Counterfeit Commandments :: By Terry James

We’ve looked many times at how Satan wants to be worshipped as God. From the very beginning, in the account of his actions against God, we can see that prideful tendency that exploded into full-fledged rebellion.

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

As brilliant as this angel is (at one time, he was said to be the most powerful of God’s angels), Lucifer (Satan) apparently never had an original thought. His only strategy seems to be mimicking God–counterfeiting what God has already finished.

Probably the best example of this is seen in what is prophetically scheduled for the Tribulation (Revelation 19:11). I and others have pointed out on numerous occasions the nature of Satan’s activity during that most terrible time of all history, as Jesus called it (Matthew 24:21).

Lucifer will counterfeit the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). This is found in Revelation chapter 13, with the introduction of the first beast, the second beast, and Satan himself as giving power and authority to these wicked cohorts during the Tribulation era.

Satan is, in the Revelation 13 account, the counterfeit of God the Father; Antichrist is the “counterfeit of God the Son; and the False Prophet is scheduled to be the counterfeit of God the Holy Spirit. We usually call these three the “unholy trinity.”

This evil triumvirate will cause all to worship Satan or be killed. They will be able to perform imitations of miracles—one of the most dramatic of which is described as follows:

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3).

This deception, of course, will be Satan mimicking Jesus’ return to life after death. The Antichrist will appear to be raised from the dead in a mocking counterfeit of the magnificent Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So the time of the Tribulation will be an era marked by satanic counterfeit miracles–signs and wonders from the dark dimension. The entire world full of deluded earth-dwellers, as they are called, will follow this false trinity to their doom.

We often point out that we’re now seeing foreshadows of things that will be in full force from Satan once the seven years of hell on earth arrive. For example, the Antichrist regime is in view in the form of the globalist efforts such as Agenda 21 and the World Economic Forum. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other technological wonders foreshadow the coming absolute surveillance controls that will be in effect when the marks-and-numbers system of Revelation 13:16-18 is in effect.

And, most interestingly, the harlot religious system of Revelation chapter 17 has leaped to the forefront of hints of things to come. We’ve recently looked at this blatant false religion emerging, and now eerie details are suddenly right in our faces as we watch prophetic progression.

Many of us remember the Cecil B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments. Despite literary license and occasional glaring errors, it was, in my view, a masterpiece.

One of the most dramatic scenes was when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai carrying the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments that had been carved by the finger of God.

Remember how Moses, infuriated that the children of Israel were dancing nude and worshipping the golden calf, raised the tablets above his head and flung them angrily toward the then-terrified people. It was one of the most powerful moments of the film, as God’s righteous anger brought an earthquake, and many were swallowed in the fissure that opened beneath their feet.

Well, Satan’s foreshadowing is again in view as he prepares equally rebellious people of earth for his continuing intention to usurp the throne of God. We see this in the following:

A group of religious leaders held a ceremony in the Sinai Peninsula to call on the world to pay more attention to the environment by smashing a pair of tablets on the ground earlier this week.

In an initiative called The Sinai Climate Partnership, The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD), The Elijah Interfaith Institute, the Peace Department, the United Nations Faith for Earth Initiative, Gig watt Global, and the Israeli environmental advocacy organization, Adam Teva V’Din took part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), which is taking place in the Sinai Peninsula, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

But the faith leaders took an alternative approach, seeking a faith-based solution to the ecological crisis by promoting the “Ten Principles for Climate Justice” in a global initiative. Toward this end, they held a sunrise ceremony on Sunday at the summit of Jabal Musa, a mountain in the southern Sinai Peninsula that, according to some traditions, is the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

A symbolic delegation of five members ascended and was joined by several participants from the COP conference. The group read from a new draft of their “Ten Principles for Climate Repentance,” recently composed by dozens of multifaith leaders meeting in London over the week. (“Spiritual ecological partnership smashes Tablets on Mount Sinai claiming ‘broken promises.'” Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Israel365 News)

Seems that Satan’s human minions have watched DeMille’s movie, too. The ten counterfeit commandments point to the false religion of Mother Earth worship that is front and center. The climate changers are angry that we aren’t all falling in line to join their one-world effort to save the planet—thus the symbolic Charlton Heston slamming of the tablets.

All of this means that the Lord’s call to His Church must be very near indeed.

Don’t be left behind to face what this devilish religious system has in store for those who will have rejected Jesus Christ–the only Way, Truth, and Life with God the Father in Heaven for eternity.

Here is how to make sure you don’t miss that call to “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1):

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

Hebrews Study: The New Covenant in Jesus :: By Sean Gooding

Hebrews 7:20-28

“20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’), 22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. 23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests, men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.”

Last week, we explored that we have a new permanent High priest, Jesus. He is our High Priest forever, and He has been a High Priest before God for us since the day of Abraham when we meet him in Genesis 14. He is called Melchizedek, and Abraham pays tithes to him after he comes back from a great military victory.

This week in our mid-week Bible study, we explored Numbers 28—29, and we actually tried to count out how many animals like bulls, goats, rams, and lambs had to be killed over the 1,500 years or so from the time of Moses until Jesus came and died on the cross. If you take the time, you will see that about 1,244,000 million bulls were killed over 1,500 years. I used a 360-day year, and it was at the time. I also considered only the mandatory sacrifices that God required under the priesthood. These two chapters cover the mandatory sacrifices that were needed each year as laid out by God to Moses. As you read the chapters, you can get the idea of the hundreds of thousands of animals that were required to be killed over the 1,500-year period.

  • A Covenant of Death and Sin, 20-23

The first covenant was a covenant of death. We are told that the first covenant was there to remind us of sin and death; it was never designed to save us. Take a look at Hebrews 10: 1-4,

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”

No one is saved by keeping the Law. No one is saved by killing millions of sacrifices, and no one is saved under the ministry of the Levitical Priests. These rituals were there to remind us that we need to substitute, as we see in verse three; the Law was just a reminder of sin. You will recall that there were no chairs in the Tabernacle or the Temple, and the priests were not allowed to sit down. Sitting was a sign that the work had been completed, and so under the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the priest was never allowed to sit, as the work of redemption was not completed by the blood of bulls and goats. These offerings temporarily appeased God until the time of Jesus. See Hebrews 10: 11-12,

“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

  • A Covenant of Life, verses 24-28

Jesus, this Melchizedek of the Old Testament, was alive forever, and in Him, we have eternal life. The old high priests like Aaron died, and God made sure that we knew that by telling us when Aaron died, Numbers 20: 27-29,

“Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.”

Aaron had to pass the mantle to his son, and that son to his son, and so on for 1,500 years. These men toiled, one after another, passing the mantle from one generation to the next but never getting to the end of the sacrifices.

But one day Jesus came, our eternal High priest and our Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the earth. He shed His blood, and when He died, he said in John 19: 28-29,

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

Look, Jesus knew ‘all things were accomplished’ (verse 28 above), and He said, ‘it is finished.’ But to further put an exclamation to that, we see Him seated at the right hand of God. Our High Priest was seated, and we are told in Hebrews 1:3, Acts 7: 55-56, and Hebrews 12:2, to name a few, that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Jesus could only sit as our High Priest because the work was done. Thus, we have a new covenant in Jesus, a New Testament, one of life eternal and not death. One that removes our sins, and they are forgotten forever and forever. But all this is done in Jesus and Jesus alone.

Are you under the old covenant or the new covenant? Too many are still trying to work their way to Heaven, and this is impossible. Jesus did ALL the work, and He is the one who intercedes for us and secures us forever. Jesus is man’s only hope; all else is simply futile.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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