In the Bible, in the book of Revelation, it mentions that the Antichrist will have a helper called the False Prophet. I have heard much more discussion about the Antichrist than about the False Prophet, however I feel that the identity of the False Prophet may be more important than Christians expect. In this article I will examine what the Bible says about the False Prophet and how it may affect Christians who are left on earth after the Rapture.
Who is the False Prophet?
In the Bible, there is a 7 period of time called the Tribulation, which is predicted to occur just before Jesus returns to earth. During this time the world will be ruled by one person called the Antichrist. The Antichrist will have a helper who is called the False Prophet. Here is what the Bible says about the False Prophet:
"I now saw another beast. This one came out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. It worked for the beast whose fatal wound had been healed. And it used all its authority to force the earth and its people to worship that beast. It worked mighty miracles, and while people watched, it even made fire come down from the sky.
This second beast fooled people on earth by working miracles for the first one. Then it talked them into making an idol in the form of the beast that did not die after being wounded by a sword. It was allowed to put breath into the idol, so that it could speak. Everyone who refused to worship the idol of the beast was put to death."(Revelation 13:11-15)
We know that this second "beast" is the False Prophet when we compare the above to Revelation 19:20: "But the beast was captured and so was the false prophet. This is the same prophet who had worked miracles for the beast, so that he could fool everyone who had the mark of the beast and worshiped the idol. The beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into a lake of burning sulfur."
So in summary - the False Prophet will work for the Antichrist (the first beast), and will endorse and promote the worship of the Antichrist as God. The False Prophet will be able to do miracles to convince people that the Antichrist is God - including making fire come down from the sky and making an idol of the Antichrist speak.
Who Might Be the False Prophet?
So now that we know what the False Prophet does, can we figure out who it might be? Strangely, there are two different sources who both promote the idea that the False Prophet will in fact be an impostor of Jesus himself! Lets look at these predictions in more detail.
Prediction of the False Prophet as Jesus by Benjamin Creme
Benjamin Creme promotes New Age beliefs and the teachings of people such as Helena Blavatsky and Alice A. Bailey (new age writers) [1]. Mr. Creme receives his information about the Maitreya from an "ascended master" via telepathic communication (which most Christians would consider to be near demonic possession).
Benjamin Creme teaches that Jesus was not "Christ", but was a disciple of "Christ" and it was "Christ's" power that overshadowed (i.e possessed) Jesus and let him do miracles. He claims that Jesus is just an Ascended Master who now lives in Rome and whose task will be to take over the throne of St. Peter (i.e. the Papacy) and reform Christianity/Catholicism so it will accept the Maitreya [2]. At an occult conference, one of the leaders and main speaker of the House of Theosophy declared that the Pope will accept Maitreya, and will probably promote this new one world religion [3].
So Benjamin Creme says that Jesus has already returned secretly to earth, and will eventually become head of the Vatican and will reform Christianity so that Christians will think that Maitreya (the Antichrist) is God. Now, let's compare this with what Islam teaches about Jesus when he returns.
Prediction of the False Prophet as Jesus by the Islamic Qu'ran
Firstly, Islam does not believe Jesus was crucified: "They crucified someone other than Jesus, taking him for Jesus so great was the illusion of their resemblance. But Allah [had] brought [Jesus] up to Him alive."[4, p.46]. So Jesus was not crucified or resurrected according to Islam. And about Jesus' return, Muslims teach:
- "The traditions report that the Mahdi will come before Jesus, son of Mary, and that he will spread justice over the earth, which will have been filled until then with iniquity. Jesus will then return to approve the work of the Mahdi, who will have given back to the Muslims all those things which are rightfully theirs but to which the Turks, by their power, have helped themselves." [4, p.46]. This is interesting, because in Christianity the Antichrist comes first, then the False Prophet follows, which matches well with this description of the Mahdi coming first and then Jesus.
- "Then Jesus, son of Mary, will come from the west, attesting the veracity of Muhammed and of his religion, and he will slay the Antichrist. Only then will the Hour arrive." [4, p.46] So Jesus will return and promote Muhammed's teachings.
