His nature is the prelude to his mark or tattoo. We call his nature that is gripping our world the spirit of the Antichrist. “... this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (I John 4:3) We must recognize the spirit of this beast that is preparing our world for his mark. There are millions that have so surrendered to the nature that it will make no difference when they take the mark. The mark cannot be received until the Man of Sin, the beast himself, is revealed, but the nature and his worship can be experienced already. Let’s try to identify his nature to the best of our understanding of truth.

The FIRST expression of his nature is to dilute the Bible so that truth becomes relative instead of authoritative. Almost the entire church world has bought into the new Bible versions that shatter the infallible source of His glorious truth. This is clearly Satan’s design. The devil does not want to destroy the Bible, that would cause a revolution; he wants to create a spirit of denial of parts of the Scripture. The Antichrist does not need for you to reject the whole Bible, just a small part of it. You will be just as eternally lost by turning away from some Scripture that you call cultural, outdated, or some other adjective as if you rejected the whole. This nature of the beast is everywhere to destroy truth.

SECOND, the beast nature is to destroy the beautiful sense of the sacred temple of the human body. The body or the temple of the believer is a sacred creation intended to be the temple of His Holy Spirit. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (I Corinthians 3:17) The appearance, the dress, and the treatment of your body as a holy temple is a Biblical requirement; and you cannot serve God if you treat this truth lightly. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (I Corinthians 6:4-17) “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body” “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (I Corinthians 6:13,19) The church world has rejected the beauty of a Godly life lived so tenderly that the temple/body is filled with His glory and power and looks like a light from His transforming grace. The world cannot see inside the temple, they can only see the outside reflection.

THIRD, his nature is to deny all standards, laws of God, and commandments. The new religious philosophy says, “free as a breeze to do as you please.” It is from the enemy of truth, the beast. I call this “religious philosophy” because it surely is not “religious theology.” It’s the nature of the beast. The Bible says, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (I John 2:3-4)

FOURTH, his nature is Biblical knowledge without a Biblical experience. Our World is full of religious people that know a lot about the Bible but have no experience with the person of Jesus Christ. Religious colleges and universities are abounding. Religious books line the walls of religious bookstores and all types of communication methods are flooded with religious teachings. All of this is empty until the soul has a transforming experience of being born again – a radical change – and surrenders to a cross-bearing life with Jesus Christ. Satan and his beast love religion, but they are terrified by the Holy Ghost’s transformed relationship with the Lord of the church. Satan has never ceased to be religious.

The FIFTH nature of the new beast and his new religion is righteousness without holiness. Righteousness is imputed; it is the work of grace; and no amount of good works can earn righteousness. The saving grace is His gift and we come to Him without trusting anything of ourselves. But, the new theology flooding the church is to deny the effect of that righteousness and to leave the new man free of the radical change demanded by Scripture. His righteousness is not a head matter, it’s a heart matter; and it will totally alter your life. “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:26) “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14) The Word of God is perfect and we dare not ignore such truth.

The nature of the beast is to promote programs without power and emotions without the supernatural gifts of His Holy Spirit. The life of the church is the resurrection life of Jesus Christ and that life is supernatural. The church must be alive with His presence or it becomes a tool of the new religion that the coming beast loves. It’s amazing to watch how quickly the church begins to welcome the strange fire of psychology, psychiatry, and even false spirits of witchcraft. Every action of Satan is only slightly removed from its original beauty in the Creator. Hypnotism is a counterfeit of the gifts of discernment, the strange fires of the Charismatic world is only slightly removed from the pure gifts of the Holy Ghost. Satan is a deceiver and can imitate the real very cleverly. The Word of God must always be the basis of discernment.

Conclusion
We are living on the edge and deception is everywhere. A pure Bible and a faithful church to that Word are our guide and hope. Be a radical Christian and cling to truth with abandonment. The coming of our Lord can be expected at any moment.

Joseph R. Chambers