So, who won the election? At this time it looks as if Mr. Bush will be the 43^rd. President, but no one knows for sure. The matter might eventually be decided in the courts or by the members of Congress. What a bizarre start to this new millennium.

 This morning I do not intend to discuss with you the politics of who won or who lost. Rather I want us to look at a much bigger picture – and perhaps even a much more important issue – that being why did this happen in the first place? NOT WHO, BUT WHY?

 Please turn with me to the familiar Matthew 24. Here Jesus gives to His disciples a list of things that would help identify the end times

The list includes, among other things:

1.                            Deception.

2.                            Wars and rumors of wars.

3.                            Famines and earthquakes in various places

And then in verse 8 He makes this observation: “All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

I hope you picked up on the word picture that the Lord is painting here. Just as a woman goes through a time of labor, and just as her labor pains increase in severity and regularity prior to her child’s birth, so it is that the signs of the end times will begin slow and then grow both in intensity and severity until the end comes. 

Following verse 8 we see this increased intensity and severity as Jesus speaks of:

1.                            Persecution

2.                            False prophets and more and greater deception

3.                            A falling away from the faith

4.                            The Antichrist will declare himself God

5.                            Great destruction will befall Jerusalem

6.                            Verses 21-22 then adds: “For there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive.”

 I want to again remind you, these things are but the pains of one in labor.

As I will point out later on in this message, the present election chaos is but one more such pain.

 Second Peter 2 contains A number of additional end-time signs. i want to point out several for you. these are also, as Jesus put it, labor pains.

Deception

Second Peter 2:1-2 declares that “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”

Listen:

·        78% of all cult groups are made up of people who have previously attended Christian churches

·        The cult problem is so prevalent, the chances of a family member joining a cult are greater than a family member catching chicken pox, four times greater than contracting AIDS, 90 times greater than getting measles, and 45,000 times greater than their coming down with polio.

·        Over five thousand different groups in this country are considered to be cultic today. 

·        False teachers and charlatans abound. 

I believe you can judge for yourselves whether or not deception is a problem.

 Hear me, please. Religious people are not the only ones in danger here. America as a whole has become tolerant of deception. This message is not meant to be an anti-Clinton sermon. However, the point has to be made. It is important.

·        Would we as a nation tolerated say twenty years ago a President looking us straight in the eye via television and telling us an out and out lie?

·        Would we have tolerated a President who perjured himself before a court of law?

Nevertheless, the man is not only tolerated, he is lauded. He was the Most Admired Man in America in 1999 according to the Gallop Poll. His wife, the Senator-Elect of New York, was the run away winner as the most admired woman.  

 The enemy of our souls has a plan here. I intend to expose it. He wants to make us immune to lies and deception. Oh yes, we will notice them, but we will not react to them, judge them, or condemn them. We will be open and tolerant! Satan is getting people use to their leaders lying to them for a mega-liar is even now waiting in the wings getting ready to come on stage.

 Daniel 8:12 (New America Standard) tells of the Antichrist. The passage notes that he will “fling TRUTH to the ground….” 

2 Thessalonians 2:9 (The New English Bible ) adds: “But the coming of the Antichrist is the work of Satan. It will be attended by the powerful signs and miracles of the Lie, and all the deception that sinfulness can impose on those doomed to destruction.”

The antichrist will be a master of the lie; a master of deception. 

 Greed also shows up on the apostle’s list of end-time problems. The word is used twelve times in the whole Bible. Two of those times are here in this end-time passage. Is greed an issue today?

Corruption is also found twice in this passage. This word literally speaks of a state of moral decay or decomposition as of a dead body.

 What is the first thing you notice about some dead decaying animal? It stinks.

So it is that the corruption of this world is a stench in the nostrils of a Holy God.

I know that I am a preacher and that I am speaking to a group of people in church.

Regardless, what I am about to say will no doubt be found to be offensive to some of you. It should be offensive.

