In my last BLOG we reviewed the importance of knowing how Satan operates (not knowing has contributed to the reason why many born-again Christians have suffered a major spiritual defeat in their lives). If you are new to this BLOG, you may want to read through the previous BLOGS in this category to understand more on this topic.

There are other examples in Scripture where Satan used deception that caused someone to disobey and fall, including some of the spiritual giants. Consider Samson, King Saul, King David, King Solomon, and Peter denying that he was a follower of Jesus.

Satan also used deception in his attempt to get Jesus to disobey his heavenly mandate. This account is found in chapter four of both the gospels of Matthew and Luke. When you read these verses notice Jesus always stood firm, and counter attacked by quoting scripture; a lesson we need to learn and exercise.

This truth about deception not only applies to individuals, but can apply to churches, societies, organizations, and nations. If you study the history of our country, you will find God has never intervened in the foundation and spiritual development of any other country (except of course, Israel) as He has in America. Following the establishment of Christianity by the Pilgrims and Puritans, consider the Great Awakening Revival in the 1700s. This set the tone and structure for our country’s independence and constitution. Other revivals occurred in the 1800s and 1900s, even during the Civil War. These revivals brought about the establishment of thousands of churches in our country.

Today, we have about 350,000 churches across America. I don’t believe they all teach the full gospel of Jesus Christ. However, you can hear the gospel preached every hour in our country through every communication media available. Men and women from America have taken the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world, and many ministries have been founded to meet the various needs of the poor and needy. It would be hard to deny the way God intervened in the spiritual development of our country, and that during these last one hundred-plus years we have become the world’s center of Christianity.
America’s constitution was founded primarily on biblical principles, which has allowed Christians to worship without religious persecution. For this we can be thankful. However, prophetic scriptures warn it will be Satan’s use of deception to wage his spiritual warfare against the center of Christianity, which is America in our day.

Knowing God has led and blessed America spiritually, and knowing how Satan has always opposed God and His people, we should not be surprised that Satan has launched a heavy attack on the biblical values in our country. The degree of his spiritual warfare in America took on a new perspective after WW II when we became the greatest superpower in the history of mankind. That seemed to open the door for our enemy to intensify his efforts to destroy “Christian America.”

The prophecy in Revelation 13 clearly explains how Satan is going to wage his attacks against Christians. The depictions of the “beast” is one of the most detailed and exacting descriptions of anything in the Bible. There are many theories as to the identity of this “beast,” but I couldn’t find any that said they ran a scriptural test on every single word and phrase in this chapter to confirm their view. This is the test we should apply if we want to understand this “beast’s” identity. I don’t have space in this booklet to do that. However, I do in my book, You Are Salt & Light: Equipping Christians For These Last Days. In this booklet, I will give you the meaning of the descriptive characteristics recorded in the first verse of Revelation 13 about this “beast.” This will not only help you significantly to understand the “beast’s” identity, it will let you see how I have tested the entire thirteenth chapter to confirm the revelation, my brother, and I had from the Lord.

The highest authority we have for understanding God’s Word is to refer to other Scriptures where a similar word or phrase is used. This is what Jesus often did. It is the most important guideline you can use. If an interpretation holds for one passage, it should hold for another as well. What’s more, the Word of God is absolutely accurate. We may not always understand everything it says, but we should not promote our own theory unless it can be documented accurately with Scripture.

Another consideration we should understand is that spiritual warfare is real. During this last generation, two unique things happened in the history of our country. One is, we became the greatest superpower in the history of mankind. And two, even though there are now around 350,000 churches in America, our moral values have rapidly deteriorated. Knowing these things, shouldn’t we consider that America fits into this spiritual warfare prophesied in Revelation 13? Could it be our government has become that “beast/superpower” that makes war against the saints in these end-times?
Revelation 13:1 says, “And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head, a blasphemous name.”

These prophetic words may seem difficult, if not impossible, to decipher. However, they are actually a blessing from the Lord to keep us from being misled. A careful reading of this verse reveals six distinct characteristics needed to test the identity of this “beast.” Since World War II, our government began fulfilling all of John’s prophecies about this “beast.” The enemy has devised a most deceptive method to keep Christians in America from fulfilling our mission to be the salt of the earth (the preserver of good). For Christians to take a strong stand is the only way our country’s moral values could have been kept from deteriorating.

There is one other thing I want you to be clear about. It is my love for America and my commitment to support those in the government as directed in Romans chapter thirteen. We have Christian friends who are members of our state government and members of the U.S. Congress. They are fulfilling an important and tough role. If I didn’t love our country and believe God has a special place in His heart for America, I would have never spent the time and resources I have over the last forty years to help save “Christian America.” Scripture confirms it is because of the way God has used the people in our country for the glory of His Kingdom that we have experienced the heavy spiritual warfare this last generation.

In my next BLOG, I will share the six descriptive words and phrases in verse one of Revelation Chapter 13 that describe what is called a “beast…” Join us here next week!

Be sure to visit the FREE DOWNLOADS page to find several other books and booklets written by Bob Fraley. The FREE DOWNLOADS page contains complete .pdf files that you may read and download absolutely FREE! Go to: http://www.bobfraleychristianlifeoutreach.com and click on the “FREE DOWNLOADS” button!

Tags: attack on biblical values, beast, Christian America, Christianity, deception, disobedience, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Great Awakening Revival, identity of the "beast" of Revelation 13, prophecy, religious persecution, Revelation 13, Scripture, spiritual defeat, spiritual warfare, superpower, war against the saints