After the Rapture (The Rapture is when Jesus will gather His followers
together in heaven. See John 14:2-3), a religious leader will arise. The Bible
refers to him as the False Prophet because while he claims to be from God he is,
in fact, inspired by Satan.
He will team
with Satan and the Antichrist to form an unholy trinity. Satan imitates the
Father, The Antichrist imitates the Son, and the False Prophet imitates the Holy
Spirit. And, just as the Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus, the False Prophet
draws people to the Antichrist.
The Bible lays
out how he will accomplish this goal:
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like
a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” (Revelation 13:11)
The False
Prophet will appear to be a man of peace and unity. That’s why Revelation 13:11
says he has horns like a lamb. But he will speak like a dragon. His message will
be against the Bible and Christians.
“And he exercises all the authority of the first beast [the Antichrist] in his
presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Revelation 13:12)
The False
Prophet will unite the world’s religions. While the idea of all religions coming
together as one sounds wonderful all religions do not teach the same thing.
Truth is not relative; it is absolute. One teaching is right. The others are
wrong.
Jesus said that
He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no man can go to heaven and be
with God except through Him (John 14:6). One road leads to God, the rest lead
away from Him. Those who follow this one world religion are the enemies of God
and will be separated from Him in hell forever (Matthew 7:13-14).
“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on
the earth in the sight of men.” (Revelation 13:13)
In order to gain
a greater following, the False Prophet will perform many miracles and the world
will be amazed. But don’t be deceived. Satan comes disguised as an angel of
light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) and so do his followers. Like Matthew 7:15 says,
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was
granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to
make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived." (Revelation
13:14)
He starts out
peaceful like a lamb, unites the world’s religions and performs miraculous
feats. Once he has gained the trust of the world, the False Prophet will command
that an image of the Antichrist be made.
He will then
show his true colors.
“He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast [Antichrist],
that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not
worship the image of the beast to be killed.” (Revelation 13:15)
After performing
another miracle – making the image of the beast speak – he will kill those who
refuse to worship the image. But those who refuse to worship should be
encouraged. Jesus told us not to fear those who can kill
the body, but rather fear those who can kill the body and cast the soul into
hell (Matthew 10:28). For those who follow Christ, death is not to be feared
because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians
5:8).
