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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Jonathon Cherne

Two Images are Forming

Father in heaven, thank you, Lord, so much for the Sabbath hours, Lord, that you set aside each week for us to rest and to get to know you, Lord.

And just as a reminder, Lord, that there's nothing that we can do to earn salvation, Father, but that you have offered it to us as a gift, Lord.

And so, Lord, we thank you for this precious day, Lord.

And we ask, Lord, now as we open the Sabbath, Lord, that you bless us.

May we realize the times in which we are living, Father, and may we draw ever closer to you, we pray.

Okay, I have a special presentation this evening.

We're going to be doing 1 part this evening for Vespers, and then the other part tomorrow morning at Advent Hope.

If you can't attend in person, I hear in Loma Linda, California.

So look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow as well.

So my message is called, 2 Images Are Forming.

And so as you can tell from the title, and Let me see if you guys can see my screen.

As you can tell from the title, we're going to be talking about Bible prophecy and talking about some of the events that will be taking place, that have taken place, and looking at Bible prophecy, looking at what's been happening and kind of comparing them.

So this is a picture of me and my family.

As you can see, This is an image of my family.

So an image is a reflection of something, somebody.

And so we're going to be talking about 2 images that are forming.

1 image we'll be talking about tonight, and we'll be talking about the other image tomorrow.

But People ask me, I do religious liberty work and talk about end time events and Bible prophecy.

And people ask me, why are we talking about Bible prophecy?

And so a couple comments on that is 1, Christ, the Bible says, let us watch and be sober, and this is him talking about the signs of the times, that we're supposed to be watching and being sober, and here is a quote from the book Acts of the Apostles, page 260.

It says, there are in the world today, many who close their eyes to the evidences that Christ has given to warn men of his coming.

They seek to quiet all apprehension, while at the same time the signs of the end are rapidly fulfilling.

And the world is hastening to the time when the Son of Man shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven." Then she says a very interesting statement.

She says, Paul teaches that it is sinful to be indifferent to the signs which are to precede the second coming of Christ.

And so here we're told that, I don't know if you can see me still, here we're told that we are supposed to be watching the signs, that we are supposed to be looking at them and that it's sinful not to.

People say, oh, you know, we just need to be focusing on God's love, and yes, we do need to be focusing on God's love, but we also need to be watching just as the Savior says.

Okay, this says, Matthew 24 42 says, Watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

So Jesus, after giving all the signs of his coming, tells us to watch.

And so we obviously wouldn't want to obey his command.

But this is another quote from signs of the times, October 1, 1894, it says, "'God would have us study the events "'that are taking place around us "'and compare them with the predictions of His Word in order that we may understand that we are living in the last days.

It says, the diligent student of prophecy will be rewarded with clear revelations of truth, for Jesus said, Thy word is truth." And so the purpose of studying the prophecies and comparing them to the last days is so that we may understand that we're living in the last days.

And so we study the Bible, and we study, we look around to see what's happening in the world, and we see where are we at.

And this is supposed to motivate us to go and to share with others and to work a revival in our own lives as we see the signs taking place.

When we see the predictions of God's Word come true, then we know even more that we can trust the Bible.

And so something that I've been doing recently is studying Revelation 13.

So I'd like you all to open your Bibles with me and go to Revelation chapter 13.

And reading Revelation 13, I noticed it seems like the next big event in Bible prophecy is that an image is to be built.

It says here in Revelation 13 verse 14, it says, and he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do 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." And so Now I'm going to be talking about things in Bible prophecy here, and I'm going to be assuming that you already have an understanding.

So this is like a prophecy 201 Bible study, I guess you would say.

OK, so in Revelation, chapter 13, we see 3 beasts.

Okay, the first beast that we see at the beginning of Revelation chapter 13 is the dragon.

And then the second beast we see that arises is, well I guess actually the first beast we see is the the beast from the sea that arises.

We saw the dragon in chapter 12, but then it says that the dragon gives his authority there in verse 2 of chapter 13 to the beast from the sea.

And then we see a third beast come up in verse 11.

And so I am assuming that you understand what these beasts mean in Bible prophecy.

And so I'm gonna tell you what they mean, but if you don't have that understanding yet, please, I would ask you to, I'd be happy to study with you.

I'm sure there's other Advent hope leaders you can contact that would be willing to study that with you as well And so we're going to be studying about the forming of the image and we all talk about Well, I'll get to that in a second, I guess.

So the first beast, the dragon, represents Satan.

It tells us that there in Revelation 12, verse 9, it says, so the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

And so this represents Satan, also represents paganism.

Pagan Rome at that time, if when you study chapter 12, was the 1 in charge.

And remember paganism is basically the worship of evil spirits.

It's a direct communication with Satan and his agents, and it's an opposition to God.

And so the next beast is the beast from the sea, and this is a representative of the Roman Catholic Church, the papal system, And again, if you don't have that understanding, I would highly recommend that you please contact me, contact somebody to understand how we know that the beast from the sea is the papacy, the Roman Catholic Church.

We don't have time to go into that tonight and our focus tonight is going to be on the image of the beast.

And then we have the third beast, the beast from the earth, and the third beast is the United States of America.

And again, if you don't have that understanding, please, please contact me or somebody at Evan Hope, we'd be happy to study that with you.

Okay, so that's kind of the understanding going into this.

So, this is, in effect, a counterfeit trinity.

Okay, so you have the 3 parts of Satan's kingdom.

I'm going to show you this is the counterfeit Trinity.

The first part of the Trinity is the Father.

You'll see it when you study Revelation that Satan counterfeits pretty much everything that God does.

And so this is in Revelation 13 talking about the counterfeit of the Trinity.

And so he gives his authority to the Son.

Matthew, Jesus says that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me by my Father.

Okay, and so the dragon is the counterfeit of that.

This is Satan ultimately, and he gives his authority over to the beast from the sea.

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Two Images are Forming

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