The Antichrist vs. the False Prophet

Let’s talk about two very common misunderstandings among believers. Those two misunderstandings are, One: that the Antichrist performs miracles, and, Two: that the Antichrist causes the world to take the Mark of the Beast.

The reason I want to talk about this is because of a quiz on my channel from yesterday which asked which of the following 4 topics are actually taught in the Bible.

The choices were: one, nationalism; two, the 7 mountain mandate; three, the Antichrist will perform miracles; four, the Antichrist will cause the world to take the Mark of the Beast.

Now this is a new quiz, so only about 700 people have responded so far, but of that number only 5% correctly answered that it is nationalism that is discussed in the Bible.

That is not to say that the Bible approves of nationalism, of course, because it doesn’t – but only that the verse “nation shall rise against nation” in Matthew 24:7 is, at its heart, talking about nationalism.

However, as you can see, 23% of those who responded believe that the Bible teaches us that the Antichrist performs miracles, and a whopping 70% thought that the Bible teaches us that the Antichrist causes the world to receive the Mark of the Beast.

Neither of those two things are true. Here is what the Bible actually teaches us.

In Revelation 13 we have two different beasts. The first beast has 7 heads and 10 horns, and it is described in verses 1 through 10. This first beast is the Antichrist, or more accurately, this first beast becomes the Antichrist, also known as the 8^th king.

The second beast is described in verses 11 through 17, and it is the second beast which performs miracles in front of the first beast, including calling down fire from the sky. It also causes the world to take the Mark of the Beast.

This second beast is the False Prophet, and we know that from Rev 19:20, which describes these two beasts as being thrown alive into the lake of fire. The second beast who performs the miracles to deceive those who have taken the Mark is called the False Prophet.

Revelation 13 verses 16 and 17 also teach us that it’s the second beast – again, the False Prophet – who causes the world to receive the Mark of the Beast.

So we can clearly see that there are two separate beasts described in Revelation 13, and it’s the second beast – the False Prophet – who performs the so-called miracles, and who causes the world to take the Mark of the Beast.

One other verse that that does confuse a few people is 2 Thess 2:9, which reads: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders” – 2 Thess 2:9 NKJV.

The “lawless one” is, of course, the Antichrist, which leads some to think this verse is telling us that the Antichrist performs the miracles. But the words “WITH all power, signs, and lying wonders” mean that the Antichrist is accompanied by those things, not that he does them.

And we know that because, again, both Rev 13:13 and Rev 19:20 clearly tell us that it’s the False Prophet – the second beast – who performs the fake miracles.

So, I just wanted to clarify that. Thanks for watching this short video and I’ll talk to you guys soon. God willing. ♦