the world economies. Those were indeed times of sorrows4, because of all the plagues and natural disasters that befell people everywhere. People were crying for a savior, someone, anyone, who could restore peace and order. And the man who stood up and took the job was a fierce-looking fellow, so fierce-looking that people unofficially started calling him the Beast of Bible prophecy or the Antichrist. He openly proclaimed his fascination with the black arts, and made a point of speaking against God every chance he got. He said the only god he recognized was a god of forces. He obsessed about it, claiming that force was the only real evidence of god in the world. He even wanted us to abandon our antiquated notions about an unseen God to make room for an expanded, more realistic god, saying that we should worship god in the things we see, rather than some mythical presence.
The Guardian had negotiated a seven-year peace between the Jews and the Arabs. His followers even claimed that his diplomatic skills were supernatural and that his solutions to world problems were divinely inspired—definitely not of this world. And truly, the way he brokered deals between the heads of nations was nothing short of miraculous. His openly proclaimed plan and intention of changing the world was immediately and immensely popular. When he first appeared on the Internet, the news about him went viral, virtually forming an army of followers overnight. He used the force of his enthusiastic following to gain control of governments, media, corporations and other offices that had authority over people.
He declared the Catholic Church a misguided relic from the past and a pernicious cult that had long since outlived its usefulness and needed to be eradicated. Everywhere he had the effect of causing great confusion and the falling away of believers from traditional faiths. His great words and convincing speeches tapped into the willingness of people to listen to anyone who promised them hope after their former world had been shattered and their institutions had failed them. His soporific words and practical sounding solutions were turning people away from God and to himself.
Things went well for him in the beginning. He went from being a world phenomenon to the leading voice for change and for peace in the world. His rhetoric was so appealing that he soon became a political force to be reckoned with. However, his anti-God, anti-religious speeches did not sit well with everyone, and one of the principal regions rebelled. They had tolerated his iconoclastic idiosyncrasies up to a point, but when he claimed to be the actual incarnation of the god of forces himself, that was too much. He was acting like he was some reincarnated emperor from ancient Rome claiming to be God. That was blasphemous, especially to people who were followers of sacred books, like Jews, Christians, Muslims. The Beast was determined to root out all who had rebelled against him. He had subtle ways of eliminating anyone with “reactionary” views, particularly older people who he claimed were permanently polluted from having read such mind poisoning literature.
In spite of this, many believed and followed the Guardian religiously. I myself might have wondered if there could be some truth to his claim, but I had been pre-warned by specific verses in the Bible not to be deceived by all of his lies and marvelous miracles.5 He did not like to be called the Beast, although some of his actions made him appear to be very beast-like.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of his god, he had a nuclear bomb deployed in the region that was rebelling, taking many lives and laying waste to large areas. This act dealt a serious blow to his world image as being a champion of peace. But Satan, the true power working unseen behind the scenes, raised up a powerful assistant for him, a second beast, a man who substantiated the Global Guardian’s position as the god of this world. Satan empowered this newly-found public relations officer with the ability to perform great signs and wonders. This Second Guardian was able to bring fire down from heaven like Elijah of old,6 and perform many such signs and wonders in support of the Beast’s increasing claims to deity.
The severe events which had been happening were all predicted in the Bible. There had been many false interpretations of the Bible; even the pope and the American president were claimed by some to be part of the Antichrist’s system. But such fixating on individuals had not prepared people to recognize the really bad guy when he appeared. He rose so quickly and had such a following, no one could disagree with his wonderful words, and he was like an angel of light in a dark world. He was so popular and spoke openly about world problems, promising such good and lasting solutions that you couldn’t speak against him, much less disagree with him. Other than his blasphemous attitude toward God, his dabbling in the occult, and blaming our problems on religion, the things he said about oppressors who fed upon the poor of their nations was right on. His policy of taking the wealth of the rich and giving it away made him even more popular with the common people. How could anyone trying to right so many wrongs be the incarnation of evil?
Pondering the realm of evil that seemed to surround me, I remembered an event that had happened a few years ago. I had seldom seen or experienced a perfect lie. Who can lie so well that each aspect of the lie is covered by a glossy veneer of transient truth, backed up by using God’s own words to sell the lie? Who but Satan himself is able to deceive like that? As Jesus said of him, he was a liar from the beginning7, and with all deceivableness fashioned through years of distorting the true, he perfected his skills to where he could take something holy and turn it to his malevolent and evil purpose, and things righteous he can twist to his advantage. He specializes in hypocrisy, and the appearances of good that mask the deadly sting of sin and death. In the time at the end of Satan’s power and influence over the people of the earth, the Bible warned us that his delusions would be so strong that even those who were following God could fall prey. How? Why? Because God would remove His hand of protection that keeps people from believing Satan’s lies, and let the world be exposed to the full force of his deluge of deception. “For false christs and false prophets will rise, and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”8
I thought I was ready to take on such deceit and keep the faith and not be seduced, but I found out that the knowledge of the truth I thought I had quickly collapsed when exposed to the Devil’s cunning deception. Such perfect deception came upon me as I was wandering aimlessly on a city back street some years ago. I didn’t have my spiritual guard up and was just coasting along when I happened upon a street evangelist who had gathered a crowd around himself. He was a clean-looking young fellow who seemed to be speaking an important message. But as I listened to him, he really wasn’t saying anything of value. It was like watching a soap opera that held the audience’s attention while they waited for some promised revelation to make it all meaningful and to make sense. In short, he had sort of hypnotized the crowd with his many words, and held them captive as he postulated and pontificated so convincingly.
But what made him different was that he could perform miracles of healing right before our eyes. I saw a blind man receive his sight, crippled people rise up and walk, and damaged body parts restored. He was the fulfillment of Jesus’ warning that many would come in His name.9 When he claimed to be the return of Christ, I thought of the verses, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”10
But my mind fought against what I was receiving. It was like I was caught in a vortex going round and round in my reasoning, but not able to discern the truth. How could this man do these wonderful things if he were not sent from God? He was not doing evil but good. Yet somehow I felt there was something wrong with the fellow; he focused too much on himself as being a great one. At last I could no longer puzzle over the dilemma that had risen in my mind, and I prayed for the Holy Spirit to show me what the truth was. Instantly I felt disconnected from the soft soothing flow of his words; they were like music to my ears, yet so damaging to my heart. I felt a stirring of indignation rising within me, and I wanted to scream out and wake the people. But I could not. They were mesmerized and held too tightly by his spell, and at last I just