Beasts, Saints, and Harvests Part 1: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:01 This is our seventh lesson, and we’re going to be talking this morning about the beast, plural, first and second beast. We’re going to be talking about the saints, and are the believers, those written in the Book of Life, and we’re going to be talking about the harvest, it should be plural, harvests. Okay. In Revelation 13:1, John saw a beast having seven heads and 10 horns, and on the heads was the name of blasphemy. Okay, blasphemy means to speak evil of, speak bad about. And this beast was given its power, uh, from the dragon, and his seat, his position, and great authority from the dragon. The dragon gave the first beast his power, his seat, and great authority.

▶ 1:11 Now, we got to remember that Revelation 12:3 told us the fiery red dragon, which was who? Satan, plainly tells us. There had how many heads? Seven heads and 10 horns. So this beast is directly connected to who? Satan himself. I mean, you know, you don’t have to have some antichrist rising up over in Asia, uh, like Jerry Falwell said in 1900 or so, the late 1800s, 1980s, uh, that some antichrist was born over in Asia, and, and, you know, he’s dead and gone, and so is that theory. We don’t need theories, we need what? Just truth. And if we don’t know it, we just need to say, “We, you know, it’s not been given to us yet.” But we know that this beast is connected with Satan, because it’s the same connection here.

▶ 2:12 Now, we also know that the waters, this beast comes up out of the waters, out of the seas, and we know that the waters in Revelation 17:15, the waters where the whore sits, we’ll be getting into her next week, are multitudes, nations, and tongues. Okay, the Bible tells us what the waters are. Right. Hallelujah. So it’s people. This thing is going to be in people. A nation is nothing more than people with a certain culture and certain laws and a certain government that they abide by. It’s always people. So it’s people that this beast comes through, works through, and so forth.

▶ 3:03 In Daniel chapter 8:20 and also Daniel chapter 7, we all know this theory, we hear it all the time, of the beast being a king. But if you read, the ram with two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, the male goat is the what? Is the what? Kingdom. Who lives in a kingdom? Who lives in a kingdom? People. So it doesn’t have to be the king. In fact, in the Bible it says that Jotham was a good man, but the people did corruptly, and then it turns around and says Manasseh seduced the people of God to do corruptly. So a king can be bad, or a king can be good, the people can be good with a bad king, or the people can be what? Yeah, vice versa. The key is the people here. Amen.

▶ 4:14 We know that there are three kingdoms in the Bible: the kingdom of God, the spiritual kingdom; the kingdom of man, like the United States, natural area; and the kingdom of darkness, kingdom of sin, Satan. See, we know that. And so the kingdom of Satan, connecting with people who do wrong, are a kingdom of people that are acting out the ruler of that kingdom, Satan. The kingdom of light, the kingdom of righteousness, the kingdom of God, are people who are acting out the king of that kingdom, and that is righteousness. Amen. Nothing confusing about that at all, is there? No. See, there’s things that we know. We know the beast, nor the son of perdition, is never called the antichrist in scripture. Never. They have to bring it together.

▶ 5:18 The Bible never says, in fact it says the antichrist are those who say Jesus has not come in the flesh. Plainly tells us who the antichrist are. It defines the antichrist, and he says, John, in John chapter 2, he says there are how many? Many antichrists. And then again in John chapter 2, it says that the antichrists are people who do not believe in the Father and the Son. Whoo. And so the Jesus-only people have a problem here. The Jews have a problem here. You got to believe in God and what? Jesus Christ, his Son, who came, and that was God, by the way, and died for the sins of the world. See, the Bible tells, see, we know these things. They, this is not fantasy, we know this stuff, if you read your Bible. This is just common sense, it’s just simple doctrine. How many are learning something already? I’m glad. The rest of you are that smart. Ah.

▶ 6:34 Now we’re going to go on in Revelation to another three-and-a-half-year period and talk about more of this beast. Okay, the beast who had seven heads and 10 horns, one of those heads was wounded to death, and it was healed. Okay. Now, you know, theories are just wonderful, and you can bring in, you know, the United Nations and everything else if you want, but let’s just stick to scripture. All right, let’s just stick to scripture. Let me tell you about someone who had power, lost it, and got it again, from the scriptures. Are you ready for this? Here’s Dave Kincer’s spiritual imagination.

