Before you read this, I want to remind you of 2 Corinthians 4:18 where the apostle Paul wrote, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Understand that I am speaking of things that are NOT SEEN in the regard that we’re talking about issues of man’s heart and things that manifest spiritually. And though they can be seen in this physical realm, they don’t manifest in the physical realm the way the natural mind would perceive that they would manifest.

But First…….

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. All the Old Testament Prophets said exactly how the coming of Jesus would be — exactly — to the T — how Jesus’ coming would take place. And yet the religious people of the time could not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

The Reason Is……

They only understood the prophecies from a natural, worldly mindset, instead of a spiritual, heavenly mindset.
AND SO — when Jesus came, they were looking for a king that was going to come in fine clothes and a big robe and a crown, with a mighty physical army to overcome the Roman Empire and set up Judaism as the world religion BECAUSE they had perceived the scriptures totally from a carnal, worldly mindset, rather than a heavenly, spiritual mindset.

Much of the same thing is happening TODAY. People are looking at the scriptures and trying to discern what they’re telling us from a worldly perspective, rather than looking at them from a spiritual, heavenly perspective. That’s why it’s important for you to understand that what I’m talking about is exactly what the apostle Paul was referring to when he said we don’t look at things that are seen, we look at things that are not seen. We’re talking about ETERNAL TRUTHS and not some temporary, physical, worldly perspective of things. We’re talking about the heavenly, Godly perspective of things.

So let’s begin by talking about 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This is where it’s explained how the falling away from God would occur, and then the man of sin would be revealed, the son of perdition. This chapter also says that this ‘son of perdition’ would sit in the temple exalting himself above all that is called God or worshipped, so that he shows himself to be God.

Please understand — the one who sits in the temple is not a man sitting in a building anywhere, but is the spirit of ANTICHRIST — RULING AND REIGNING IN THE SOUL OF EVERY PERSON who, for whatever reason, has not received the Holy Spirit to rule and reign within them.

God doesn’t dwell in a building made with hands — “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?” (Acts 7:48-49). “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24.)

The temple is the hearts of men

Later in this chapter it says that God will give people over to a strong delusion who would not receive the love of the truth. THAT is how mankind takes the mark of the beast which is spoken of in Revelation 13. We’re all born with a carnal, beastly nature, because we’re born with the fallen worldly nature. It’s seen as a beastly nature in the eyes of God, because it’s a self-serving nature, just like the animals have, and it’s a nature that’s solely governed and dictated by what can be comprehended through our own five natural senses. And so God sees our fallen nature as a beastly, worldly, carnal nature.

When we reject the love of the truth to be free from that nature and be regenerated with the Divine nature from heaven, in essence we’re saying, “Yeah, I’ll just take the mark. I choose to continue on in that beastly, worldly nature”. So, by rejecting the mark of God, we’re receiving the mark of the beast!

Three scriptures to back this up —
Ecclesiastes 3:18 — “I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts”
Psalm 49:20 — “Man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish”
Jude vs 10 — “But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves”.

So now let’s talk about the beasts and the mark of the beast in Revelation 13 —

There are 3 beasts in the chapter that represent 3 spirits; Satan, antichrist, and the spirit of false witness.

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy ( vs. 1).

Again…reading the scriptures, whether they’re in the book of Revelation or anywhere else in the Bible, we’re not to attempt to comprehend them with a worldly mindset or way of thinking. We’ve got to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us to show us or give us a revelation of what they’re speaking of.

In the Bible, 99% of the places where you see the word “sea” or it speaks of “waters”, it’s talking about humanity. In Revelation 17, where it’s talking about the harlot Babylon, in verse 15 it says “the waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues”. This is one example of how the Bible always interprets itself.

So the sea that this beast rises up out of is — carnal humanity. And it has seven heads and ten horns.

Now we’re not talking about some monster rising up with seven heads and ten horns floating around somewhere — we’re talking about a spiritual reality. This beast rises up out of carnal humanity — worldly humanity — and it says he has seven heads and ten horns.

Heads and Horns?

