Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1922, the late Benjamin Cream first gained respect as a modernistic painter. But from an early age, he had an intense interest in the occult and New Age philosophy. In 1959, he first claimed to have been contacted by the ascended masters and told that he would prepare the world for the appearance of the Maitreya, or the Christ. According to New Age belief, Maitreya, or the Christ, will appear and unite all the religions of the world based on the common doctrine of brotherly love. Maitreya is the master of all the descendant masters, the first and highest evolved Homo sapien, and it's claimed that he will work with a spirit of tolerance and goodwill to carefully prepare humanity and direct us into a blissful utopian experience in the new world order. Now, in 1977, Karim was informed that the Maitreya had now taken human form, that he had been incarnated and has come out of his sanctuary in the Himalayas. He now lives in the suburbs of London, England. He is waiting for his day when he will be introduced to the world. Now to aid Cream in his quest to spread the message of Matriarch Christ, he founded Share International Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works in association with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations. They publish a monthly periodical, Share International Magazine, with articles written by former UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, Harlem Brutland, and the Director General of the World Health Organization, the Dalai Lama, and a few others, and many other world leaders. But who is this Maitreya? Well, here is an introduction to the Maitreya, the world teacher, from the Cher International website itself. It says, all the major religions expect a future revelation to be given by a future teacher. Christians hope for the return of Christ. The Buddhists look for the coming of another Buddha, the Lord Maitreya. While Muslims await the Ahmed Mahdi, the Hindus a reincarnation of Krishna, and the Jews are looking for their Messiah. Students of the esoteric traditions know these are different names for the same individual, Maitreya, the world teacher. And they look for his imminent return now. Preferring to be known simply as a teacher, Maitreya has not come as a religious leader, but as an educator in the broadest sense, pointing the way out of humanity's most critical problem. At this time of great political, economic, and social crisis, Maitreya will inspire humanity to see itself as one family and create a civilization based on sharing, economic and social justice, and global cooperation. Maitreya does not intend to build a new religion around himself, nor to create followers, but to teach humanity the art of self-realization. The first steps are honesty of mind, sincerity of spirit, and detachment. His social concerns are reflected in his list of priorities, an adequate supply of the right food, adequate housing for all, health care, and education as universal rights. His social message can be summarized in a few words, share and save the world. Maitreya knows that we will accept his message, and that we are at the threshold of an era of peace and goodwill. Now, Crane states that because Maitreya is connected with the Buddhist religion, and because he wants to appeal to all the religions of the world, that when he finally reveals himself to the entire world, he will not be known as Maitreya, but by a different, unidentified name. Now is the Maitreya the Antichrist? Well he may or may not be. Certainly what is happening in our world today shows how the Antichrist could come to power. And certainly there are a number of similarities between this Maitreya and what the Bible declares about the Antichrist. But in the Bible the scriptures are also clear that the identity of the Antichrist, his presentation to the world, will not take place until after the rapture of the church. Paul reveals in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 7 that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed. whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming." And so after the spirit-filled church is taken from here, and before Jesus Christ returns the second time, this lawless one, or the Antichrist, is going to be revealed. Now in our study last week, we noted that the Antichrist rise to power. The little horn of Daniel 7 will rise among 10 horns from the revived Roman Empire, the Western world. He will be the last Gentile world ruler, but he will have an insignificant start. a small start, a little horn that pushes his way into power and eventually he's going to topple three of the ten horns who will later on be replaced and then the ten leaders of the Western world are going to give their allegiance to this one who has pushed his way into power. From Revelation 13 verses 2 and 3 we saw that the Antichrist will get his power, his authority to rule from Satan himself. He will have sold his soul to the devil, just like Judas Iscariot did. And Satan will give the Antichrist all kinds of supernatural power. Paul reveals in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. because they did not love the truth that they might be saved. And so Satan is going to give his power to do the miraculous so that people are going to be drawn to him. He will not only be satanically controlled, but he will also possess great intellect and a big mouth to go with it. And he will be an accomplished, persuasive, charismatic orator. And as a result, the world's going to be drawn to him. And so while he has had an insignificant beginning, he will quickly grow, seize power, uproot the three other leaders of the world, replace them with his own men, and thus establish himself as the head of a Western nation confederation. He perhaps will provide the official explanation as to the disappearance of millions of Christians when their rapture of the church take place. Somebody's got to come up with something. I mean, how can you, because there are Christians in every layer of our society, in every place. I mean, you have them in Congress, you have them in law enforcement, you have them all over the place. Hospitals, doctors, whatever, they're going to be gone. Somebody's got to come up with some kind of explanation as to what happened, some plausible explanation that people will buy. You know, 2 