The Anti-Christ
The anti-christ has several identifications in the Bible, all of them being descriptive of him or his empire… “the Wicked”, “the beast”, “man of sin”, “son of perdition (destruction)”, etc.
The anti-christ is a man, who is a secular minded politician, who is an unbeliever, who had opportunity to be saved before the rapture, but received not the love of the truth and will be under strong delusion, who yields himself totally unto Satan, to do the lusts of the Devil, who is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air, John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Ephesians 2:2.
To make the anti-christ out to be some supernatural creature other than a man, as some have, is unscriptural. He is a man, “whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Some say Cain, Judas Iscariot, and the anti-christ are all the same person, who just appeared on the earth at different times. But since the anti-christ is cast alive into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20), then who will inhabit the bodies of Cain and Judas Iscariot when they are resurrected? To invent such a triune person would mean Satan has the power to raise the dead, to incarnate into humna flesh and to reincarnate those of a former life into a new life on earth. So if all this is true, then maybe Saddam Hussein is really Nebuchadnezzar reincarnated after all??? To declare Satan to have power over death, to reincarnate the dead into a new body, thousands of years later, is an anti-christ doctrine, as Jesus Christ is the only One who has the victory over death, to raise the dead and give them a new body. Christians, let’s not lose our heads in superstitious thinking and accord the anti-christ the status of “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men” Acts 14:11
The anti-christ will arise out of a power base, revived out of the old Roman empire (Daniel 7). This explains “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (the Roman empire having been, then passing from the scene politically, but not religiously, and then coming together again as a federation of 10, under the anti-christ–“was, is not, and yet is”).
The anti-christ comes to power after the rapture as a great political conqueror, Revelation 6:2. He appears to be a man that has made a great political comeback, to the admiration of the whole world, Revelation 13:3-4.
In the middle of the tribulation, having been cast into the earth by Michael and his angels, Satan uses the anti-christ to launch his campaign, seeking to destroy Israel. The anti-christ breaks the mid-east peace treaty, leads a U.N. army invasion of Israel, sets up his headquarters in the Temple (yet to be rebuilt) declaring himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), thus the abomination of desolation, as prophesied by Daniel 9:27, Daniel 12:11, Matthew 24:15-22, and Zechariah 13:8-14:2.
Jesus will then return with His saints to deliver Israel, by destroying the U.N. armies at the Battle of Armageddon, Revelation 14:14-20, 16:13-16, 19:11-21, Joel 3:9-16, Zechariah 12:9-14, 14:3-15, with the beast and the false prophet being cast alive into the lake of fire, Revelation 19:20.
Then shall Christ establish His millennial kingdom on earth, while Satan is bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit. THUS THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD!!!
SHARING
The Blessings Of Faith
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” 1 John 1:7
As people walk together in the Lord, their association and fellowship has a perfecting effect upon each other, because they are concentrating on each other’s spiritual advancement, rather than mistakes or imperfections. The desire is to share what God’s grace has enabled all to have, instead of resorting to fleshly strivings and contentions. The outlook is for the ways of overcoming spiritually, instead of being overcome by the flesh.
This faith enables Christians to go on serving and working together instead of being divided by conflict. Charity compliments every Christian effort for success in the circumstances and situations of life. It enlarges the heart for the will of the Lord to be done, which is the way of spiritual victory and advancement.
Apart from being completely surrendered to the Lord, a person may be able to rejoice when the church is rejoicing, but are unable to weep with the church when it is weeping. This leads to a separation from the fellowship when one’s own desires and expectations are not catered to. This failure to be effectually joined together spiritually, will lead to one only being able to accept prosperity, but unable to cope with adversity. Thus one finds themselves unwilling to work and be a part of anything that requires self-denial and personal cross bearing. Unless one is given over to the conviction and faith for, “Not my will, but thine be done,” they will not be able to submit to the Lord’s way of overcoming sinful faults and failures.
Our grand purpose must be to do all for the glory of God, rather than be controlled by other influences. We need to know that waiting upon the Lord in the midst of trial, sinful failures, sufferings, etc., allows God to take the reigns of our lives for removing the dross and replacing it with the virtues of spiritual mindedness.
What a blessing we secure unto ourselves through the desire to be clay in the Potter’s hands; to possess the conviction that the Christian’s exaltation comes through placing the cause of Christ above our personal concerns; to believe that the resolution of all things will take place as we are given over to supporting the plan and purpose of God without bringing offense upon the work of the Lord.
