The Reckoning

Dr. Michael Youssef: You're watching it on the news night after night, the rise of Islamization and Islamists taking places of leadership, both in the United States and in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. I sought to write a book to explain to you the unholy alliance between the left and the Islamization, how they invited the Islamic invasion. This book is a must if you want to understand what is going on in the world today.
Guest (Male): Learn more about the content of Dr. Youssef's book, *An Unholy Alliance*, at LTW.org. And you can always talk to a ministry representative to order at 866-626-4356. Introducing today's Leading the Way audio, here now, Dr. Michael Youssef.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Because of the fascination with the end times, we tend to forget that the spirit of the Antichrist is already here. It's among us. The Antichrist with a capital A is yet to be revealed. But the antichrists with a small A is every false teacher and every false teaching that we have today.
Guest (Male): When anyone brings up the Antichrist, confusion comes right on its heels. And then the guessing starts, muddying the truth by focusing on the who rather than on the heart of the Gospel. Up next on Leading the Way, Dr. Youssef takes you right to what God reveals in His word, cutting out all the confusion that comes through speculation. To allow just as much time as possible, let's listen now to a message Dr. Youssef is calling, "The Reckoning."
Dr. Michael Youssef: Today we come to Chapter 12 and 13 and we deal with an individual known as the Antichrist. Turn with me, please, Chapter 12 of the book of Revelation, beginning in Verse 1. John calls this Antichrist, he calls him the beast. But we also meet other symbolic figures: a multi-headed dragon and all of that stuff. And I'm going to demystify it by the power and the grace of God very soon. And here in Chapter 12, we meet a woman clothed with the sun and the moon at her feet and her head is crowned with twelve stars. Now many of you remember Joseph's dream, the one that got him into trouble with his brothers. And his dream was very simply that his father, Jacob, was the sun and his mother, Rachel, was the moon. And then the twelve brothers, the tribes of Israel, the stars, and they're all bowing to him because Joseph is a type of Christ. The woman here is none other than Israel, who later became the new Israel of God, according to Galatians 6:16. The Church is the new Israel of God, the Church is the elect of God from every tribe and every nation and every corner of the globe. Verse 6, John tells us that the Church flees to the wilderness to a place where God prepared. And there God nourish His church for 1,260 days or three and a half years. That's why some of my friends who say that the rapture is going to come after three and a half years of the Antichrist rule. Some say we go before, some say we'll be halfway, others say we're going to go through it. Take your pick. I'm not going to argue with you. It's okay by me. You're not going to lose your salvation either way. In Verse 7, Satan goes to war against Michael and the angels of the Lord. Now I need to stop here and give you a principle about prophetic writing that will help you when you read other prophetic writings like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and certainly Revelation. In prophetic writing, you find that the past and the present and the future are written side by side. I want to explain that. In this very passage in the chapter, you get the past, the present, and the future right all side by side. You see that in Isaiah when asked about the current problem and asking about salvation now. This is 700 years before Christ. And what does the word come from the Lord? A word of prophecy: the Virgin shall have a child. He's talking about the future. And so you get the past, the present, and the future all together. And here in Revelation 12:7, after he talks about Satan being thrown out of heaven, which is the past. He talks about Satan currently being defeated, which is present. And then he speaks about the ultimate defeat of Satan, which is in the future. You see them side by side. The war in heaven has already taken place and Satan got thrown out of heaven. Verse 9, "The great dragon was hurled down." And then he wants to make sure that you know what that dragon who the dragon is. It's a symbolic term. He goes on to say, look at the verse, Verse 9, it's the same as the ancient serpent. He's the same as Satan. He's the same as the devil. It's different names for the same person. Now listen to me, if you've ever doubted the Genesis account of creation, I hope after what I'm going to tell you, you never going to doubt it again. First, the Lord Jesus Christ through whom and for whom the whole world was created, and He was there at the creation of the world. He affirmed the Genesis account. Do you think the integrity of Jesus if it wasn't true, He would have said, "Oh no, guys, you don't understand, Adam