceived and they can't help what they don't see.  Until God removes or takes them out of Egypt they can't help it, no more than you or I could if you were called out of the world; if you grew up in the Church, that's another matter.  But if you came out of this world you were just as much in bondage, in Egypt, as they were.

And so it continues on here; and they worshipped the beast... because he's the one that gave them power.  He's always been the source of all that which is false.  ...and they worshipped the dragon who gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast.  That just follows!  Because they don't even see the dragon in there, they don't understand that, but if they latch hold of a certain governmental system and are a part of it and they love it and they uphold it and they begin to live that, then that's what they're a part of, and they don't understand that.  So in essence, that's what they worship in the sense of that's what their lives are consumed with, what they look up to, what they're willing to die for.  How much more can you worship something?  How much more patriotic can you be to a government than to die for it?  And that's what we're talking about here - because it isn't God's yet.  It is not God's, it's not from God, the source is not God.  And so it says, they worshipped the beast, in this case here, specifically, that which is in Europe, that Roman Empire, the Roman system, because that's primarily what is being talked about here in Revelation 13.

...and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?  ...or with it?  So through time and the power they had throughout Europe, especially in the revivals when they had great power - who can go against it?  In other words, whatever they wanted to conquer they're able to conquer, who can stand up against them?  And wherever they went, as a whole, that's where they conquered.

Verse 5 - And there was given unto him/unto it a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; in other words, against God, things that are contrary to the way of God.  It started with Constantine!  He had that kind of mouth, a great mouth, he declared certain things.  He declared that Sunday should be the day of worship; the church didn’t declare that yet, they didn't have the power to declare certain things yet, but this individual did, Constantine did.  And he is the one who declared that everyone should not work on that day.  Isn't that amazing?  A government that determined when people should work and when they should not work, that it should be 'the Venerable Day of the Sun', that's what he said, that's what he declared in 323 AD as soon as he had gained the power, in essence, over both sides of the Roman Empire, east and west.  Awesome things that happened!  323, when he conquered both the east and the west; but he's the one that made these declarations about Christianity, if you will, and giving it power in the Roman Empire.  It had never been done before this - everything else before this was always fully pagan in origin and belief and practice and so forth - but now a new religion was being brought in and given power, and coupled together with paganism and the church, Sunday.

He is the one, candidly, that was behind a lot of the push toward Easter, because they were pushing out Passover, they wanted to push out anything to do with the Jews, and probably the Church at that time. There are things we don't know in history, that aren't written, so we don't know fully all those things.  Obviously, because of Satan's influence it was about the Church - he's always been there influencing various things.  So again here, when it talks about here that a government is given power, in that respect, speaking things, having to do great things, grandiose things, having to do with that which is blasphemous against God, these are the kinds of things it's talking about.  These are not small things!

When you talk about things that a government determines that should be done and how it should be done... it's like this country here for a long time having 'Blue Laws'.  'Blue Laws'.  Has everybody heard about 'Blue Laws'?  You know what they are? Some countries don't know.  Some of the younger ones don't know maybe because the 'Blue Laws' go back to when we were young, a long time ago, and it had to do with stores not being able to sell on Sunday.  And then when some of that started to change - I remember a time when they actually took areas, to rope of parts of the store so that you couldn't buy certain kinds of personal hygiene things or alcohol or things of that nature but you could go buy maybe bread and milk and meat and so forth. But they would take ropes or yellow tape, or different types of tape and mark off certain areas that you couldn't shop on on that day.  So the law started changing, slowly but surely, but there were some places that literally could not open their doors because of certain kinds of laws that existed.  But those things are government enforced...and so something that is government enforced, it's supporting, it's giving its name to something that is blasphemous against God!  Because they make that a day, in essence, that honors their God; that's what they're doing.  That's why it was chosen!  Makes it harder for God's people, doesn't it?  Not working on the Sabbath and if you had a certain kind of occupation then you can't do work on Sunday either, and so all these things, always making it more difficult for God's people.  War against God's people, putting down, making it difficult for God's people.  It's always been a struggle through time.  You're not the lone ranger when you come into the Church and the things you've had to deal with when it comes to how the government of this world, in essence, how they have been set up and established through time.

Those things have existed in Europe.  For a long time there were things you could not do, obviously, throughout Europe.  That's where the influence of a lot of those things came into this country then through time, when this country began.  Certain times you could and certain times you could not work.

So that's what it's talking about here.  We need to understand what it's saying when it says that this beast was given power, a great mouth here, as it says here, a mouth speaking great things/grandiose things and blasphemies, which have to do with things against God.  Not with God, not in agreement with God but against God.  So certain kinds of laws, certain things that are established are against what God gives as a way of life that should be lived, according to His law and His way of life.

And so this is about the beast.  This is not about the false church yet.  This is about the beast and their power to do things against God's people, to do things that are blasphemous, that they incorporate into their laws or into their way of life or into how they are structured - is apart from God.  Okay?  That's what it's talking about here, things that are a matter of blasphemy as far as God is concerned.

Look at the dollar bill.  I'm just going to pick on this country right now.  This eye, the pyramid, the various things that are there - what does that have to do with God?  What does that have to do with honoring God?  Or is it blasphemous, the things that are supposed to be there?  'In God we trust' - what does that mean?  And so, again here, this is especially true in things that have happened through Europe and especially in these revivals of the Roman Empire and the power that the government had and the government wielded, if you will, in opposition to things concerning God, in things that they did and how they lived and so forth and what they purported, if you will, as a government and how that government was abused - doing everything opposite to the way God says things should be done, in essence, in so many cases, how to rule.

And so again, this matter of speaking blasphemies was given here and it says, and power was given unto him to continue forty-two months...especially in this particular case here when you're talking about some of the things that are taking place that we've discussed earlier.  It talks about some of those things on the one chart there that we didn't spend a whole lot of time addressing, starting with Justinian on down and the different revivals that took place there until the last two revivals.  Because things change as you go on.  The last two revivals begin to change, they being to have a different kind of influence.

Verse 6 - And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. So again here, Sunday alone by itself is enough with what  governments have done through time, various things that become known as holidays or whatever, like Easter...enough said there.  In time other holidays as well that are observed and kept and supported by government which is blasphemous against God, plus so many other things that I'm not going to go into in this sermon here that have to do with structure and what is done and how it's done.