 Listen as I read without comment from Friday’s USA TODAY the ratings and what is objectionable about the current movies that are running in theaters: 

Think back to some of the scandals of recent years. This is another article from Friday’s paper. It is about the current sexual rage among teens – particularly younger teens. Why is this particular form of sexual activity so popular; so accepted? The article gives the answer:

·        The President of the United States did it.

·        The President of the United States said that it is not sex.

Kids today believe that they can do this and still retain their virginity! 

Are you surprised that the apostle lists adultery and lust in his list of end-time evils? 

When the Gallop poll people asked the question: “Comparing yourself to Bill Clinton, would you say your own personal moral standards are higher than, lower than, or about the same as Bill Clinton's?

Only three per-cent of the population of this country felt that their moral standards were lower than those of the President of the United States!

 What is the point? We have grown to tolerate the intolerable. We have gotten to the place where we call good evil, and evil good. We seemingly live in Topsy-Turvy Town.

 Mike Evans wrote in The Return, a #6 best seller on the New York Times Best Seller list: "Our culture is breaking down, and if any confirmation is needed, look to the films, read the books of today, walk around a modern art gallery, listen to the music of our times."  It is dead; it is corrupted.

 Next the apostle notes that the end-time generation will despise heavenly authority and will utter blasphemies. Again, a look at modern culture will quickly confirm these to be problems of  today as well.

 Where is all of this leading?

Let’s turn to and read Daniel 8:23-25 (The Living Bible) “Toward the end of their kingdoms, when they have become morally rotten, an angry king shall rise to power with great shrewdness and intelligence. His power shall be mighty, but it will be satanic strength and not his own. Prospering wherever he turns, he will destroy all who oppose him, though their armies be mighty, and he will devastate God's people. ‘He will be a master of deception, defeating many by catching them off guard as they bask in false security. Without warning he will destroy them. So great will he fancy himself to be that he will even take on the Prince of Princes in battle; but in so doing he will seal his own doom, for he shall be broken by the hand of God, though no human means could overpower him.’”

This morally rotten person that is being described in this passage is the Antichrist.

All of the sins that I have noted so far are character traits of this evil individual.

 The Bible calls him:

·        The Bloody and Deceitful Man.

·        Wicked One

·        Enemy

·        Violent Man

·        Vile Person

·        Man of Sin

·        Son of Perdition---or hell

·        Lawless One

·        and The Beast.

 Warren Wiersbe in his Bible Exposition Commentary notes that the term antichrist describes three things: 

1.  A SPIRIT in the world that opposes or denies Christ;

2.  The FALSE TEACHERS who embody this spirit; and

3.  A PERSON who will head up the final world rebellion against Christ. 

The term "anti" actually has a dual meaning.  It can mean, in the Greek, both “AGAINST” Christ and “INSTEAD OF” Christ.  Thus the Antichrist will be both against the One True God and will yet offer himself as the Messiah -- the Christ.  His works will be so convincing that even God’s very own elect people will be deceived if it were possible -- according to Scripture.

 The spirit of Antichrist has been in the world since before Adam and Eve sinned in

the Garden of Eden. 

·        It was that spirit which prompted Cain to murder his brother.

·        It was that spirit which prompted the wickedness in the days of Noah.

·        It was that same spirit that prevailed in Sodom.

·        Again, that spirit drove Herod to try to kill the boy babies after Jesus was born and...

·        It was that spirit that caused Jesus to be nailed to the tree.

 Anything that exalts itself against God or his Son, or opposes the Word or the works of God or his Son is Antichrist in nature and origin!  You can mark that down!

 Thus, 1 John 2:18 warns us, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”

First John 4:1-3 adds, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. THIS IS THE SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST, WHICH YOU HAVE HEARD IS COMING AND EVEN NOW IS ALREADY IN THE WORLD.” 

Several characteristics mark this individual:

·        He teaches false views of the Lord, denying that Jesus is the Christ.

·        He exhibits great power and he uses that power to deceive.

