Revelation 13:5-6

⁵ And the beast was given the power of speech, uttering boastful and blasphemous words, and he was given freedom to exert his authority and to exercise his will during forty-two months (three and a half years).

• Notice that the beast is allowed to exercise his power. Our Father has to allow him first to do it. Our Father has to give the Beast the power of speech. 
• This is important, because our Father does everything in love. So He gives the Beast these abilities out of love for all mankind. The things that the Beast is allowed to do will cause an uncountable number of people to be set free and come to the knowledge of the Truth. 
• Satan will give his power to the anti-christ, and he will be allowed to do it for 3 1/2 years. And as we were shown in Revelation 12:14, the church will be provided with an escape and we will be protected for this entire time, and it infuriates satan to no end!
• Satan will see the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached to every nation, tribe, and tongue during the end times. During the Great Tribulation satan will see the righteous being used by our Father to do the works that Jesus did and He will see us being used to do even greater works then Jesus did, John 14:12.
• During the end times we will be empowered to give food and provision when the anti-christ tries to have total control over such things. We will be a blessing to every tribe, nation, and tongue during these times. We will be the one sign that Jesus spoke of regarding His return!
• Think of the blasphemy now of the Pope. People bow down to him, this is nowhere to be found in the New Testament, and it is actually spoken against, Acts 10:26. People kiss a ring on his finger. He has people bow down and kiss a graven image. The ring is supposedly Peter’s ring, and Peter said never to do such things!
• The Pope believes that He is the Christ on the earth. He places himself above people and it all looks very religious and loving. It is not hard to imagine how the Pope will be when he has the backing of kings and a fearful and wondering population. And to try and maintain his power this last Pope will be able to speak as no one has ever spoken before. But once again, the children of God will be protected from the wrath of our Father.
• We may be asked to be sacrificed during this time, yet we will have the anointing of Christ upon us to endure it and further the Gospel of the Kingdom, just as we read about with Jesus, Stephen, Paul, John, and Peter. The death of our flesh is not persecution, it is just the next step in life. 

⁶ And he opened his mouth to speak slanders against God, blaspheming His name and His abode, [even vilifying] those who live in heaven.

• Blasphemy is taking what our Father does and giving credit to someone or something else.
• Look at what the religious phonies will say to Jesus: didn’t we prophesy, didn’t we do mighty works, this is blasphemy, Matthew 7:21-23.
• The anti-christ, will claim that he has done miraculous things. He will claim that only through him and his church can the world survive. When it is brought to his attention what the Bible teaches, he will vilify those who the Holy Spirit uses and dwells in. People will listen, and they will flock to him, praising his wisdom, and worshipping him, and arresting and even killing those who oppose him. They will do it all in the Name of God! Just as they did during the Dark Ages and just as the radical Muslims do now! The anti-christ will teach that the Bible is being mistranslated by us and that we are taking God’s Word out of context, this is how he will attempt to maintain a form of godliness.
• We are where our Father lives and we have been raised up and we now sit with Jesus in Heavenly places, Ephesians 2:6, and the anti-christ will vilify us.