A40), The Beast from the Earth, the Interfaith and the Dangers of Self Promotion Amongst Some Christians, (S. Dobbs, 2005).
(This links to B17 article, words No's A25, C85, A4, A7, A22, A23-26, A35-39, B1, B5 & C1). It also appears in list C as as C46.
Notes presented as an article, using 2 Thess 2; 3 as a proof scripture to back this word up, link.
April 2022: I would like to underline that the first sign of the wave of deception mentioned in this word will be fallen angels appearing deceptively, en-mass, as angels of light, across a multitude of US churches at the same time, probably, therefore, on a Sunday. I now think that the falling away and apostasy that this will lead to is the same as that of 2 Thess 2; 3. This is the first sign I am, therefore, looking out for as a signal that we are about to enter the last seven year period of this age when the antichrist then becomes apparent to those who are keeping watch. I have since put that section in red below in order to highlight it, (Oct 2022).
Introduction; I received this word in Feb 2005. It came as a series of pictures, images and words as if written down. The interpretation to these was very clear. I have put in brackets those parts that I was less sure of and the parts that included an element of my own opinions, so the reader can then take this into account as they weigh this up for themselves. Please study all of Revelation Ch 13 v 11-18, on the beast from the earth, and word No A25 on this website before continuing.
Rev 13 v 11 “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon”. v;12 “And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast,…”. v;13 “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. v; 14 “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs…”.(N.K.J.V)
In the previous word, (No A25, entitled “A Counterfeit Christianity”), the Lord showed me that the beast from the earth symbolises an inter faith organisation that will evolve over time, eventually emerging as the antichrists one world religion in the end times. This present prophecy shows how parts of the body of Christ are already being softened up in advance of this by the enemy today. Many Christians will end up compromising with this inter faith religion in the future as they abandon true faith in Christ. The Lord showed me that this is “ON OUR DOORSTEP”, i.e. it is about to start appearing in the world around us very soon; (I judged this to mean in the next few years).
First I would like to refer here to two scriptures that I and another Christian felt God had given us:
Matt 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect”. (N.K.J.V).
1 Jn 2:18 & 19 “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us;” (N.K.J.V).
The Beast from the Earth: The first image that the Holy Spirit gave me was of an outline drawing of the beast from the earth, its body, head and two horns, as if viewed from the front. The horns symbolised its overall leadership, [as well, I believe, the top two individual leaders of this religious organisation]. Inside this outline, where the beasts belly would be, there was a swirling liquid vortex of activity, this was related to attitudes of “self promotion”. This molten liquid moved up two narrow channels through the beasts body and head and from there into its two horns. It then emerged from the tips of these horns as two fountains that sprayed out upon the world.
Self promotion within the church: What surprised me the most was that this vortex of activity related to the self promotion that takes place in the church amongst "Christians", all that was of “the kingdom of men” in the church and not of the kingdom of God, e.g. “Christians” wanting to promote themselves and their "ministries" before the eyes of men. I saw that many such "Christians" will fall away from the faith in the future and be joined to this beast instead. Many "Christians" will stray from the truth* and become a part of this interfaith religion. It will be the desire of these backslidden "Christians" for self promotion that will fuel the development of the interfaith movement. They will rise up in its ranks and end up controlling much of it as they themselves become apostate.
“Christians” joining the Interfaith Movement: I saw that there were many people in the body of Christ who were more interested in self promotion and moving their own ministries forward than they were in truth or error. That as this interfaith organisation started to emerge in the world some of them would try to promote their ministries in that organisation as well as in Gods church. [I believe that most would do this in ignorance at first, not realising that this organisation was leading towards the beasts one world religion]. This however would greatly compromise and weaken their faith further as they descended into apostasy.