Verse 7 - And it was given unto him to 'make war' with the saints; same expression.  Same exact expression as in Revelation 19:19, 'to make war'.  We understand what that means.  We understand that it's not speaking here like 'The rocket launch,' as we read earlier, 'went off like clockwork.'  We know what that means, it has nothing to do with a clock.  In this case here, this kind of war has nothing to do with physical war.  It's not about them sending out armies...because what was the Church?  Always small.  It didn't take an army to go out against it.  They had different individuals trying to find out where they were at different times and when they found them there was persecution and so forth that existed, but it wasn't a matter of a country going to war with a country.  It's not talking about armies in a literal war, in that respect.

The Church, what has the Church been through time?  ...to go to literal physical war, there wouldn't have been anything there, it would have just been a massacre.  So it's not talking about a literal physical war.  'To make war', in this case, is more idiomatic, if you will, and has to do with understanding what it means and how they do it and making it difficult always-always-always for God's people, for God's Church through time.  And so that's what's being discussed here.  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, in other words, to this beast, and to overcome them: in the sense of being great, the ability to conquer but not to destroy - but in the sense of the power being on their side.  There was no power on the side of the Church to be able to conquer, to be able to do anything, to change anything that this power was doing against it.  On the contrary, if it established various things, like 'Blue Laws', like things having to do with Sunday and not working on Sunday.

You know, sometimes some of us in God's Church, when the Church did live in that particular time, when there were laws about not being able to shop at that time, obviously you couldn't have a job on that day, but put yourself in Europe when these things had more power to them to find out who you were.  Do you think that you would try to do any work on a Sunday when your government said no one is to work on Sunday?  It's a lot different than 'Blue laws', it's a lot different than a store being shut down.  So you have two days that you don't work on.  The Sabbath you definitely don't work on and that's taking some chances as well, because after a time people know, people see; the ability to perceive who you are.  Think how it was in Europe in an agricultural society and so forth and you're never out there on a Saturday?  Think about on a Sunday then, you can't go out on Sunday either, so you only have five days that you can get work done.  How hard was that then for people to survive?  God had to give favor and help to keep His Church going always through time.

So that's what it's talking about here, this power to conquer, this power to always put down and fight and destroy or to work against to whatever degree it could, but never, obviously destroying God's Church, but always hard, always difficult, always persecuting.  It's always been that way.  And so sometimes if we're able to really put ourselves into other ages we have it made compared to other people in other ages - we really do!  We don't realize how easy it is for us today or for us in the last fifty years or the last hundred years compared to God's Church at other times; just like that sermon we heard last week, during that time, and that was before the Roman system even began to push things about traditional Christianity...then it became far worse!

Sometimes it's good to look back in time and try to understand things that were different and how different they were, how much more difficult it was at a time when they used to burn people, catch them and tie them up to stakes and burn them alive.  We read about some of that, what happened.  That was commonplace throughout Europe.  That's how the Catholic church went out and put down a lot of people who would rise up against it.  Those stories go around quickly if you have a lot of people out there and they're being burned alive - you think those stories... that's why wars started as a result of some of those things.  We read about some of that, in time, back in the 1400's, and we didn't even go farther back when it was even worse!  We were talking about the 1400's, the 1500's - amazing!

And so it says here, verse 7 - and it was given unto him, the beast, to make war with the saints, again, that same expression, what it means, we understand what kind of war, how difficult it made it for God's people, to make their battles harder, to make life harder, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindred's, and tongues, and nations. In other words, wherever he was in that part of the world.  It doesn't mean they were in China or in India, that's not what it's talking about, that this word 'all' sometimes... people, just like that booklet I read, they took it as meaning ALL, everybody, every single human being.  That's not it, that's not what's being discussed here.

...and power was given over all kindred's, and tongues, and nations, in other words, all these different areas that have different peoples living there, different languages and so forth, and they had power wherever they went, wherever it was established that's where they had their power over all of them as a whole.

And all who dwell upon the earth shall worship it, in other words, again, not in China, not in India, not in other places; it's talking about where this exists, where the beast is this is where these things will happen, and those people's who are a part of their governments, this is what they will do, they will worship it, they're a part of it, people learn in time they gave their allegiance to it, they'd go to fight for it, that's what they grew up with.  You know, what you grow up with, that generally is a part of you, your being, what you're taught by your parents, that's what you adopt, that's what you become.  If you're Buddhist, that's what you become.  If you live in a Buddhist nation that's what you look up to.  Ideas of Japan and the rising sun and things that happened in World War II and what they grew up with and what they were willing to die for, for their government and for their emperor at that particular time, the ideas that are there that people have from different cultures and so forth.

So it was here with the Roman Empire, because it had to do with whether you lived or died, it had to do with whether you could be prosperous.  If you don't do things their way better go to Iceland or somewhere and try to make a living there.  Nah, just kidding... go somewhere else, learn to live up north, whatever, if you have to get away from it

And all who dwell in the earth shall worship it, in other words, where the system is.  So again here, not a specific individual, not worship a specific individual but the system, the government, the way of life that they're a part of, that's what they adopt, that's what people show their allegiance to.  So, if you live in India, as a whole, that's where your feelings are, that's where your allegiance is to life.  If you live in  South Korea, that's where your allegiances lie more, if it's north, that's where they lie, as a whole, for most of the people and how they live. And you just go around the world and that's the way it is country to country to country, and that's all that's being discussed here.

Made a specific statement here though, who shall worship it, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb [slain] from the foundation of the world.  In other words they are different, most assuredly, because they're not a part of it and they're not a part of that system.  They're, as described in scripture, as ambassadors for something different, but this is not theirs.  This isn't theirs.  And that's the way it's been for God's people in God's Church through time.  We live in different parts of the world, we were the 'Worldwide Church of God' at one time and we are to be good citizens wherever we are, strive to be, but this isn't our world yet; this is not our government yet, it's coming.  We look forward to God's Government, God's Kingdom being established, that's what it's about, and that's why the scripture is there about being like an ambassador, that you represent something different, that your life represents something different, that you are loyal to and dedicated to, in that respect, something different.

