Category Archives: beast

Multiple Types of the beast: Judas Iscariot

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Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve,

“and one of you is a devil,” Jn 6:70 WEB

The Greek word used here is diabolos. Its basic meaning is to slander or falsely accuse someone, and is often translated as “devil,” meaning the Satan himself or one of his angels (Mtt 25:41). It comes from the Greek word diabello which has the idea of bringing false charges in order to create a quarrel or a fight.

He is one who has rich gifts from God.

Everything good, everything worthwhile, comes from God, Jas 1:17.

“For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
1Cor 4:7 WEB

The Most Holy God made both you and I, but also all the angels, and everything that exists, and Judas Iscariot, and the man of lawlessness. Whatever good that is in him came from God, and whatever good he has also is from God.

In the case of Judas Iscariot he shared in the blessings of Christ with the rest of the apostles. When the apostles were sent on the limited commission Judas was there. When they returned rejoicing that “even the demons are subject to us,” Lk 10:17 WEB, Judas was there. Power to preach, power to heal, daily needs all covered … it was all there.

But a heart prepared with greed.

In whatever combination of circumstances, Judas had a love of money that was part of his undoing. So when some expensive oinment was poured over Jesus feet, Judas asked.

“5 “Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii,a and given to the poor?” 6 Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.”
Jn 12:5-6 WEB

Characterized by destructive behavior

Oh to have been an actual apostle of Jesus the Christ, to have the opportunity for such a great standing in all eternity. Judas had all of this but was focused on worldly immediate things.

Jesus calls Judas “the son of destruction,” Jn 17:12 WEB, and the man of lawlessness/ the man of sin is also called “the son of destruction,” 2Thes 2:3 WEB (the same Greek word is used in both Scriptures). Both have destructive behavior. They destroy themselves, and bring ruin on many others. If we use Judas as a type of the beast, then there is,

Not quite repentance, but clear remorse, Mtt 27:3.

“4 saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.” 5 He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.”
Mtt 27:4-5 WEB

And eternally cursed.

Terrifying curses are in Psa 69:19-28 of Judas and the others involved. I will only quote a verse.

“Pour out your indignation on them.
Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them”
Psa 69:24

I am inclined to take these verses of the beast also.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: the Man of Lawlessness

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Admittedly the man of lawlessness is not actually a type of the beast. Rather it another description of the beast, and another name for the beast.

There is a variation here between versions
and manuscripts on the name.

Some of our oldest manuscripts show the reading of man of “lawlessness” (anomias). This the preferred reading by most scholars today, and this matches with calling this organization the “mystery of lawlessness” in verse 7. The alternate reading is man of “sin” (hamartia). If we take the reading “man of lawlessness” as being correct, that means this man is characterized by lawlessness, and of course, “Sin is lawlessness,” 1Jn 3:4

A great rebellion must come first.

The Greek word is apostasia, and is actually a very strong word for a rebellion or a “defection” or desertion of one’s obligations to someone or thing. Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford, 1889, a lexicon of Classical Greek, lists the primary reading as “1. a defection, revolt.” It is a word for what we would call a political revolution, or an attempt to overthrow. Implied in both Revelation and 2Thessalonian 2 is that this is a world-wide phenomena that takes in “all” of the lost of this world, 2Thes 2:10-11, Rev 13:8.

In English this word apostasia has been watered down in some of the older Greek dictionaries, translations and commentaries. This word is much stronger than just “falling away,” or a “departure.” It has the idea in context of shaking your fist in the face of God. The newer dictionaries/lexicons are going back to the old Classical definition, and the watering down was never justified.

There is going to be a world-wide rebellion against God and against all law and order before the man of lawlessness comes. This has to happen BEFORE the the second coming of Christ, 2Thes 2:2-3.

This man is against the worship of ANYTHING or
ANYONE except himself.

“he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.”
2Thes 2:4 WEB

He is brought to power by a “mystery of lawlessness”
that has been working since the
first century, 2Thes 2:7.

See the previous posts about the mystery religions. So this is a multi-melenia struggle to seat this servant of Satan (Rev 13:2-3) as the true “god” of this world.

There is someone or thing who is restraining this mystery, to keep it from having success, until just the right time, 2Thes 2:6.

