"Error In God's Church Will Abound As Long As Satan Is Around" By: Dr. Shuffel P. Hepburn

Error in God's church will abound as long as Satan is around. That's our message. The text is taken from Revelation 13.

We must never lose sight of the fact that Satan's most dangerous hour for spreading error is directly ahead of us. His greatest attacks on the church of God in Jesus Christ will happen during the great tribulation. In that season his true mastery of deception will be evident.

For those alive on the earth it will be a day like the time of the great flood, when the Lord caused it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and washed away every soul except faithful Noah and his family. Noah and his sons and their wives, along with male and female species of all the animals were protected in the ark of God.

It is difficult to nail down the time that the flood occurred. But going by genealogies in scripture, it was at least 1656 years after Adam was created, according to several sources. But the question is what will be the ark of safety for the people of God? Who will be that ark of safety for the faithful? Well Jesus Christ said, "As the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

The terrors of that day will be far worse, far more devastating and even more sudden than the flood. However everyone on the earth will not be destroyed. The church is split three ways on whether Christ will come before, in the middle, or at the end of the tribulation. Whatever the timing, as many as six billion people may be caught off guard. But Christ will be that eternal ark of safety for all whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It is possible that the followers of all false religions will join in with the antichrist in that season, and become one under his leadership as well.

Father we thank you for your word today. Send it forth with power. We thank you for giving a clear understanding to your children, in the holy and the wonderful name of Jesus Christ we pray in Jesus name, amen.