So what do these heads and horns represent? The seven heads are the seven blasphemies that are mentioned in Proverbs and the ten horns (horns represent strength) are the ten things that are in opposition to the ten commandments of God.

As I said, these seven heads are the seven blasphemies that are mentioned in Proverbs 6. They are referred to as ‘heads’ because this beast is controlled by these 7 blasphemies — “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren”.

You can see that there are seven blasphemes — seven abominations.

So in Revelation 13…..
“I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea,” — rise up out of carnal humanity.
“having seven heads,” — the seven abominations from Proverbs 6 that generate and govern its existence
“ten horns” — those things that are contrary to the ten commandments and give the beast it’s strength
“Seven heads, ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy” — all those things that go against God are blasphemous. And the crowns represent this beast being exalted and lifted up by the world.

When fallen man, with that beastly nature, operates in the nature that we’re born with — that fallen nature of pride, lust, envy, and wrath — all of these blasphemies manifest in our lives and they are the strength of the fallen life that we have. And the world exalts that. The world promotes pride, lust, envy, and wrath. Turn on your TV, look at a billboard, open a magazine. The worldly nature is “crowned” with many crowns.

Then going on to verse 2 —
“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” The dragon is, of course, Satan.

This beast is the nature and life of fallen man with the spirit of antichrist being one with his soul. The beast represents the spirit of antichrist and its working within the souls of men.

Antichrist = an opposing substitute for Christ

It’s important to note that this spirit doesn’t just oppose Christ, but is also a substitute for Him. This spirit works in the heart of fallen mankind to promote and empower SELF as the god of their life. We must realize that he is also working in and through the people who profess to believe in Jesus and to be Christians, but are really ruled by the powers of darkness — “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16).

These are those of the ‘falling away’ in 2 Thessalonians 2. They are betrothed to Jesus, but have turned their heart back to the world by giving themselves up to the same spirit that was leading Judas when he betrayed Jesus. There is only one other place in the Bible where the phrase ‘son of perdition’ is used, and that’s where it speaks of Judas in John 17:12.

So the son of perdition is anyone who has claimed to be one with
Jesus, but given their heart to the spirit of antichrist

This beast is described as having ‘spots like a leopard’ in that he produces an unclean, unholy life; having ‘feet like a bear’ in that he causes people to walk the path of destruction; and as having the ‘mouth of a lion’ because he causes pride and arrogance to bellow from the mouth of those who’ve received him.

Now let’s go all the way back….
…to the Garden of Eden when Adam gave himself up to partake of the knowledge of good and evil and fall from his heavenly, highly exalted state of being into what mankind is today.

Satan became his ruler and his authority. So self, with its self-serving nature, is under the influence, power, and authority of Satan, and Satan gives him power in this world. You remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness? Satan told Jesus, “If you’ll worship me I’ll give all these kingdoms to you because they’re mine,” — he wasn’t lying. The kingdoms of the world do belong to Satan. And so it’s the powers of darkness, under the rule and reign of Satan, that empower man — fallen man — to operate in this world the way he does.

Going on in Revelation 13 — “I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”

People who can only see this with a carnal, worldly mindset think that this is a prophetic verse saying that Antichrist –who they say is a particular man (Antichrist is not a man, but is a spirit) — is going to be shot in the head like John F. Kennedy was, but then he’s going to raise back up to life and people are going to marvel after him because he was raised back to life, SO God must be behind him because He raised him back from the dead. Have you heard it explained like that?

Again…..“I saw one of his heads” – notice it doesn’t say ‘his head’, it says ‘one of his heads’ – “as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast”.

I mentioned earlier from the first verse we read that this beast has seven heads and ten horns, and I showed you from Proverbs 6 that those seven abominations from Proverbs 6 represented the seven heads. Among those abominations in verse 19, one of the things that God hates is a false witness that speaks lies.

You remember way back in Genesis, after the fall occurred, God said that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head? And Jesus’ coming, among the many multitude of things that He accomplished, one thing that He accomplished is that we do not have to be under the delusion of Satan’s lies.

