Bible Family Life

version 1 sep 2010  (added 2Cor 4.8-9)

[Quotes taken from the article, "Who Are The Beast And The False Prophet?", are followed here by the relevant scripture references.]

when the universe began
Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? . . . 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

guarded entry
Gen 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

days when Noah
1 Peter 3:19-20 . . . he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, KJV

other names
Rev 20:2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan,

high position
Ezek 28:14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created

Satan cast down
Luke 10:18 “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven . . .

Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!        KJV

Rev 12:4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. . . . 9 The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him

stars being angels
See just above – Rev 12:4,9.

the very place
Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.

top position and longed to be worshiped
Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
. . .
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, . . .

prepared to kill
John 8:44 He [Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

[Murder and deception! Fitting inspiration for the beast and the false prophet respectively - the murderous beast, the lying prophet.]

the servant is king
Matt 23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

very active shortly
[The free fall of the USA and Britain culminating with their abject defeat - possibly without even a shot being fired - is a feature of the end times.]

cast into the lake of burning sulfur
Rev 19:20 The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

[The lake of burning sulfur is the lake of fire.]

resumed by Satan
Rev 20:7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth-Gog and Magog-to gather them for battle

empires
Dan 7:17′The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever-yes, for ever and ever.’

Roman Empire
[The Roman Empire followed the Greek]

Dan 8:23-24 . . . when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people.

raise its head again
Rev 17:9-10 The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come;

rising out of the abyss
Rev 17:8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction.

Rev 11:7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.

the two witnesses
Rev 11:3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.

put to death our KING
Pilate allowed the Jews to decide Jesus’s fate. Roman soldiers were the ones who carried out the crucifixion .

John 19:15-16 . . . “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified . . .23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus,  . . .

supernatural signs
Matt 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

Rev 19:20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

whole earth will be deceived
Rev 13:7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast . . .

not be dismayed or alarmed
2 Cor 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;    KJV

1 Peter 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;     KJV

Rev 2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life

Matt 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

John 14:1  Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

Luke 12:4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

Rev 13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed.

Heb 13:5-6 . . . because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places     KJV

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
All Bible quotations are taken from the New International Version unless otherwise stated.

Make sure you refer to our first two sites forsure-bible-study.com and then bible-study.4scty.com
see SITEMAP1 and SITEMAP2 in top header menu bar.

version 1 sep 10  (very minor mod)

[picking up from the end of "Frequently Asked Questions – faq001" let's expand on the whole of the last question, Q.05]

[just for this time i'll have to use a different color for marking the phrases to be referenced. They'll be in red.]

God created the angels,

They were fashioned by God and were present when the universe began. The first to be mentioned, not counting Satan, were they who guarded entry to the Garden of Eden. No doubt a lot of fanciful mythology had its origin in these powerful beings.

many of which rebelled against God’s plans

Some for example disobeyed God in the days when Noah was constructing the ark.

under the leadership of the Devil.

The Devil and Satan are one and the same. Some of his other names are the serpent and dragon. God originally gave Satan a very high position, but Jesus was heard to say that he had seen Satan cast down to the earth. Satan took a third of the stars of heaven for company - stars being angels.

They particularly appear to loathe that part of the plan that covers the training of human beings to be Gods [not equal to the Father of course].

At the time Jesus was about to begin his ministry Satan could have wandered  anywhere on earth, but he felt compelled to attend the very place where Jesus was fasting. He always lusted for the top position and longed to be worshiped. His desire was so strong he was, and is, prepared to kill for it. A truth that eluded him, and that was a million miles away from his comprehension, was that the servant is king.

Two of the most powerful directly under Satan are pictured as the beast and the false prophet.

The beast and the false prophet will be very active shortly – the way world events are unfolding it’s shaping up to take place in our day. They will be cast into the lake of burning sulfur when Jesus returns. The havoc they will create will be resumed by Satan himself when he is released at the end of the thousand years, indicating their high level in the hierarchy.

These terms sometimes also include those on earth willingly subservient to them and who are a part of their evil schemes.

The beasts in the visions of Daniel were earthly powerful empires. The last was extremely cruel – the Roman Empire. It was to last for hundreds of years, and even at its destruction about 500 AD it was destined to raise its head again. In conjunction with the Roman Catholic religion at that time it called itself the Holy Roman Empire.

The beast thirsts for power and the spilling of blood principally by military means.