There is nothing richer than to have abode in the Lord’s will to the extent of having God respond by working all things together for the good of those that love the Lord, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Full surrender brings the blessing every time!
SHARINGHow Failure Succeeds
“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines” Song of Solomon 2:15
Some of the most destructive things are tiny. You don’t see germs, but they can kill you. Termites are not dangerous themselves, but what they do is catastrophic.
With general perceptions, it is the big things that get our attention, while the little things are considered insignificant and maybe overlooked or dismissed. Likewise, there is usually a sufficient response in countering a big problem, while something that appears little will go unchecked.
I am sure this kind of perception played a major role in the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. After all, they could have concluded that just eating a piece of forbidden fruit was such a small, insignificant matter. While it was perceived by man to be only a minor variance, it was the gravest mistake they could ever have made, being a transgression of God’s Word.
Remember James 2:10? “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” All it takes is one indiscretion to turn success into failure. Consider that the game of baseball posts errors on the same scorecard as they do runs scored. WHY? Because just as one run can decide who wins the game, one error can determine who loses.
Luke 16:8 “…for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” When it comes to the business of this world, people are wise to the fact that they cannot afford to allow themselves to fail to do what they should, even once, as this may change their success into failure. But often when it comes to spiritual things, some expect even their repeated “no shows” to be completely overlooked, and are offended if their irregularities are even questioned.
These thoughts are dealing with personal responsibility, rather than being negative minded towards others. For the most part, failure does not stem from where we have diligently tried to do what is right, but rather where we have chosen to look the other way where indiscretions are concerned.
SHARINGBanging On Lot’s Door
Genesis 19:4-11
v4 “the men of the city…compassed the house round”
v9 “now will we deal worse with thee” “they…came near to break the door”
v11 “they wearied themselves to find the door”
Sodom was a society with complete liberty for one’s lifestyle, regardless how wicked or perverse. Both young and old men supported this. Today, people are being deceived to think that by legalizing sinful lifestyles, it is just granting liberty and justice for all. But what went on in Sodom, those free to live their sinful lifestyle, sought to impose their lifestyle on others. Rather than respect Lot’s home and family, they came banging on his door demanding that he yield to them.
If you grant liberty to a godly man, he will use his liberty to live godly. Whereas, if you declare wickedness to be legal, wickedness will wickedly advance wickedness.
Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) and as such he is the author and power of sin, which does not respect the righteous, but rather as a roaring lion seeks whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) (a lion’s use of liberty).
Satan used liberty to swallow up Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan used liberty to send waves of opposition against Christ and His followers.
Satan and sin are not seeking to co-exist with and respect Christians. He is constantly seeking to gain leverage against Christianity. According to Revelation 12:10, Satan is making accusations against Christians day and night. Christ said that God’s people living amongst those serving sin would be like sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:17-18). The more liberty you grant wolves, the more they will use it to stalk and kill the sheep.
Sin doesn’t just confine itself to the lives of those who choose it. Sin ignites the sinners to overthrow the lives of others: “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.” Proverbs 4:16
Make no mistake about it: once something is granted legal status, then that which opposes it is considered to be illegal.
This is how it becomes legal for the wicked to come banging on the doors of Christianity.
SHARINGIndependence Day
–By Scott Yates
Typically we will celebrate the Fourth of July, Independence Day, with fireworks, good home-cooked barbecue, and a national holiday. Because of the sacrifice of 225 years of patriots, we can gather here and worship God, we can gripe about our high taxes, and go to the polls and vote the scoundrels out of office, and live to tell about it. Our freedom is a rarity in the world.
In China, Christianity can be a death sentence–or more likely, it means a trip to a reeducation camp. In Sudan, Christians are sold as slaves. Please never forget that Christians are an endangered species in much of the world.
But as we celebrate the Fourth of July, say a prayer for those of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who do not have the freedoms we do, and who must worship in secrecy, and live in fear.
Regardless of their color or language or cultural heritage, they are as truly our brothers and sisters as our own flesh and blood. When it is said that blood is thicker than water, the blood we’re concerned with is the blood of Jesus Christ. It washes us all cleaner than snow, makes us perfect in the sight of God, and whether we’re black or white or brown or red, we are all His flock, and await the Master to come and gather us together and lead us beside the still waters of His sweet salvation.
On the day that each one of us bent our knees and bowed our heads to the One who is Faithful and True, for us, that was our true Independence Day. Our bodies may be broken by the lash, or nailed to the cross, but in Him we are supremely free.
Happy Independence Day!
SHARING