- "Jesus will ensure the ultimate glory of Islam by abolishing all other religions: 'He will destroy the cross, he will kill the swine, he will make harmony reign and he will drive out enmity [among men]." [4, p.46]
- "Jesus, on his return, will personally correct the erroneous representations and interpretations [that have been made] concerning him. He will affirm the authentic message that he brought in his time [on earth] as a prophet, for he never claimed to be the son of God." [4, p.169]. Note this statement is false - Jesus did claim to be God - see evidence in my article here.
- "Jesus will be to the Mahdi as Aaron was to Moses" [4, p.170]. So the Mahdi will be greater than Jesus and Jesus basically becomes the side-kick.
So from these teachings, we can summarize what Islam expects Jesus to do on his return: approve of the Mahdi (the Islamic Messiah), endorse Islam as the only true religion, and abolish Christianity by saying it is full of errors and destroy the Crosses.
Note that in the second point it says Jesus will "slay the Antichrist", yet this Antichrist is supposedly a pre-cursor to the Mahdi, and appears to be different than the Antichrist in the Bible (Christians would say that Mahdi is the Antichrist described in the Bible). Perhaps a false "antichrist" will be killed by the false "Jesus" because all the Christians would expect Jesus to kill the Antichrist as per Revelation 19. This would make the impostor Jesus' claim that he is the real Jesus even stronger.
Summary of Evidence that "Jesus" may the the False Prophet
When we compare these Islamic descriptions of Jesus with what the False Prophet will do, it matches nicely. The False Prophet (the Islamic prophet Jesus) promotes the Antichrist (the Mahdi) and makes the whole world worship the Mahdi by destroying true Christianity. Additionally, this description matches well with Benjamin Creme's prediction that Jesus will take over the Vatican and will corrupt it to accept the Maitreya (Antichrist/Mahdi).
Other Support Why "Jesus" may be the False Prophet
Thus, we have two different religions (New Age and Islam) saying nearly the same thing about what Jesus will do when he returns. I do not believe this is a coincidence. I believe that Satan has inspired both the New Age movement (with their emphasis that Lucifer (i.e. Satan) is God) and Islam (a false religion, which opposes Christianity and yet on the surface may appear similar). So I suspect that when the Antichrist appears, he may in fact use both of these religions combined to gain worldwide support and eliminate true Christianity.
This combination of New Age and Islam would be the most efficient way to gain the support of the whole world. It would take a lot more effort to convert all Muslims to some strange new religion than to use their existing beliefs about the Mahdi and Jesus to gain power. Currently Muslims comprise approximately 1.5-1.6 billion believers, which is the second largest religion on earth next to Christianity with 2-2.2 billion believers [5]. If enough true Christians go to heaven in the Rapture, Islam may perhaps move up to the number-one spot. Appealing to this large group of Muslims by claiming to be the Mahdi would work quite well, and then when "Jesus" returns to deceive all remaining Christians, it could be easy to get potentially half the world following the Antichrist. Many atheists might convert after Jesus does some miracles (which he was famous for in the Bible), and people may convert after threats of death for refusing the Mark of the Beast. So it really would not be too difficult to use Islam and the False Prophet to rapidly gain worldwide religious support for the Antichrist.
Perhaps if the impostor Jesus does take over the Vatican, this could be why Revelation 17 metaphorically describes a false world religion as a woman dressed in purple and scarlet robes, and wearing jewelry of gold, precious stones, and pearls, holding a gold cup. It says she is drunk (metaphorically) on the blood of God's saints (Revelation 17:6). Most people would associate the colours of purple, red, and gold with Catholicism. If impostor Jesus can corrupt Catholicism enough to support the Antichrist, they too might support a massacre of true Christians.
This is why I believe the identity of the False Prophet is very important to examine for true Christians who will be living during the Tribulation. If the False Prophet is a satanically-powered impostor of Jesus, he could do a massive amount of harm to Christianity. If a left-behind and confused, Biblically-uneducated, pseudo-Christian sees that Jesus has returned and is doing miracles and promoting some world-famous politician as God, it would be very difficult to resist this deception. Any other new Christians who may resist are easily dealt with when they refuse to take the Mark of the Beast and are killed.