It is pictured as rising out of the abyss. It is this beast which is to be responsible for the death of the two witnesses. It was the Roman military who put to death our KING, aided and abetted by the religious leaders (Jewish) of the day.

The false prophet lusts for power over men using lies and deceitful signs.

This spirit will inspire many men to claim to be Christ, and possibly to perform supernatural signs and wonders, and, except for a few, the whole earth will be deceived. It’s likely that he’s very busy now working on world leaders, particularly those over the various religions. Even the Christian religion has split into many hundreds of different organizations and cults. It has to be likely that he especially targets the minds of those who lead the most powerful.

They are impervious to feelings of humanity and compassion

Dan 7:19 . . . fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws – the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.

[Expect no softness, kindness or mercy here. There is no feeling in the iron teeth or bronze claws.]

and are about to embark upon their deadly work with ice-cold application.

Jesus will return and then it’s curtains for them – and Jesus said that he was coming soon. Let’s work steadily as though we had a lifetime before us, yet not be dismayed or alarmed if things start to unravel in only a few months time.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
All Bible quotations are taken from the New International Version unless otherwise stated.

Make sure you refer to our first two sites forsure-bible-study.com and then bible-study.4scty.com. See SITEMAP1 and SITEMAP2 in top header menu bar.

BIBLICAL REFERENCES – see next article – “The Beast And False Prophet – References”.

version 2 aug 2010

Q.01  What if Adam and Eve had not sinned?

A.  Considering the odds stacked against Eve, and then Adam, how could they not have sinned? Their adversary the Devil was immeasurably more cunning than they, plus they had their own human nature to contend with. But just say they had not sinned, and for their whole lives on earth, day by day, minute by minute, never sinned, the chances of their offspring also remaining sinless were extremely small. You would have ended up with a situation where Adam and Eve were very special in God’s eyes, while the rest of humanity would have been barred from the Garden of Eden.

It’s all speculati0n of course. It was inevitable that they would sin at some point. They lived very long lives in those days.

Q.02  What color was Adam and his family?

A.  Not revealed. Not necessarily white.

Q.03  Where did all the different colored races come from?

A.  The original DNA of Adam was able to cope with his sons and daughters intermarrying. Over time man’s DNA became “weaker”, certainly different anyway, so that it became law that close relatives were not to marry.

The color potential was also there in the original DNA of Adam. Perhaps different colors became evident over time so that when Noah’s Ark made its landing even Noah’s sons or daughters-in-law were colored differently. Again, speculation.

Q.04  Isn’t it barbaric to punish a criminal by a number of strokes across his back?

A.  God didn’t seem to think so (Deut 25.2), in fact he never mentioned locking up a man in a cage. When you think about it, which is worse, say 20 strokes or a 5-year term of slow mental (sometimes violent) torture? What do you think the result of the following experiment would be? – visit a prison and give prisoners the option of taking the rod or cane, or doing the rest of their time. I’m certain they would queue up despite the severity of the physical pain.

But that would be the easy way out for them you may say. But is it so easy? Have you ever felt a heavy blow across your bare back? How about twenty? After two there’s still another eighteen to go!

Remember it’s not revenge, torture or hate we are talking about but education – training – the punishment of those God calls fools (Prov 3.11,12). Better a few stripes now than many more at the final judgment (Luke 12.46-48).

Do we believe we are more enlightened than God? Who is the Teacher, God or man? Who is it who knows every facet of man’s psychology? Who is he that can overrule God?

Q.05  Who are the beast and the false prophet?

A.  God created the angels, many of which rebelled against God’s plans under the leadership of the Devil. They particularly appear to loathe that part of the plan that covers the training of human beings to be Gods. Two of the most powerful directly under Satan are pictured as the beast and the false prophet. These terms sometimes also include those on earth willingly subservient to them and who are a part of their evil schemes. The beast thirsts for power and the spilling of human blood principally by military means. The false prophet lusts for power over men using lies and deceitful signs. They are impervious to feelings of humanity and compassion and are about to embark upon their deadly work with ice-cold application.

This will be covered in a subsequent article.

- – - – — – - – — – - – — – - – — – - – — – - – — – - – — – - – — – - – -

Make sure you refer to our first two sites forsure-bible-study.com and then bible-study.4scty.com
see SITEMAP1 and SITEMAP2 in top header menu bar.