Anyway, this individual in this booklet, I want to go back to something that was said there, when it was mentioned, and where it stated....

"..also the final great false prophet will lead the world to worship the beast as God."

...and then went on to say:

"Now, let's read the full description of how the false prophet works.  Let's see the reach of his power, influence, and ability through miracles and lying wonders to bring the whole world to worship the beast, the final civil Roman ruler."

That's insanity! The whole world is going to worship 'a final civil Roman ruler'?!  Not going to happen.  It's not even going to happen in Europe!  And even when Hitler came to power they didn't worship him.  Now, some did, some of the young people did, in essence, the system, the way of life, the things that were there, they were caught up in the movement and so forth.  But again, when you start talking about something worshipping someone as God you've got to think about that a little bit.  What on earth are you talking about?  And we understand what that means in scripture, we comprehend, just like I mentioned a while ago about the beast and this power and how they are worshipping a system or Satan or the dragon because of the ideas they have about supporting Sunday as a day of worship, as a day that you're not to work, especially back then.

Let's go back here to Revelation 19, because these things are really way out there, they're not realistic, they're not sound, indeed.  There is not a single world ruling power like Hitler that is going to rise at the end.  On the contrary, ten nations are going to give themselves to each other for a very short period of time and it's going to be like iron and clay and it's not even going to be mingled together very strongly and there is definitely not one person over the whole system who has great influence and power and so prestigious that people are going to worship him or her.  Not going to happen that way at all!  It's something that happens very quickly, it's about ten nations that come together and have a bond for a  very short time to make a certain decision that's going to change everything as far as Europe is concerned, and then as time goes along they even work against the great church.  There is no love lost there when it's finally said and done.  Amazing what it says in scripture as we'll come to some of those verses later here.

So let's go back here again and read it: Revelation 19:19 - And I saw the beast, not a person but a power, government that has existed, the beast of Revelation 13 that is very clearly about a specific government that has existed and has had different resurrections at different times.  John is saying, I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and the armies that have been gathered together - literal armies?  Is that what it's about?  Well, we've read some verses already that talk about how they made war against the saints.  What does that mean?  We know history, we know things that have happened to God's people through time.  We've lived a part of it ourselves.  ...gathered together to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. In other words, this is what he's seeing, something that has always been.  That's why He's coming to judge and to make literal war, in verse 11, because of a change that's taking place, because John is reminding everyone of what he has seen through time, what is being shown through time to have always existed, in essence, for this great power, this beast, this beast that's had power and exerted upon the earth, primarily those things too that have hurt God's Church and hurt God's people, that have made battles for God's Church and God's people through time.

And then it says, And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that worked miracles before him... let's just start breaking some of this down because I've already read it.

The beast was 'taken', just simply a word that means 'pressed down', 'to be seized', 'seized upon' or 'to seize hold of something', in that sense 'taken'.  That's what Jesus Christ is doing when He's returning, He's seizing hold of something, to press it down, indeed, to destroy it, to get rid of it, to bring an end to it, the beast...the beast.  You know, when it shows that great cube coming out of the sky in Daniel and it strikes the feet of the great statue and topples it?  That's what this is talking about, in essence, the bottom part of that, the clay and the iron that's mingled together, because that's where it hits, because that's the last part of the last kingdom that exists at the end, so it strikes the feet and the whole thing is destroyed.  That's what He is doing when He returns, when He judges and makes war.  So that's all its talking about here, something that's being destroyed, indeed.

...and with 'him', or...interesting word here too, it's a word that means 'this'; and with this beast the false prophet that worked 'miracles' before it, sometimes if we're not careful we can start reading things into words that don't exist and we can adopt definitions from things and ideas from things that don't exist.  The word 'miracles', this word is translated over and over and over and over again as 'signs', but if you  use the word 'miracles' in certain places you kind of get this thing in your mind about supernatural things and you begin to think in terms of what the Catholic church thinks about miracles and how they have wanted to...   It's always been a desire of Satan to copy or duplicate or try to say that he's able to do certain things that he's not able to do and to get people to believe those powers exist and strange things in a spirit world that take place.  I'm not even going to go there.

But anyway, this is a word that has to do with 'signs' - false prophets that worked 'signs' before it; if you're not careful you can start reading into what that means.  You look, what is a sign?  In this case, what kind of a sign are you talking about then?  What is a sign here?  If it's a miracle then what kind of awesome spectacular supernatural thing are you going to see?  And it has nothing to do with anything that's supernatural at all!!  Nothing!  But this is what Satan has had a great church misconstrue certain things as and people, even in translations, things that have been translated through time - who has translated all the Bible through time?  God's Church?  God's people?  No, but God's allowed certain things to exist, Hebrew and Greek, and yet people have translated their own ideas into certain things like the word 'miracles' here.  There is a reason for that.  And so God has to reveal what is true and give understanding of what is true.

So let's pause there when we talk about this thing about 'signs' and notice some other places where it's spoken of.  2 Thessalonians 2, talking about the time of Christ's coming, the time of Christ's return, the time of a great apostasy.  You know, that's an amazing thing, to understand that the Church has always understood that there has to be a falling away, a great apostasy.  What that has to do with a false prophet over some other church...?  Kind of blows the mind, but that's what so many other still believe because they don't understand what happened to us as a Church.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 - just picking it up here because you know the story - And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, so speaking of an individual that was given power to sit in authority in God's Church, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, in other words, by that which He speaks, by that which comes from Him as far as a judgment is concerned, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: in essence here we have come to understand that when this happened, when the apostasy took place that was a beginning of a countdown, that was the beginning of the final...  You know, the disciples wanted to know, "What will be the 'sign' of Your coming?"  And then Paul talks about some of these things that are, in essence, candidly a 'sign', but in this particular case here it's talking about His coming and things that were going to happen and we have always understood, at least starting from Philadelphia on, that the great sign of His coming was going to be an apostasy that had to happen, a great falling away within God's Church.

So anyway, jumping ahead here... destroy with the brightness of His coming; so in other words, truly revealing to God's people He is coming and there is a countdown, an awesome 280 days later a time of judgment that was given when he was destroyed, when he was killed by God.  It didn't happen by anyone else, it was a judgment from God.

