The Unholy Trinity | Daily Devotion
“Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 2 This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.
3 I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. 4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. 6 And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling—that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. 8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.
Anyone with ears to hear
should listen and understand.
10 Anyone who is destined for prison
will be taken to prison.
Anyone destined to die by the sword
will die by the sword.
This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.”
Revelation 13:1-10
In John’s vision, he witnesses a beast, the Antichrist, rising up out of the sea, the abyss where the demons inhabit. He sees this beast as the final powerful world ruler – bold and cunning like a leopard, fierce and terrifying with feet like a bear and with a mouth like a lion, it’s powerful voice speaks with authority, imitating Jesus Christ who is the lion of the tribe of Judah. John then sees Satan – the dragon – give Antichrist his own power and authority—Revelation 13:1-2.
See, Satan has his own imitation of the holy Trinity. The holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But Satan’s unholy Trinity is Satan (in the place of God), Antichrist (in the place of Jesus Christ), and the False Prophet (in the place of the Holy Spirit). Satan has always wanted to be like God—Isaiah 14:14, he has always wanted the power of God; so, he tries to deceive the people into believing he has the same power. But the fact is, he doesn’t have the same power. There is a day when Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, unable to touch God’s people—Revelation 20, while God will rule eternally.
In Revelation 13, the Antichrist appears to be wounded beyond recovery and is supposedly resurrected. This, however, is a fake death and resurrection as he deceptively tries to mimic the real Christ. But the people believe it and stand in awe of Antichrist; they worship him and follow him unquestioningly—Revelation 13:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 2:9.
Friends, we always need to use our brain, bringing in our God given knowledge– the wisdom of God within us – to be able to spiritually discern what we hear and see in our current situations, as Satan is cunning and is known to use both truth and lies to persuade people, who follow those who speak with authority without thought. Many people speak with authority and spiritually persuade, but is their speech filled with truth or error? That is on us and we have to take responsibility for our own decisions and what we listen to and follow. We are to be like Bereans, searching the Scriptures and asking questions, so that we are not easy prey for false teaching. We need to guard ourselves from moving in specific directions without thought and logic, as illogical thinking leads to destruction. We are to reason with the word of God.
So, God allows Antichrist authority over the earth to do what he wants for the last three and a half years of the Tribulation. And here we see Antichrist blaspheming God, slandering God’s holy name and the angels and redeemed in heaven. Antichrist slanders anything that has to do with God—Revelation 13:5-7.
Christian, has your name ever been slandered? Slander sticks around for a long time. Once lies are circulated amongst a group of people, it is really difficult to clear a person’s name and reputation. So, Christian, don’t do it! When you slander someone you partner with Satan and his desire to tear down God, His saints, and His Kingdom. It’s not worth it. Speak only the truth. Be like Jesus Christ!
The apostle John tells us the Antichrist then waged war against Christians, seeking to conquer them – to dominate and overpower them. He was given authority over every tribe, people, nation, and language and those of this world worshipped him.
Those of this world whose names are not written in the Book of Life – the Book written before the world began, detailing every name of those who chose to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; the Book belonging to Jesus Christ, the Lamb that was slain.
Friend, have you ever had someone try and conquer you? It’s angering. You’re living your life, minding your own business and then are assaulted by this person who goes out of their way in multiple controlling methods to rule you and your life – such as targeting you, stalking, undermining your work, hindering your finances to cause financial dependency, slandering your name to people, or stealing intellectual property for their platform. They perfect deceit and lie about what they are doing. The psychological abuse and duress – the spiritual abuse when it is a spiritual leader at the church or in a ministry who is undermining you in your life, costing you, isolating you from people, plus the physical exhaustion that comes with being targeted and the enduring stress as they don’t stop – is difficult to say the least.
When people try and conquer someone, they utilize controlling methods to psychologically abuse the individual or they utilize coercion to instill fear, ultimately forcing the person to submit to them and their way.
Antichrist will do that to Christians. Not only that, but the world will love him.
Have you ever been in that type of situation? Where you had such a horrible experience with someone who was so toxic, abusive, narcissistic and life depleting – but they perfected deceit, so others loved them and no one seemed to see the abuse you were enduring. It’s really difficult psychologically. You wonder why people cannot see how horrible this person is, how this person is not godly. They are mean spirited, rude, demeaning, destructive psychologically to others and abusive physically. The pride that emanates from them is so perverse and disgusting. They have caused such a loss in your life, you battle resentment as you know that’s not how it’s supposed to be. But still many remain blind to who they really are.
Christians will experience this psychological duress – not only the torment they will personally experience, but the fact people will love their tormentor – siding with their tormentor; which will leave Christians wondering, what do I say? Why are they following that person blindly? How can I declare the truth so they see? How can I best reveal this deception, so that they are not fooled?
