Simple Faith

Narrator: Technological advances in 2025 are amazing to behold, but some of them are pointing directly towards the end times. Here's Pastor Bill Henry.

Bill Henry: They're going to have to get this mark either on their right hand or on their foreheads. Again, once upon a time, even up to the last few years, this would seem silly. As a matter of fact, it's been made fun of for years, the last 20, 30 years. Even people within the church that believe in the preterist view especially, and some in the amillennial, basically making fun saying there's never going to be a mark of the beast. There's not even technology for it. There's just no way it can be carried out. And now look at today. It's crazy.

Narrator: God accomplishes his will by the truth. The devil accomplishes his will by lies. In the end times, the devil, by his false prophet, will perform lying signs and wonders. Today on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, we'll be looking at that very topic.

Today, Pastor Bill continues his fascinating study of the false prophet and his exploits. Understanding what's to come will provide critical insight necessary to be able to discern between the truth of God's word and the error of the enemy. We're in Revelation chapter 13 today. Here's Pastor Bill Henry.

Bill Henry: But now they come and they worship this beast, they worship the dragon. Now, why do they worship the beast? Look at verse 13. He performs great signs. Oh, that's why. So that even he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Maybe he has lasers coming up from behind the worship team. Maybe some smoke rolling down. It's interesting, this just reminds me of so many today who go to different churches for great signs. Guys and gals who go to be entertained because they want to have their ears tickled.

This guy will perform great signs. Joel Osteen—I've heard people say, "What a great guy he is. Look at the tens of thousands of people who go to his church every Sunday." People go to those churches because they're looking for signs. This guy's going to do great signs, that's why he's going to be able to deceive. Don't go to a church just looking for signs. Don't go to a church looking to be entertained. Go to a church where you will be fed the word of God by the spirit of God, and that you can go and be loved and love and serve. And then we go out and do the work.

These guys go to churches like Bill Johnson. I'm not trying to pick on him, but he's one of the heads of what's called the NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation. There's a big one here in Vancouver. A lot of the younger people, 20s and 30s, are going to this church. They're being deceived because they're looking for signs. They want to see signs and wonders. Let's dance around. Let's see somebody slain in the spirit. It's all show, it's all fake, because it's not in the Bible. It's not of the Holy Spirit. Does God heal today? Amen, praise God he does. But not every time. Even in the Bible, he didn't heal every time.

Don't be caught off guard just because someone performs great signs, makes fire come down from heaven. Again, I don't think this is just going to be some laser that comes down from heaven. I think this will be actually some kind of fake signs that deceive the whole world. Look at verse 14. He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs. He's using these signs to deceive people, to teach them mistruths about God, about faith, about worship. Notice he was granted to do this in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

This person's a deceiver. Jesus warned about deception in Matthew 24. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. In 2 Thessalonians 2, we're warned again that there will be all wicked deception for those who are perishing. Look at verse 14 back in our text. Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. In the NIV it says it this way: "He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived."

The Amplified says it this way: "Commanding them to erect a statue, an image in the likeness of the beast who was wounded by the small sword and still lived." Look at verse 15 as it continues. He was granted 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. The people will build some sort of image, a statue in honor of the beast. But this isn't just any statue. You read the older commentaries and they say they'll literally build some kind of statue. Maybe they'll be all over the world. With technology today, I think it's going to be something more involving AI, artificial intelligence.

We don't know for sure, but they're going to erect an image. Image here in the Greek is *eikon*, like where we get the word icon. It literally means a likeness or statue, a profile, a representation. The Greek scholar Zodhiates says it's to be like, to resemble, a representation, an image of as a man made of gold, silver, or other material, or a monarch's likeness impressed on a coin, earthly copies. So we don't know exactly what this image will be, but notice in verse 15, whatever the image is, he was granted power to give breath to that image of the beast. That image of the beast then should both speak and cause as many who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Apparently some sort of breath will be given to this beast. It will seem as if it's alive. Notice the word "breath". That's *pneuma* in the Greek. It's this breath or this breeze. It's not given *bios* in the Greek, meaning life. There's no life, but there's this breath. There's an image, and this breath causes it to speak and causes many who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. This sounds a lot like what we call artificial intelligence today because it has this power to monitor everyone if they're worshipping the beast. Let's say they're going to set up a certain time during the day you have to worship the beast at 12:00 every day.

How are they going to know? They're not going to have people all over. Does anybody here have a phone? Raise your hand if you have a cell phone. Most everybody here. Raise your hand if you have an iPad, or if you have an Android device, or if you have a computer, or if you've ever walked into a grocery store or a gas station and you see all the cameras all over the place. On intersections, there's all these cameras now. AI is going to be watching and they're going to say, "Hey, who's that guy? He didn't just pray. He didn't just worship the beast. Mark that dude." Use facial recognition. "Oh, that's Bill Henry. Send the squad out there. Let's kill him. He didn't worship."