The problem occurs when people fail to receive the power of the Gospel to literally regenerate them with the Divine nature, so they stay enslaved to and captivated by the lies of Satan. And this false witness — that Jesus has overcome and put to death through His cross — is the head that got its life back through the powers of darkness working here in this world.

And so you go back here to Revelation 13:3 — “ I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed” — In other words, Jesus provided everything for lies, deception, and false witnesses to be overcome and put to death. But, because of man’s love for self and the world, place has been given for the false witness to rise back up.

Warning……Warning……

I hope most of you are aware that Jesus Himself and every letter of the New Testament warns us repeatedly about deception that would be worked in the name of Jesus in the last days. And — by the way– the last days are not just this decade, the last days began when Jesus was raised up from the grave.

And so the spirit from Satan works through mankind to bear a false witness to the truth of the Gospel. And as a result of that, many people have a heard a Gospel that’s been proclaimed in the name of Jesus, but they’re proclaiming a different Jesus and a different salvation and they’re doing it by a different spirit rather than the spirit of God. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul talks about how people will come to you bringing another Jesus and another Gospel by another spirit, and you’ll gladly receive them. And that’s what’s happened today. Many people have gladly received those false witnesses coming in the name of Jesus, but presenting a different Jesus and a different Gospel by a different spirit rather than the one God sent and has provided to us.

Verse 4 — “So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” As I said, this chapter talks about many different spiritual entities as it’s going through, and I’m going to try to separate all of them for you, but just try to remember that this BEAST represents the spirit of antichrist united with and working within the soul of fallen man.

Self and the beast are one

Self-love, self-will, self-seeking, self-exaltation, and self-gratification give place for antichrist to establish the kingdom of Satan within the heart of man so that, instead of Jesus, SELF sits upon the throne of the heart as king of kings and lord of lords. The dragon is Satan, who gives authority to the spirit of antichrist who, in turn, causes the soul of man to worship himself.

Anyway…. when it says ‘who is like the beast’ it is saying ‘who is like me’. In other words, shall I not rule and reign my own life? Am I not capable of doing things my way? Doing what I want to do the way I want to do it — thinking what I want to think the way I want to think it? See… if Jesus is Lord, self doesn’t have a place on the throne of the heart. It’s just dead words to say ‘Jesus is Lord’ if Jesus isn’t Lord in my heart!

Verse 5 — “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” — that’s the pride of man; speaking things he ought not to be speaking in his ignorance and in the bitterness of his fallen nature.

“and he was given authority (power) to continue forty-two months” — we’ll save that for another time.

“Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven” — when he’s talking about those people who dwell in heaven and His tabernacle, he’s not talking about somewhere far off, he’s talking about people who walk with Jesus today, who have the kingdom of heaven born and being established within their heart. And His people ARE the tabernacle of God. God’s people are his tabernacle. Remember, we read the scriptures which reveal that God does not dwell in a building made with hands…….He dwells in the hearts of men.

So, those with the spirit of antichrist, including the professing Christians who’ve fallen away, speak pridefully and declare things that are in opposition to the true kingdom of God.

Verse 7 — “And it was granted to him to make war with the saints” — so this is talking about carnal mankind hating and warring against the people who have truly repented and believed the Gospel…..had a birth of the light and spirit of God within them.

“and to overcome them. And authority (power) was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” — notice here it says, “And all that dwell upon earth shall worship him.” That’s not talking about everybody who physically have their feet planted on the ground when it’s talking about dwelling upon the earth. Listen….our hearts are either dwelling upon earthly things, or our hearts are either dwelling upon heavenly things.

So when it says he has power to subdue all those who dwell upon the earth, what that’s saying is that there’s power to subdue all those who have their hearts fixed on earthly, worldly things. And remember, it’s not a man, but the spirit of antichrist that has power over all the worldly people.

BUT those people who have been bought by the blood of Jesus — slain from the foundation of the world — they have hearts that dwell upon heavenly things. And, therefore, the powers of darkness can’t get any place to subdue them BECAUSE they have a heavenly mindset….their heart is fixed on heaven and not on things in this world.

If our heart is fixed on things of this world, we’re opening ourselves up to deception and to being
subdued by the powers of darkness.

