TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY IN BIBLE PROPHECY
Lesson 30: The anti-Christian world government's use of modern
technology to launch its war against Christians.
I A dictator proclaimed a God.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).
A The Apostle Paul described this dictator who would
establish himself as a god.
1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren,
2 Not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by
spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from
us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come
(II Thess. 2:1-2, RSV).
1 Paul's objective here was to correct an erroneous
impression which had been made on the minds of the
Thessalonians that Christ had returned, or was about
to return.
2 Paul then described two events that will take place
prior to Christ's Second Coming.
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day
will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
4 He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is
called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in
God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to
tell you these things? (II Thess. 2:3-5, NIV).
1 First, Christ would not come until there should be a
great rebellion or revolt against civil governments
around the world after AWWI, as described in the Fifth
Trumpet prophecy.
2 The second event to look for prior to Christ's return
will be the appearance of the man of sin doomed to
destruction, who will claim that he is God.
3 He will not originate the revolt, but will capitalize
on the unprecedented upheaval to launch his bid for
world power.
B Only those who are not written in the Lamb's Book of
Life will worship the man who will claim he is God.
C What is the meaning of the statement "the lamb having
been slain from the foundation of the world? (IGENT)"
1 It refers to the time of the world's creation when
God prepared a lamb, Christ, who would and did come
to die for man's sin.
2 All those who repent of their sin and rebellion
against God and accept Christ as God's Son, the
Savior of the world, receive His gift of everlasting
life.
3 From that day of alignment with Jesus Christ onward,
a Christian's name can never be blotted out of God's
book of life.
4 Moses recorded this spiritual truth about God's book
of life during a time of crisis when the Israelites
had built an idol of gold to worship:
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh,
this people have sinned a great sin, and have made
them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if
not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou
hast written.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath
sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book
(Exodus 32:31-33).
- Moses was clearly told here that God will blot the
names of those who sin against Him out of His book
of life.
5 The Book of Ezekiel records whose names were
originally written in God's book of life:
4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the
father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul
that sinneth, it shall die (Ezek. 18:4).
a God wrote every man's name in His book of life in
the beginning.
b However, the person who sins against God will die
and the sinning person's name will be blotted out
of God's book of life.
6 The Book of Romans states which men are classified as
sinners.
23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God; (Rom. 3:23).
- Everyone is a sinner.
7 However, Jesus said all sins shall be forgiven unto
the sons of men except one.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven
unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith
soever they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost
hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal
damnation: (Mark 3:28-29).
a Jesus said all sins are forgiven unto the sons of
men, but a man will not be forgiven the sin of
rejecting the message of the Holy Spirit.
b Furthermore, a man is in danger of eternal
damnation, which is the blotting out of a person's
name from the book of life, if he chooses to
reject the Holy Spirit's message.
8 Jesus said the Holy Spirit "shall testify of me"
(John 15:26).
- In essence, the Holy Spirit's whole mission is to
testify that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of
the world.
D In summary, there are two editions of the book of life.
1 The first edition, written before man was created,
contained the names of every person who would be born
into the human race.
2 The second edition, the Lamb's book of life, does not
contain the names of those who reject Christ as the
Savior of the world, since God blots their names out
of the book of life for committing this unforgivable
sin.
3 Thus, John emphatically stated that all the names of
those who shall worship the coming self-proclaimed
dictator-god "are not written in the book of life of
the Lamb."
II Eternal considerations on the importance of what has just
been said.
9 If anyone has an ear let him hear.
10 If anyone is for captivity, to captivity he goes; if
anyone by a sword will kill, it behoves him by a sword to
be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the
saints (Rev. 13:9-10, IGENT).
A "If anyone has an ear let him hear" emphasizes the fact
that a decision to worship the self-proclaimed god will
also become a choice to separate oneself from God,
forever.
B The text warns that those who join the new-world
religion on the premise that the Christians deserve to
be persecuted by the Fourth Beast, will soon find that
they also are being oppressed by the system.
C The closing remark: "Here is the endurance and the faith
of the Saints," is a reference to one of God's immutable
laws.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap (Gal. 6:7).
D "If anyone by a sword will kill, it behoves him by a
sword to be killed" means, therefore, that those who
choose to go along with the world government's program
of persecuting Christians will suffer the same fate from
the same world government they chose to support.
III The Lamb Beast's rise to power.
11 And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and
it had two horns like to a lamb, and spoke as a dragon
(Rev. 13:11, IGENT).
A "Two horns like to a lamb" identifies this power
structure as a religious organization.
B The beast's "two horns" represent two prominent national
powers that will assist in the initial design and on-
going shared control of this religious power structure.
C The fact that it will speak like a dragon indicates that
Satan's nation, Red China, will be instrumental in the
design and promotion of the new "Religious Beast."
D Here again China will use the facilities of an
international organization to push Satan's ideology of
unity into the religious sector.