All of a sudden you see this beast again, which sounds a lot like AI, artificial intelligence. Just a quick side note: don't be fooled by artificial intelligence. It's not some randomly smart thing like Terminator back in the 80s and Arnold Schwarzenegger stuff. AI today is fully programmed by men and women. It's told what to think, it's told what's right, what's wrong. It's not just randomly coming to life in the computer. No, it's going to be under the complete control, I believe, of the Antichrist and under Satan. Here it's going to be able to keep control of everyone because Satan isn't omnipresent. But through phones and through technology today, it's going to seem like he's omnipresent.

He's not omniscient; he's not all-knowing. But again, because of all the things they can watch us with, it's going to seem he's that way. I've met some people that have worked with the government over the last 10 years. It's funny, I'll talk about stuff like this and they'll say, "Pastor Bill, you're right on what you're saying, but you don't even know a part of what's really going on." One of them told me, "What do you think they have these huge computer farms like in the middle of Utah and Arizona? What do you think the government is doing with a huge place that's as big as a shopping mall? Each one of them. What do you think the government's doing? It's all stuffed with computers."

He says, "I can't tell you anymore because I've signed non-disclosure things, but hopefully you can figure it out." He doesn't own a cell phone. He doesn't own computers hardly. He doesn't have all this stuff. Lilly and I, the last couple weeks, we've been doing a little traveling. We went to visit a pastor and his wife out in the middle of Oregon. This little town—never been there. It's like not a blip on anybody's radar. They're retiring there. They took us on a little tour of this town and we go up on this little butte and you see this huge building in the distance. It's huge in the middle of nowhere and you only saw a part of it. He goes, "That's Facebook."

What are they doing out in the middle of here? And then I looked at my phone and they have 5G here. Why does this little dinky town have 5G? He goes, "Look over to the other way," and there was another huge complex in the middle of nowhere. "That's Apple." Then we were just in Idaho out by Nampa. She was telling us Meta is building a huge computer farm out here. Meta is Facebook. They're building this thing. It has to be at least 200 or 300 acres and they were just starting to build this whole huge complex. I looked online and this is one of like 20 or 30 in the United States alone.

What are they going to do with all that? We know they want to go into the metaverse and do all this stuff, but they're going to be able to monitor us. For the first time in history, they'll be able to watch us this closely. Pretty gnarly. Look at verse 16. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads, 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. I'm going to disappoint some here today. There's been books and books written upon these couple of verses.

I'm going to teach it because I'm a pastor and I love the word of God, but I just don't care about this stuff. Some of us are so caught up in it all. Can I just shake you a little this morning? Get uncaught up in it. We're not going to be here for it. But we can look and see the trends that are coming. Notice he says here that this is by the way—this is when we talk about a one-monetary system, this is what this is talking about. There's going to be a one-world monetary system, and they're all going to have to receive a mark on their heads. But remember, this mark is reflecting that they're worshipping the beast.

With that same mark, they can buy and sell. Notice it says there in verse 16, it doesn't matter who you are: small or great, rich or poor, free or slave, you will have to receive the mark as it represents your worship of the beast to buy or sell anything. Somebody came up to me after the last service and they said that right now the president of Brazil is facing charges and up to 14 years in prison because he lied about getting the vaccine. The accomplices that helped him get a fake ID card, they're facing up to four years in prison. This is crazy. It doesn't matter: great, rich, poor, free or slave.

They're going to have to get this mark either on their right hand or on their forehead. Again, once upon a time, even up to the last few years, this would seem silly. It's been made fun of for years. Even people within the church—those that believe in the preterist view especially and some in the amillennial—basically making fun, saying there's never going to be a mark of the beast. There's not even technology for it. There's just no way it can be carried out. And now look at today. It's crazy. I think even in today's woke culture, the mark is going to be something they're going to brag about.

Just like the vaccine, you saw people like, "I got the vaccine today! Woo!" A year later, "I got cancer. I'm not sure where it came from, but..." Seriously, it's just crazy. But I can see people bragging. "Where is your mark? I'm going to turn you in. You better get the mark or I'm going to turn you in." Is this mark going to be some kind of computer chip, one of the new bio tattoos that we've heard of? I think it's going to be a visible mark. It's going to be something that we can see. It's a tattoo on the forehead or on the hand. Maybe it's an invisible tattoo. I don't think it's going to be invisible because in this woke culture, I think people are going to wear it proudly with pride. Where does that pride word come from? I wonder.

But it's nothing you can be tricked into. You cannot be tricked into getting the mark of the beast. In the 80s, I worked at a bank and this lady came up. We just got these ATM machines. This is when ATMs were coming in everywhere. The lady says, "I'm not going to do the ATM machine." I'm like, "Why not?" and she said, "Because that's the mark of the beast. That ATM card is the mark of the beast." I wasn't even a Christian yet, so I'm like, "Mark of what? What are you talking about? You just put the card in and get money out. There ain't no mark."