According to Revelation 13, a beast like the red dragon version of Satan will rise up from the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns. He will be given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies against God. He will blaspheme God's name, but will be powerless against the true church, which is the faithful body of believers in Christ. The body of Christ includes every believer whose name is written down in the Lamb's book of life. Some whose bodies will still be in the grave and others who apparently will still be alive in Christ on earth. That is if the church has not already been gathered. In Revelation 13:8, the word of God tells us, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, will worship the beast. All whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Clearly there will still be on the earth souls whose names are written in the book of life and these will be the ones who will refuse to worship the antichrist in that season. In Revelation 13:1, the Apostle John wrote that he stood on the sand by the seashore and he saw a beast who is the antichrist rising out of the sea. This phrase rising out of the sea means he will not come from Israel. He will have seven heads and 10 horns. And on his horns scripture says 10 crowns. And on his head a blasphemous name. We know that this leader will be the epitome of evil, because his description is eerily similar to that of the red dragon of Revelation 12, who is the devil. While Satan is described in many ways, the red dragon version of him also has seven heads and 10 horns. This red dragon is none other than Lucifer himself who was cast out of heaven, drawing a third of the angels with him. Lucifer the devil is an actor or chameleon who can take on many forms. While we often see him depicted as a red demon with horns, a tail and a pitchfork. This is in itself deceptive because he does not appear in this form in scripture. In the Garden of Eden he was a serpent. In 2 Corinthians he's described as an angel of light. And perhaps he appeared as a powerful king when he tempted the Lord Jesus Christ. Although no description is offered and he's simply called the tempter. In the book of Job he appears as a dignitary in heaven attending a meeting among the sons of God. He's also described as a fallen angel with horns and hooves, and he can appear as a brother, appear as a sister, a next-door neighbor or any other being or object. Satan also described as the accuser of the brethren will take on any form in order to deceive the people on the earth. His most fatal wounds to the saints of God are inflicted when he presents himself to them as a false prophet or a false teacher. John said one of the heads of the beast that rose up out of the sea had been mortally wounded and the wound had healed, this is a mystery. Then he said, "The entire world were in awe of the beast and followed him. This beast will be empowered by Satan the dragon himself for three and a half years. And the people of the world will be so amazed by him, that they will worship him and say, "There is no one like the beast. He will have amassed so much power, that no nation on earth at that time will be able to make war with him. And this beast who will become the antichrist will be a world leader who will have the greatest arsenal of nuclear weaponry, with the most effective technology to employ and activate them. He will be the command and chief of the most powerful military and naval force the world has ever seen. And the entire world will be in awe of him. Presently we are rapidly moving toward that season. The three leading figures in the world today are the presidents of Russia China and the United States. Will one of these three become this beast, no one really knows. But as global instability increases, nations will begin to tumble, as the world moves toward one world order, when this beast will rule the entire earth. They will also worship the second beast, who will empower the first one. They will worship and bow down to an image of the first beast that will be created by the second. In a moment we will discuss who's going to be the second beast called the false prophet. But think about this, can such a prophet arise from any country other than Israel? This is very doubtful. According to Revelation 13:5, the first beast will be given a big mouth, which perhaps means a huge platform. Through which he will speak great things and blasphemies. And he will blaspheme God publicly, and the name of God, and even His tabernacle. Again I repeat Revelation 13:8, reaffirming that he will not be successful in deceiving the saints of God. His deception will be so strong that only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, which is the eternal book containing the names of all faithful sons and daughters of God, will be able to resist his powerful spell. They will refuse to worship him, but every other human alive on earth will indeed worship this beast wholeheartedly. Then in Revelation 13:9 and 10, the word says, "Anyone who leads someone into captivity shall go into captivity, and whoever kills someone with the sword must be killed with the sword." This may prophesy of a day when justice will be served in the earth. It will no more be a time when the wicked go free and honest men are imprisoned. Then the word of God goes on to use an expression which is also found in Revelation 14 and 12 and says, "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." This tells us that God's faithful and holy people will be required to endure persecution patiently, while continuing to obey His commands, and continuing to keep their faith in Jesus Christ intact, knowing that the day of the Lord shall come when He will avenge them. Until then, it will be a time and times of great testing for the people of the Most High God. Who will be required to endure hardness as good soldiers, having their patience and their faith tested daily. The second beast is described as arising from the earth, which signifies that he will rise up in Israel according to some sources. Apparently this expression the earth is used to refer to Israel. He will be the prince of error and deceit, who will be known as the false prophet. This second beast will look gentle and humble like a Lamb, but will have the voice of a dragon. He will also be the epitome of Satan and will work in tandem with the beast. He will perform signs and wonders, even making fire come down from heaven. And the Lord Christ gives us an idea about the origin of this second beast. In Luke 13 and 33 he says, "Nevertheless I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem." It sounds as if He's saying, that no true prophet should die anywhere other than Jerusalem. Some have disputed this saying that some true prophets have died outside of Jerusalem. We cannot be sure of what He really meant in this statement, but what He says next gives us a clear understanding of the role Jerusalem has played in killing prophets for millennia. He cries out, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing." Because of this statement we can certainly conclude that Jerusalem is the world leader in killing and stoning of prophets. Because of these signs and wonders that the false prophet performs, the people will be deceived into thinking that he is God, and will worship him. He will cause the people to make an image of the first beast and those who would not worship his image would be killed. He would also force all those on the earth, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. And this is the mark of the beast, and no one would be able to buy or sell unless he has that mark, unless he has the name of the beast or the number of his name as their identification. And so we conclude, what a dreadful time this will be in the world. It is the time when the very elect of God would be deceived if it was possible. Thankfully that is not possible according to scripture. The church of the Most High God began in a simple uncomplicated way and it will be simplified again, and all the focus will be upon the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, who are inseparably one and the same God. Yes my friend the split and disjointed church as we know it today will end. For there will be one unified body of believers. And these will be gathered from every nation on earth. And from the many different Christian denominations. And they will all be one in Christ. And in that day the Latin phrase e pluribus unum, meaning out of many one, will belong only to the church of the most high God. And truly out of the thousands and thousands of Christian denominations on earth today, there will be just one denomination again. It will be a huge united body of faithful believers in Jesus Christ. And we look forward with great anticipation to this wonderful day. In the meantime we encourage you to hold fast to God's word in Jesus name, amen.

You've been listening to this message and perhaps you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We want to give you an opportunity to make that commitment today. Please engage your heart and say this prayer after me:

-Father I am a sinner.

-I'm sorry for all my sins.

-I crave your forgiveness Lord.

-I thank you for your grace and mercy, your forgiveness.

-Today I invite Jesus Christ to come into my heart.

-Dear Lord Jesus make my heart your home.

-I give you the key to my heart because I now belong to you forever.

-Please give me the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth.

-Thank you Lord for saving my soul, amen.

Welcome friend to the body of believers in Christ. There are many of us here awaiting the return of the Good Master. In the meantime we want to give you some simple instructions.

We also encourage you to make sure that you participate in a discipleship program in your church. You want to be baptized as quickly as possible. It is the fulfillment of all righteousness.

Begin reading the word of God every day. Begin in the book of John then go to Matthew, Mark and Luke, reading audibly as often as possible because faith comes by hearing God's word. Pray daily, attend at your local church, and one glad morning the Savior will come and receive us all unto Himself, and we shall indeed forever be with the Lord. God bless and keep you, in Jesus mighty name, amen.