Verse 9 — “If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

This ‘captivity’ is being enslaved to the powers of darkness. Those who lead others into this captivity will be enslaved to it themselves — so, those who mislead others with false doctrines will also be captivated by the powers of darkness.

When it says ‘kills with the sword’, it’s not just talking about a physical sword — it’s talking about the sword of God’s word. The false witnesses use God’s word to destroy people spiritually — by misrepresenting what it’s supposed to be saying, they take the scriptures out of context, they present them from a worldly, carnal perspective that appeals to the flesh, and to the natural man’s mindset. And, as I said earlier, they’re presenting a Gospel that’s not the Gospel of God — they’re presenting a Jesus that isn’t the Jesus of God — and they are doing it by a spirit that’s not the Spirit of God.

And then going on to verse 11 — “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” In the beginning of this chapter, we saw that this first beast we read about came up out of the sea, and I pointed out to you that the sea represents carnal humanity in this text. This time we see that this beast is rising up out of the earth. That’s not talking about a physical creature coming up out of the ground. This beast that rises up out of the earth is talking about a spirit that rises up out of the heart of man.

In the Bible, ‘the earth’ most often – or at least very often – represents the heart of man. A perfect example is in the parable of the sower. Jesus talked about sowing the seed in four different types of ground, and the ground, in this parable, is the heart of man. So this beast that rises up out of the earth, is a spirit that rises up out of the heart of man.

And it goes on to say, “he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” This is the spirit of the false prophets — or that spirit of the false witness — that one head that was wounded as unto death but then had power to get life again. That spirit of the false witness is rising up out of the hearts of men. It says it has two horns like a lamb but the mouth of a dragon — that’s talking about people who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. It’s the same thing Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7:15, where he said, Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing (the two horns like a lamb) but inwardly they are ravening wolves (the mouth of a dragon).

What we’re talking about here is that wound to the head which – remember there were seven heads, the seven abominations – but one of the heads had a wound. That head was the false witness. It was a wound as unto death but it got life back, and that life of the false witness is rising up in the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they’re ravenous wolves — they have two horns like a lamb, but the mouth of the dragon. In other words, they look the part; they’ve got all the religious credentials – of course I’m not saying that everybody who has attended Bible college is one of these – but what I am saying is that to a carnal person who does not have the Holy Spirit and spiritual understanding, they look like they’re everything they’re supposed to be. So, therefore, they will follow what they say because they presume that they’re everything that they claim to be — they have two horns like a lamb. But the problem is that out of their mouth comes false witness.

Again… the way they do that is by taking the scriptures out of context, presenting them in a carnal, worldly fashion that appeals to the carnal, worldly nature, and people follow them like sheep going to the slaughter.

Verse 12 — “And he exercises all the authority (power) of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” — Meaning…..that the spirit of the false prophets causes people to worship the antichrist rather than the true Christ.

Not some man, but this other Jesus….the false Jesus

Verse 13 — “And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” — we have people out here saying that Antichrist is a man who’s going to be in the temple in Jerusalem, and from there he’s going to do all these mighty wonders and rule the world. He’s going to have supernatural power because the devil has given it to him, and he’s going to cause fire to come down from heaven, and everybody’s just going to know that he’s the one that they’re supposed to be following. But when it says here in Revelation 13:13 that he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men — what that’s talking about is false signs and wonders that the powers of darkness work through these false prophets and false teachers to help convince people that what they’re telling them is the truth. And the fire that comes down is not the fire of God but the fire of hell, because it causes the fire of hell to get firmly established and to grow stronger within the hearts of fallen mankind.

The Wrong Fire

The fire of hell is not a physical fire like we have at a campfire or in the fireplace in our house — the fire of hell is the fire of desire that fallen man has because he lost what God created him to have when the fall occurred. It’s a fire of desire. It’s a worm that never dies, and a fire that is never quenched. And you see the false prophets stir, kindle, and build that fire of desire in man causing them to follow after earthly, worldly things, and serve self as their God rather than following after heavenly, spiritual things and serving Jesus as their Lord. So they’re stirring and growing the wrong fire in the hearts of men.

And this spirit that works through the false prophets, this false witness “deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wound by the sword and lived.”

