What does the Bible predict about lawlessness in the last days? In this video Pastor Mark Finley will study how Satan will manipulate people into carrying out his master plan to bring in the Mark of the Beast through the Antichrist.

<p>What does the Bible predict about lawlessness in the last days? In this video Pastor Mark Finley will study how Satan will manipulate people into carrying out his master plan to bring in the Mark of the Beast through the Antichrist.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Satan’s Strategy to Establish Counterfeit Sabbath

It's good to see you again and happy new year to you.

Bible prophecy predicts that the lawlessness we see in our society will ultimately lead to the erosion of religious freedom.

And that's what I want to talk to you about in this video.

When you look at 2020, 1 of the things that is very clear is that there has been social unrest.

Certainly, there have been a great number of peaceful protests that have taken place all year on a variety of things.

But more often than not, these peaceful protests have turned violent.

And yet, the First Amendment, of course, gives us, in the United States of America, the right to peaceful assembly, the right to state our grievances.

The prime example of what I'm talking about took place this past Wednesday, from when we're doing this video, on January 7, when a gathering in Washington, D.C., of thousands of people who were protesting, when that gathering turned violent, not by everybody, by any means, but by a group of people who stormed the Capitol, 62 policemen were injured, 5 people were killed, and as these individuals entered into the congressional hall.

Now, I don't know what side of political spectrum you're on, and that does not make a great deal of difference to me, but here's, I think, where all of us can unite wherever we are on the political spectrum, and that is that violence of any kind is wrong, that violence that destroys property, that violence that takes human lives, that that should be totally denounced as Christians.

What does the Bible predict about lawlessness and violence in the last days of Earth's history.

And as we look at the instability of society, as we look at the lawlessness of society, as we look at major cities in America that have increased gun violence and people's lives being lost every week because of wanton killings.

As we look at protest movements that have, some of them that have turned violent this last year.

What does it say in the light of Bible prophecy?

I'd like you to consider with me some of the aspects of Bible prophecy.

We're going to look at Jesus' words in Matthew, the 24th chapter.

In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus was sitting on a hillside in Galilee, hillside, outside of Jerusalem, overlooking the temple.

And there Jesus said to his disciples, not 1 stone is going to be left upon the other.

The disciples thought that an event as cataclysmic as the destruction of the temple must be the end of the world.

Jesus, of course, was talking about the destruction of that temple in 70 AD.

And he blended masterfully signs that would lead up to the destruction of the temple with signs that would lead up to the end of the age.

In that sermon, after Jesus talked about the destruction of the temple, the disciples thinking that he meant the end of the world came to him and in Matthew 24, verse 3 said, tell us, when shall these things be?

That is, when shall the temple of Jerusalem be destroyed?

What shall be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

He talks about the rising of false Christs and prophets.

Now note closely, no 1 sign constitutes a sign of the times, But when you see constantly these signs taking place in society, when you see false religion, when you see the rise of the occult and spiritualism, when you see the instability among nations, when you see famine and pestilence and earthquakes in various places.

I mean, this in 2020 has been a year, this past year, of pestilences, hasn't it?

You look at COVID-19, it's affected the world.

Did you ever think in your lifetime that you could have shutdowns and lockdowns in America and quarantines and that wearing masks would be a common thing, and that thousands of people would die, and that even now, as I speak, in January of 2021, we're in the middle of this pandemic.

Certainly, we're living in a time of false religion, of the occult spiritualism.

Certainly, we're living in a time of instability among nations.

Certainly we're living at a time of pestilences and think about the natural disasters.

But on the heel of all of this, Jesus puts it this way in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 12, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Abound has to do with getting out of control.

So here Jesus predicts in the context of false Christ and false prophets, in the context of the occult and spiritualism, in the context of wars and rumors of wars and instability among nations in the context of natural disasters of famines and pestilences.

In that context, Jesus talks about rising crime and violence in our streets.

He talks about instability in the streets.

He talks about the time that society would be racked with crime and violence.

Paul talks about this as well in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

Prophecy predicts before the time of the end in unstable society that is filled with crime, violence, and lawlessness.

Scripture says, but know this, here's something you can know, not guess, but know this, 2 Timothy 3.1, that In the last days, what days?

Times filled with peril, dangerous times will come.

And then it talks about men, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal.

If you look back over 2020, and you see many of these riots, they become brutal with vandalization and with violence.

It says they would be brutal and then having a form of godliness to denying the power thereof.

So what we see taking place in our society today with this instability is something that Christ has predicted.

The Old Testament is very clear on this as well.

In the book of Hosea, chapter 4 and verse 2, the Bible says, talks about society.

It says, by swearing and lying, dishonesty, killing and stealing and committing adultery.

I mean, what a description of our society, killing, stealing, committing adultery.

They break all restraint with bloodshed after bloodshed.

So here, Hosea, prophetically speaking of his day and looking at our day, says that there'd be killing and stealing and adultery, immorality, breaking all restraint, bloodshed after bloodshed, and the land will mourn.

Hosea goes on to say, in Hosea 8, verse 7, they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind.

When you sow the wind of lawlessness in society, you reap the whirlwind of violence, crime, immorality, looting, and stealing.

When you sow the wind of lawlessness, you reap the fruits of that in society.

Throughout the Bible, God speaks of the necessity of obedience.

And the way to peace is not the way to lawlessness.

Let's look at that in scripture and see just how the Bible leads us back to obedience.

And then let's look at how end time scenarios will shape up.

As you look at scripture, let's go back to the book of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and see some biblical principles.

The principles outlined in God's law are the principles of happiness and peace for our own lives and principles that lead us to stability in society.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, we're looking there at verse 6 and 7, And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children.

You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you go down and rise up, you shall bind them up as a sign.

So here God is saying that the principles of his law, passed down from generation to generation, bring peace, prosperity to our lives.

If you look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 16.

Why do we find the problems that we see in our society?

Because men and women have turned their back on God.

They've turned their back on the law of God.

And when you do that, it leads to violence and crime in our society.

See, I've set before you life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments, his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply.

And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

But if your heart turns away so you do not hear and you worship other gods, then you shall surely perish." So The question is that might be as well, was everybody in the protest movements, were they rebellious against God?

There is a legitimate right to protest and express one's grievances.

Let me share with you the principles of the First Amendment.

The First Amendment of the Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate the establishment of religion.

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Satan’s Strategy to Establish Counterfeit Sabbath

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