One Sunday morning the famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher had to be absent from his pastorate. His brother was to preach for him. When the people realized that the eloquent preacher was not going to appear, many started to leave the church. His brother was not disturbed. Calling for silence, he said, "All who came this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may leave now. The rest of us will remain to worship God." No one left after that!

We live in critical times! Many people in the United States have become so accepting of what is going on in our society that they accept everything that they see and hear! This is dangerous! The Holy Scripture warns us about being deceived by every form of doctrine.

We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious. For those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers--and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me. 1 Timothy 1:9-1

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:16

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3, 4

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. Titus 1:9

You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Titus 2:1

God considers our doctrine to be very important! But it needs to be YOUR doctrine. As your pastor and teacher I have to give an account to God for what I teach, but you have to give an account to Him for what you believe and act on!

In Revelation 13 we see that doctrine is very, very important. In chapter 12 we discussed the fact that Satan tried to kill Jesus. That didn’t work, so he tried to destroy the Church. In the first half of chapter 13 we learned that out of the sea, which represents the many nations and society in general, rose a great world government that is lead by the antichrist. Satan gives his power to the world government and the antichrist. Revelation 17:8-11 describes the beast more fully! In part it says, "The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come."

Rev. 17: 13, 14: "They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers." (That would be us!)

Again, I believe that scripture teaches that all of this will occur after the rapture! You and I do not want to be around! We want to be with the redeemed that go in the rapture! But if you miss the rapture go ahead and get saved, even though you know that you will suffer. The short suffering you suffer under the antichrist will not even compare with the suffering of hell!

Revelation 13:11-18

Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men.

Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead. So that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.

This other beast will assist the first beast, directing the world to worship the antichrist. (v. 12) He will mislead humanity by working great miracles (vv. 13, 14). He is also referred to as the "false prophet." An image of the antichrist will probably be placed in God’s temple. His "two horns like a lamb" signify his attempt to deceive by portraying himself as a loving, gentle and caring person.

In reality, his character is not even close to that of a lamb, but that of a dragon!

Please listen to my next statements very carefully! Do not read anything into them!

This false prophet will promote an ecumenical religion that accepts both true doctrine and false doctrine. As we have stated previously, that first Sunday after the rapture the churches will be full! Many will turn to Christ, but I believe that many more will be taught false doctrine.

Some of the things that are taught in churches today are doctrines that you and I find appalling. Now I realize that the people in this church are not the final authority on doctrine, but we are accountable to God for what we believe!

Philippians 2:12 – Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

I believe that the teachings that practicing homosexuality is from God may be well- intended by some, but being well-intended does not equate truth! Some who promote ecumenicism very vigorously also believe in abortion and euthanasia. These are damnable doctrines – heresies!

Let me illustrate the danger of wrong doctrine this way. If in this hand is a glass of pure water and you pour it into a glass of muddy water, what do you have? Muddy water. If you pour muddy water into the glass of pure water you still have muddy water. The only way to stay pure is to stay out of the mud!

We now turn to Rev. 13:15-18. These are awesome verses. Too often we compromise with the Devil so he will leave us alone. Don’t do that! In verse 15 we read, "He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed." There are some people we do not want to compromise with! Satan is one of them!

Verse 16, 17: "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead. So that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666."

Satan plays hard ball, and we need to do so as well! Satan is out to kill you if you do not follow him, so take authority over him! "Do what!" you ask. "Take authority over Satan?" Yes! Luke chapter 10 tells the story of Jesus sending out the Seventy-two to minister. They were blown away by the experience. When they returned they exclaimed, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." (verse 10)

It was an eye-opening experience for the disciples to discover that the demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. The Greek word for subject is hupotasso. It is a military term meaning, "to arrange under." The idea is a group of soldiers snapping to attention and following precisely the orders of their commanding officer.

Through the years I have asked people who is the most powerful – God or Satan. An amazing number of people think that the devil is more powerful! Perhaps he is in their lives, for Romans 6 tells us that whoever we choose to obey his servants we are!

Neil Anderson suggests that many Christians see God and His kingdom on one side and Satan and his kingdom on the other side. Both kingdoms seem to be very powerful, and here we are, stuck in the middle between the two, like the rope in a tug of war. On some days God seems to be winning and on the other days the devil has the upper hand. And, it seems we don’t have anything to say about the matter!

Well, the disciples got a new perspective, and we need a new perspective too! Anderson continues, "Spiritual authority is not a tug of war on a horizontal plane; it is a vertical chain of command. Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth according to Matthew 28:18. He’s at the top. He has given power and authority to His servants to be exercised in His name. (Luke 10:17). We’re underneath Jesus Christ in authority, so He delegates it to us. Where does Satan and his demons fit in? They are at the bottom, subject to the authority Christ has invested in us!

Satan is not an equal with God… he is a vanquished foe. But if he can deceive you or me into believing that he is in charge… well, for us, he is in charge! Fire him!

Each of us has been given the authority to do the will of God in the name of Jesus Christ! Go for it!

The number 666: what does it mean? Many commentators believe that six is the number for humanity in Scripture and three is the number of God. Therefore the three sixes could very well refer to a man who makes himself god. Like the Roman emperors and many who came before and after them, he believes he is a god.

This morning I have tried to challenge us in a couple of ways. First, to realize that we need to be dedicated to studying God’s word carefully so that we have a pure doctrine. Secondly, to challenge us to see that God is in charge and Satan is a defeated foe. You and I actually have authority over the forces of evil if we will exercise that power through Christ.

Revelation 13:11-18

This false prophet will promote an ecumenical religion that accepts both true doctrine and false doctrine. As we have stated previously, that first Sunday after the rapture the churches will be full! Many will turn to Christ, but I believe that many more will be taught false doctrine.