Again….where it says those who dwell upon the earth it’s not talking about having our feet planted on the earth, it’s talking about people who dwell on earthly, worldly things, as opposed to those who dwell on heavenly, spiritual things. It says he causes those people — by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast — to make an image to the beast.

People who don’t know better – or maybe they do and just want to deceive people – but they say — Okay, the Antichrist, this man, is going to cause people to make a big statue to honor him, like Nebuchadnezzar did in the Book of Daniel, and tell them they’ve got to fall down and worship this beast.

But listen, Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” SO…. a true minister of God is used by God as a vessel for the Spirit of God to work through and conform people to the image of Jesus. But a false minister, a false prophet, a false teacher, one who has been moved by the spirit coming from Satan, of a false witness, causes people to form an image, not by being conformed to the image of Jesus, but causes people to form an image of Satan…..they are conformed to the image of Satan rather than being conformed to the image of Jesus.

It’s just the exact opposite———It’s ANTI (opposed to; against) CHRIST

Verse 15 — “And he was granted power to give breath (life) to the image of the beast” — in other words….
self-exaltation — encouraging self to be on the throne of the heart — “that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” There may come a time where those of us who don’t give ourselves up to be conformed to the image of the beast may be killed. But this is not just speaking about being killed in a physical way. Even now, true ministers of God have had the platform basically removed from them to proclaim the truth among the church world because this false witness, this spirit working through false ministers, has deceived so many people that now most of what is known as mainstream Christianity in America and throughout the world is not the true church of God.

Within all of those denominations, and non-denominations, there are the true people of God scattered here and there, but they’re few. Remember, Jesus said FEW will enter in at the strait gate. There are few, and I mean few, compared to the masses who gather up on Sunday morning in the name of Jesus. So in that respect, this killing of those who don’t take the mark or don’t make an image to the beast is already occurring in that their voice — their life — has been subdued to the point that there’s hardly any known presence of them now. Can you see that? If you’re a true follower of Christ, you’re a minority even among those who are professing to be Christians.

The Great Whore

The harlot Babylon in the book of Revelation IS the harlot church — it’s those people of the falling away that we read about in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. They were betrothed to Jesus, but their hearts turned away from Him and back to the world. This deception has been a great part of that, this false witness, this spirit working through false ministers has been a big part of that — or the reason for it — and so their hearts have turned from Jesus back to the world. That is the harlot Babylon, the mother of harlotries and abominations. It’s talking about spiritual harlotries and abominations, spiritual adultery and fornication. The harlot church gives birth to illegitimate children of God — “But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8).

Verse 16 — “And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in their right hand or on their foreheads” —again….. remember when he says he causes all, it’s still referring to those people who dwell upon the earth –whose hearts are fixed on the world rather than on the things of God.

So he causes them to take this mark

Now look in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This is when God was giving His Word to Moses — “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” —- he says here they shall be on the frontlets between your eyes and on your hand.

So we go back to Revelation 13:16 — “And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand, or on their foreheads” — again….people are out there saying that this mark is some kind of a physical mark –something that can be seen with the physical, natural eye. So it’s either going to be a computer chip or a tattoo or something, and people are going to have them on their forehead or in their hand. Yet we read in Deuteronomy 6 where God said, “Write this on your hands and on the frontlets between your eyes,” but God didn’t mean to inscribe the written word of God on people’s foreheads or to inscribe it on their hands. He meant….have My word in the forefront of your mind, have your hands set to My ways, drawing your life from Me, rather than having your hands set to worldly ways and drawing your life from the world.

The Jews were carnal-minded because the Spirit had not yet been given. And the Pharisees, the leaders of the Jews, the most religious of them, made these things called phylacteries — little boxes that hung from their ornamental headdresses — and in those boxes they had slips inscribed with scriptural passages. That was their idea of having the Word on the frontlets between their eyes, their forehead. Jesus rebuked their self-righteousness and their outward religious forms. And the carnal mindset that led the Pharisees to put the phylacteries on their forehead with scriptures in them is the same carnal mindset that is leading people to believe that the mark of the beast is going to be a computer chip or a tattoo on their forehead and their right hand. NO…..the mark of the beast is being moved by the spirit that is working through false prophets to be conformed to the image of this world and Satan, rather than being conformed to the image of Jesus and heaven! They retain a carnal mindset with self and things of this world fixed upon the forefront of their mind as opposed to their mindset being fixed upon God and the things of heaven — their hands are set to worldly ways, serving self and drawing the life of their soul from pride, lust envy, and wrath rather than from selfless love, humility, long-suffering, and resignation to God.

