Counterfeit Trinity: Satan, Antichrist, & False Prophet

As we have seen in this series, God is a Triune Being encompassing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Satan, the great deceiver, will follow this template to convince those left behind at the Tribulation that he is the promised Messiah. His false trinity will consist of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, wrapped in flesh to come to earth and to save mankind by being the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He paid our sin debt in full, so that whosoever believes in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-50) will have eternal life with Him in Heaven (John 3:16).

To copy this pattern, Satan will bring the Antichrist into the world, who will at first appear to be a savior in that he promises to end global famine and to bring world peace (Daniel 8:23-27; 9:25-27). The Antichrist will mimic the miracles of Jesus by performing signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9) But three and a half years after the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel, he will commit the “abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14),” desecrating the altar of the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and proclaiming that he is god (Daniel 8:11-13; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

The Antichrist is referred to in Revelation 13 as the beast resembling a leopard, but with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion (v.2). His blasphemy against God has three targets: God’s Name, His tabernacle, and the saints in heaven (v.6), and he rises to power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations (v.7). The Antichrist will parody the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus by suffering an apparently fatal wound, lying in a coma, and then miraculously returning to life (Revelation 13:3).  

John contrasts the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, with the spirit of antichrist. Any true believer in Christ is indwelled by the Holy Spirit and is not ashamed to proclaim that Jesus is God Who came to the earth in the form of human flesh (1 John 4:1-2). Conversely, any person indwelled by the spirit of antichrist will not admit that Christ is fully divine, yet fully human (1 John 4:3).

During the Tribulation, the False Prophet (Revelation 13:11-18) will play the dark counterpart to the Holy Spirit, drawing attention to the Antichrist just as the Holy Spirit leads hearts and minds to focus on Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14). The tools of his trade are speaking like a dragon, miraculous signs, and deception.

The False Prophet will appear to unite all remaining religions into a single, global, ecumenical system worshipping Antichrist as the false god (Revelation 17). He will lead many souls still alive in the Tribulation to be branded with the mark of the beast, or the Antichrist, namely “666” on their forehead or right hand. This number, composed of three sixes (the number of man) is described as the sum of three numbers: six hundred, threescore, and six (Revelation 13: 18).

People who accept the mark hail from three groups of men: small and great, rich and poor, free and bond (Revelation 13:16), Whoever refuses the mark of the beast cannot buy or sell in the new world order  (Revelation 13:16-18), but whoever accepts it is doomed forever – this is the point of no return regarding the possibility of salvation.

During the Tribulation, after the sixth angel dries up the river Euphrates, three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon (Satan), and out of the mouth of the beast (Antichrist), and out of the mouth of the false prophet to deceive mighty kings to come against Israel at the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:12-14).

After Christ’s return and His defeat of Satan and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon, Satan has three more destinations (Revelation 20): bound in the bottomless pit for 1000 years (v. 3), loosed to deceive the nations and fight a final losing battle (v. 7-9), then cast into the lake of fire and brimstone forever with the beast and the false prophet (v. 10).

Much speculation has been written about the possible identity of the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Based on current events and Bible prophecy (Matthew 24),  we may indeed be caught up in the last throes or birth pangs (Romans 8 :22) of the Church Age before the Rapture, when believers are caught up in the air to meet Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

These two tribulation villains (Antichrist and the False Prophet) may already be prowling the earth, being groomed by their evil father to come to prominence once the restraining influence of the Church and the Holy Spirit indwelling believers is removed at the Rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:2-11).

But as Christians, we should not be anxious about the identity of the Antiichrist, because during our lives, we will never find out who he is. Instead, we should be looking up (Luke 21:28) for the blessed hope (Titus 2:13) of Christ’s return!

