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The Apostle John on the Island of Patmos saw many visions of history and heaven to come. He was told to record what he saw because they were symbols of what would soon take place. Much of what he prophesied did take place during the time of the early church. Much more has taken place during the last 2000 years of church history. Some is happening now and some is yet to come. This is about the part of the prophecy that we are experiencing right now in the church.
In chapter 16 he records a very short vision of three frogs. They really weren’t frogs but were evil spirits that probably looked like green slimy things and frogs were the closest things he could use to describe them. Here is what it says in Rev 16 (NIV), “13Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. . . . 16Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”
Notice that they come out of the mouths of the three beasts he had used before to prophesy false religions during the first 2000 years of the church. Now he sees three frog-like evil spirits that are preparing people to do battle with the true church.
The evil spirit of Paganism: It is clear from history that the first 7-headed dragon beast (Rev 12) that persecuted the early church could be none other than pagan Rome. But what evil spirit has come out of pagan Rome to do battle with the church today? For anyone who has been around for the last half-century it has been evident that there has been a resurgence of paganism, witchcraft, the occult, Satan worship, mythology, astrology, tarot cards, fortune telling, ritualistic orgies, and a whole host of pagan rites and ceremonies. There is nothing new about these man-made sinful practices. The early church had to fight all of them and many early Christians were persecuted and martyred because of them. If paganism ever gets into power again you can count on persecution of the church to return in all its evil sadistic practices.
Another more subtle spirit of pagan Rome that has already gained power over the world is that of lustful pleasure-seeking materialism. The goal of much of modern life is little different than that of ancient Rome—its indulgence of the flesh made possible by the worship of the power of money. Communism, unbridled capitalism, and every other form of big-business oriented government today squelches God and Scripture in public places, removes prayer in schools, and makes it difficult for the church to evangelize its people. The worship of the almighty dollar, or Euro, or Yuen is materialism straight out of the mouth of the beast of pagan Rome.
The evil spirit of Papalism: It is clear from history that the second 7-headed leopard beast (Rev 13) that took over all the power and practices of pagan Rome was papal Rome. During the centuries following Constantine, the Holy Roman Empire led by the Pope had full control of both church and state in of most of Western Europe at that time. But what evil spirit has come out of papal Rome to do battle with the true church today? First it is the idea that any man, even the pope, could be the head of all the Christian church instead of Christ. Wherever in the world the Roman Catholic Church has been in power the true church has been persecuted and evangelism based on preaching of the Scriptures has been squelched. Pope Benedict in his first sermon to the world in Germany stressed the need to get away from “personal private religion.” He was not only discouraging the many non-denominational churches springing up all over the world, but I believe he was saying that the world needs to get back to the control of the one church that he heads.
But what is so evil about that—after all isn’t the pope the head of a Christian church? Yes, a church that claims to be Christian, but with all the trappings of paganism; the materialistic emphasis on money, rituals, ceremonies, man-made doctrines, non-scriptural rules and regulations, and power in the hands of a man-made hierarchy. They forget that the early church preached a personal Christ as the head of the church, the scriptures alone as our rule of faith, and salvation by faith alone in what happened on the cross. Just as the true church had to hide in the wilderness (Rev 12) during the Dark Ages of the control of the Roman Catholic Church, persecution still happens in many places of the world today where Papalism is in power.
The evil spirit of Protestantism: It is clear from history that the third beast (Rev 13) that took over all the power and practices of pagan and papal Rome was organized Protestantism. The beginnings of Protestantism are appreciated by the church today for their stand on scripture and salvation by faith. Protestant governments of Europe defeated Papalism just as Papalism did paganism. But the early Protestant church groups continued many of the man-made practices of Papalism with an emphasis on rituals and ceremonies, man-made doctrines, and power in the hands of a hierarchy. Persecution of other reformation Christian groups who had different scriptural beliefs continued. It wasn’t until the personal freedoms granted in the new land of America that scripture-based, Holy Spirit-led Christian groups could flourish. The opportunity for the Early Church to be restored was finally a possibility.
But what evil spirit has come out of Protestantism to do battle with the true church today? It is still that reliance on man-made doctrines and a hierarchy that suppresses the preaching and teachings of the early church. Under the cloak of Protestantism rests a whole host of old and new liberal organizations that deny the Scriptures and permit un-Christian practices. Human dissension has caused denominationalism. In every denomination there are further rifts and break-away groups, all of which think that they are right and everybody else is wrong. Remember that this third beast was called the False Prophet who spoke like the first beast and like the dragon of Rome (Rev 13). There is still a lot of man-made materialism, indulgence in the flesh, and power centered in man that comes from Protestantism. Christ must hurt for the wounds and breaks in His body, the church. It has always been the Lord’s perfect will that His church be one.
The False Prophet put a number on those who were in its power. That number was the number of man, the number 6. Only it was used three times just like the three frog-like spirits, 666 simply means “Man-Man-Man.” Those who are confused by the false prophets today are getting entangled in the same lies of the three beasts of old that put the things of God under the control of men. Man-made religions control the lives of people with a hierarchy whereas the early church was guided and controlled personally by the Holy Spirit. Man-made religions teach prosperity and power whereas the early church emphasized sacrifice and submission to Christ. Man-made religions give glory and honor to man rather than to Christ. Man-made religions give authority to man-made rules and catechisms whereas the early church used scripture and the words of Jesus as their only rule of faith.
One of worst lies of the False Prophet is the delay of the Kingdom of God and the battle of Armageddon until sometime in the future when Christ comes again. Christ is coming again, but the kingdom of God is already here in the hearts of believers whose lives are ruled by their King, Jesus. Christ has already defeated Satan on the cross and Christ will destroy the false prophet of Protestantism and the beast of Papalism in a lake of fire when he comes again (Rev 19). The Lord will win the battle but the battle is already going on. The true church is already fighting the battle of Armageddon and the three evil spirits like frogs are being defeated wherever the truth is preached and accepted. The true church will be triumphant and will meet the Lord in the air but there will be nobody “left behind” except those who are judged to be followers of the beasts and sent into the lake of fire with them. Judgment day is coming and there will be no more evil spirits and no more warfare for God’s people.
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