She was wrong in her theology as far as that wasn't the mark of the beast, but she was right as far as that kind of was the beginning of the coming in of this whole economic system that would be all online. And so again, we're going to see where people will have to have this tattoo. We now have the technology to perform such a thing. During COVID—not to wear that out—but everybody remembers the vaccine cards. Certain states came out with them, certain cities. New Zealand—if you didn't have a vaccine card, you couldn't travel anywhere. You could hardly leave your house.

They were on apps for telephones. How much easier will it be just to go ahead and show this mark? But again, it's not an imaginary thing to see how much control they will have once they go to the electronic monetary system, get all of our finances online. Banks are pushing for it. In Australia, one of their main banks—one of the largest banks in Australia has closed at least 30 of their offices and their ATMs because they're going away from cash. Even during COVID, there were places that wouldn't take cash.

The banks, I remember, were saying, "We don't have any pennies and dimes and nickels, any change." So we went in there because we had a lot of change from the church and we went in and said, "Well, here, we're going to give you this stuff," and they said, "Oh no, we don't take it either." I thought you said you don't have it, so you need it. "No, we're not taking it either." We're steps away from this. The World Economic Forum is pushing for it. World leaders are pushing for it. Now the hard thing is whose monetary system is it going to be under? That's what they're fighting about.

Imagine the power they're going to have that you can no longer just say, "Hey, here's a five-dollar tip," or "Hey bud, I'll give you 10 bucks tomorrow to mow the yard." They're going to see every penny. And then imagine if they don't like the way you're voting. Imagine if they don't like what you're saying or doing on social media. "You know, that house over there, that Bill Henry house? Just turn it off." Your phones don't work. You can't buy or sell anything. Your computers are off. "Let's turn their car off too." Because those are all electric, right? They want to push towards all electric. Off. Look at the power they're going to have.

If you don't understand this, one commentator named W.A. Griswell, in his commentary on Revelation, gave this outstanding example of the power they will have. This is how it's going on in many communist countries today. You have to have what's called a ration card to buy and sell anything. He said this: "You cannot understand, you cannot know that the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised is an innocent ration card. You cannot buy or sell anything except according to that little card. If they please, you can be starved to death. You can be disposed of everything you have. You cannot trade, you cannot buy, you cannot sell without it."

That's what's coming. Now look at verse 18 as we're getting ready to close. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666. When we first moved here 22 years ago, they gave us our first phone number at home. Some of you are laughing because you know it was like 360-666-blah blah blah. We called up and said, "Can we get a different number, please?" So we got a 687 number instead. Not that it was anything, but we have to be careful because not to become superstitious about that number too.

Notice we're told a few things here. First, we're told that this is a number for the beast or the Antichrist. And then we're told that it is the number of man. Now the number of man is six. Throughout the Bible, six usually represents mankind. Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. A slave would work for you for six years; the seventh year they'd be set free. You worked the land; you could work it for six years, then you had to let it rest the seventh year. Now the seven—there were six days in creation; God rested on the seventh—that's the number of completion, seven.

So six is man's number. One short step—two or three fries short of a Happy Meal, if you will—it's not complete. And so this man's number will be 666. Some say because of three sixes that this will be the perfect man. Again, we don't know. Others say that Christians that are alive in those times, in the future time that we're reading about, will have more understanding and insight than we have today into who this is going to be. And they'll be able to figure out who this is with the wisdom of God. Honestly, that's where I fall. I believe that.

It makes the most sense because most of us won't be here. Again, we'll be raptured. Hopefully everybody here, those watching or listening, you'll be raptured with the church because you've been born again of the spirit and not simply religious. But I would add as well to be careful to get too caught up in trying to figure out who the Antichrist is. Let's look at the 666. I've seen all kinds of stuff, right? "Well, if you take Barack Obama's name and you take six and you go from the sixth letter every time and then you take six, minus away then times it by 66 and then divide it by six and then add another six..." Guess what you have? Nothing. I don't know what you have.

But that's what they do, these gymnastics. It's like the coming eclipse coming up in a couple of weeks. Everybody's like, "Oh, there's going to be signs in the heaven." Yeah, there's going to be signs in the heavens that no one can deny. These are going to be radical signs, not something that happens every so many years that is predictable. These are going to be things that people are going to go, "Hey, there's a God. There's something crazy happening here." So even with this, don't get too caught up in trying to look for the Antichrist because we're never told once in the word of God to be looking for the Antichrist.

As I've said before, I'm just parodying other great men and women before me. We don't look for Antichrist; we look for Jesus Christ. Amen? Because looking for the Antichrist, dude, it's going to lead to—you're going to get more and more bummed. You're going to get more and more sad and more and more afraid. But when we're looking for Jesus Christ and we're being the good servant, man, we're going to find joy and peace because we know who's on the throne.

Narrator: I hope you were blessed by today's message from Pastor Bill Henry. This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill's new series in the book of Revelation. If you'd like to hear today's message again or share it with a friend, it's available at our website to either watch or listen or download in MP3 format.

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