COVID-19 has allowed us to think about the end-time. One of the prominent signs is the influence and widespread philosophies and beliefs of the beast in Revelation. The beast received authority from the dragon, which symbolizes Satan, and will be favoured and worshipped by people.
This beast’s influence is not something new, it had caused people to perish and fall away from the heavenly order from the beginning until now, this eventually led to God’s judgment.
1. The influences of the Anti-Christ
– Beasts that come up out of the sea and land
– Authority of the dragon
2. Ideas that led people to destruction/judgment
(1) Adam
– He wanted autonomy; “I can be like God; I don’t need God; I don’t want to be under God”.
(2) Cain
– He desired equality, meaning the same result and treatment, even when he did not put in the same; this is dishonesty and self-deception.
(3) Tower of Babel
– This is humankind’s own effort to be established without God’s intercession/interruption.
(4) Sodom & Gomorrah
– They sinned through unrestricted/unguided sexualism.
(5) Worshipping of the golden calf
– They relied on the traditions of the gentile world; creating and following something that will replace God.
(6) Plains of Moab
– The eating of foods sacrificed to idols led them to idolatry and sexual immorality. They crave fleshly satisfaction due to their greed.
(7) Babylonian captivity
– They placed importance on the economy and personal gain before worship; to them, money comes before faith.
Judgment is the absence of God and His protection; it is the undoing of the heavenly and godly order. Mankind rejected God’s love and protection and fell back to chaos, formlessness, void, and darkness.
The main idea that supports the BEAST is ATHEISM. The ideologies above wanted to negate God from man’s life. (Ephesians 5:6–12)
The philosophies that condone such ways of thinking and living:
– Marxism, Socialism, Communism / Fascism / Nazism
These philosophies destroyed many people’s lives and many countries in history. It coincides with the ways of Satan described in the Bible.
3. How do these atheistic beliefs influence people?
(1) Communism puts jealousy in man’s heart rather than satisfaction.
It says wealth will be distributed equally, but the ruling members take all the wealth.
(2) Materialism
Atheism and communism claim that all things that exist are matter and thus denies the existence of the spiritual world. The Bible tells us that all things are created by God, but these beliefs deny the existence of God.
4. The problem with materialism
(1) It views people as worthless matter for it argues that even mind and heart come from matter and denies the existence of spirit.
Friedrich Engels said, “…mind is a by-product of matters,” and thus argued that there is no sanctity in man. He also said, “In the beginning, man created God.” Mankind was considered a means or a tool used for the communist party. The founders of communism, Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong), killed 63 million people, Stalin killed 45 million, and Kim Il-Sung killed 7 million.
(2) It claims that religion is the “opiate of the people”.
Atheists deny God’s existence. Communists are not atheists, but they seek to destroy God. They both claim that God is made up of the imagination of people. Communism and religion cannot co-exist.
Socialism causes atheism. Socialism replaces Christian eschatology with a secular narrative. It erodes both the believer’s religion and society’s liberty.
(3) Challenges God
In the world of atheism – what God said in the Bible doesn’t hold authority and His Word does not become a basis of argument; they want to look at things from the human perspective; they are only sympathetic to humanism.
Their eventual goal is to make humans (mankind) into their god/s.
– It sows the seed of grumbling into the hearts of the people by making them believe that they are victims of an unequal society. It was the same in the wilderness.
– It causes people to do things for themselves and seek their own gain only. People become more and more selfish. Eve took the tree for her own gain and benefits.
– It caused people to challenge God and sin against God.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way deceived you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.
Conclusion
Colossians 2:6–8 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
We must seek God’s righteousness and His Kingdom first. – Make sure you can enter into heaven first! (Matthew 24:15)
We can claim to believe and follow different things and beliefs for different reasons, but will you be in heaven if your world is to come to an end? Whether you believe in God or not, whether you like it or not, there is heaven and there is hell.
We need young people who can look ahead into the future and stand up for the Word. What do you think society will look like and the church’s role will be in the near future?
In technology and industry, we have many famous people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates… etc. Who do we have for church?
Many people expected Jesus to give political liberation and social justice in His days, but Jesus declared spiritual liberation is more important than physical. Who are the ones who will lead the next generation of churches? We have to be the ones who can stand up and take the lead in these end times!
AMEN.