Verse 9 - Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, so again, Satan is there, the power to influence; and please understand here, the power that comes from him is...  We receive that which comes from God that is inspiring, it's true inspiration that comes from the power of God's spirit.  There is that which comes from a being that is false, but it's inspiration, it's something that people can feel and experience.  Not like God does; God does it through the truth in the mind, through that kind of inspiration. This being has a counterfeit and it's done in a false manner to deceive and to lie and to lead...  It's like things that people... well, it goes on to show here, let's go on, this is how he does it because he can't do it as God does, he can't communicate with the mind in revealing truth and inspire, because we're inspired by what we learn through the inspiration in it and it stirs us.  Working through this sermon, it's inspired me, it's excited me, it's strengthened me, it's helped me to be moved in a very powerful way at a specific moment in time that to me is awesome, as so many things that God has given to us.  And so God inspires with truth, by the knowledge, and by His holy spirit that works with our spirit.  There is a counterfeit though that is false, and that's important to understand that, why a term like 'false prophet' becomes important then, because there is that which is not from God but it is a lying, in a sense of, spirit that is not inspired from God but from a being, from a being who practices everything that is false and lying and so forth, because he is the source, always has been.

And so it shows here even what happened in the apostasy, this being was there to move, to motivate, to lead in deception and deceive the things that this individual gave himself to.  And so it says here, Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power - what power?  With the power that comes from this being to do the things he's going to do.  Now, what happened, what we experienced, all of you who are here today, or all of you listening today, who experienced the apostasy, when that tape, whenever you heard it; Johnny heard it on the day it happened, Johnny and Myrtle were there  in Atlanta when it happened, on the very day it happened.  For the rest of us, as a whole, it was the first weekend of January by the time an edited and revised tape/sermon had come out, and so we heard, but as a process, it was still the same apostasy that started in Atlanta on December 17, 1994, and so when we heard this it was a matter of power, signs, and this word is that word 'signs', not 'miracles', signs.

What is a sign?  What does a sign do?  As a whole sometimes it gives instruction, sometimes it's just a matter in most cases here in how it's used Biblically as an identification, to identify something.  You come up to a city and there is a sign there that tells you what city it is when you're entering it.  That type of sign, that's what we're talking about.  If you look at stores out here, they have signs, it identifies who they are, what kind of...maybe even what kind of things they have in it - most of us know because of all the advertising on TV and everywhere else - but sometimes it maybe will tell you on the sign what they specialize in, it gives a name, and sometimes the name becomes synonymous with...that identifies what makes them different from somebody else - it's a sign.  So this is what it's talking about here, something that was a sign.

...power, signs and lying wonder -, I remember giving the sermon - matter of fact, it was down in Georgia when I gave a sermon on the subject, power, signs, and lying wonders many, many, years ago talking about this very verse and what this means.  But sometimes people get in their mind some of these other things - that's why this individual I was quoting from earlier speaks of this as being about an individual who is going to rise in power, a great false prophet at the end, the one who's cast in the lake of fire there that it speaks of in Revelation 20, and it's all put together as being the same individual, and yet we know what this is about in 2 Thessalonians here, who it's about, what it involves.

And so it talks about here, with all deceivableness, this is how it's done, this is what Satan does, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, so it's a matter of deception and that which is unrighteous, meaning it's against God's word.  This is what the signs will consist of, and the wonders.

I remember sitting in services because I thought I could stay there - I think I went two or three more Sabbaths after...  because I thought surely, Surely someone out of this large congregation is going to come and ask me, "Why did you resign?" so I could have a door opened up and explain to them what was happening to them.  Didn't happen.  I remember on one occasion when we had a visiting minister who would...changed, a wonder.  There were some people that we talked to on the phone, some ministers in different areas, we would talk to on the phone one day, they would talk to Joe Jr., that day or later that night, the next day they were not the people I'd known all those years.  They were totally different people.  How do you explain something like that?  A wonder!  You wonder at it!  How on earth...?  And I did!  "How can this happen? You talk to him for 2-3-4 hours... (Why?! ...in the first place)...but you talk to him that long and now you believe everything that they're giving? You're of the same mind?"  Power!  Power!  Power of the spirit world that if you yield yourself to it, if you give it place the power that can be there.

That's why I quote the verse so often in John, "For greater is He that is in you than he who's in the world."  ...speaking of Satan.  You want God!  You want to be close to God!  You don’t want to be cut off from God, because no one is a match for this being and the power that he has.  If you're cut off from God...  that's why we have to repent quickly of sin and seek to be right with God and tell God over... no matter how often you do it, you get on your knees and say, "Father, Father forgive me...forgive me.  I want to be at one with You.  I don't choose this in this world, I choose You.  I have chosen You from the beginning."  And you do it over and over again, each time growing in character, each time having it cemented in your being, indeed you agree with God and you have rejected this world.  That's what Hebrews talks about.

...and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who perish; because they received not the agape of the truth, that they might be saved. How can anyone read this...?  Well, I understand, but it's so frustrating, because agape comes from God.  God's spirit, that which comes from God is God's, the source is God, man can't work it up, so how could anyone in the world, if this was applying to people in the world, how...?  They don't have a chance to receive the agape of the truth!  They don't have the chance to receive the truth let alone the agape of the truth!  We do!  You  have the ability to choose the love of God's truth, the ability to love it, because that's a part of what binds you to God, that bond that is there, a love to God, toward God, that grows in you, and by the power of His own spirit that comes from Him, He is the source, and yet you're able to have that and it goes back to God!  Powerful!  But it comes from God!  The world doesn't have this ability so it's not talking about any deception that's going to happen in the world, it was about God's Church.

But these 'signs'... again, what were some of those signs, by the way, that identified this that happened?  Same signs that so often... the Sabbath and Sunday - they're going back to Sunday; that identifies them, that's their sign.  Power to do that?  Signs and lying wonders?  To try to get other people to believe that garbage and swill, to go back to what you came out of, what God drew you out of and worked with you in?  Power, signs...  It takes all three of those!  It took all three of those!  I remember sitting in that congregation and people being moved like you were in a Pentecostal building or something, and one individual - what was the express he used right behind us there in the next row - "Praise the Lord!"  In God's Church!!

