Thursday, July 10, 2003

Satan is really the greatest of all the great impostors in that he has tried to emulate every aspect of the earthly kingdom of God in his earthly empire. First, the Kingdom of God has its capital city of Jerusalem, while the empire of the devil is located in the plain of Shinar of present day Iraq.

The roots of Jerusalem go back to the city of Salem of which Melchizedek was priest and king. As you may recall, Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek after defeating the armies which had looted Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14). Jerusalem later became the capital city of the Old Covenant Kingdom under King David and will be the capital city of the New Covenant Kingdom when Christ rules the earth for 1,000 years.

The roots of Babylon go back to the tower of Babel in the land of Shinar and the apostate religion of Nimrod (Genesis 10:9,10). Later, the great city of Babylon grew up in Shinar and became the capital city of the Babylonian Empire. Babylon will become the capital city of the empire of the antichrist in the tribulation period. It is interesting to note that one of the kings who looted Sodom and Gomorrah and was defeated by Abraham in Genesis 14 was the King of Shinar. This gives further evidence of the continuous rivalry that has existed throughout history between God's power in Jerusalem and the Satan's power in Babylon.

Second, the Kingdom of God is ruled by a triune God. The Bible clearly teaches that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit dwell together as one. Satan will imitate that pattern during the tribulation period with the antichrist, the false prophet, and the dragon who is Satan, himself.

Third, Jesus Christ was killed by the religious leaders of His day. He was buried, and He rose again the third day. As the great impostor, Satan will manipulate the hearts of certain people during the tribulation period who will cause the antichrist to suffer a mortal wound. After this mortal wound the antichrist will appear to come back to life.

Fourth, Jesus Christ was God in human form. He was born of a virgin and, therefore, had no human father. Satan, being the great imitator, will rise from the bottomless pit (Revelation 17: 8) to dwell within the body of the antichrist after the antichrist receives his mortal wound.

Regardless of Satan's attempts to imitate God's earthly kingdom, his empire of evil will be no match for the power of God. Satan's empire of lies will crumble before the truth of Jesus Christ. At the end of the tribulation period, Jesus Christ will return to earth with the hosts of heaven to defeat the antichrist. Christ will cast the antichrist and the false prophet into the lake of fire and will cast Satan into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed for one final rebellion. His rebellion will be crushed, and he will be cast into the lake of fire with the antichrist and the false prophet.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Other church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

James III's link:
http://www.jeditime.blogspot.com

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