It's psychologically distressing, causing depression and feelings of hopelessness – which then cause immobility, increasing medical costs, increasing economic burdens, and increasing interpersonal issues. But it doesn’t have to. You can remain confident in Christ, regardless of your experience, by simply obeying Jesus Christ in that situation. It’s not “just forgiving” the offender. You have to realize offenders need to be stopped or else they will victimize someone else. Yes, you need to forgive and sometimes that is a daily process – we work through forgiveness, so that we are not easily triggered by something not addressed in our mind and heart. But we also need to heed the wisdom in God’s word and reinforce the 10 commandments by way of boundaries, so that we are not easily victimized.
All the while here, the apostle John says, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.”
Anyone destined to suffer a specific way, will suffer. It’s a dark truth during the Tribulation. God does destine some to suffer in specific ways.
Today, God does allow some type of suffering in people’s lives – but take note of this, if your suffering is through interpersonal issues where someone has broken the 10 commandments and you suffered because of it, that was not God’s original plan. God had the 10 commandments written before they were born. They chose to sin against you and ultimately God and that is why you suffered. This was not God’s original plan. God did not destine you to suffer at the hands of evil doers, He commanded that evil doer to obey Him and they disobeyed Him and you were their target.
Regardless of their choice, God will provide for you and will give you the strength that you need as you seek Him.
The persecution of Christians during the Tribulation will be severe, more severe than any persecution experienced by Christians today. It is not something you want to experience. Thus, the call here to endure persecution and remain faithful to Jesus Christ and His teaching, not swayed by the demonic persuasion surrounding them – the demonic ideology desiring them to turn away from Jesus and accept the demonic teaching that encourages deception, hate crimes, abuse, murder, covetousness, stealing, idolatry, and sexual immorality. The call to stand strong in God given conviction while knowing it will bring on severe suffering.
Christianity is not a leisure stroll. It is a constant fight. And it will be very difficult for the Christians during the Tribulation, as they will face the fiercest persecution imaginable for believing in Jesus Christ—Revelation 13:9-10. But Christian, God will not let evil win!
Every Christian is more than a conqueror as they abide in Christ – it is the power of God working in them and through them, absolutely aligned with God’s will that overcomes Satan and his persecutions. It’s a mind thinking in line with the word of God and behaving according to God’s commands.
Everything about persecution seeks to undermine one’s psyche and faith in Jesus Christ. Persecution seeks to break people mentally, destroying a heart’s belief. Provoking people to question God, to question Jesus Christ?
Leaving people asking, “Will You do what You said You would do? You are Savior, what does that look like in real time? What does that look like in my situation?”
As people suffer and wait, and suffer and wait with their hope wavering – even though God’s word says in Hebrews 10:23 NLT, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.”
One way Jesus Christ saves us – one way we can live our lives without wavering, is knowing His word, the Bible. The power we need, our resilience – our psychological strength amidst adversity—comes when we live out God’s word, instead of questioning God. We live out what we know to be true. We walk by faith and not by sight. Jesus said He would be with us always in Matthew 28:20, He said He would never leave us nor forsake us in Hebrews 13:5. Thus, I choose to believe He is right here with me. Why question Him? He sees everything as Hebrews 4:13 states. I trust His perfect knowledge of my situation and the truth that He can alleviate this in a blink of an eye, and if He doesn’t He will give me the strength to endure it as He is the strength of my life as Psalm 27:1 states. He is my support in this as Psalm 18:18 states. I will remain faithful. I know circumstances do not always relay Christ’s love as we live in a sinful world, but His presence and promises do.
See, persecution strikes the mind. We use our mind to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we use our mind to reason, we use our mind to grow in our spiritual giftings, to grow in spiritual maturity, to grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Satan strikes our mind. When our emotions arise with persecution, our minds can get clouded – removed of logic and wisdom and truth. Many just want an end to the persecution they are facing and that will be the case for the Christians in the Tribulation.
Now we need to realize that Satan wants to bring people to this point – mentally taxed, desiring an end to the persecution – because then he has a leg up to manipulate the weakened Christian away from Jesus Christ. It’s the reminder of Jesus Christ after He fasted for 40 days and then Satan tempted Him. Jesus, in His weakness, used the word of God to defeat Satan – and that’s the method every persecuted Christian needs to remember. Your mind might be struggling, but your heart knows the word. What verses come to mind? Those verses come to mind by the power of the Holy Spirit – it is the power of God at work in you, protecting you from Satan.
So fill your mind with truth, so much so it sinks to your heart and becomes your knee jerk reaction when trial and persecution arises.
In your current situation right now, know this, you can endure to the end because of the strength of Jesus Christ—Mark 13:13. The Lord is the strength of your life, you have nothing to fear – Psalm 27:1. You can endure to the end because of God’s word, His constant voice in your ear. God gave us the Bible, His voice to mankind – thus God is always speaking. And He speaks exactly what we need. He is the answer to every trial and hardship you face, for it is the way of Christ, the wisdom of God in action that heals situations, making things right.
Moreover, don’t forget, Jesus is the reason for every joy. He is the One who brings complete satisfaction. All glory goes to the One and only true King.
Prayer: Abba, thank You for Jesus Christ, who shows us the way to endure persecution patiently. We pray You are honored and glorified today, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
For more daily devotions by Dr. Alysa VanderWeerd, click here.