That should be very simple

It boils down to this — our soul is either given up to and being supplied by heaven, or it’s given up to and being supplied by the world (the orderly arrangement that is in opposition to God and His kingdom).

Remember where Jesus said that if your right hand or your right eye or your right foot causes you to stumble, cut them off. The reason for that is because the right side in the scriptures represents the seat of authority and power. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. And what he was saying is… if you’re drawing your life from the worldly arrangement, the powers of darkness, and you’re depending upon them rather than God,
cut them off — that’s what He was saying. So that’s why it refers to the right hand in Revelation 13, because the right hand represents the seat of power and authority in the Bible.

Verse 17 — “and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” This buying and selling is not talking about being able to buy groceries or sell a horse to somebody. This means that people who have the mark of the beast can’t receive anything the true Church has got, and they won’t have it. They won’t buy what I’m selling. And, by the same token, the people who have the mark of God — in case you didn’t know, in Revelation it talks about the people of God having a mark on their forehead too — anyway…the people who have the mark of God on them won’t buy what the others have got to sell.

It talks in Revelation 18 about these false prophets who make merchandise of men’s souls. Peter warned us when he was talking about false prophets — he said they will make merchandise of you (2 Peter 2:1-3). They gather souls to be slaves of the devil and capture them with the net of deception (Psalm 140:5, 141:10 Proverbs 1:17, & Proverbs 12:12). So it’s hard for a minister of God to go and win people back who have been captivated by the false witness, and likewise, it’s highly unlikely that somebody whose heart is set on the kingdom of God and His will could be seduced by the false witness, although the scripture does say, and Jesus himself says, that the deception will be so great that even the elect might be deceived, if possible. But the only way it could be possible is if we willfully give ourselves up to it.

So how do we protect ourselves from that seduction?

The only way anybody can protect themselves from deception at any point in their life is to give their whole heart up to God and keep their whole heart given up to God. People don’t really grasp what I mean when I say that, but if God has gotten my whole heart, He’s got my whole life. It means that our will is totally surrendered to be one with the will of God.

With that said, to give our whole heart up to God doesn’t mean that we have got to go and produce the will of God out of our own ability, with our own capacity. It means that our inward man has turned completely away from self-will, self-exaltation, self-gratification, self-reason, self-intellect, and is surrendered up to the light of God and the Spirit of God to illuminate our soul and to generate the way we think about things, what we allow, what we consent to, what we say, and what we do. So as long as we are choosing to do that moment-by-moment and day-by-day, we are dying to self, living to God, and protecting ourselves from that deception.

6 – 6 – 6

Verse 18 — “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” It would take many more pages to explain everything about this last verse to you. In short…..It says 6-6-6 is the number of a man, which is the Adam man, the fallen man with a carnal, worldly, self-serving nature. The translators translated the number as six hundred threescore and six, but it could as easily have been translated as simply 6-6-6, which many Bible versions have done.

The reason it’s 6-6-6 is because of this — when God created man, as well as the angels, He created us with seven spiritual properties in our being — we had three creaturely properties, and three heavenly properties, with the seventh property being PEACE as a result of the union between the three creaturely properties and the three heavenly properties. Seven is the number of completion, wholeness, perfection.

The three creaturely properties are the properties of a desire. For us to have a will, we must have a desire. Our will grows from our desire, so they’re essentially one and the same thing. So God created man with a desire, a want, and for his desire to be satisfied it must be united with the three heavenly properties, which are the fire, light, and spirit of God — the spiritual properties of God. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). He is a spiritual fire of life; a fire of love.