and Eve were symbolic figures"? No, He affirmed them. He said as it was said in Matthew 19. The second thing is here in the book of Revelation, the scripture makes it clear again. When referred to Satan as the serpent, he's the same one who tempted Adam and Eve in the garden. Verse 10, a voice in heaven says, "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, for the accuser has been hurled down." Praise God. Here's that present again. What do you mean by the accuser? Well, because of Jesus' victory now on the cross, we can have victory over Satan. Amen? Even when we fall and stumble, when we repent and turn to the Lord, He forgives us and gives us victory. How did this accuser work? When I fall and stumble, and I do, don't get uppity, you do too. Yeah, what happens? Satan in the courts of heaven says, "See, see, what a hypocrite he is. He says one thing, he does another. See?" At that moment, my defense attorney leaps to his feet and he's the best in the business. Now defense attorneys, don't get offended, but he's better than you ever hope to be. He is the best. First John 2:1 says, "If anybody does sin, we have an advocate, a defense attorney, who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ the Righteous One." You see? My advocate jumped to his feet and he says, "Father, I died on the cross for Michael. I redeemed him by My blood. My righteousness is his righteousness. His repentance is the mark of his salvation." And God the Father bangs the gavel and he says, "Case dismissed." Amen. That's how you can think about it. Amen. Beloved, listen to me, one of Satan's most cruel strategies is he accuses us in our thoughts. He whispers, "You have sinned again, haven't you? You are worthless. You're going to ask for forgiveness again? Do you think you can be used again?" See, he attacks us in our thoughts, but he pretends as if he's the Holy Spirit. Remember he's a faker. Remember he's the counterfeiter. And he's not going to come to you and say, "I'm Satan and I'm doing this." No, no, no, he's going to come and sound like the voice of the Holy Spirit. And that's why, beloved, listen to me, I want to tell you this, you must learn at any cost to distinguish between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the accusation of Satan. You don't have a choice if you want to live in victory. You must be able to make the distinction. You say, "Well, how I do this?" Listen carefully, I'll help you. The Holy Spirit urges you to repent and turn to God. Satan beats you down and he tries to keep you away from God. "Well, you've sinned, you might as well stay in sin." When you hear the voice of Satan, change the channel. Begin to praise God for His salvation, begin to praise God for His redemption, begin to praise God for His grace. Go to God in prayer, claim the blood of the Lamb, ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse you, ask the Holy Spirit to send Satan scurrying, and he will. Now we come to the chapter that many of you been waiting for. Chapter 13. And it is the chapter that reveals to us Satan's most evil creation. Not one of, no, the most evil creation of Satan is the beast, aka the Antichrist. The beast rises from the sea, which means he comes from humanity. He's a human being. Don't miss the family resemblance between Satan and the Antichrist. While the Antichrist is a human being, yet he's completely possessed by Satan. He will be filled with Satan's ability, persuasive ability, deceptive abilities. In Verses 3 and 14 of Chapter 13, the Antichrist will be wounded, perhaps by some sort of an assassination attempt, but he's going to be healed quickly by satanic magic. And because of this apparent miracle, the whole world is going to bow to the Antichrist. "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him? We are helpless." I want to say, speak for yourself. I want you to hear this very clearly. Because of our fascination by the end times, and some people are obsessed by it, almost paralyzed, and they don't serve, all they do all day long. That's not healthy. Others don't really give it much thought. That's not healthy either. We got to have a balanced approach. But because of the fascination with the end times, we tend to forget that the spirit of the Antichrist is already here. It's among us. The Antichrist with a capital A is yet to be revealed. But the antichrists with a small A is every false teacher and every false teaching that we have today. First John 2:18, the Apostle said, "You have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come." Who are these antichrists? Thank God, I don't have to answer that question. The scripture gives us the answer. We don't have to speculate. These are the people who deny that divinity of Jesus Christ, who deny the Father and the Son. Beloved, listen to me, anyone who teaches that Jesus is one of many ways to God is an antichrist with a small A. Anyone who denies Jesus' claim to be the only way to the Father and to heaven and to salvation is an antichrist with a small A. Anyone who says that