“even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.”
2Thes 2:9 WEB

God also helps this man succeed, so that all
who “didn’t believe the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness,”
would be lost.
2The 2:12

“Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie;”
2Thes 2:11 WEB

This man is destroyed by the Second
Coming of Christ.
2Thes 2:8, Rev 19:20.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: Kings of Babylon

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The word “Mystery” in Mystery Babylon seem to indicate her secret or semi-secret nature. The beast and Mystery Babylon seem to work together to suppress Christianity. The beast at the last turns on Babylon the Great and destroys her (Revelation 18), within history because it is the will of God that he do this.

Now Mystery Babylon the Great has no problem
with false gods,

Further it is no exaggeration to say that she loves dictatorships. It is the beast organization (of Rev 13:1-2, and Rev 17:7) that “carries” Mystery Babylon the Great (Rev 17:7) to success.

Now the great harlot sits on seven mountains that are also seven kings, Rev 17:9-10. The beast is one of those seven kings on which the harlot sits, one of the main supports of Babylon the Great. You might say he is one the kings of Mystery Babylon the Great, but he secretly hates the Great Harlot who organizes all the wars and conflicts of this age.

“In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
Rev 18:24 WEB

Clearly Ancient Babylon is a model for Mystery
Babylon the Great.

Both are associated with great power and with great luxury. As Mystery Babylon the Great (working with the beast who has a mortal wound that is healed) overcomes Christianity; so also ancient Babylon conquered the people of God of ancient times: Israel and Judah. There are other points of similarity between the ancient and the entity of Revelation.

Both ancient Babylon and Mystery Babylon the Great are known for their immorality.

Both seem impossible to overcome. Ancient Babylon had great walls and great armies, and plenty of money. Mystery Babylon is seated on a beast with seven heads and ten horns. The beast is one of those seven heads, and those ten horns seems to indicate ten rulers. Also she is seated on “many waters” Rev 17:1, which is “peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages,” Rev 17:15.

Both fall because of their overwhelming immorality.

But back to the Kings of Babylon.

They both employ God’s people in their work. In ancient times it included Daniel and those with him. God’s people are warned to come out of her or they will go down with her (Jer 51:6 and Rev 18:4).

Once again the superiority of God’s ways are clearly demonstrated to the kings of Babylon, through Daniel, and Meshak, Shadrach, and Abednego and others.

Like the other types, the King of Babylon comes
close to complete repentance.

Nebuchadnezzar actually praises God when he writes about what happened to him in Daniel chapter 4. Read his abject confession there. But at the last, repentance doesn’t last, and the kings of Babylon must go down to defeat. So the King of Babylon is pictured as entering the world of dead as almost alive, though deprived of all strength in Isaiah 14, and maggots are his bed and worms are his covering, Isa 14:11.

It seems that the kings of ancient Babylon are types of the beast of Revelation, and this short essay only touches the surface.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: Ahab, King of Israel

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In most important things, Scripture gives us more than one opportunity to see, and understand, and be ready, for what will be. In prophecy, if something is very important, quite often times God gives us more than one opportunity to understand.

Ahab has a kingdom that is united
around false religion.

Subversion of God’s Holy religions began with the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was all about subverting true religion to serve the political purposes of government. Many rulers, as perhaps mini-types of the beast, fall guilty to such temptations. Ahab then increased the turn to evil religion.

He did “evil in the sight of Yahweh above all that were before him,” 1Kgs 16:30.

Ahab toke as a wife a Sidonian worshipper of Baal: Jezebel. She soon organized the extermination of the prophets of God, 1Kgs 18:4; and Ahab began in Israel the worship of the Mother Earth “goddess” Asherah, the covert passion of the modern ecology movement. It was a fertility cult involving religious prostitution and infanticide.

Elijah responded,

“… As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. ”
1Kgs 17:1 WEB

James tells us,

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.”
Jas 5:17 WEB

That is exactly the amount of time that the beast rules in Revelation. This amount of time is variously expressed as “three years and six months, 1,260 days, forty-two months, or as “time, times, and half a time.”

Also the two witnesses in Revelation 11,
for 1,260 days, Rev 11:3

“have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy.” Rev 11:6 WEB. Indeed, the two witnesses seem a little like Moses, and a little like Elijah.

Elijah even proved to Ahab that Yahweh, the Lord our God, was superior to Baal at the dramatic confrontation on Mont Carmel in 2Kings 18.