Thessalonians 2, 11 says that God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. The powerful delusion in the context is the counterfeit miracles and the power of the Antichrist. He's going to claim to be the Christ, the Messiah, and so he will not only establish himself as the leader of the ten, but also as the savior of the world. Who else is better to come up with a lie that will tell everybody what happened to us than Satan himself, who is the father of lies. Now is the world power one of the first things he does? One of the first things he does is revealed in our text this morning in Daniel chapter 9. And follow along as I begin reading a verse 24, very familiar passage of scripture we looked at before. It says, 70 weeks are determined. for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgressions, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up visions and prophecies, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. The streets shall be built again and the walls even in troublesome times. And after 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off and not for himself, and the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, until the end of the war of desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wings of abomination shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. Now God has revealed, and we've looked at this, to Daniel his 490-year plan for his people, the Jews. 490 years for God to prepare his chosen people, the Jews, for the fifth kingdom, which is the kingdom of God, the Messiah, God's Son, the Messiah, the future 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ here upon the earth. and to prepare them for the literal fulfillment of all the covenants that God made with them. The Abrahamic covenant, the new covenant, the Palestinian covenant, and the Davidic covenant. Now we've also seen that this 490 year period can be broken down into four sections. seven sevens, or 49 years from the time that the decree is issued to rebuild the city of Jerusalem until the city and infrastructure is complete. And then 62 sevens, or 434 years from the time that Jerusalem is rebuilt until the Messiah, the Prince, that is until the day when Jesus Christ presents himself to Israel as their Prince or as their King. And then we saw that there's gonna be a gap. are an intermission between the 69th and 70th week, during which period of time certain events are going to take place to prepare Israel for that 70th week, that last week. God's countdown began on March the 5th, 444 BC, when Artaxerxes, the ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire at the time of Nehemiah, issued the decree for the Jews to return to their homeland and to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. And we discovered that on March the 30th, 33 AD, Jesus Christ, on the back of a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9, 9, rides into Jerusalem, presents himself as the Messiah, the Prince. And large crowds greeted him, laying down palm branches in his path, shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And on that day, 483 years of God's plan for the Jews was accomplished. And on that day, God's time clock stopped. It was now intermission time. We've looked at some of the events that are gonna occur during this intermission. The rejection of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, his crucifixion. the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem being trodden underfoot by the Gentiles, the return of the Jews to the land of Israel. The bones are being reassembled but they're dry right now, devoid of spiritual life. We've also considered that during this intermission that Jesus Christ is going to build his church made up of believing Jews, believing Gentiles brought together in one new entity called the church, the body of and bride of Christ. And that sometime during this intermission, Jesus Christ is going to come again. He's going to return for his bride to church. He's going to take us to heaven to consummate the marriage in his father's house. And when the rapture of the church takes place, those who died in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive at that time are going to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. Our bodies are going to be changed instantaneously, enabling us to live in heaven. And last time we just considered another event that's going to happen during this intermission period of time after the rapture of the church, and that is the rise of the little horn or the Antichrist. So these are some of the things that are going to happen during this intermission time. There are other things that are going to happen during this intermission before God's clock starts again. We'll look at them, Lord willing, in coming weeks. But when will God's time clock start? When will God once again turn his attention to the Jewish people, to the nation, and fulfill that last week, that last seven years, in his 490-year plan? Look again at our text, especially verse 27. It says, then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wings of abomination which shall be one who makes desolate even unto the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. Someone makes or confirms a covenant with many for one week. Now who is the he that makes the covenant and who are the many? with whom the covenant is made? These are key interpretive questions and understanding of this passage of scripture. First of all, who is the he who makes the covenant? Some scholars connect the he to the anointed one and say that Jesus Christ is the one who makes the covenant with many. And they believe that this prophecy of this verse was already fulfilled during the time of Christ's first advent or soon thereafter, as they do not believe in a gap between the 69th and 70th week. End of Daniel. But I have a major problem with this, and I trust you do as well, in the view that Jesus Christ is the one that's confirming the covenant. For the rest of the verse would infer that Jesus Christ subsequently becomes a covenant breaker and a temple desecrator, two things Jesus would never do. He will never break his promises, and he certainly would never defile the temple of God. introducing an abomination that causes desolation. That causes the Jews to desert the temple. But there is a closer antecedent to the