other religions are equally divine just like the Christian faith is an antichrist with a small A. And you know and I know this view of many paths to God has infected many an evangelical church today. Here's my personal conviction, always make a distinction between an opinion or a thought and the word of God. I never want to mislead you. This is a personal opinion that I personally believe that this antichrist teaching with a small A that's infected many an evangelical church, many a megachurch, is Satan's way of softening the ground, getting the ground ready for the Antichrist with a capital A. The Antichrist with capital A eventually will become a powerful world leader with some religious overtones. Only in 1 John 2:18 that he is revealed as the Antichrist. I don't know whether you noticed that. But in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul calls him the man of lawlessness and the son of destruction. In the book of Daniel and in the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24, they talk about him a world leader who causes an abomination. The Antichrist will pretend to be a man of peace for a short period of time. Then he's going to renege and show his true color. And he's going to be so horrendous. Just as Jesus the Christ is full expression of God the Father, the Antichrist will be the full expression of Satan. Remember in John 14:9, Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Anyone who's going to see the Antichrist would have seen Satan in the same way. There is a contrast between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Antichrist. And that's why the term Antichrist came into being. Jesus is the holy one of God, the holy one of God. The Antichrist is the lawless one of Satan. Jesus is the man of sorrow, the Antichrist is the man of sin. Jesus came from heaven, the Antichrist comes from the abyss. Jesus came in the name of the Father, the Antichrist will come in his own name. Jesus came as a servant, the Antichrist will claim to be God. The world rejected Jesus, but the world will bow down and worship the Antichrist. Jesus is the son of God, the Antichrist is the son of perdition. But here's something else you must know. All of these imageries about the claws of a bear and teeth of a lion and so forth. Remember as I told you in the last message, these are imageries the Bible gives us in order to communicate something deeper. What is it? Is trying to tell us about the brutality and the savagery of that Antichrist. It's going to be incredible, beyond imagination. The dragon, Satan, will give the beast, the Antichrist, is going to give him his throne, is going to give him his power, is going to give him his authority. The beast will perform counterfeit miracles. Verse 6, he will openly blaspheme God. The Antichrist will make war against the Christians on that day. Probably Christians will be blacklisted. They will be unable to make a living. And we're beginning to see that now. Because everyone on Earth whose name is not written in the Book of Life will worship the beast. So the question I have: is your name written in the Book of Life? And then John writes Revelation 13:9 and 10. Now please, if you have your Bible with you, underline those verses. They are really important verses. Let me read them to you first. "He who has ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed." Now many people really kind of find these words to be baffling. But I want to tell you those words are some of the most precious jewels that are tucked into the word of God. The Lord is saying to all those who are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, whose name written in the Book of Life: they will be fearless in the face of persecution. That's what he's saying. Faithful believers will say, "I'm not afraid of captivities. I'm not afraid of the sword. The Antichrist may kill my body, but he can never separate me from the love of God." But before Jesus returns, the Antichrist will rise, and he will preach as if he is Christ. He will preach a message of peaceful coexistence. A message of "let's just be one big happy human family. Let's all just get under one tent." Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says "Coexist"? Here as believers in Jesus Christ, we don't only respect people of other faith. No, no, no, we don't just tolerate them. No, no, no, no. We love them. You with me? We love them. That's our command of our Lord. We have no choice but to love them. But loving them compels me to lovingly but firmly say that there is no name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved. That is true love. That's true love. Is the Christian faith the only faith that teaches about the last days, the end times? No. Talk to some of the orthodox Jews, they're waiting for their Messiah to come. Islam teaches that a powerful leader will rise in the last days. And the similarities between the biblical Antichrist and the Muslim Mahdi or Messiah or the guided one is astounding. I told you the devil knows the Bible. He knows the