▶ 7:32 All right. “Now is the judgment of this world.” Jesus, Jesus is talking here. “Now shall the prince of this world be” what? “Cast out. And if I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto me.” Okay, when Jesus died on the cross, he is bringing Satan down, destroying his power, destroying the authority that he had. Yes. Okay, Hebrews 2:14: “Through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.” See, Jesus said he’s cast down, and I’m going to be lifted up, and when I’m lifted up, he’s cast down, and here it says in Hebrews that when Jesus died, he what? Destroyed, rendered powerless Satan. Amen. Oh, the big bad beast.

▶ 8:34 All right, but look at here, and remember this beast is connected directly to Satan. Now, John 14:30: “After this I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world comes and has nothing in me.” Ephesians 2:2: “In times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of, to the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, children of” what? Wrath. Now, Satan has been given power again to seduce people, deceive people, and war with the saints. The power was taken, and then limited power was given. Do you see that? He had power, Jesus rendered powerless, and then he was given limited power again. Hallelujah.

▶ 9:43 How many heads and horns did the beast have? Seven and 10. How many heads and horns did Satan have? Seven and 10. You know, we don’t have to have somebody rising up in, in Russia or Asia or whatever to be the antichrist and the big bad guy and all this. We’ve got him. Amen. And people that follow the kingdom of darkness are his citizens, of his kingdom, carrying this out. We know this stuff, don’t we? But it’s so basic, God help us, that we... it’s that simple.

▶ 10:32 Now, the Devil, taking Jesus up into a high mountain, showed Jesus all the kingdoms in the world in a moment of time, a twinkling of an eye. The Devil said to him, “All this power I give you, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever will I give it.” And so God has given Satan a limited power, and he does have power over the nations if he gets permission from who? Jesus Christ himself. In Job, didn’t he have to get permission from God to touch Job? Yes. Hallelujah. See, he created the waster to destroy. God can’t go around destroying people. See, God is good. God can’t lie. There’s things that God can’t do. People say, “Well, if he’s God, he can do anything.” No, there’s things he can’t do. He can’t lie, he can’t sin, and he can’t harm people. So what did he do? He created Satan to do this, and Satan can only do it with whose permission?

▶ 11:51 Yeah. Jesus is head over what? The principalities and powers of darkness, the head of the church, the head of the nations, isn’t that right? And the head of his kingdom. Does this make sense to you? It makes a lot of sense. Aren’t you glad that Satan can’t touch you unless God gives him permission? And if God gives him permission, aren’t you glad that the Bible says he knows you’re able to handle it? Oh man, that was a big relief back there when I was a young Christian. Hallelujah. Praise God.

▶ 12:33 Now, we read on there in Revelation that this beast causes all the world to worship the dragon and worship the beast. Now, worship means giving homage to someone, respecting someone, adoring someone, and see, when we follow someone’s footsteps, we are worshiping them. We’re respecting them, we’re giving homage to them. So when we, what, follow Jesus, we are worshiping him. Worship just isn’t lifting your hands and raising your voice. The Bible says, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” right living. You say, “Which is greater, lifting your hands in the sacrifice of praise or everyday life living for him?” Yeah. Which one are the people out there going to see? The everyday life. See, that’s worship.

▶ 13:32 Hallelujah. And he causes the whole world to worship the dragon and the beast. You see, they, you notice how they’re connected? You follow one, you’re following the other. Now, this beast blasphemed God, speaks evil of God, and, uh, blasphemes God’s name, Jesus’s name, and blasphemes his temple. What is the temple of God? We learned that last week. We are. See, God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. He don’t need a temple built over there in Jerusalem. He is building a human temple, living stones, said Peter. Said, hallelujah, we are. See, the Spirit of God dwells in us, we’re the temple of God.

▶ 14:39 So he blasphemes the church. See, he blasphemes the name of God. What is the name of God? The Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Are you there? Listen, Obama and Bush, both as leaders, has blasphemed the church, blasphemed the scriptures, blasphemed Jesus. Neither one of them will use the name of Jesus. They use God. Why? Because the universal God is what’s being promoted by these people, that all religions lead to the same God. That’s why they won’t say Jesus. And when you won’t say Jesus, you are blaspheming the name of God. Which name is a name above all names, is it God or Jesus? Yes. Why? It specifically says who God is and who God was when he dwelt among us. And that’s why these people want to bring down the name of Jesus.

