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Announcer: Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

Jack Graham: Guess what happens when the church is gathered with Christ? The restraining influence through the church will be gone and evil will be left to itself. It will be a world gone wild. The world will get what it's always wanted, life without rules.

Announcer: On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can live ready for Christ's return. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, The Alias.

Jack Graham: The Bible tells us that there will be a final world disaster. It's called the great tribulation. And stepping to center stage at that point of history will be one that we know as the antichrist.

The antichrist. And we're going to take a look at the antichrist today. Now, the antichrist, literally, the word anti, the prefix, it means against. So you could say this one is against Christ, and certainly true.

But the word or the prefix anti also can mean instead of. That is someone who steps or tries to step in his place. And so this one steps on the scene of history just as Jesus predicted and prophesied in Matthew 24 that there would be false Christs, and there would be those who claim to be Messiah. This one will claim to be Messiah.

But while Jesus is the man of salvation, this one is the man of sin. While Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, this one is the man of sin who brings sin and judgment upon the world. This one is the antichrist.

Now, I want to tell you at the outset of this message that I don't know who the antichrist is, and neither do you. It is quite possible, in my view, that Satan has prepared someone in every generation to step in and rule the world with his hand of authority and the powers of hell. And so most likely there's someone living today that could easily step in in these times and be energized by Satan and become the final world dictator.

Turn with me in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and look at the first 12 verses of this passage. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ, the day of Christ is the day of Christ judgment, the day of tribulation on the Earth, as though the day of Christ had come.

Let no one deceive you by any means. For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. For 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 when the lawless one is revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all powers and signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they do not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.

And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. That they may all be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Paul gives us this passage of scripture, First Thessalonians 2, in response to a forged letter, a letter that had been written to the Thessalonian believers, claiming that the day of tribulation had come.

The believers were shaken by this. They were confused by this. So Paul makes it clear to these Christians, look, we are not yet in the day of Christ. I didn't say this. I didn't write a letter. If you heard this by some spirit of prophecy, apparently someone was prophesying that the day had come. He said, don't believe it.

Because the day of Christ, this day of tribulation, will not come until first the restrainer is removed, a falling away takes place, and the antichrist is revealed. And then that great tribulation will come. And so as we begin this message and look at this passage of scripture and profile the antichrist, let's think about who he is, and first the world conditions which produce the antichrist.

Well, the first thing that is mentioned here in the scripture is a spiritual apostasy. The word apostasy means falling away. And we read here that there will be a great falling away, a rejection of truth. That's why in First John 4, verses 1 through 3, we read these words. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

And by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. And this, speaking of those who do not confess Jesus, is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. The spirit of the antichrist, this spirit of denying Christ, which is the spirit of the antichrist, is already in the world.

In the last days, we are told that many will depart from the faith. And we know it's true in our own generation that spiritual apostasy is taking place at every quarter. We see it in the American church. Many mainline denominational churches having turned from the truth are now preaching lies.

And that is a trend that we see in the last days, that this great falling away will take place. You see, the antichrist will be very involved in false religion. He will have a cohort in his crimes against humanity, known as the false prophet. And they will preside over a religious system of world unity, a kind of global conglomerate church, and rule the people through their hearts and minds as their own religion is practiced.

And another reason that it will be a time of spiritual apostasy is because of the removal of the restrainer. There will be a rejection of truth, but there will be then this removal of the restrainer. Look at it again. We are told that the lawless one will be revealed at the time of the tribulation. He will be worshipped as God.

And then the Apostle Paul said, verse 7, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Who is this he who is the restrainer? Most likely, your Bible has capitalized the pronoun he, because this he is none other than he, the Holy Spirit.

One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to restrain sin and evil in the world. God has deposited His spirit in His people, in His church. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And so, guess what happens when the church is gathered with Christ? Guess what's going to take place? The restraining influence through the church will be gone, and the world and evil will be left to itself.

It will be a world gone wild. The world will get what it's always wanted, life without rules, lawlessness. In fact, the sin or the man of sin is called the man of lawlessness, and lawlessness will prevail in this time. Why? Because the ministry of the Holy Spirit is removed. Now, God's presence is not removed. God's spirit still works, but His presence in the church by His spirit is taken away.

So you can imagine in the midst of all of this spiritual apostasy, the Holy Spirit is removed. Christians are gone. And there will be someone who will step up to the plate and say, trust me, I can handle things. I can get things under control. And he does that, and world conditions will produce that because not only of spiritual apostasy, but secondly, political alignment.

Political alignment. Now, the antichrist will be a political figure, as we'll see more clearly in just a moment. We're told in Revelation chapter 13. In fact, turn with me. Just hold your place in Second Thessalonians and go to Revelation 13, the last book of the Bible, and chapter 13. Verse 1 says, I stood on the sand of the sea, that is John, as he's being given this look into the future.

And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. When John sees this beast rising out of the sea, speaks of the sea of humanity, the swirling, seething sea of humanity in the midst of all of this lawlessness. Governments will falter. We can already see some of this taking place. Western Europe is but a shadow of its former self.

China is advancing in the world. And governments, as we know them today, will falter and will seek international unity in the midst of all of this great disaster.