And Ahab, multiple times, was close
to true and lasting repentance.

When his conscience afflicted him over the murder of Naboth in 1Kings 21, it says,

“… when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.”
1Kgs 21:27 WEB

His repentance was sincere enough to touch God’s heart, 1Kgs 21:29;

but Ahab never let his repentance last.

So in the end he had to be lured to his death, as is clearly depicted in 1Kings 22. In the end, the dogs of Samaria licked up his blood, 1Kgs 22:38.

Of the beast himself, he is destroyed in the great battle against God at the Second coming of Christ, Revelation 19 and many other passages, and is thrown alive into hell, Rev 19:20, where the worms will eternally eat on them.

“… for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.”
Isa 66:24 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: Pharaoh of the Exodus

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The oppression of Israel began out of fear.

Political fear of these “outsiders” taking over their country, or siding with their enemies. So the Pharaoh said,

“Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.”
Ex 1:9 WEB

So a Egypt far less populous that even in later ancient times, oppressed God’s people and “set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens,” Ex 1:11 WEB. The purpose was not just to use them for labor, but indeed to ruin them with hard labor and oppression. Often in history political fears drive religious oppressions, with genocidal results. Then God sent Moses to secure their release.

It has been briefly discussed in posts on Identifying Types, that the wilderness wanderings are typical (symbolic) of the Christian life, with the Red Sea finally separating Israel from the Egypt of this world. That means: that Egypt is symbolic of this world, and then the Pharaoh is symbolic of the “god of this world,” 2Cor 4:4.

The beast in Revelation 13 is trying to unite a one-world government, with a single religious focus on himself, as the true god of this world! Christians then become obstacles to the political unification of this world. This is indeed like the ancient Caesars as “gods,” but what is pictured in Revelation is far more complete and thorough than anything done in ancient times, and “All who dwell on earth will worship him,” Rev 13:8, even all who are not written in the book of life. The phony man/god will make war on the saints and overcome them, Rev 13:7. However neither ancient Rome nor the caesars ever overcame the church.

Similarly, Pharaoh did overcome and enslave Israel in ancient Egypt.

God’s people are to have their spokesmen.

It was Moses in ancient Egypt. It is the two witnesses in Revelation 11. It seems an attempt is made in both cases to bring this arrogant king to reason. The pattern seen over and over again, is that Moses bargains for freedom for Israel, the Pharaoh responds with greater oppressions, and God responds with increasingly harsh strokes on the beast and his kingdom.

Moses turns the waters of the Nile into blood. The two witnesses “have power over the waters, to turn them to blood,” Rev 11:6. “A great mountain burning with fire” is thrown into the sea and turns it to blood in Rev 8:8 WEB.

Repeatedly the Pharaoh ALMOST relents.

Pharaoh’s servants repeatedly plea “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh,” Ex 10:7. There was frogs, darkness, locusts, hail, and boils on all the people. All of these things have their equivalent in Revelation. At one point the Pharaoh even says,

… “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.”
Ex 9:27 WEB

But the Pharaoh of Egypt will never let
repentance stick.

So in the end he has to be broken and destroyed, when he goes to fight directly against God.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Identifying Some Types, Part 9 of 9

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Ancient Israel has a huge “exodus” from the
Egypt of this world

They had been in bondage in Egypt, a bondage directed by the Pharaoh as a type of the god of this world (2Cor 4:4). Then God personally delivered them from Egypt and bondage, and put a separation between them and the Egypt of this world, and led them into the promised land.

A new “god” of this world will come.

“he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.”
2Thes 2:4 WEB

This man has the entire world worship him.

“All who dwell on the earth will worship him …”
Rev 13:8 WEB

This has obviously NOT happened yet! No one man has been worshipped by “all,” yet! He will be destroyed by Christ’ second coming, 2Thes 2:8, Rev 19:20.

This man will overcome the church.

“It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”
Rev 13:7 WEB

I am sorry to tell you this folks. Rome and the caesars did NOT overcome the church. Instead the church overcame Rome and the caesars! But this beast will overcome the church.

And one more time the true church will be forced
out into the wilderness.

The church is pictured as the faithful woman.

“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.”
Rev 12:6 WEB

Hosea speaks of the future of what God “will” do.

““Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
And bring her into the wilderness,
And speak tenderly to her.”
Hos 2:14 WEB

For the days that this vicious beast rules (1,260), the church will be protected in the wilderness (Rev 12:6 above).

God will send plagues on the beast and his kingdom
like the plagues of Egypt.

Read of those plagues in Revelation chapters 15 and 16, and other places in Revelation and the rest of Scripture. They are very much like the plagues God sent on Egypt in 15th century BC, including waters turning to blood, darkness, and hail and all the rest.

Then will come Greater Exodus to Come

Ancient Israel came out of Egypt, into the wilderness, an into a this world promised land. The saints will have an exodus, The Great Exodus into the wilderness, and then into the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells, 2Pe 3:13.

“16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.”
1The 4:16-17 WEB

The Greater Exodus into the Greater Promised land.

Understanding types is essential for understanding prophecy. This has been some practice.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Identifying Some Types, Part 5 of 9

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Israel was passing out of the Egypt of this world,
through desolate places, to a
promised land.

Implied in 1Cor 10:1-12 is that the promised land they were headed to was symbolic of heaven. That symbolism is much more explicit in the book of Hebrews. Previous posts have also discussed “The Wilderness Wanderings as a Type.”

Now God had promised them “rest”
in the promised land.

But Israel often focused on their immediate problems rather than the “land” that they were to inherit “forever.” So an entire generation perished in the wilderness, rather than reach the promised land.

Some rebelled against God’s authority
in the wilderness.

God did and does have authority to put whoever He wants in charge. He did put Moses in overall charge of the people, and He put Aaron and his sons as priests to approach God in behalf of the people. So much authority was centralized and it was male dominated (as also had been the family, even since the beginning).

A true prophetess, in Exodus 15 Miriam led the women in a public celebration of the victory over Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. You may remember some of the words of this song.

“Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously:
The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Ex 15:21 WEB

But in Numbers 12 Aaron and Miriam wanted
the same authority as Moses.

“They said, Has Yahweh indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn’t he spoken also with us? Yahweh heard it.”
Num 12:2 WEB

The Lord Himself answered for Moses, and temporarily struck Miriam with leprosy.

Today we have problems with those who do not like God’s order of things in the world, in society and in the church, and would put aside the ordinances of Christ’s Law, to order things as they please. Christ is the great prophet of whom God said, if they don’t listen Christ, “I will require it of him.” That is still pertinent today.

Then Korah organized a democratic style rebellion
against what God had set in place.

They said,

“… You take too much on you, seeing all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and Yahweh is among them: why then lift yourselves up above the assembly of Yahweh?”
Num 16:3 WEB

Partly true, but also God Himself had put Moses in charge. The end of it was that the earth itself opened up, and Korah went down alive into Sheol.

“So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.”
Num 16:33 WEB

Korah tried to take Moses role, and Moses was a type of the Christ. Korah is evidently a type of later rebels (the beast and the false prophet), at the end of time, who will try to take Christ’s place, of whom it says they “were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” Rev 19:20 WEB

Understanding types is essential for understanding prophecy. This is some practice.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Men, Angels and the Christ in Prophecy, Part 7 of 9

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In the fall of man, the key conflicts of our age
have been set off.

The serpent of the old has successfully drawn mankind into conflict with the Lord our God. Now on one hand, Satan is described as the the god of this age.

“among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2Cor 4:4 New English Translation,

Here the New English Translation copyright 1995-2005 is more accurate in translating this as “age” (ai?n), but it is sometimes translated as “world.”

“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.”
Jn 12:31 WEB

Here the regular word for world is used, kosmos. And Satan has enough power to deceive the whole world.

“The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ”
Rev 12:9 WEB

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. ”
1Jn 5:19 WEB

So God ordained that there be opposition, hostility,
between the woman, and Satan.

““I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.””
Gen 3:15 WEB

Now it speaks of warfare between the seed/ offspring/
descendant, of Satan,

and the offspring of the woman. But the Hebrew word (zera) is here singular in both cases. The hostility is between the singular descendant/seed of woman, and the singular descendant/seed of the serpent.

As the fall came through the woman,

so also came the deliverer (Jesus the Christ, the singular seed of woman) through the woman (not through the man).