© 2012 Laurie Collett

 

Counterfeit Trinity: Satan the Deceiver

In his vain attempt to be God, Satan is the master deceiver who tries to copy God in all that he does. Just as God is a Triune Being: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so does Satan mimic this pattern in the three persons of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

Satan was originally created by God as Lucifer, the most beautiful and wise anointed angel who covered God’s throne, singing praises to Him, until he fell due to his sin of pride (Ezekiel 28). The beauty and wisdom of Lucifer, which means “the shining one” in Hebrew, are reflected in his names of an angel of light (2 Corinthians11:4) and as the son of the morning (Isaiah 14:12; a direct counterfeit to Jesus Who is the true Morning Star (Revelation 22:16).

Lucifer thought that he could overshadow God and become Him, resulting in his fall from God’s Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15). In his rebellion against God, Lucifer convinced one third of the angels (Revelation 12:4) to follow him into his fallen state, becoming demons. Because he was the first to sin (Ezekiel 28:11-19), he is known as the man of sin (II Thessalonians 2:3), the Evil One (John 17:15; 1 John 5:9), and the Wicked One (Matthew 13:19).

After Lucifer fell from Heaven, God changed his name to Satan (Job 1:6-9; Matthew 4:10), which means “adversary,” (I Peter 5:8) or “enemy” (Matthew 13:39). Because he destroys all in his path, he is described as a murderer (John 8:44), the thief who kills and destroys (John 10:10), and a roaring lion wanting to devour us (I Peter 5:8). Although Jesus is the noble Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5), Satan is the dark reflection of this power used for evil instead of good.

Other names for Satan revealing his destructive power are the destroyer (Abaddon in Hebrew or Apollyon in Greek; Revelation 9:11); Belial (II Corinthians 6:15) meaning "worthless" or "hopeless ruin," and Son of Perdition (John 17:12; II Thessalonians 2:3) meaning one who causes total physical or spiritual ruin, loss and destruction.

Believers may fall into sin because of enemy attacks from Satan, the world, and the flesh. Satan and his demons may attack the faithful directly, as they did Job (Job 1:12). God’s people may stray when worldly rewards, such as riches and power, attract us more than God’s promises (1 John 2:15). And finally, the worst enemy may be the flesh (Galatians 5:16) – that enemy within that drives believers away from God because they choose to fulfill their own lusts (Romans 13:14) rather than to keep His commandments.

Satan entices believers to sin using three lures: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). The first recorded use of this strategy resulted in Adam and Eve disobeying God and being expelled from the Garden of Eden. Satan, disguised as the serpent, convinced Eve that the forbidden fruit would be delicious to eat, appealing to her flesh; that it was beautiful, appealing to her eyes, and that it would make her as wise as God, appealing to her pride (Genesis 3:6).

David succumbed to the same trap – his eyes wandered to the beautiful Bathsheba bathing, and he indulged his flesh by committing sexual immorality with her. To compound the wrongdoing, his pride allowed him to put his own desires and ambitions over the life of an innocent man, and he schemed to trick Bathsheba’s husband Uriah and ultimately had him killed in battle (2 Samuel 11).

As we can see from these examples, Satan is the tempter (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5) and the father of all lies (John 8:44). His deceit knows no bounds, for he is even the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10), parading our sins before God so as to deny our holiness through the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17,22).

Because Satan is the master deceiver, another of his favorite strategies is to change, add to, or subtract from God’s Word, as Eve and the serpent did when he beguiled her to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17 versus Genesis 3:1-4)..

This is also the ploy used by all the cults: for example, changing Christ’s identity into one who is neither fully God nor fully man (Hebrews 4:14-15); adding the need for baptism or other works to salvation by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9); or belittling the redemptive power of the shed blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12). No wonder Scripture sternly warns us not to adulterate God’s Word in any way! (Revelation 22:18-19)

Satan is the archenemy believers must face in the Church Age, but once we are Raptured (1 Corinthians 15:52), those left behind will also have to contend with the Antichrist and the False Prophet, as we shall see next week!
 

© 2012 Laurie Collett

(February 5, 2012):

Fight or Flight?)