Backslidden “Christians” leading this movement: The two channels that rose into the horns of this beast showed how some “Christian” ministries would rise in influence within this interfaith organisation, some eventually emerging as its leaders. In the end times they would then be responsible for implementing its policies in the world on behalf of the antichrist. [By this time though such ministries will have been so deceived and have compromised to such a degree that they will have abandoned genuine faith in Christ and only maintained the outward appearance of this. It is possible the two horns, the two top leaders of this religion, will both have once had “Christian ministries” in the body of Christ before falling away from the faith]. I had the impression that this process will happen gradually, with the worlds’ religions coming together in stages, with many believers joining it and losing their faith by degrees as well.
New Age infiltrations into the church generally: Next the Lord gave me a picture of some dough which was intended to be made into unleavened bread, (that is bread that does not rise, like that used in the Jewish Passover celebrations). I saw that the enemy however had been sowing yeast into this dough. This symbolised the infiltration of New Age spiritual influences, attitudes and even practices, into parts of the body of Christ, especially in recent decades. I saw that at some critical point this was suddenly going to cause the bread to rise, that it was going to manifest in parts of the body of Christ in a very vivid way.
Three Weaknesses within the U.S. Church:
The Holy Spirit then showed me three main weaknesses. [In a previous word, No A24 on this website, (recieved in 2003), entitled “The emergence of the beast from the sea in the world today”, God had shown me that the U.S.A would be the most powerful member of a seven nation coalition that would govern the antichrists empire in the end times. I believe the Lord was focusing on the U.S.A here, in this word, because it is the Christians in that nation that Satan will want to deceive the most, so that they do not hinder his plans. Perhaps judgement is also coming upon the U.S.A?]
1) First God showed me a picture of a white flag. This symbolised the appearance of righteousness but with compromise and no real deep inner holiness. This was accompanied by a picture of a white suit which symbolised Christian ministers who did their best to appear righteous and holy to their audiences as they preached but who were not really attempting to submit their lives to Jesus Christ or pursuing personal sanctification. This obviously doesn’t apply to all ministries but I saw it was a major influence in the U.S.A. nonetheless.
2) The second weakness was nationalism; I saw that many Christians in the U.S were influenced, in the wrong way, by nationalism. Whilst as Christians we are responsible to pray for our nations we are nonetheless citizens of heaven and owe our allegiance to Jesus not to any carnal earthly dominion. I saw that such nationalism could compromise a Christian’s faith in Christ.
3) Thirdly I saw that the Church in the U.S.A. was particularly open to deception: I understood that the U.S church was particularly open to deception and very vulnerable in this area.
New Age influences:
As I continued to pray the Lord then gave me three examples of ways in which New Age influences were infiltrating parts of the church in the world today, this was particularly true of the western world especially the USA.
a) Firstly there were fallen angels appearing as angels of light: The first area of deception was depicted as a picture of a church in the U.S.A, (this could perhaps apply to other nations too). This was symbolic of what is going to start happening in many churches particularly those across the USA. In this picture someone in the congregation declared that God was going to send an angel to them and that it would bring with it a new anointing that would start a revival in that church. Only a couple of Christians were cautious and took time to weigh this word up, the rest just assumed it must be of God without testing it. An angel did then come to that meeting; however it was a fallen angel, sent to deceive. It did bring with it a new anointing, only it was a counterfeit anointing and not of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual manifestations broke out in that meeting, sometimes similar to those one might expect from the Holy Spirit, sometimes different and more obviously demonic. These were all counterfeit and from the kingdom of darkness, however, from the occult realm. All but a few of the Christians opened their hearts to this and almost the entire congregation then started following this other spirit. [Whether this was a real or fictional church I do not know]. The Lord then gave me a prediction that this was going to happen in many churches scattered across the U.S.A. in the future. There are going to be many false angelic visitations that will bring deceptions and a counterfeit anointing.