▶ 15:59 The name of Jesus either makes you come to him or breaks you, and you want to run from him. God, no problem. I can make God anything I want to be. You can’t make Jesus anything. Or they can. They say he’s a human being, they say he’s a prophet, but he, no, Jesus said he was God. The scriptures, John 1:1, says he’s God. Jesus is who God... God himself came down in human flesh, became one of us, and died for us, and we called his name Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus of Mexico City. All right, let’s get that straight. Amen. Now, and he made him Lord and Christ, isn’t that right? He is all controlling, and he is the Messiah. See, we know these things.

▶ 17:03 Now, his power is in his speech, and he does this for three and a half years. Okay, it says three and a half years. A lot of focus is on this three and a half years, and I tell you, I’ve already showed you where that is shaky. I’ve already showed you there is four times 3 and 1/2 years, that’s 14 years. Now today you’re going to see another problem of 3 and 1/2 years. When you try to single things down into three and 1/2 year periods and a seven-year period of tribulation and all the rest, you got some real problems from the scriptures, real problems. All right, for instance, let me ask you, was the early church blasphemed by the Roman Empire and the citizens of the Roman Empire? Yes, absolutely. Did they persecute the church? Absolutely.

▶ 17:56 Were the Christians persecuted from the early church to the present time? Yes. Were they blasphemed? Were they talked about? Yes. And you’re worried about a little three-and-a-half-year period? This has been going on since Jesus ascended. When we showed you the millions of Christians who had lost their life throughout the ages of persecution, and not just Christians, you can just be of a different color, a different race, a different culture, and another culture will persecute you, kill you, and mistreat you. This stuff has been going on for ages. Why? Because this beast, Satan, working in people, and the Satan is called a thief, he comes to rob, steal, kill, and what? Destroy. And when people follow him, yeah, they have cultural problems, race problems, and all the rest. Why? Because that’s what Satan does, he’s out to destroy.

▶ 18:59 [unclear] you don’t have to wait for a 3 and 1/2 year period. Are you with me? We don’t know why the three-and-a-half-year period is there. We know this stuff has been going on ever since Jesus ascended, and we know the early church did not bow and give in, and we know that Christians throughout the ages did not bow and give in. See, they didn’t worship the Satan, they didn’t worship evil, they didn’t go that route, whether it was a government, whether it was a people, whether it was a group, they stayed with Jesus. Can I hear an amen?

▶ 19:40 This beast makes war and overcomes the saints, and he has power over the nations. He overcomes the saints for three and a half years. Daniel talked about another beast that overcame the saints for a period of time. I submit to you that even while Jesus was here, government leaders, religious leaders, and people that identified with him persecuted Jesus, they killed Jesus, they persecuted his church, they killed people in the church up to this present time. But you see, these theory people got us thinking about a 7-year period up there, and we’re missing what is happening in our own nation. Christians in America right now are the persecuted group. It’s not the blacks, it’s not the Mexicans, it’s the Christians. You can’t call a homosexual a homosexual, you can’t call them a queer.

▶ 20:56 The Bible calls him a homosexual, the, the Bible calls him a sodomite. There’s a lot of things you can’t do. You can’t use the name of Jesus, you can’t preach, you know, sexual immorality and so forth, and they say it’s a hate crime, a hate crime, you understand? And see, we got our eyes on these stupid theories and we don’t see what’s happening in our own generation. Hallelujah. That was a good, that was good. And see, that’s one of Satan’s gimmicks: if he can get our eyes on something else and not really what’s happening around us and who we are, we’re going to find out again who we are during this time, and we are a powerful people.

▶ 21:52 I submit to you, Christians have never, throughout the history, these last 2,000 years, been in total control. We’ve always been subservient to some government that wants to limit us. Could that be an amen? China limits him so bad, you can’t even preach over there, people get arrested and they get killed. It’s been going on for 2,000 years. Am I right? When you look at it right, you see it right.

▶ 22:29 And we have slowly, in the last 40 years, 50 years, lost this nation. It started in the ‘60s, and Christians are so in dreamland, they don’t see the decay around us. And in fact, many Christians today believe there is no hell, there is no lake of fire, that Jesus was not born of a virgin. It’s growing every time. In the ‘70s, when the homosexuals came out, 90% of the people said that was wrong. Now it’s less than 50% of Americans are saying that homosexuality is wrong. Why? The Christians have let the word of God decay to such a place, and them undermine the word of God, say it’s just a book of fables, it’s just a book of faith, you know, it’s got weird things in it. They’re, they’re lying. And Christians are so caught up in this nonsense of the second coming, and, and, you know, helping the poor and helping the sick, that we have lost the power of the word to stand up for truth. We’re accepting lies. Could that be true? According to the polls, that is true.