There is so much fear of the Antichrist in almost everything church-related you read. People are terrified of him.
Through the years, he has been everybody imaginable. A great world leader that comes up and leads the united world away from God. Usually he is seen as right before or right after the rapture. He is always seen as a larger than life, scary guy.
The problem with this characterization is that he is never presented that way in the Bible. In fact he is only mentioned four times in the whole Bible and all of those are in John’s first and second letters.
Here in 1 John 4John says that the antichrist is not some vague guy coming to lead us away. He says that the antichrist is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, and anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh.
1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
In fact, he even mentions in 1 John 2:18 that there are many antichrists. Not just one big scary dude, but many of them.
John says to not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, check them out, make sure they are real. In other words, don’t believe everything you hear or read. Unfortunately, some of the best people come out with cock-eyed ideas. You have to check them out.
I never expect people to take everything I say automatically. I am not so arrogant as to believe that every word that drips from my anointed lips is the absolute truth of God. Everybody makes mistakes. And it is a failing of preachers that most of the stuff they say and think is gained from their own study.
That comes from not reading and studying other people’s stuff enough. When all you get is your own, it can tend to be slanted.
And it is your job as a listener to check them out. Everybody makes mistakes. And I have heard some of the best preachers say things that were absolutely wrong when they thought they were speaking the will of God.
One instance: how many times have people predicted the end of the world and Jesus coming back? I got in the mail in 1988 a booklet by a guy funded by a well-known Bible publishing house telling me 88 reasons why Jesus would probably come in 1988. It is 2010 and he obviously was wrong.
The other day I saw some billboards sponsored by a Christian radio station group telling us that Jesus would come in 2011. They are wrong. While he may come in 2011, it will not be because he gave them that information. He didn’t even tell Jesus when he was going to come back. He sure isn’t going to tell someone else.
Two things:
1. Check people out. And check out your own thoughts. Just because you thought of it is no indication that it is from the Spirit.
2. There is no reason to be afraid of the antichrist. John also said, You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4). God is greater than evil, no matter how scary the evil is.
The antichrist is already here and has been here for 2000 years, and will be here until Jesus comes again.
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