[Note added in Dec 2021: As I re-read this I remember how I saw literally hundreds of churches being impacted across the USA by fallen angels in this way. I got the impression that many were being effected at the same time, probably on the same Sunday to start with, and that this happened across many different types of denomination's at once. Ive also come to understand since that this phenomina will then spread across to churches, groups and individuals in Western Europe, in particular, (and other western world nations, i.e Australia and New Zealand too), and that many "Christians" will, then cry out for the same or similar experiences to happen in their churches. This will open the doors for the same fallen angels and same or similar counterfeit annointings to spread across W. Europe. I expect this will be global but I felt it would impact, in particular, the church of the western world].
b) Secondly I saw the words “COME HOLY SPIRIT”: I knew that this was referring to a Christian song with that name. It was a song we used to sing a lot in my first church over twenty years ago. When we used to sing that song I was always aware that we received a different type of anointing, for want of a better description it was more sugary and less clear than normal. It was very appealing to ones senses and the flesh. A spirit definitely came upon us in a different way as we sang that particular song. In recent years I am convinced that this “different type of anointing” was not the Holy Spirit at all but was instead a counterfeit from the kingdom of darkness. I now believe that something spiritistic takes place when people do this, that this gives Satan an entitlement and opens the person or meeting up to another spirit altogether. That is what I knew the Lord wanted me to write when He gave me the name of that song.
[*Dec 2021 note: I think I should clarify here that it was singing praises to what people perceived to be the Holy Spirit that opened the doors to another spirit. The same thing will happen when Christian’s direct prayer to what they believe is the Holy Spirit, this will open them to another spirit altogether, a counterfeit from the occult realsm. This is perhaps the saddest thing of all because at first it doesn’t seem to make sense... continued below].
*2 Note added Dec 2008: Derek Prince a well respected bible teacher, prophet and scholar taught "Any spirit that focuses on the Holy Spirit and glorifies the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit. It is contrary to His whole nature and purpose... Let me make another statement which may surprise you. I have not found in the Scripture anywhere an example of a prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit. So far as I can understand, no one in the Scripture ever prayed to the Holy Spirit. You probably would do well to check that for yourself, but I have looked carefully and have not found one example". Taken from "Protection from Deception" published July 1996. There are more notes* on this below *2
*Note added in 2020: I have written extensive notes to try to fully explain this, which was quite hard to do. Some will find this contraversial but I am confident God was with me concerning this article overal, i.e. B17) Why Didn’t Anyone in the Bible Ever Direct Prayer or Worship to the Holy Spirit?
c) Thirdly Visualisation: The Lord then gave me a picture of a healing prayer meeting I had attended a couple of years ago, (note; that would be in 2002/3). The leader had us sitting around in a circle and then asked us to hold hands and visualise light coming into the room. He said that God would then appear as light and start to heal people. Some of the Christians present did then start to experience spiritual manifestations which they claimed were associated with partial healing. [I didn’t join in as I knew that this was not of God but was in fact a New Age visualisation technique. God will move by His Spirit in the way in which He chooses to and it is not for us to tell Him in what form this will take. Nor should we try to summon up or invoke the Spirit in this way as if God/Jesus Christ were a familiar spirit of some kind. This is not scriptural but is a practice that spiritualists and mediums engage in. As we know God didn’t come by His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost because the disciples sat around visualising the wind of His Spirit. I believe that the Lord wanted me to share this to show how misguided believers can inadvertently open themselves and others up to spirits from the occult realm, in the same way that those who engage in witchcraft do. This can even lead to counterfeit healings and miracles taking place in Christian meetings, similar to those that occur in some New Age groups, coming from demonic power. This can lead to believers being distracted from following the Holy Spirit and lured into white magic and following occult spirits instead of God. The Lord was giving this as another example of how New Age influences were infiltrating parts of the body of Christ today, deceiving and weakening some believers in advance of the emergence of the beast from the earth, satans inter faith religion. This will all be part of the great apostasy, the falling away of some believers from the faith in the end times].