Bible. See, their Messiah or Imam Mahdi will be seen as savior who will lead the revolution to establish a global empire. The Mahdi will rule the earth as the final Caliphate or successor to their prophet. Muslims believe that the Mahdi will appear at the same time of Jesus' return. And they believe that Jesus will return, but not as the Son of God. The Muslims see him as merely a prophet named Isa. Nonetheless, they believe Jesus will return and they even call him Messiah. But listen carefully, they place the Mahdi, their Mahdi, over Jesus. They believe that Jesus will descend into Syria, east of Damascus, and he will assist the Mahdi in the ruling of the earth. After that comes the judgment. Listen carefully, when you read the writings, you'll discover that the Mahdi has all of the power and the authority of the Antichrist. Here is the interesting part regarding the relationship between the biblical Antichrist and the Islamic Mahdi. Both the Mahdi and the Antichrist will possess political and religious powers. Both will be worshipped as the head of one-world religion. Like the Antichrist, the Mahdi will establish his capital in Jerusalem. From there he will rule the world. The Bible said that the Antichrist will target Jews and Christians for destruction. The Islamic Mahdi will wage war against Jews and Christians. Those who will oppose the Antichrist will be executed. Those who will oppose the Mahdi will be executed. One of their Ayatollah recently, Ayatollah Amini, said, "The Mahdi will first offer the Jew and the Christian opportunity to convert. Those who convert will be spared, but if they do not, they will be killed." Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24:21, "There will be great distress unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never be equaled again." Daniel Chapter 9 Verse 27 said that the Antichrist will establish a covenant of seven-year peace with Israel. But halfway he reneges, three and a half years later. He will turn against them and he will defile Jerusalem with an abomination causes the desolation. The Hadith of Islam says that the Mahdi will make seven-year covenant with Israel. In the final seven verses, Revelation 13, John reveals a second beast. This one is more dangerous. The first beast is the Antichrist and he rose from humanity. The second beast will rise from the earth. But this second beast will make sure that people of the earth worship the first beast. The second beast will perform miracles and bringing even down fire from heaven. And the reason the second beast, which often referred to as the false prophet. He looks like a lamb because he will speak like a Christian. He would claim to be a Christian. But he will assist in the worship of the Antichrist. Islam said that Isa will assist the Mahdi. The Bible said that the false prophet will assist the Antichrist to establish a global domination. Beloved, that's not a coincidence. The devil knows the scripture better than many Christians. Satan knows the Bible. The false prophet will ensure the worship of the Antichrist. Everyone will be required to receive the mark of the beast. Those who refuse that mark will not be able to buy or sell. Last verse, Chapter 13, this verse has baffled people for years. And I want to demystify it for you. Verse 18, "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." People have always, always been baffled by that number. It's not a secret code. It really isn't. I have been telling you throughout this series of messages that number seven is the number of completion, is the number of perfection. And if a seven is the number of completion and perfection, what looks like seven but is not is number six. If seven represents Christ, six represents Satan. If seven represents perfection, six represents wickedness and evil pretending to be perfection. If the Holy Trinity of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—would be referred to as 777, the unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet would be 666. Let me leave you with these words. Every believer in Jesus Christ, you have nothing to fear. You have nothing to fear of Satan, you have nothing to fear of the Antichrist, you have nothing to fear of the false prophet. Your name is written in the Book of Life not in pencil and eraser but with the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ himself.
Guest (Male): Dr. Michael Youssef, with a reminder that those who belong to Christ have nothing to fear, not now, not in eternity. Do you have spiritual questions? How about taking just a few minutes to speak with a Leading the Way pastor or a counselor? They'd be so happy to help guide you toward biblical answers. And you can start at LTW.org/Jesus. Remember, Leading the Way is a listener-supported media ministry. It's only through your prayers and faithful generosity that the truth of God's word continues to be passionately proclaimed at home and around the world. So partner with Dr. Youssef today when you visit LTW.org. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.