That was about as much for me... like a Jerry Clower joke and they're handing out these snakes up front in this Church and Jerry is back there with a friend caught between the snakes in the back of the room there and the snakes are coming up toward his way and all these people were handling snakes and...  I don't know if you've ever heard of Jerry Clower but he's a comedian, southern - anyway, he asked his buddy there about how to get out of there.  And he says, "I don't know?  I checked and there is no door!"  And he says, "Well, where do you reckon they want one?"  He was going to put a door in the back by going right through the wall.  So that's kind of how I felt that day.  You think, "This is unheard of in God's Church!  'Praise the Lord?!"  That's Pentecostal stuff!  And people were moved that way that day, you could feel...  there was a power that went through the congregation that day.  An entire group of people and they changed!  Amazing!

They were already changing, because some changed totally in that particular day - power, signs...and I was dumbfounded by it.  "How could this happen to so many people at one time?"  So many people!  Several hundred people!  How could this happen in one feel swoop?  This is how - power, signs, and lying wonders.  Signs, another sign, oh now you can go out and you can eat catfish because they feed them grain now-a-days so it's okay to eat them, they're not scavengers on the bottom of lakes and stuff, they feed them with grain so catfish are now clean!  That was one of the arguments that came out!  It's okay to eat shrimp.  It's okay to eat oysters.  It's okay...  that's their sign, that's what identifies them, that's what it was about.  Sunday, going back to Easter, Christmas - that's their sign, that's who they are.  That's what a sign does, identifies you, who you are.

And so this was their sign at that time of the apostasy, of what was taking place.  And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, in other words, rather than the truth.  Only God's people!  This can't be about the world because the world has never been given the ability to believe the truth yet.  So a great false prophet that comes along that supposedly deceives the whole world...they're already deceived!  Give me a break!  They're already deceived, the world is deceived in all the religions and beliefs that they have out there already.  Only God's people can be the ones who aren't deceived.

And so this, again, about the Church.  And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, in other words, because there wasn't the agape, the love of the truth.  When it talks about in Matthew 24, "The love of many began to wax cold," it's about relationships.  That's why it's so dangerous... that's why God has blessed us...  I marvel!  I marvel about the sermons that God has given us in this 'Day'.  We talked about it at the Feast, we talked about it before the Feast, we've talked about it since the Feast - I hope you see it, powerfully so, the kinds of sermons and things that God...because this is what it's all about from beginning to end - powerfully so.  Incredible!

Then it goes on to say, that they all might be judged who do not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  And so people did.  There were people who went out and couldn't wait to go out and have shrimp and other things that night.  Amazing what took place!  Their sign.

Let's go back to Revelation 13 now.  So I hope we understand more when it speaks of 'signs'.  Don't have the false concepts of miracles in your mind, of certain things that are going to be performed by some being and because of these performing of 'great signs' that somehow people are going to then worship this individual or worship something, because of all these 'miraculous' things that they do.  God did a lot of miraculous things for the Israelites and they had a pretty tough time worshipping Him.

Revelation 13:11 - this was still puzzling me at the time of the sermon when we covered about Constantine and some of the other things, because it's like, "Why give another that means the same thing?"  And the reality is it doesn't mean the same thing.  Interesting.   And I beheld another beast, do you remember in the first part we've covered already about a beast and power that is given by Satan and this beast, this government that we discussed here, and the revivals, the seven revivals that would be of the Holy Roman Empire, and one we know about, the 10 crowns and so forth.  And so we understand all that about the revivals but here is another beast, always a little puzzling.  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. Incredible here what's being said, because why mention two horns as a lamb?  Because a lamb can be male or female but it's making a very clear distinction here that this lamb is unique because it's, in essence, it's to be a counterfeit, we know what it is - it's to be a counterfeit of what Christ truly represented.

You know when you go back to Leviticus 16 and it talks about the goats, and even in Passover God said they could take a goat, a small goat or a small sheep/lamb and use it for Passover.  And so the example in Leviticus 16 is about two goats, and on one... they had to 'roll the dice' as it were, if you will, and one would be the azazel, the one that was to be put into the wilderness, the other was the one that was to be killed.  Anyway, the two different things here making it very clear here that God is the one who has to reveal who Christ is because the world can't know unless God reveals it.  So that's the purpose of 'rolling the die' as it were; and so God has to reveal who is Christ and we understand that, God had to show us who Christ was because we had the idea that He was this individual who was on a cross and had long effeminate hair and kind of spoke and dressed.... anyway, everything opposite of the way Christ really is.  So God has to come along and show us who the true Christ is because it has to do with what He teaches, what He represents, what He shows and so forth.

And so here is a beast coming up out of the earth had two horns like a lamb and spoke as a dragon, showing where it actually originates from, where the speech comes from, the things that come out of its mouth are the things coming from Satan.  And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, 'the first beast before him'...who is the first beast?  The one we just went through.  So there is power here.  Where is this power coming from?  The same power, Satan, the beast, and this beast.  There are two beasts.

And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast, so again here, we know when that all started, talking about Constantine, it's talking about the government and it's talking about that which is mingled together, church and state.  That's what we find when we finally come to the time of Queen Elizabeth I, that they started breaking some of that, church and state; now it was still there  in large part but now more of the power was to be given to the government and slowly but surely the influence then of the Catholic church began to wane and then there are those who migrated to this country and that began to change even more so, the separation of those thing, but it's still a matter of the daughters that are out there and what happened after that.

So it says here, And he exercises the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast, they depended upon each other, they relied upon each other, they worked together with each other, it was bound together in a very powerful pact, if you will; and it says here whose deadly wound was healed. Again, bringing us up to the time of Justinian and from that time forward, what happened, but that this beast here, talking about exercising that power that was there and showing the source of it, and it says, and he does great 'wonders', 'does great wonders'...it's that same word used later as 'miracles'; and does great wonders so that he makes fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.  So it's going back in time and there is nothing recorded through time up to now, so it must be something that has to happen in the future, right?  I'm speaking facetiously - calling down fire from heaven - it's never happened.  They don't have the power to do it, unless God were to grant it for some special purpose, but what they do have is by what they speak and the things referred to about 'fire' that we're going to read in a little bit here, so much of it has to do with wars and fighting and so forth.