[Note in Dec 2021: Imagine a group of Christians who engage in unbiblical occult spiritual practices like those above, who then attend an interfaith meeting out of curiosity. They may notice that the New Agers there are also receiving the same spirit just as they do, and that those unbelievers also sometimes even pray to the "holy spirit" too. They are then likely to assume that these New Agers also have the Holy Spirit even though they don’t confess or believe that Jesus was God come in the flesh as a man, (the core doctrine that defines who is or isn’t a true believer). The New Agers may be nice, well intentioned people and at first claim that it’s OK for the Christians to believe that Jesus is God and that they can all be tolerant and meet as one in their interfaith meetings. Imagine when Satan’s persecution comes against the saints, though, for believing Jesus is God and is the only way to the Father, how unnecessary believing in Jesus as God may suddenly then appear. They may think “why suffer for that idea when all the New Agers also have the holy spirit and all religions can get one to the heavenly paradise anyway.” The devils so subtle, first he got them receiving the wrong spirit, then they joined in some interfaith meetings for world peace, and before long when the pressure was rapped up they started abandoning the very doctrine that was central to their salvation. They end up facing the judgement day having abandoned their faith in Christ, not just Jesus as a prophet but as God Himself come in human form, to die on the cross for their sins. This type of thing is going to be happening a lot soon.]
The emergence of this Interfaith Religion: I then saw the words “GRASSROOTS” appear before me. I immediately understood this to mean that this beast from the earth would start to manifest at grass roots level amongst some Christians. It would spring up amongst individual “Christians” rather than be imposed as a new form of religion straight away. In the same way the molten liquid sprang up from below in the first picture of a beast. I understood that some believers and churches were already being softened up so they would be more likely to compromise with this inter faith religion in the future. I saw that this religion would emerge very subtly in an organic way. It would be like lots of small springs of water appearing from under the ground that would leak out onto the surface of the earth. These would then join up and appear as small pools and then lakes as this religion emerged and gained more and more influence in the world. Eventually it would dominate the affairs of the entire world and operate on behalf of the antichrist and his beast empire. It is therefore going to be backslidden, and ultimately apostate “Christians” who will lead the worlds interfaith religion, this beast from the earth. [Scriptures indicate that all people will then be coerced into following this religion or face persecution, see Rev 13;15.]
Purifying of the church and martyrdom: I saw the words “A SEPARATION OF THOUGHT” and understood that at some point in time these issues would force those who claimed to be Christians to side one way or the other, to accept this interfaith organisation or to stand with those who accept Christ alone as the way to God. There would then be a parting of the ways in the body of Christ between those who would go on and remain loyal to the Lord and those would choose to hang onto the things of this life and be prepared to abandon their faith. I saw that the ultimate cost of remaining true to the Lord was martyrdom; we have to be prepared to pay this price and may have to do so, (see Rev 13: 16 & 17).
The African and Chinese churches: I perceived that these would be less open to such compromises overall than those in the western world. This was partly because Christians from this part of the world [often] had a poorer quality of life anyway and therefore had less to lose. [These parts of the global church are also often more alive, anointed and therefore better prepared for these end times pressures than in the West].
[Dec 2021 note: The power brokers and organisations that rule the world also tend to be in the west and I believe the Beast Empire will be centred there, so it will have less allure to African Christians generally speaking. Some will try to expand their ministries through the interfaith movement though but most will know they are unlikley to ever make it to the top. Plus God raises up those who are bowed down and the poor more often that the rich and so these general trends appear in the body of Christ, link to A26 and A27].
No judging: Next I was aware that God does not want us to judge those Christians who are falling into error or deception. We are to remember that it is more complex than just the choices they themselves have made. [National and environmental factors, for e.g. are also involved, what type of church they were saved into, whether or not this was often exposed to a counterfeit anointing and how good the teaching was etc. Christians can, in some ways, become victims of the bad spiritual environments they may operate from. They can also be led astray by poor leadership or by others that they fellowship with]. Only the Lord knows how responsible a person is for the errors they may fall into. Therefore only God can judge them on this, we are not to even attempt to.
Christian Teachers: God wants us to pray for them in particular, so they know not only the correct teachings but also how to put them across properly. So they will know how to flow in Gods Spirit in this, e.g. when they should be tough on people and give them stern warnings and when they should be tender and display Gods mercy towards those they see going astray.
Walking with God: We are to all have the correct attitude towards others, including those Christians we see straying away from the gospel and compromising with this interfaith religion. We are to put into practice the teachings of Jesus and the bible towards others and hence operate from a strong foundation. This will then keep us from falling into deception ourselves.
