63. The unholy trinity

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The Holy Trinity, discussed in post #62, existed from all eternity past, and were uncreated. There was never a time that the three members (or if you prefer, three persons) of the Holy Trinity did not exist.

In comparison, the unholy trinity (in lower case) are all created beings, and all three began their existence at a definite point in time
-- although the 'senior' member lived long before the other two members. And this is reason number one, why they are such a poor copy and substitute for the true and Holy Trinity.

Perhaps you never thought about the fact that the Bible mentions
an unholy trinity. A Bible search function like Bible Gateway would never find "unholy trinity" in the Bible. Nor would it find "Holy Trinity" for that matter, or even "Trinity". But the Holy Trinity (the three-in-one-God, who is not three Gods but one God), is there regardless, and the unholy trinity is there as well.

Who is the member of the unholy trinity that wanted to take the place of God, who planned and schemed before the creation to be like God? To be honored and worshiped as God? It is the deceiver, the devil, the schemer, Satan. He was the most beautiful of all the holy angels, who fell from his high estate, and was cast out of heaven to become (in God's peculiar plan) the prince of this world. And the prince of the power of the air he shall continue to be until Christ comes in glory the second time.

His plans and goals have not changed. Since he apparently cannot corrupt the holy angels any longer, the prince of darkness goes forth to corrupt and destroy the sons of the earth (unbelievers), and to deceive and weaken the sons of God (Christians, believers, the saints)

The second and third members of the unholy trinity will not come into play until the beginning of the tribulation in the last days, although they will surely be born before that time. They will grow up in advance of the tribulation, and likely in advance of the rapture of the saints. For these two members are human, born of mothers and fathers in the normal way, and perhaps not miraculously gifted until their time comes to go forth as arch-deceivers, and arch-enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. If the time for the return of Christ is near, then surely they are alive even now, though likely unknown.

The second member is revealed in scripture under many names:
the man of sin, the lawless one, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, the little horn, the willful king, the prince who is to come, the one who makes desolate, the son of perdition, and is spoken of generally by the term 'antichrist'. The word antichrist means both against-Christ and in-place-of-Christ. He will function in both these two ways.

It is he who will desecrate the latter-day temple, and will set up himself as God, proclaiming that he is God, for he will be empowered and eventually indwelt by Satan himself. It is he who will pursue the Jews to the point of death, and when that plan fails, he will pursue those who have believed in Jesus (Christians) to the death. Descriptions of this person and his actions can be found in many places throughout the Bible. It is said of Jesus that He always does His Father's will, and it will be said of the antichrist that he always does the will of his father, the devil, Satan.

The third member of this unholy alliance is the false prophet, and he is found specifically only in the book of Revelation, and only in these verses: Primarily Rev 13:11-18; but also Rev 16:13; 19:20; 20:2; & 20:10. It is said of the Holy Spirit that he came not to reveal himself, but to reveal and glorify Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It will be said of the false prophet that he came not to reveal himself but to reveal and glorify the antichrist, the son of Satan, the son of destruction.

As the origin of the unholy trinity falls far short in every way when compared to the Holy Trinity, so the ending of the unholy trinity falls far short, as the three are all eventually cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, at the end of the age.

Very soon we will take a close look at Revelation 13, where the antichrist and false prophet are described in great detail, and back into Revelation 12, where we learn more about the dragon, that old serpent, the devil, Satan.
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