I think of some old movies.  Sometimes you can watch some old movies of battles that have taken place and fire that was raining down on castles or fire that were raining down on others and what they used through time, and then when they had other powers to make that even magnified even more when it came to gun powder, dynamite and various other things that began to be used, 'fire coming down from heaven'.  It's about the ability to influence wars.  I'll tell you what, you go back in time and you look at this church and that state and they had the power, indeed, to influence a lot of wars.  They tried to influence a lot of wars against Queen Elizabeth I, if you remember the stories, some of the things that were there.  They tried to get France, they tried to get different ones to go to war, Spain to go to war against England.  Those things were not new, those things go back through time of various influences and power they tried to exert back and forth, and candidly sometimes even vying for, struggling for power.  But each time there was a revival there was a combination, because they each used each other to get what they wanted - that's how it works.  So people used each other, not uncommon at all in government.

And it says, verse 13 - And he does great wonders/signs, so that he makes fire come down... on the earth in the sight of men.  Interesting here how this is even kind of a flip-flop.  This is actual war now, this is actually talking about war and the power to influence war, and yet there were others spoken of that didn't have to do with war, when it talked about the government, and yet to make war against God's people, but it wasn't the same kind. Here is a matter of war against kingdoms and other peoples that's done by this religious power, in essence, because this, we've always understood this is about a religious power in the Church but not to the degree that God is showing us today.

To me it's an awesome thing here of when it shows here that something that's geared there, that adopts wrong practices, a wrong system, not God's Government, and making it harder on God's people by laws and so forth that are passed, and then there is this church out there that has power in a very strong way to influence, so much so that they're able to stir up wars.  In other words, what an awesome power when you can influence people that it's a 'just' war, it's a righteous thing, "This is from God that you're to go and destroy them."  Whew!  A lot of wars, people don't go to war because of the conscience, because of the mind in some cases, but when you have it as a religious matter, just like some who call for certain wars today, when it's becomes a religious matter it stirs people up in a different way, it moves people, and candidly that fits into some prophecies as well a little bit later here.

Verse 14 - and deceives those who dwell on the earth by the means of those 'signs'; same word...'deceives people by the means of those signs' which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;  you talk about politics and power and the things that identify them and that which has to do with being 'messages from God' when it's not from God...  anyway, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image, or a representation, if you will to/for the beast; and so this image is about the church, a great church, which was a representation for the beast; identifies the beast, a sign, another... it all works together, it's about a sign.

And so it so affects society that in the middle of every large city the first thing that is there, as a whole, the city center, is a great church, to let everyone know, "This is it; you have arrived! This is where everything stems from. This is the center of society. This is the center of everything that you live for. This is the center," in essence, "of government for your life."  It's appalling!  One thing that I've hated when I've gone to Europe, but the only thing that's helped out was sometimes if your navigation device isn't working well you can see the tall buildings in the middle and find the city center at least, you just keep heading that direction, if you can see a sign (yeah, a sign ), where the city center is.

But these are the types of things it's talking about here; that mingling, the co-mingling together here of religion and the people, but the power that was in a very great way in the church, this beast that had the two horns, that was the conscience, in essence, of Europe, that became the conscience of the government, it became the conscience of the people, of how they thought, of how they lived, of who they would war against and who they wouldn't war against, of various things that were passed and weren't passed as far as how they live their life.  That's all that's being discussed here throughout this entire process.

And deceives those who dwell on the earth by the means of those signs which they had power to do 'in the sight of' the beast; 'before' the beast, in other words, that's what the word means, 'in front of', or 'before', and gave greater credibility to the beast, influence to the beast and the power that was there, even for the conquering of nations.

... saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image/a representation for the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live/yet lived, if you will.  In other words, it was still living.  So what was living, in essence, there was a period of time where the government didn't continue on for a time, the Empire didn't continue on for a time, it came back alive under Justinian, but something that was still alive in its midst was this beast, was this power, was this influence that was still growing as a great church in Europe, growing in influence and power, and in time to where finally Justinian recognized, in essence, the authority of the pope, he was given tremendous power in Europe.  And these things have gone on and on then down through time, and that's the history of some of this.  But this, in chapter 13, is a beast - that's what it's talking about here - but it's the religious power.

It's synonymous to, in essence, the woman later on that is riding on the beast, but it's distinguishing it or identifying it as a separate beast - and just candidly, it is the false prophet, it is this beast.  When it talks about taking this in addition to the beast, it's referring to another beast, this beast, the false prophet, when it talks about that which is cast.  Not an individual who is over it.  Not an individual being who has great power.  They've all had power through time and there have been many of them through time; it's talking about the system.  That's what Jesus Christ is coming to destroy, that's what He's coming to do away with, that's what He's coming to put an end to - He judges and makes war to bring it all to an end, that's what this whole story is all about.

But here, in this chapter here, this is about a beast that rises up, it is about this beast who had this power, religious power, if you will, and let's go on to notice in verse 15 - 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 would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. That influence and that power, again, and causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a 'mark', a word here that just means 'a stamp' or 'an engraving', in other words, because it's talking about the forehead and about the hand.  We all know what that's talking about.  And where did this come from?  ...to receive this mark in their right hand and in their foreheads, that no man should buy or sell, except he which had the mark, and the name of the beast, or the number of his name. And so indeed, in the Church we have always understood that chapter 13 is about a religious beast but we didn't know the extent of it as to really how far this goes and what it means, different ways that it's spoken of.  And so here it's talking about this religious power, again, the power that was given to this great church, that which is in the mind of what you believe as far as a religion is concerned, that which is in your right hand means when you work and when you don't work, symbolic of that.  Ours is the Sabbath, that which is in our mind has to do with the Sabbath.  For that which is part of this system here a part of what that government started - that's why it speaks in terms of going back to Constantine.

That's why in chapter 13 here it takes you back to the first beast that was wounded, because candidly, Constantine started it all, in one individual, and then this church that stayed alive, it grew, it became, in essence, this beast, that's what rose up.

Let's go and see what chapter 16 has to say here that applies to this story as well.