Christian lifeboats: God does not want us to become stumbling blocks to those believers who are getting deceived, (due to our wrong words or attitudes), instead He wants us to become lifeboats for them, reaching out to save them from the waves of deception that will come in the end times.
S.Dobbs, March 2005.
*1 I had not expected the beasts religion to be led by backslidden/fallen away Christians, especially not as this organisation will lead the persecution against the true and faithful believers, (see Rev 13;12 &16-17). Later though, when I looked at this in hindsight, I realised there was a historical parallel here. The leaders of the Jewish religion had persecuted the early church. Historically the leaders of the Catholic denomination had, once they had gained earthly power, persecuted believers who wouldn’t submit to Rome. And more recently the leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church have oppressed other believers in Russia. Satan will also be wanting to lure as many Christians as possible into compromising with this inter faith movement and what better way to do that than having former, perhaps well known, Christians running this organisation for him? It seems to me that this will maximise the devils ability to deceive those who are falling away from the faith, which will no doubt be one of his major objectives in the end times. It will also serve Gods purposes by sifting and refining the body of Christ so that only those whose faith is sincere and deep, those who are willing to suffer for the truth, will remain part of the genuine body of Christ. God is sovereign and only He knows who is to be saved.
*2 Note added in Nov 2008: No one in the O/T or N/T ever prayed to or worshipped the Holy Spirit and so we shouldn’t either. Engaging in this erroneous practice can open a person, or an entire meeting, up to a counterfeit anointing. God was showing me, in the above prophecy, that this will be one of the main ways that Satan will infiltrate many churches with a New Age/occult spirit in the future.
This is really a job for the teachers and scholars who I believe God will call to address this issue in public. As we know though God is the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit and the three are one, they are all God. However they are one Spirit, they are not three spirits with three separate personalities. The Holy Spirit is Gods Spirit. The Father and Son are both manifestations of the person/personalities of God both coming from the same Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit always expresses Himself as the persons of the Father or the Son. There is not a third person that the Holy Spirit manifests as. The Holy Spirit doesn’t have a separate third personality as some are falsely teaching today.
If you worship or pray to a separate third personality of the Holy Spirit, one which doesn’t exist, you have moved into spiritual error and this can open you up to deception from the kingdom of darkness. Another spirit, sent from Satan, can then appear to you instead and lead you astray, this is what God was warning of here in this word...*2(continued below)].
*Dec 2021 note: I think I should clarify here that it was singing praises to what people perceived to be the Holy Spirit that opened the doors to another spirit. The same thing will happen when Christian’s direct prayer to what they believe is the Holy Spirit. This will open them to another spirit altogether. This is perhaps the saddest thing of all because at first it doesn’t seem to make sense or be possible. It appears almost unfair at first. The Holy Spirit is God Himself so the question arises, "how could a genuine Christian calling upon the Holy Spirit result in them opening up to the demonic, a fallen angel and/or a fake anointing?" I became almost obsessed with trying to answer that question because it just seemed such an awful fate to befall well intended Christians. The first thing one realises is that this is not a scriptural N/T practice. No one in the O/T or N/T ever attempted to address the Holy Spirit in prayer or praise. Christians should, therefore, have been wary about engaging in this in the first place. I have concluded that the main root of this, though, is the confusion that stems from relying on the words of men to describe the Godhead, historically, instead of the bibles slightly longer worded descriptions. Derek Prince has written about this practice opening to deception and a counterfeit "holy spirit." As I didn’t feel he had fully covered the issue I wrote about this myself, after which I realised why he may have not gone in fully. It is an absolute minefield, theologically, as it ventures into the territory of "how can God be three and yet one," etc, which appears to many to be a paradox that has never been adequately resolved. However, when we move away from man’s words, historically, and man’s theological intellectualising about the Godhead, man’s clever descriptions you could say, and just look at how the bible describes the Godhead this really is very simple. So much so a child could understand both the Godhead and why we should never attempt to direct prayer or worship