Choosing Christ Over Deception: Beware the Second Beast

So what is it he actually does? What will this beast do? Well, let's deal with the deception because that's what defines him more than anything. Verse 14, he talks about these signs that the beast is gonna be able to work, but he says, it deceives those who dwell on the earth. You remember that there's a difference between those who dwell on the earth and those who dwell in heaven. We're talking about people who who believe in the system of this world and the pattern of this world and the things of this world. And for them, they are being deceived by this beast to worship the first beast. [00:42:34] (32 seconds)  #DeceivedByDesire

Solomon built a temple, and when he builds the temple, he he puts an altar, and he puts a sacrifice before to dedicate the temple, and God consumes that, and the smoke fills the temple. Over and over in the old testament, God shows up in this sign of fire. And so here this individual mimics what God is able to do, but the purpose isn't to demonstrate the glory and the power of God. The purpose is to deceive people. [00:45:46] (27 seconds)  #FalseDivineFire

Now if you'd asked me about twenty years ago how you take a statue and make it look alive, I would say, don't know. I've been to Disney World and I went to the Hall Of The Presidents and that was pretty impressive. But I kinda knew that was a robot. Right? But now in the world of AI and deep fakes and all that we have, it's hard to tell the real from the fake anymore. The world, it'd be easy to deceive people into that. And yet, that's what we're gonna have. This is nothing new either. [00:47:16] (31 seconds)  #CounterfeitImageIsDeath

He takes something of the divine essence of God and imparts it into the man. Makes him a living creature. All other creatures, all of the animals we know, everything God spoke them into existence. God breathes a breath of life into humanity. And that's why you have a soul, an eternal part of you that will never die, that lives for all eternity in one or two places, either in the presence of God or separated be from God because God breathes the breath of life into life. That that's why we think life is sacred. That's why we would have a sanctity of human life Sunday. It is because God creates life, and in that breathes this breath of life that creates a living creature with a soul. [00:51:26] (47 seconds)  #LifeForgivenInChrist

``But the word itself for Mark is interesting. Because because the Greek word here is a Greek word of charamag. And it it means to mark in such a way that it claims ownership. John would have understand it understood it in his Roman world as the imperial seal of Rome. That when it was placed on something, it meant it belonged to Rome. It was Roman. Don't touch it. Don't mess with it. This belongs to Rome. You you might think of it in the terms of like the Old West and how cowboys would brand cattle, and it marked that ranch. That that owner, the the cattle were they belong to him. It might even represent something of a tattoo, but it represented ultimately ownership and allegiance. To take the mark says, I belong to that person. [00:54:50] (56 seconds)  #MarkOfAllegiance

To take the mark of the beast is to say, I do not wanna be identified with Christ. I wanna be identified with the beast. And he does that by manipulating everything around to create this dependency. You can't buy or sell without this mark. And so if you're hungry and want food, if you need gas in your gas tank, if if you can't pay your electric bill or whatever, you have to have the mark to be able to function this society. And so so there's a a a feeling, a pressure that comes upon you to say, well, let's just take the mark because it's the only way we function here. And you become almost like those 60% woman women. I don't feel like I have a choice. I have to do it to go along. [00:55:45] (43 seconds)  #RefuseTheBeast

You see, if you and I are in it for what we get out of it, then it's easy to be manipulated and deceived. Because all we gotta do is find the right place to push, the right pressure to to put on you, the right place to try to manipulate, and then we will cave. Because in reality, our God is ourselves. We just have to be shown that, well, somebody else is a little stronger than us, a little more powerful than us, a little bit more in control than us, a little. And we say, okay. Well, then then I'll do what you want, so maybe down the line I can get what I want. [01:02:06] (33 seconds)  #DeepfakesAndDeception

But God's incredible love was evident in when he sent Jesus to die for us while we were still dead in trespasses and sin. That Jesus chose to die on a cross in our place, to shed his blood so we could be forgiven. And when we believe in him, when we trust in Jesus, an exchange takes place. This life of death and sin is forgiven. And a life of forgiveness and purpose in Christ becomes ours, and we belong to him. [01:06:48] (40 seconds)  #DeceptionOfTheBeast