E The lamb beast "coming up out of the earth" implies that
it will not develop from a popular movement out of the
sea of people, but rather from a plot designed by a few
international power brokers.
12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its
presence, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants
worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
13 It works great signs, even making fire come down from
heaven to earth in the sight of men; (Rev. 13:12-13, RSV).
A Red China will set up the "Religious Beast" with the
same "authority of the first beast," for the purpose of
opening up a second front in its war against Christians.
B The "Religious Beast" will stage a spectacular "magic
show" which will even include fire coming down out of
heaven.
C The statement that "it makes the earth worship the first
beast" implies that the "great signs" will be so
spectacular that people will get the impression that the
"earth" and its elements are responding to the
"Religious Beast's" commands.
D The counterfeit miracles will help persuade people to go
along with the new secular and religious order.
14 And it deceives the (ones) dwelling on the earth because
of the signs which it was given to it to do before the
beast, who has the stroke of the sword and lived (again).
15 And it was given to it to give spirit to the image of
the beast, in order that the image of the beast might even
speak, and might make in order that as many as might not
worship the image of the beast should be killed
(Rev. 13:14-15, IGENT).
A The group manipulating the "Religious Beast" will erect
an image, or statue, in honor of the world leader who
will receive a mortal wound.
B They will then simulate the image of this world leader
coming to life. The image will "even speak."
C Everyone will then be ordered to worship the image which
will appear to be alive.
D The sensational effect of the speaking image will
convince many that their leader has come to life as a
god.
E How do we know that the world leader will not actually
arise from the dead?
1 First, the introduction of the "Image Man" in verse
14--and "it," (the Religious Beast), "deceives," or
tricks, "the (ones) dwelling on the earth"--clearly
labels the whole affair a lie.
2 Second, the statement that those who will refuse to
worship "the image" of the beast (i.e., not the
person) "should be killed" shows that the "Image Man"
coming to life will be nothing more than a hoax.
F The "Image Man" event reveals a cunning attempt by Satan
to mimic Jesus Christ's resurrection from the grave
after being dead for three days.
G Jesus warned His people concerning such counterfeits
when He talked to His disciples about the end times.
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that
no man deceive you (Mt. 24:4).
24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and
perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the
elect--if that were possible (Mt. 24:24, NIV).
25 Behold, I have told you in advance (Mt. 24:25, NASB).
- Thanks to Christ's advance warnings, Christians will
not be deceived.
IV The mark of the beast will be the main weapon used by the
world government to subdue the Christian community.
16 And it makes all men, the small and the great, both the
rich and the poor, both the free men and the slaves, in
order that they should give to them a mark on the right
hand of them or on the forehead of them (Rev. 13:16, IGENT),
17 So that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark,
that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name
(Rev. 13:17, RSV).
18 Here is wisdom. The one having reason let him count the
number of the beast; for it is the number of a man. And
the number of it (is) six hundreds (and) sixty-six
(Rev. 13:18, IGENT).
A The "Religious Beast" will use the Fourth Beast's global
computer systems to enforce the decree demanding that
everyone worship its life-like idol.
B The text shows that the replacement of cash and checks
by a computerized international monetary system, will
make it relatively easy to force people to cooperate
with the new world and religious order.
C The text warns that no one will be able to "buy or sell"
unless they have the "mark, the name of the beast or the
number of the name of it" (Rev. 13:17, IGENT) placed
permanently on their right hand, or forehead.
D In addition to one of the three acceptable computer
access identifiers, every person will need a unique
personal identification number (PIN).
E The text states that the number of the international
government will also be the number of a man.
F "Here is wisdom," reveals that some peculiar knowledge,
or skill, will be required to understand the relation-
ship between the number 666 and the name of the man who
will play the most prominent role in establishing and
controlling the world government.
G Verse 18 exhorts those who have "reason," or unique
understanding based on specialized skills, to "count"
the number of the beast, since the number 666 will be
connected to the name of this specific man.
H The word "count" in the original Greek means compute.
I Today's generation, with its exposure to computerized
banking and government social-security systems, can
readily understand that a unique number can be entered
into a computer that will compute, or find, a man's name
that corresponds to his personal identification number.
J Thus, God has revealed in advance the specific computer
access identification number of the future world leader
who will be worshipped as a god, so that people will be
able to positively identify him at the time of the end
by connecting his number 666, with his name.
K In summary, Red China will use the facilities of the
beast's computerized monetary sword to overcome and kill
Christians around the globe.
L The beast's financial computers will systematically
separate the true Christians from the unbelievers who
are simply going through the motions of Christianity as
they mill around in the outer court of today's Christian
churches.
M During the days of this economic persecution the true
body of believers will not have to spend time trying to
determine which people should be "cast out outside" the
Church, since the beast's computers will be systematic-
ally separating Christ's servants from the unbelievers
using the mark of the beast.