to the Holy Spirit as if He were a separate person to the Father and Son. Very briefly, the bible describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of both the Father and the Son. He is God because Gods Spirit is God in the same way as your spirit is you, as opposed to a separate alternative person to you. He, the Holy Spirit, is not a separate person to the Father or Son, He is their shared Spirit. Whenever the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to us in person form, (as opposed to being the anointing, Gods power or through the gifts of God etc), this will always be as either the Father or the Son. The Holy Spirit could also reveal Himself in person form as both the Father and the Son at the same time. There is no record of Gods Holy Spirit ever revealing Himself as anyone other than the Father or the Son though. So if a Christian addresses praise to a version of the "Holy Spirit" that has a separate persona/personality manifesting other than those of the Father or Sons then that isn’t the Holy Spirit of the bible. You will be praising another "holy spirit," i.e. the counterfeit that Derek Prince warned us about. That will open you to another spirit and to all sorts of potential deception. I’ve found that most people’s perception of the Godhead is so ingrained and rigid, though, that if they perceive the Holy Spirit to have a third persona/personality that is separate to those of the Father or Sons, (as three separate men would have), it is extremely difficult to convince them otherwise. The arguments can get so complicated and entwined, due to man’s theological history that it’s hard to make clear what you mean. In the process they are likely to misunderstand what you are saying and then button down dogmatically for fear of going astray. Some will assume you are into Oneness theology when that isn’t the case at all, and simple stop listening to you. The teachers in the body surely need to come together to address this at some point as they will have the authority and anointing to do this. I don’t think that will happen until after the falling away and great apostasy, though. Maybe God is allowing this to remain a snare until after then as a humbling of the church, link, B11. It is a great tragedy, though, a tragedy waiting to happen. It is as if this confusion over the Godhead was sown into the church by the devil hundreds of years ago, and let lie, there having relatively little impact until the end times, when the devil will pull the pin and let loose a great wave of deception and confusion during a season of other deceptions too, during the great end times apostasy. The key to avoiding this is not to engage in the unbiblical practice or directing prayer to what you perceive to be the "Holy Spirit," or joining in with others who are singing to a perceived "Holy Spirit" that is not being viewed as either the Father or the Son but as someone other, someone different and separate to them. Keep it simple and only ever address prayer or worship to the Father or Son as all N/T Christians did. If you think you’ve found a short cut to a new anointing or gifting that you can’t get by addressing the Father or Son then that’s evidence you are already receiving a false anointing, because the three are always one. The Holy Spirit won’t give you something that praying to the Father or Son wouldn’t result in too, they are the same One God.
*2 2008 note continued: ...Some false teachers today are claiming that you can get a greater anointing, and a power ministry, by praying to this separate third personality of God instead of to the Father or Son. This is their genuine experience and testimony; when they prayed to God the Father or Son they were not entrusted with Gods power but when they prayed to this separate third personality of the Holy Spirit suddenly they started getting this other anointing and power. However this happened because they were not praying in line with scripture and they had opened up to an occult anointing instead. Satan was willing to empower them to tempt them away. Satan was then able to use them to promote this false teaching and lead many others astray too. This is taking place on a large scale in the church already. These teachers testimony is proof in itself of their error; if God had wanted to raise these teachers up and entrust His power to them then why didn’t God do this when they prayed to the Father or Son, why did it only come to pass when they prayed to this other imagined third personality of God? The power came from another spirit demonic in origin, it is not of the Holy spirit at all. [Let’s not pass judgement on these deceived teachers though but instead test the spirits as the scriptures tell us to. Think, if it were not possible for Satan to deceive, anoint, empower and lead Christians astray with other spirits in this way then why would the bible say, in Jn 4:1, “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” (N.K.J.V).
S. Dobbs, Nov 2008.
In 2018 I extended the above notes into a full article with which I tried to explain this more comprehensively; i.e:
B17) Why Didn’t Anyone in the Bible Ever Direct Prayer or Worship to the Holy Spirit?