“4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.”
Gal 4:4-5 WEB

The word that is translated as “bruise” in the WEB and KJV in Gen 3:15 can also be translated as to snatch or grab or seize or a blow per the Hebrew Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Koehler and Bumgartner, 1994,2000. Surely the Bible in Basic English 1965, gives the sense of that last phrase in Gen 3:15 as well as any:

“by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.”

And the “seed”/offspring of Satan?

He still remains to be revealed in our own day, as it was with the Thessalonians (2Thes 2:6). He is what 2Thes 2:3 calls the “man of lawlessness,” and what Revelation calls “the beast.”

So Gen 3:15 is still in the process of being fulfilled.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Watching Changes Behavior: False Christs

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Jesus said there will be many false christs

“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.”
Mtt 24:5 WEB

Some religious people act, almost as if there is no such thing as a “false christ” or an “antichrist,” when Jesus says plainly that “many will come … saying, ‘I am the Christ.’” In fact, anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ is an antichrist, 1Jn 2:22. Would not any false christ be an “antichrist,” no matter how you define the term, and Jesus does say that there will be many.

Some of these are locals of hidden origin, who soon fade away. Others have longer runs, but none to date have reached the scope of the “beast” described in Revelation 13, who “overcomes” the church, and has authority all who live on this earth, Rev 13:7. Rome NEVER “overcame” the church! Instead the church conquered the mighty Roman empire as prophesied in Dan 2:44, and many other passages, and as happened in history.

False christs are not just “end of the age” things

Many have claimed the “true” son of David. See “Lab Work ” in Prophecy Principles.

My first volume, Prophecy Principles, points that most of European royalty has been for centuries discreetly claiming to be descendants of Jesus Christ through Mary Magdalene! Some of them have also made claims as if they were the “current” “living Christ,” and examples are given in Prophecy Principles. This sure casts a new light on the phrase, “the divine right of kings.” This is not just about a few occult weirdos, even as Jesus also makes clear.

Christ’s Kingdom is NOT of this world!

This is a key point if you are to keep your bearings among the many outrageous claims which are often made.

“Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.””
Jn 18:36 WEB.

Rather, it is of the world to come, the new heavens and new earth: heaven. But the false christs are seeking a kingdom in this world. Further, never loose sight of the fact that,

Jesus will never actually be on earth again!

We will meet Him in the air.

“16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, … The dead in Christ will rise first, 17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord FOREVER.”
1Thes 4:16-17 WEB emphasis added

You may or may not like these verses, but they not vague. Don’t believe it if they say the Christ is here or there, Mtt 24:23.

“If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; ‘Behold, he is in the inner chambers,’ don’t believe it.”
Mtt 24:26 WEB

“What I tell you, I tell all: Watch.” Mk 13:37 KJV

Watching changes behavior. You look at events differently. It changes how you act. To not be watching is the caught unawares …

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The World in Prophecy: An Evil World System

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All of us like to be liked. We wish everyone liked us.

But there is a world system which is evil.

Satan is allowed to tempt us and to try to seduce us. He is allowed to offer such rewards as a temporary existence here may carry. Satan said of what he offered Jesus, that

“I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.”
Lk 4:6 WEB

Jesus rejected this offer. The beast will accet the offer, Rev 13:2. As Jesus went to the cross He said,

“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.” John 12:31 WEB

That system that Satan has cobbled together is evil to the core. Jesus kingdom is not of this system.

… “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”
Jn 18:36 WEB.

We are a bred living for the wrong things.

The people of this world are very astute in living for this present world. In fact they are better at living for this world, than Christians are in living for the world to come. A certain rich man had a dishonest manager, who very cleverly skinned his employer. The rich man could only admire his shrewd behavior.

“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.”
Lk 16:8 WEB

It is comparing the children of this age with the children of the age to come.

This Age is in rebellion against God.

“This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.”
Jn 3:19 WEB.

It does not even want to know that it’s ways are evil.

“The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.”
Jn 7:7 WEB

The world system, the media, many large corporations,
many governments, the whole thing,

is not of God. It does not know God, it is against God.

““He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters.”
Jn 12:30 WEB

“… If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.”
1Jn 2:15 WEB

The world system is NOT your friend.

James goes further.

“… don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ”
Jas 4:4 WEB

In the end, this will all have to be answered for.

But God wants to redeem us, to the extent of offering His One and Only Son to suffer in our stead, “that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Jn 3:16 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901