Thursday: The Counterfeit Trinity
The concept of the triune nature of God is found all through the Bible. However, in the context of end-time deceptions and persecution, the book of Revelation reveals a “counterfeit trinity” composed of the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast of Revelation Chapter 13.
Read Revelation 12:17; Rev. 13:1-2. What is described here?
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The dragon here has been seen as the counterfeit of the Father, in that he is the one clearly in control. He also gives power and authority and a throne to the sea-beast, the one counterfeiting Christ. Why is this second power seen as a counterfeit Christ?
Read Revelation 13:2-5. What are the characteristics of this sea beast?
Besides receiving its authority from the dragon, reminiscent of what Jesus said about receiving His authority from the Father (see Matt. 28:18), this sea beast also faced, like Jesus, a death and then a resurrection (see Rev. 13:3). Also, this beast is described as exerting his authority for “forty-two months”, or three-and-a-half years, a prophetic counterfeit of Christ’s literal three-and-a-half-year ministry, based on the day-for-year principle.
Read Revelation 13:11-17. How is the land beast described here?
This land beast promotes the interests of the sea beast, just as the Holy Spirit glorified not Himself but Jesus (John 16:13-14). Also, just as the Holy Spirit performed a powerful act in bringing down “fire” from heaven (Acts 2:3), the land beast performs something similar (see Rev. 13:13).
“At the end, the land beast performs a counterfeit of Pentecost! For what purpose? To prove to the world that the counterfeit trinity is the true God”. — Jon Paulien, What the Bible Says About the End-Time (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 1998), p. 111.
| What are other end-time deceptions that we need to be aware of, and how can we help others recognize them as deceptions, as well? |
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God the Father gave to humanity - Satan stole from humanity
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Satan gained this power from Adam and Eve by deceit.
Jesus - believe and you will be saved.
the beast of the sea - pay for your sins.
Son of man has no place even to lay his head
The beast of the sea is the richest religion in this world (irony the priests take vow of poverty)
Holy Spirit - John 16:14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
The land beast glorifies and makes the people of the earth to pay homage to the sea beast.
The power displayed in combination of this counterfeit trinity will be so powerful that if some do not know the word of God, it is they will be deceived into thinking they are following God.
Anything that takes you away from the authority of the scriptures.
Anything that leads you away from the forgiveness of Jesus Christ
Anything that leads you away from the moral influence of Holy Spirit
will all be counterfeit religion.
John 5:39
You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me
I couldn't agree with you more. The only way to be impervious to inauthentic religion is by diligently studying the authentic Trinity. One can only detect the counterfeit by fully knowing the original.
This is the lesson I was referring too. My question was in regards to the statement "At the end, the land beast performs a counterfeit of Pentecost!...?
Interesting. Just as God's people on this earth are the body of Christ, so those deceived by the Dragon are his body on this earth. Each body does the work of its head, empowered by its respective spirit.