As an interesting side-note, Islam promotes the method of beheading to kill unbelievers. In the Qu'ran, it says in Surah 47:4: "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads..."[6]. All the Christians who refuse to follow the Antichrist or accept the Mark of the Beast are beheaded (Revelation 20:4). This is more interesting proof that Islam may be used by the Antichrist, and he would gain an army of devoted Muslims willing to do the killing for him. It is strange that the Bible specifically mentions beheading, since a gunshot or lethal injection would work just as well. For this reason I believe the method of extermination may be an indication of who will do the killing.
How can Christians know if someone is really Jesus or not?
In the Bible, Jesus has already warned us that this exact situation may happen: "Someone may say, 'Here is the Messiah!' or 'There he is!' But don't believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will come and work great miracles and signs. They will even try to fool God's chosen ones. But I have warned you ahead of time. If you are told that the Messiah is out in the desert, don't go there! And if you are told that he is in some secret place, don't believe it!" (Matthew 24:23-26).
Similarly, Jesus said "Don't be fooled by those who will come and claim to be me. They will say, 'I am Christ!' and 'Now is the time!' But don't follow them." (Luke 21:8).
Also "When the wicked one appears, Satan will pretend to work all kinds of miracles, wonders, and signs. Lost people will be fooled by his evil deeds. They could be saved, but they will refuse to love the truth and accept it. So God will make sure that they are fooled into believing a lie."(2 Thessalonians 2:11). So God warns that Satan will be able to do many amazing things through the Antichrist and False Prophet, and that this is part of the deception that Christians must not fall for.
When Jesus really returns, it will be so blatantly obvious that no-one will be able to deny it: "The coming of the Son of Man will be like lightning that can be seen from east to west." (Matthew 24:27). This return happens only at the battle of Armageddon - at the end of the Tribulation when the Antichrist's armies are fighting in northern Israel. This is Jesus' Second-Coming (because at the Rapture Jesus does not actually return to earth - he just shows up in the air to take all current Christians to heaven).
This is what the Return of Jesus will look like: "I looked and saw that heaven was open, and a white horse was there. Its rider was called Faithful and True, and he is always fair when he judges or goes to war. He had eyes like flames of fire, and he was wearing a lot of crowns... The Rider wore a robe that was covered with blood, and he was known as 'The Word of God'. He was followed by armies from heaven that rode on horses and were dressed in pure white linen.... On the part of his robe that covered his thigh was written 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS'." Now, you won't be able to miss that.Conclusion
As we have examined, there seems to be evidence from many sources which promote the idea that the False Prophet discussed in the book of Revelation may actually be a satanically-empowered impostor of Jesus himself! This idea is promoted both in Islam and through New-Age teacher Benjamin Creme, and Jesus Himself warns us about it in the Bible. Using an impostor of Jesus who can do miracles and promotes the Antichrist would be a very dangerous deception for new Christians who convert after the Rapture. Also, it gives the Antichrist a large support base from all Muslims (currently the second-largest religion) with which to start his religious takeover of the world.
Fortunately, any Christian who has read the Bible will clearly see that this False Prophet could not possibly be Jesus. Jesus only returns at the Rapture (to meet Christians in the clouds) and at the Second Coming, where he will appear in amazing majesty and power, and no one will possibly mistake him for someone else. If you were not Raptured, and anyone shows up claiming to be Jesus who is not riding a white horse, followed by the armies of heaven, with eyes like fire and wearing a robe dipped in blood, it is very clearly not actually Jesus, so don't fall for it!
References
[1] Share International - About Benjamin Creme
[2] Share International - Frequently Asked Questions
[3] www.cuttingedge.org - "The Pope is Declared to be a 'Proper Receptor' to the New Age Antichrist!"
[4] Apocalypse in Islam - Jean-Pierre Filiu (2011)
[5] wikipedia.org - World Religion
[6] bibleprobe.com - History of Muhammed & Islam