When man was created, his desire was satisfied by possessing the fire, light, and Spirit of God. The fire of God is His will, the light of God is His love (Jesus), and the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. That trinity was one with the creaturely properties that God created us to have, those properties of desire. And so, because of that, there was unity within man. That unity of the creaturely with the heavenly brought peace, which is the seventh property. The Jewish menorah has seven candlesticks, three on each side and one in the middle. The three on one side represent the creaturely properties, the three on the other side represent the heavenly properties. The one in the middle is number seven which represents the unity or the peace.

Can’t get no satisfaction?

When the fall occurred, the heavenly properties were separated from the creaturely properties which left man with nothing but an unsatisfied desire. And because he has an unsatisfied desire, he is continually in pursuit of what he believes will satisfy himself. This world cannot provide anything to satisfy the desire of fallen man, so there is always equal resistance to his pursuit. That continual pursuit, without being satisfied, produces wrath in him, which is the torment of hell.

So fallen man has the three creaturely properties of desire, pursuit, and equal resistance to the pursuit, which produces wrath or disorder. His soul is not one with the three heavenly properties but is one with the three earthly properties — the fire of the sun, the light of this world, and the air of this world. And that’s where he draws all of his life from. So he doesn’t have the seventh property, which is peace, and therefore he is a number six man, he is number six spirit, he is number six soul, and he is number six body. So he is 6-6-6 — spirit, soul, and body.

So, when Jesus speaks of that place where their worm never dies and their fire is never quenched, He’s referring to the everlasting torment of those souls who haven’t given God the place to rekindle a birth of His fire, light, and Spirit within them. Their everlasting fire will be the fire of desire that can never be quenched in their soul. “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied” (Proverbs 27:20).

The mark on these souls is not anything physical, but it’s having a worldly, earthly, selfish mindset -their hands are set to worldly ways, drawing their life from the worldly, physical arrangement under the power and authority of Satan as opposed to having their mind set on God and His kingdom and drawing their life from Jesus. Now that was a very quick illustration or teaching on what 6-6-6 means. But there is a series of teaching on our website titled, “The Heavenly Life” which goes into greater detail about all those properties that I have just spoken of, and another series titled, “Exposing the Harlot”, which clearly shows that the worldly church is the spiritual whore and Babylon that are spoken of in the book of Revelation. I urge you to make the time to read them.

We go through our whole lives pursuing what we think is going to satisfy our desire. We go from one thing to the next, to the next. And this physical arrangement provides us some temporary relief from the wrath that is in us as a result of not having the one thing we need. But we all know how we obtain one thing that we believe is going to make us happy and give us peace, and then in no time at all we are looking for something else.

The reason we don’t have peace is because we do not have what we were created to have, which are those heavenly properties — the fire, light and spirit of God — in us. So when we truly repent and believe the Gospel, what we’re doing is giving those creaturely properties up to be consumed by the fire of God the same way a campfire consumes a piece of firewood. The fire of God destroys all of our need or pursuit or want, and as it is doing that it brings forth a birth of the light, which is Jesus, and the spirit of God in us — the same as when you put a piece of wood on a fire. That fire produces light and smoke. As the fire at the camp consumes the wood, so the fire of God consumes all those creaturely properties and brings them back into the state of peace and rest.

This teaching is not important for the sake of knowing spiritual facts. This teaching is important for knowing the difference between what is of God and what is not.

If an individual – I don’t care how young or how old – sits in church their whole lives, but never comes to the place where they can discern what is life and what is death, they stay open to deception and to the powers of darkness. Their soul is never opened to the fire of God overcoming those properties of desire and bringing it back to the state of peace — being in union with the heavenly properties the way God created it to be — and so they’re left eternally separated from God, and their soul is in that place where the worm of desire is never satisfied; the fire of desire is never quenched. They live through an eternal torment, not imposed by God, but imposed by Adam when he made the choice he did that brought us into this worldly, carnal life. God has done everything that’s possible to provide us with everything we need to restore us back to our original right state of being.

Hell is within us until we repent and believe the Gospel.

And hell will continue with us throughout eternity unless we do.

God is trying to get us restored — back to the heavenly life we were created to possess.