Revelation 16:12 - And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water, so these are the Vials that are being poured out at the end-time that come directly from God, it's something that God directly is doing...and the water was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And so this is talking about, candidly, some of the final events that lead up to this moment in time, but it happens long before when some of this happens, but the event itself happens here. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Now, most people when you read through this it's easy to take it as meaning it's talking about one frog that comes out of each of the three mentioned here, and that's not what it's talking about because it's talking about numerous spirits that come out, but again, it's showing three that it comes out of that really are the same.  You can't separate, in one respect spiritually, the government, the religion, and the being who's behind it all, the being who gave it power, because the being is the same, it's speaking of the dragon, it's speaking of Satan...   kind of like an Interlinear Bible, it translates it directly from the Greek as it's in order and it says; 'And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the false beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, spirits of the three unclean, like frogs.'  And so it doesn't really matter whether it be three types of spirits or whether it's just saying that this came out of all three, it doesn't really matter because it goes on to explain what it's all about.

In verse 14 it says, For these are the spirits of demons, working 'miracles', again, that word 'signs', which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, to gather them to battle for the great day of God Almighty. And so this event happens before, well before, because it leads up to this moment when it's done, when this Vial is finally poured out, to bring together the events that are going to happen at the end of the age here that it's spoken of.  It literally speaks of the specific day here, 'to gather them together for the battle', in other words, to bring them together, that God's going to deal with them, judge them at that moment in time.  This is the crescendo of it all, in other words, but this actual event takes place long before, of them going out and doing this.  It's happening now, it's been happening for some time.

You know, what are some of the things...?  You think about some of this; some of the things that...'working signs' that other see.  There are things that people see that move the way they think.  We read it in the news all the time.  What's happening in Iran, nuclear weapons, development of nuclear weapons; it's all these things brought together, combined in such a way that it's moving people to think in specific terms of the future and what they're going to do and how they're going to respond, or leading to a point where they do respond in a certain way.

Things that are happening in Syria right now and Turkey, things that have moved people's thinking and who they're going to align with and who they're.... you've seen a lot of this over the last few years, of who people choose to align with and who they choose not to align with. Things that are taking place in Pakistan - they have so many nuclear weapons there - things taking place there to change government or to gain power.  Dangerous part of the world over there - all the way from Syria, across the Euphrates, from Iraq, from Israel, Jordan, across the Euphrates up into Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, that part of the world - it's the center of all the things that are spewing out right now of these beings who are doing many things out there to stir situations and circumstances to bring things to a head, but it's in God's timing.  And these are signs, these are things that identify people, their thinking, what they're doing and why they're doing it, various alignments that are taking place.  It all has to do with signs which identify peoples and situations and circumstances that are causing people to react and respond in specific ways globally.

I think of China and what they're doing.  I think of Russia and what they're doing.  And you think of different nations and what they're doing right now and it's just a powder keg waiting to happen. That's what this is, the story is all about these beings who are sent out and what they do - and they're lying spirits, they strive to deceive and confuse and cause people to do things that they might not normally do under normal circumstances.  On the contrary, these are stirring to create something, to do something; and that's what this is all about.  So you read it in the news all the time.  It's sometimes hard to find but it's out there, things that are happening now in Egypt - all a part of this end and what's happening - Mursi, and what he's doing, as it were, becoming a dictator now.  Oh, he got elected but now it's almost being like a dictator taking away the judicial power over the country and that's basically all that saved Egypt for a little time to give elections, to get rid of Mubarak.  And you think, "It's a farce!"  What is its source and where do these things come from - the shenanigans of governments.  Benghazi...the shenanigans of governments!  When this all comes out...?  Dumb, dumb, dumbfounding, things that are happening in this world.

So we live in a sick, sick world, all being stirred up, all being moved and motivated to bring them to this day.  That's what it's all about.  And the vast majority of that is being done by these beings - that's what it's discussing here.

So it says here, again, reading some of this, and speaking of these unclean spirits, For these are the spirits of demons, working signs, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, so they do it through government, they do it through religion, and it's done directly by Satan's command, by those who follow him.  So they all work together, they all work together to accomplish and do different things, they all have different abilities and strengths but they're all being used - three specific types here especially - directly from Satan, directly from the governments, and directly from the religious areas. The power, the things that are taking place, signs today...  you know, there is a growing sentiment throughout Europe about a clash of religions.  They're understanding that they don't mix.  Both sides understand this more and more - some that try to outlaw certain dress and what people wear and so forth, and the clash of religions that's taking place.  That's all a part of this.  And again, from three specific sources and yet basically all from the same because Satan has always been there, a head of it and behind it all.

So, it's all for a purpose, as it says here, to bring them together for this final battle, for God to do what He's going to do on this final day when He finally destroys it all.

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.  So that's the focal point of the world, it's a focal point of things that take place.  It doesn't mean that all 200 million, or anything of that nature, have to be gathered right there.  It's about what this part of the world...where the center of everything is taking place, and the gathering together, it doesn't matter where you are, they're gathered together for a specific purpose and that's what is being discussed.

Let's go on here and I'll just mention the statement again so we can move forward here quickly. Revelation 19:20 where it speaks of, again, the beast was taken and with him the false prophet, who is the beast, the lamb with the two horns.  It just calls it now what it is because there is a description of a woman later here that rides the beast, and we understand that is speaking of the same kind of thing here, but this is speaking of a specific beast, and there is a purpose why God separates the two in understanding of some of this.  I don't have time to go through some of that but you can go back through and read some of that later here about the woman and her sitting up on the beast, and because it brings in other things that aren't covered here that are done by this power.  It adds much more to it.

But this is very specific, and so it says here...with him this false prophet that worked signs before it, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, again, should be very clear what this is all talking about.  In other words, through time this is what's happened through time - and those who worshiped his image.

These both were cast alive into a lake burning with brimstone...And although we've covered some of this, what this means, it ought to jar your memory a little bit here when it talks about burning with brimstone.  It doesn't say here it was gehenna.  Gehenna basically means the same thing spiritually of a final thing that's going to happen in judgment to people, but it really has more to do with the burning...what this means here, 'fire burning with brimstone' and what leads to what is brimstone in the first place here and that which fully consumes and fully destroys, is what it's about.  It's not about a specific location, although for the Old Testament people in a very powerful way, that caused fear, which it should, fear of judgment, what's going to happen to you, gehenna, which has to do with judgment, which has to do with a final judgment because that's what it's about and that's why these expressions are used - gehenna is not even mentioned in the book of Revelation, it uses another type of term which is even more specific as to what the judgment is.