pronoun he and that is found in verse 26 where the ruler, the ruler or the prince or the ruler that shall come. the prince or the ruler, the people of the prince who is to come were the Romans who in 80-70 destroyed the city of Jerusalem, the temple, so the prince who is to come is somebody that comes out of that Roman Empire, out of the Western world, and it's none other than the Antichrist, the last Gentile world ruler. He is the one who makes the covenant with the many. Now, who are the many? The many, I believe, is a clear reference to the unbelieving Jews who will enter into an alliance with the prince that shall come. That they are Jews is clear from verse 24, for the entire prophecy is about your people, Daniel, your people. the Jewish race, and about Daniel's holy city, Jerusalem, and about the six-fold spiritual objective that God seeks to achieve in his 490-year plan. So these unbelieving Jews, ignorant of their own scriptures, will quickly enter into a covenant with the prince who is to come. Like Jesus said in John 5 43 I've come in my father's name and you do not accept me but if someone comes in his own name you will accept him and they will accept him. They will enter into a covenant with him. Now the signing of the covenant therefore begins the marking of time. When the Antichrist and Israel enter into a covenant God will once again click on his stopwatch and the last seven years begins to count down. The 70th week of Daniel doesn't begin with the rapture of the church. There must be a gap of time between the rapture and the signing of this covenant between the Antichrist in Israel. And so the 70th week of Daniel does not begin with the revelation of the Antichrist, because he's going to need some time to come on the scene and gain power first over Europe and then the world. But the 70th week, the last seven years of God's 490 year plan, begins with the signing of a covenant between the prince who is to come, the Antichrist, and the many Jews in the land. Now he at first is going to appear to be a man of peace, He's gonna be a man of peace that's gonna unify the world. He's gonna offer safety to Israel. And he's gonna be the one, the savior, the one with the solutions to the world problem. His message is gonna be one of unifying, of coming together behind me. And as a world power, he makes this covenant to provide Israel protection and prosperity. which covenant marks the beginning of the tribulation period. But what happens next? What about his career? At first, he appears to be just like Jesus, a prince of peace that comes here upon the earth. But what about the rest? Well, to see a prophetic view of the career of the Antichrist, let's turn in our Bibles to Revelation chapter 13. We've looked at this passage a little bit last week, but we will look at it And today, because his rise to power was not because he sold his soul to Satan, ability to do great signs and wonders. God, Satan gave him the kingdoms of the world, not just due to his brilliance and tremendous oratory, but his rise to power cemented, I believe, by what happens as reviewed in verse three of Revelation 13. Verse three. It says here, oh, this is a little diagram, You can see the rapture of the church over here to, let's see, see that little arrow going up and down, rapture, and over here, the return of Christ. We don't know how long a period of time that's gonna be between when the rapture takes place and when the seven years of tribulation begins. But verse three of chapter Revelation 13. He says, and I saw one of his heads as it had, been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon, who have authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? Now sometime after the Antichrist rise to power, but before the second half of the seven years, someone is going to assassinate him. They're going to kill him. And he will be mortally wounded. Now while only God has the power to resurrect the dead, it appears that the Antichrist will parody Christ so completely that the Antichrist will actually die and that God will allow Satan to bring him back from the dead. And the Antichrist certainly is needed to be on the world scene for God's plan to unfold during the tribulation period. So in a sense, God is going to use Satan for his own purposes to fulfill his plan. This event will probably take place during the mid point of the tribulation period, the seven and a half year period, because according to Revelation 12 verse 12, Satan is cast out of heaven at this point. He knows that his time is limited, short, so he pulls out all stops by duplicating the resurrection of Christ and cementing the Antichrist's power over the world. Now, how will this Antichrist rule the world in his last three and a half years? Is he going to be a benevolent dictator? Well, in the last three and a half years, his rule is going to be marked by three things. First of all, an abuse of power. In his abuse of power, he will defame the person and people of God. Remember, this is a guy with a big mouth. He has a big mouth and he opens his mouth and he defames the people of God. Look at verse 5. It says, and he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy and he was given authority to continue for 42 months, that's three and a half years, then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. So the Antichrist has his big mouth, that's one of his chief characteristics. Daniel 7 verse 8 describes him as a mouth speaking pompous words, and Daniel 7 verse 25 says he shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and laws. So he's going to have this superior intellectual ability, ability to handle the word, and be able to sway people by his speech, and what characterizes most his speech will be his blasphemy against God, and against Jesus Christ, and against the Tribulation Saints, and our text even says, those who dwell in heaven. That, I believe, is you and I. he will seek to defame us. You and I, he's going to probably paint us as the bad guys that the world had to get rid of, had to be cleansed of, before the utopia could be set up. And so the Antichrist will be a master deceiver, and such a great orator that people will be drawn to him, like Hitler, who cast a spell over Nazi Germany. So the Antichrist will cast a spell over the whole world, and by his big mouth, he will put down everything pertaining to God, Jesus Christ, the Son, and the followers of Jesus." Now, he will not only defame the defaming the person and people of God, but secondly he's going to demand worship as God. He's going to demand worship as God. Revelation 13 verse 4 says, so they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying who is like the beast who is able to make war with him. This egomaniac will deify himself and he's going to claim to be God. I'm God. Daniel 11 36 says, Then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the god of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, for what he has determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall exalt himself above them all. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the Antichrist shall oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Now we're kind of conditioned to that today because there are people today claim that they can be that they're God or they can become God. Religions today are claiming that you can become God. So people are kind of conditioned for this. He's going to claim to be God. In the beginning of the tribulation period, the Antichrist makes this covenant with Israel, the temple's rebuilt, the Jews will once again be practicing their faith as outlined under the Old Testament law. But in the middle of that seven years, he's gonna cause the sacrifices to cease. And he will desecrate the temple by setting up an image of himself in the Holy of Holies, and he's gonna demand all people to worship him. Now it appears that in the middle of the tribulation period that the Antichrist will be assisted by a false religious leader or prophet, another beast, whose activities are described here in Revelation 13 beginning at verse 11. Revelation 13 verse 11. He says, then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercised all authority 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. He performed great signs so that he even made fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by the signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive the mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and that no one may buy or sell except one has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who understands and calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man. His number is 666. Now may I say to you, Satan has always sought to counterfeit God. And so in the last days, he's going to counterfeit the Trinity. Satan himself will assume the role of God the Father, the Antichrist, the role of God the Son, and the third beast or the false prophet assumes the role of the Holy Spirit. And just as the Holy Spirit does not draw attention to himself, but it draws men towards Christ, so the false prophet is not going to draw attention to himself, but he's there to bolster and to promote the beast, the first beast, the Antichrist. And just as the Spirit of God came in the flame of fire, so the false prophet is going to call down fire to fall from heaven. And just as the Spirit of God gives life to you and I, so the false prophet is going to give life to the image of the beast that is erected in the temple. He's going to cause it to come alive. And so he will be the third person of this unholy trinity. It appears that he will join forces with the Antichrist in the middle of the seven-year tribulation after the Antichrist is raised from the dead. Now the worship of the image of the beast is not going to be voluntary. Not voluntary. It's going to be mandatory under the threat of death and economic deprivation. Everyone who will worship the beast, they're going to be marked. perhaps have a computer chip inserted under the skin or a barcode tattooed on their forehead or hand which will allow them to buy or sell. And if they refuse to worship, they have no barcode and no means of buying and selling anything. You've got to control commerce. And with no mark of 666 on you, you are marked for death. Either you worship or you die. Either you worship and receive the mark of the beast, or you're gonna starve to death. It's gonna be forced worship. You know, we today are being prepared, aren't we, for a cashless society. You know, today, predicted here in Revelation 13, today debit cards are very popular. Instead of paying cash at the grocery checkout counter, you swipe your card, you insert it in, the chip reads the chip, it takes the money from your bank account, puts it to the sellers. Today, you can store your card on your smartphone and you can pay by Apple Pay or Google Pay or one of the other means. You don't even have to get your card out. Just put your phone there and it takes it right off. And during this COVID pandemic, many businesses are encouraging you to pay by card rather than by cash. They claim that there's a shortage of coins out there. And so they say, we can't give you exact change, so pay by your card. I have to confess, I use my card all the time. It's a very convenient way to pay. I don't think it's necessary that I have the mark of the beast. No, I don't have the mark of the beast. But we're fast approaching the elimination of all cash, and for many compelling reasons. Cash is the mother milk of drug smugglers and drug dealers who deal in suitcases full of it. With no cash, the sale of illegal drugs could cease. In fact, to eliminate cash would eliminate almost every kind of criminal activity, from theft to terrorism, and would be an instant cure-all for many of the problems of the world. But only one problem with credit cards are debit cards, and that is they can be stolen and used. But what if that same information was on a computer chip, could be implanted under the skin of an individual, perhaps on the arm or forehead, so that you are now your own smart card. Unless you cut off somebody's arm or head and take it to the store, you can't use their account. And the computer, thus solving the problems, is stolen. And already, they're implanting computer chips in animals. We have a cat, and she has a chip in her that we can trace her wherever she goes. And they can track her if she gets out of our house. And so they're doing it with the animals. And I'm sure that they could do it with people. They say it's a means to put it in children. It's a means of protecting them from child snatching. You can see where they're at. So the technology's here. we have the supercomputer that controls the world currency and money flow and it's not hard for us to imagine how the antichrist and the false prophet will pull off this forced worship by everyone who does not receive the mark of the beast and forced worship by everyone who has that mark. Now by his abuse of power not only defames the person of God and people of God and then demands worship as God, but thirdly he destroys those who refuse to worship. Destroys. Revelation 13, 7. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And the authority was given to him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship whose name have not been written in the book of life of the land slain from the foundation of the world. The saints in view here are those who come to Christ through the witness of 144,000 Jewish witnesses and the ministry of two special witnesses. We'll see those as we get into more detail. These are believers, though, who refuse to worship him. And like Daniel's three friends who refused to bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar and would rather be cast into the fiery furnace than bend the knees, so these tribulation saints will refuse to bow in worship of the Antichrist, and they will refuse to accept his mark, and they will be martyred for their faith. For three and a half years, the Antichrist will reign in terror, banishing and annihilating believers. But tribulation saints are not only his only target of his fury, but he's also going to turn against Israel and seek to destroy the Jewish people. Matthew 24 verse 15 says, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let him who is on the mount housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothe but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath for then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time no nor shall ever be and unless those days were shortened no flesh should be would be saved but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened the antichrist is going to turn his fury against israel there's going to be a wave of anti-semitism breaking out like never before their friend who they thought was his friend because he made that covenant with them to provide them with security and peace, their friend is going to turn on them and seek to destroy the Jewish people. And if it were not for the supernatural protection of God, all of Israel would be destroyed, but God is going to save a remnant divinely protected and shielded. Now, very quickly, the Antichrists fall from power. He's going to be in power for the last three and a half years of that tribulation period, but his fall from power is recorded in Revelation chapter 19, beginning of verse 11. John says, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he judges and makes wars. His eyes were like the flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in white linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he has one on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying, to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather together for the supper of the great God that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both great and small. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured." That's the Antichrist. He was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. The rest were killed with a sword. which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." The second coming of Jesus Christ, when he returns at the end of the tribulation period, when Jesus comes back with his forces of heaven, with you and I, when he comes back, the Antichrist and the world forces are going to assemble themselves together for one final cosmic battle of Armageddon. The powers of darkness, Satan and his mighty forces will do battle with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, but it's going to be a war of duration of perhaps one hour or even less. Because it's no contest. There's no contest as Jesus Christ will soundly and forever defeat the Antichrist and his forces. the beast or the antichrist and the false prophets going to be thrown alive into hell, into the lake of fire. This mighty world leader is going to perish and after the millennial kingdom of Christ the devil himself is going to be cast into the lake of fire to join the other two members of the evil trinity where they will remain forever and ever. Now, I gave you this morning just a very brief overview of the career of the Antichrist from his rise to power, the solidification of his power over the world, the abuse of his power, and then the fall from it. And as we continue our study, we're going to delve in more detail as we work our way through this tribulation period. But I wanted us to have an overall view of this man of sin and to try to demystify him. Now, is there anything we can take home today? Two thoughts in closing. First of all, Peter exhorts us in 1 Peter chapter 3. He says, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you're blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your heart and always be ready. to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. God has called us to be to be totally committed to Jesus Christ. to be one of his followers. We are to set apart the Lord God in our hearts. That is, we are to be totally and fully devoted to him. We are to be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that we have in Christ as we witness for him. And we are to live in such a way that even though the Antichrist may defame us as followers of Jesus Christ, people who knew us while we were here on earth will know better. they'll know better. This is our mandate on how we are to live in these latter days, totally devoted to Jesus Christ, ready to witness, and living an exemplary life. So will the quality of our love and character counter the false accusations of the Antichrist? And may I say, secondly, God Almighty has the final word. We know who wins in the end. We know the end of the story. In the end, Jesus Christ, the true Messiah of Israel, will be victorious. Jesus Christ is the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the first, and the last. And may I say to you this morning, He alone deserves our worship. He alone deserves our adoration, our allegiance, and our devotion. Unlike Satan, God never forces us to worship Him. God never forces us to worship Him. He wants us to worship Him because we love Him.