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Jack Graham: We're talking about world conditions which will promote the antichrist to power. And we're saying one will be spiritual apostasy. Two will be political alignment, these as these political alignments take place with the antichrist stepping into power. And then economical authority. We're told you're in Revelation 13.

Look down at verse 16. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man, and his number is 666.

But what is this number all about? In these last days, man will no longer be a name, but will be turned into a number. And it will be for the purpose of creating a cashless society. And if you have a cashless society and everyone is identified by this particular number of the beast, taking the mark of the beast, then everyone can be controlled.

There's no freedom. Everyone is under the auspices and the authority of the beast. And that's what we're told in scripture, that he will have great authority and complete dominion. He will be the final world dictator. The reason being, he controls the money. Not only does he control people's minds by sending them strong delusion, but he controls people's money. If you control the money, you control their lives.

No one will buy or do merchandise without this mark. No mark, no merchandise. And it will all be in a form of a number. Now, there may have been a time when people looked at that and wondered, well, how could that be? How could the whole world have some kind of a mark or be controlled by some kind of identification? But we don't wonder about that today, do we?

Through microchips and digital technology and computers, it would be very easy to bring everyone under the control of a number and a digital chip, maybe placed in the hand, placed on the forehead. Years ago, this seemingly was impossible, but now we know it is possible. Do you remember after 9/11 there was quite a bit of talk about a national ID card?

And in many ways it sounds like a good idea to control the population, to know who's in the country and who's not. That everyone would just have this ID number and this ID national card that you would use as a passport in the country and outside the country. It sounds like a great idea unless someone of evil intentions took it over.

And one day, someone of evil intentions will take over the world and will control this world through a cashless society. And if you want to merchandise, if you want to buy, if you want to have money even to eat, you will bear the mark of the beast. You will believe the lie. Sometimes we're asked the question, will people who are left behind, will they have an opportunity after the rapture of the church to confess Christ?

Well, the scripture tells us that there will be people who will come to faith in Christ during the great tribulation. The book of Revelation tells us that 144,000 Jewish evangelists will be men who are saved by the cross and the love of Christ will go around preaching the gospel, and many will come to Christ. But there's no indication in the Bible that anyone who has previously rejected Christ will be given a second chance.

And you should not certainly build your future or expect a future with God if you live without Christ and die without Christ or face an eternity at the second coming of Christ. Why would you risk your eternal future on some flimsy idea that you just might, hope I hope I hope, get a second chance someday? What we just read in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 is that this evil one, this antichrist will send them strong delusion so that they will believe the lie.

And in this day of the tribulation, these lies will be believed. So you will have a delusion, your mind will be blinded by the untruth, by the lies of the wicked one. So don't, do not wait another day to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Well, these are the world conditions. But let's look very quickly at the wicked character of this antichrist.

We're told in Revelation 13 that he is a beast, a beast rising out of the sea. Now, when you read the word beast, you think of some Halloween monster. But let me just say that the story of the antichrist of the beast who rises out of the seas of nations, it's not some Rosemary's Baby horror story. This is not a Halloween fantasy, a monster story. As a matter of fact, the beast is a very beautiful beast.

I say that because when you read Revelation 13, you discover that he's worshipped as God. He will be attractive and appealing to the masses. So he is a beautiful beast, but he is also a prideful beast. Second Thessalonians 2, verses 3 and 4 says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way.

For he is the man of lawlessness revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and he will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Now, that's been Satan's scheme and plan from the beginning, even before the beginning of time.

How did the devil become the devil? Isaiah 14, Lucifer, the son of the morning said, I will exalt myself above the throne of God. I will be like the most high. And Lucifer, the son of the morning, became Satan, the father of the night because of his pride, because of his rebellion. He has always desired worship to be as God.

And so now Satan is receiving worship through the antichrist. And he gets what he's always wanted, and that is the worship of mankind without God. So this beast is a prideful beast, a beautiful beast, and a powerful beast. Though he starts out smoothly and softly, his true colors are revealed as this counterfeit leader, this clever leader reveals himself.

And the delusion, the deception comes full circle. This is why we need to know the word of God today. This is why we need to preach God's truth today, to separate truth and error, lies from error. Because in the day of Christ, when this judgment comes, there will be so much deception, and people will be so gullible. And it's a tragedy beyond anything I can imagine.

So many people today are showing up at churches all over America and around the world, and they never hear the word of God. They never hear the gospel. Some of you know it. You grew up in churches where you never once heard the gospel of the cross and the resurrection of Christ, the gospel of God's grace and God's salvation. That's a tragedy. And that is a setup by sin and Satan himself.

And so know who this antichrist is. He is one who is coming to destroy, to delude, to defile, and to damn people without Christ. He will be the pawn of Satan, but I'm so glad that's not the end of the story.

And I bring you to the conclusion, which is the woeful condemnation of the antichrist. You know, I'm calling this message the alias because he is the alias of Satan. And he is the one who will be judged even as Satan is judged. You say, how do you know that? Well, I've read the end of the book.

Turn over to Revelation chapter 19, verses 19 and 20. 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. And then the beast 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 in his image. And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Let me tell you what happens.

Finally, 666 runs into 777. And he comes against the Lord Jesus Christ, who with the word of His mouth defeats and destroys.