Let me just read here, a verse in Luke 17:29 - you know the story of the example here of Sodom and Gomorrah and what took place there, and it just simply says - But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed all; that's what it's about, totally consumed it to where nothing was left, nothing was left alive, nothing was left living, it was fully consumed.  That's what it's about when it speaks of 'eternal fire' or things of that nature, it's speaking of judgment.  It's not talking about something that's burning forever, it's talking about that which burns until it's totally destroyed, fully consumed - eternal judgment, I should say, things having to do with eternal judgment.  It's not eternal fire continuing forever.  But anyway, it's just about that which totally consumes to where there is nothing more; it's unquenchable, in other words, until it's out, until it's gone.  And that's what these things about judgment are here.

Let's notice Revelation 9:13 - And the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God saying to the sixth angel which had the Trumpet, so now we're in the 6th Trumpet; Loose/release the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. So here are some that are bound and now they're to be released;  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of mankind. Now, we don't know fully what this is all about...it's already happened, whatever it was - in other words, the preparation for it in that respect that's taken place.  Fully believe it has something to do with the Church and God will give that in time, showing what was an event, what was marked by time.

It says, And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: 200 million, and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them who sat upon them, having breastplates of fire, so again, this is describing something here that is more of a sign of what they do, a picture of what they do, describing here what comes from them.  It doesn't mean they have breastplates that are burning, and jacinth and brimstone: having to do with the power to fully consume and destroy what?  A third of all mankind.  And it goes on to say... and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouth, in other word, the fierceness of it all it shows here, and out of their mouth issued fire, smoke, and brimstone. In other words, by what they did, by what they could say, by what they could command, by what they could do, it came out of their mouth.  Not literally!  By what their power is to accomplish it - candidly, nuclear war - the power to do these things, the power that's there.  And by these three, it says, the third part of mankind was killed by the fire, by the smoke, and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths. So again here, not a literal physical thing but something that represents the last, in the sense of the most horrifying event that's to take place at the very end.

And again, we went through a bit of a dry-run, but please understand, this event does not have to  happen until the very, very end, okay?  So, the only thing that can happen before that are the other Trumpets and so forth that have to take place, but this event here, thank God He's going to reserve it toward the very end, because He speaks of certain things here that have to happen even in a certain day - He brings them together and those that are bound in the river Euphrates and those that went out to do what they do.

Anyway... going over to Revelation 20 here.  I'm just going to read this to you because this is something that was given in the sermon in the Feast of 2010 about Satan - just to remind everyone of what we covered at that time and it was under the title, 'Satan's Confinement and His End'.  I'm just going to read this to you because it started out here then with Revelation 20 stating this, and verse 9.

It says, [Revelation 20:9] - And there went up on the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, the beloved city: so this is talking about another time later on after Satan is released, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, so again here, we covered what this meant.  I'm just going to read it for what was given at the Feast... where the beast and the false prophet, and how that's always been interpreted in times past, are/were earlier cast; it's showing here that the same thing happens to this being as what happened to the beast and the false prophet, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. ...until it's over, tormented, closer they get, closer he gets, it's torment.  He knows what God says.

Anyway, in that sermon, I just want to read what was stated after those verses:

"What is the difference in the punishment  pronounced on human life for those who receive a final punishment from God and the punishment pronounced upon Satan after this final time of his deception and evil upon mankind again?

That which is spirit cannot be destroyed by that which is physical in nature.  No physical burning fire can hurt or destroy a spirit composed being, yet the expression being used about judgment upon Satan is one of destruction and the ending of life.

When it says that the devil will be cast into the lake of fire it goes on to say that he shall be tormented day and night forever.  It is easy to read the wrong meaning into this.  It does not say that he will be tormented in the fire forever, however it does say that he will be tormented forever, which simply means that he will be tormented without end, in other words, he will be tormented ceaselessly until the time punishment is completed.  That is all this expression means.  From the moment Satan knows, from the judgment upon him is to cease to exist, he is mentally tormented by the knowledge on a continuing basis ceaselessly, without end, until the end.  There is no purpose to torture/punish Satan for eternity any more than unrepentant man should be tormented or tortured for all eternity.

The second death for man is destruction, death for all eternity, an end to existence never to exist again. Satan is cast into a lake of fire and brimstone.  This expression is one of final judgment about an end of life with no more existence.  It is the same as what happened to the beast and the false prophet, a punishment that ends life with no more existence forever."

And now we understand what life it's speaking of - the life it's been living.

I want to read it one more time here in Revelation 19:20 - And the beast was taken, and the false prophet that worked miracles before him, which had deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image. These both/these too, is what the word literally is, These too were cast alive into a lake burning with brimstone. The reason it mentions alive is because now they're to die, the system is to die, it is never to rise again, and that's all it's about.  It's symbolic.  It's not something that two literal individuals have to be cast into a fire; that's not what it's talking about.  Fire and brimstone doesn't always apply to that in that specific way as a matter of something that literally has to happen, as much as it does to Satan.  It's about his end, whatever that means, because fire, literal physical fire and brimstone means nothing unless he were made physical, and we don’t know how God's going to do it.  God's going to do it - if He does it by fire, so be it, but the expression that is used over and over again in scripture here is about destruction.  The reason brimstone is used is because it reveals that it's been fully consumed and there is nothing left - nothing left of what existed before, no life in it anymore - until the life is totally gone is what it's showing here.  That's what remains.

So, speaking of these two, the government system and the church system, the two beasts, they've been alive for 1260 years plus 430 years, 1690 years total.  That's how they're cast alive - they're brought to an end, finally.  That's what the expression is here about what's going to take place, it's about their judgment.  That's why Jesus Christ returns.

Earlier in verse 11 it says ...to judge and to literally make war, to destroy these things, to change the world.

So indeed, God continues to magnify, to clarify events for this 'prophetic day'.

~~~end