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13 And [kai] he doeth [poieo] great [megas] wonders, [semeion] so [kai] that [hina] he maketh [poieo] fire [pur] come down [katabaino] from [ek] heaven [ouranos] on [eis] the earth [ge] in the sight
[enopion] of men, [anthropos] KJV-Interlinear
13 And he
performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the
earth in the presence of men. NASB
The second beast, the
false prophet, will possess magical powers, that when used, will astonish
people.
Naïve people, those who
lack truth in their souls, are easily entertained and convinced with magic
shows and things that are of false origin.
Interestingly enough,
when Jesus performed genuine miracles of healing, people saw the show as
entertainment and were not convinced of its truth or origin.
This false prophet, will
demonstrate things such as fire from the sky, perhaps this is lightning, perhaps
something else, but no matter. People will take a false wonder, or a natural
phenomena and believe the source, the false prophet, to be someone great and
truthful, and people will worship the anti-christ over nothing more than a
magicians trick.
The present tense, of
doeth, indicates that he will and has to, do this over and over again, in order
to keep the attention of the people.
Remember that people are
fickle and even in a false society such as will exist in the latter half of the
Tribulation, getting the keeping the attention of the masses of people, will still
require repetition of deception.
Satan’s whole policy and
plan is deception and lies, therefore the powers demonstrated will be nothing
more than deception, and not real powers. That is all he has ever had, and all
he will ever have.
In the sight of men,
means just that. People have to see it to believe it, and all they are seeing
is a fireworks show of sorts. And from this people will fall head over heels in
worshipping the anti-christ. Such is their spiritual weakness in life.
Souls that lack
substance, require very little to impress them. And for that matter, little
children require very little to gain their attention. And therefore, despite
their worldly fame or power, or status, or whatever they have in life, the
masses that are attracted to Satan, are nothing more than immature people. That
is all that Satan is able to attract to himself.
Such is the power of
evil. Nothing but emptiness. Nothing but impotency. By pursuing evil, and
rejecting truth in life, you are in reality chasing after nothing.