A sly, grotesque grin spread slowly across his
face. Diabolis was alone in the library absorbed
in his obsession to gain the adoration and
worship of the whole world. This had been his
greatest desire ever since he was thrown out of
heaven 6,000 years ago. All that time he had
focused on devising methods of control. For most
of those years God had limited his abilities.
But in the very near future he was going to be
given almost unlimited power. It was true that
God was still stronger and any person who chose
God would be protected from Satan. But most
people would be too busy or too selfish to
submit themselves completely to God.
A large percentage of people who claim to
worship God really don’t put their heart and
soul into serving Him. They attend church and
pray occasionally but then spend most of their
time involved in worldly pursuits. They would be
easy to deceive and destroy. His wicked smile
broadened as he pictured the cruel work. Today
he, Archimel and Mordality were going to plan
how they would rule the world. He glanced at the
clock. They were late. An arrow of rage shot
through his body. He hated waiting.
It wasn't long until Archimel and Mordality
arrived. They were engaged in a lively
discussion about Moses and Elijah. Diabolis was
impressed. They had been doing their homework. The three selected
chairs, opened their Bibles
and began to read from Revelation 13.
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I
saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having
seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten
crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2
Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard,
his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his
mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave
him his power, his throne, and great authority. Rev 13:1,2
Diabolis bursting with excitement. “This
is great! A beast is dangerous and wild and that
describes me perfectly. But I won’t appear that
way to the people on earth. I will disguise
myself so that I seem tame and gentle. I will
come up out of the sea, also called the deep,
the abyss and the bottomless pit. I have seven
heads and ten horns, just like I did when I was
pictured as the dragon in Revelation 12. I have
parts of a leopard, lion and bear. These are the
same wild animals that Daniel saw in Daniel 7.
Each of them represented a worldwide kingdom. The kingdom we set up will be worldwide as
well.”
Without hardly taking a breath Diabolis
continued, “I will announce that I am God. That
will be blasphemy because I am not God. But the
people on earth will believe that I am God. I
will impersonate Jesus. I will steal His
identity and make myself look and sound like
Him. It will be like Halloween. I will wear the
costume and make-up of Jesus Christ. I know
exactly what He looks like and sounds like. I
knew him when I was in heaven and He shone like
the sun. That’s how I will appear.
“My 10 horns are my 10 leading demons. They are
wearing crowns because they will be kings ruling
under me. They will not appear as demons. They
will come disguised as heavenly angels or
important Bible characters from thousands of
years ago. They may come as Daniel, Joseph,
Abraham or Peter. I will decide later.
“I have been the dragon for 6,000 years.
When I put on my Jesus Christ costume I will
become the beast. I will
have the same power, throne, and authority
that I had as the dragon.
When I come as the beast I won’t look dangerous
or evil. I won’t look like the demon I am. I
will look beautiful and glorious and I will
speak in gentle, melodious tones. People will
believe that I am God because they will see me
with their own eyes and hear me with their own
ears.” Diabolis talked loudly and passionately.
Serpent head killed
3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had
been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was
healed. And all the world marveled and followed
the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who
gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped
the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who
is able to make war with him?"
Rev 13: 3,4
“This part of the Bible is so easy for me to
understand. Too bad it isn’t all this simple,” Diabolis mused. “One of my heads was
killed. It was my serpent head. It was killed at
the cross, just like the Bible prophesied in
Genesis 3:15. ‘He will bruise or crush your
head’. That made me so angry. But when I come
disguised as Jesus my serpent head has been
healed. I will be given back the deceptive
abilities that I had when I deceived Eve in the
garden of Eden. She was perfect and she still
believed me instead of God. What do you think gullible humans will do? They are sinful
and weak. They will all believe that I really am
their God.
“The whole world – every single person – will
marvel when they see me. They have
never seen anyone like me before. They will all follow
me. My archenemy, Jesus, wants people to follow
Him, but when they see me they will be enamored
and bewitched and they will follow me.” Diabolis
was excitedly jumping up and down. His voice
rang out, “They will worship me. I have been
craving worship for 6,000 years and now I will
finally have it. Over six billion people will be
worshiping ME! T hey will worship the beast – me
dressed up like Jesus. They won’t realize it but
they will also be worshiping the dragon – me in
my normal, demonic form. People will recognize
that it is impossible to fight against me
because I am too powerful for them. Besides, it
will be an honor for them to worship me.” Diabolis was lost in the euphoria of his
thoughts and intoxicated with his vision of
power.
Blasphemy
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies, and he was given
authority to continue for forty-two months. 6
Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and
those who dwell in heaven. Rev 13:5,6
“I will speak audibly so people can hear me with
their ears. I will tell them that I am God and I
have come to save them from the calamities that
are destroying the earth. I will be given
authority to continue wearing my Jesus Christ
costume for 42 months. Jesus was physically on
the earth for 3 ˝ years to complete His plan of
saving people in His kingdom. I will be given 3
˝ years to complete my plan of recruiting people
for my kingdom.
“Here is how I will blaspheme God. I will take
His name and claim to be Him. I will tell people
that I came from heaven, from the throne of God
in the temple of God. I will tell them that my
retinue of demons are angels from heaven. I will
speak with great authority. Most of what I will
say is true. We did all come from heaven.” Diabolis paused for effect. The two demons were
listening with rapt attention. But they wished
he would hurry up so they could get to the part
where they could talk about themselves.
7 It was granted to him to make war with the
saints and to overcome them. And authority was
given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him,
whose names have not been written in the Book of
Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Rev 13:7,8
“I will be allowed to fight against the people
who worship God and kill them. I doubt that God will have many
people by then. But I will relish destroying the
few that exist. I will have authority over every
tribe, tongue, and nation. That includes
everyone. All people will worship me. Well,
there will be a few who won’t. The tiny minority
who have their names written in the Lamb’s book
of life won’t worship me. Jesus is the Lamb and
the book of life belongs to Him. I hate Jesus
and I hate everyone who is in His book.”
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He
who leads into captivity shall go into
captivity; he who kills with the sword must be
killed with the sword. Here is the patience and
the faith of the saints. Rev 13:9,10
“Stupid people. They have ears but don’t hear. I
will lead them into captivity and will kill
anyone I choose. The words say that I will then
be taken into captivity and killed. I despise
that part. I must change it.”
Archimel and Mordality were captivated by the
description of Diabolis pretending to be Jesus and they were fascinated by what
they heard.
“God thinks His people will have patience and
complete faith in Jesus during my 3 ˝ years of
destructive power. We’ll see,” Diabolis sneered
as he turned toward his cohorts. A sly,
grotesque grin spread slowly across his face.
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