·        He attempts of control the world politically, economically and religiously.

·        He is a liar and a deceiver.

·        He will receive power from Satan.

·        He manifests a shameless disregard for established and excepted laws.

·        His purpose will be conquest.

·        He will be guilty of terrible blasphemy.

·        He will make a peace treaty with Israel and then cruelly break it.

·        He will put himself above everything and everyone.

·        He will proclaim himself to be God.

·        He will stage a miraculous "resurrection".

·        He will make war with the saints and will kill millions of believers..

·        He will have authority over the nations.

·        His number is 666.

·        A false prophet will serve him.

·        He will demand that his image be worshiped.

The Antichrist is Satan's counterfeit. As Jesus Christ was sent by the Father, so this false christ will be sent by Satan.

How will he come to power?

1.                He will be a political genius

Nations and governments will be in an upheaval. The Mid-East crisis, possibly a financial emergency and maybe even an oil or food shortage will create a climate where this evil monster can assume power. He will have great charisma and speaking ability. He will appear to be a solver of problems.

In short, the guy will be a genius. This old planet will be so tired of troubles and scandals that this ego-driven miracle worker will have the peoples of the earth eating out of his hand. 

Think with me about our present electoral situation. While I admit that It isn’t the biggest blip on the chart, but it is definitely on there somewhere.

 How is that, you ask? Stable America doesn’t look so stable anymore.

World leaders are concerned. Here is another news story from USA TODAY. (Clinton Reassures APEC Leaders About U.S. Election)

 As you may remember, Pravda is a Russian newspaper. I want to read you a portion of what appeared to me to be an editorial from this past Thursday’s edition:
”Although no decent human being likes to see another lying down and humiliated, one notes a certain derision and pleasure in the international community as the world looks at the “greatest democracy”, the “father of democracy and human rights”, the “world policeman”, the “observer of world order” or whatever pretty eulogy one cares to give the USA, now in a state of utter chaos.
Putting it bluntly, the USA could not even organize a drunken party for alcoholics in a distillery. As this tiring farce continues, more news comes to the surface which unfortunately forces journalists who are already sick of these elections, and feeling genuine pity for the people of the USA, to offer for print more incredible facts about this Tinsel town, Soap Opera, Mickey Mouse of an election.
If this were some obscure republic in a tropical ocean, or a recently-formed, fragile democracy in a country with a history of military coups the world’s attention would not be awakened. However, we are speaking about the United States of America, that bastion of righteousness, the owner and controller of the word and the truth, opinion maker and the great banker who decides whether or not a foreign country sinks or swims…and inspects elections, declaring them fair or void.”

 Obviously everyone in here today would take strong exception to that article. Nonetheless it does have something to say about the current situation that we find ourselves in as a nation. A leadership vacuum has been created. Who will fill it?

·        Bush?

·        Gore?

·        Janet Reno?

Who knows?

 Who might try to take advantage of it?

·        China?

·        Saddam Hussein?

·        Some rogue terrorist group?

 A number of other nations are also experiencing governmental turmoil this morning including:

·        Israel,

·        Japan,

·        The Ivory Coast,

·        Yugoslavia,

·        Russia, and

·        Peru.

We might have to add Britain to the list in the near future if the fuel storage there continues on much longer.

 The present leadership situation in America and in other nations of the world

raises the questions – who can solve these difficult issues? Who can bring order

out of our chaos? The coming Man of Sin – the coming political genius -- would be happy to offer himself as the solution!

2.      the world is ready and eager for his arrival

The famous historian Arnold Toynbe once said:  "We are ripe for the deifying of any NEW CAESAR who might suc­ceed in giving the world unity and peace." 

 Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, wrote several years ago: "We are creating a new society. Not a changed so­ciety. Not an ex­tended society; larger-than-life version of our present soci­ety, but a new society....."

 Anglican Bishop Thomas Reed likewise declared that if the human race is to survive in the face of environmental destruction, “A WORLD DICTATORSHIP” might be needed.