Where is the Antichrist Now?

We know where the Antichrist is, because God has revealed it to us. One cannot find the Antichrist by "observing", for it takes revelation from the Spirit of God to find him.

That is why Paul asserted that before our Lord's return there is to be a "falling away" from the faith and a revealing of "that man of sin" - the Antichrist. "Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" 2 Thess.2:3-4. This falling away is not a denial of faith itself; rather, it is a corruption of the faith. A rejection of all faith would deceive no one, but Satan's corruption of the faith of Christ has deceived many. Seeing this apostasy taking place in his day, the apostle John wrote, "As ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists. . . . They went out from us, but they were not of us." An example of this is found in Acts 15, when "certain men" went out from the congregation in Jerusalem, teaching things which the apostles did not teach. Thus, as John said, those men went out from the apostolic congregation in Jerusalem, but they were not of the apostles' spirit.

Why are so many people looking for "Antichrist" to come in the future? The apostles taught that the Antichrist was already here, even in their day (almost 2,000 years ago - read 1 John 2:18). The truth is that Satan's ministers want you to believe that Antichrist will come in the future because they don't want you to recognize that he is in charge of most of the congregation's acitivity, even now! This "man of sin" - is a spirit. And the spirit of Antichrist is a very religious one . . . but can never deceive the elect of God!

That the Antichrist has not yet come is in fact a doctrine of the Antichrist himself! By this clever ruse, he diverts the saints' attention to the future, while he continues to steal our joy, quench the Spirit, and destroy our fellowship. While misguided believers look for the appearing of the dreaded Antichrist, he works freely in our midst, unhindered because he is unrevealed!

Odd as it may at first sound, Satan encourages men to serve Christ Jesus - but he redefines what serving Jesus means! By its form of godliness, his vain religion deceives every soul not led by God's Spirit. Satan has deceived the whole world (Rev.12:9), inspiring millions to worship God "after the doctrines and commandments of men" rather than "in spirit and in truth"; and his crowning achievement in false religion has been that religion which boldly calls itself by the name of Christ.

Let Us Reveal Antichrist to YOU!

"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every SPIRIT [not every person!] that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every SPIRIT that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world" (1Jn.4:2,3). The Spirit of God is not a dumb spirit (1Cor.12:3). It speaks (in tongues) through the person when it enters. Jesus said, "When the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, HE shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness" (Jn.15:26,27).

This is exactly what happened to Jesus's disciples on the day of Pentecost. They received the holy Ghost and began to testify in tongues "as the Spirit gave them utterance." Paul compared this supernatural confession of Christ to the birth-cry of an new-born infant, saying, "Ye have received the spirit of adoption [into the family of God], whereby we cry, `Abba, Father'" (Rom.8:15).

Any spirit that fails to meet the Lord's condition of a verbal confession when it enters is not the holy Spirit. It is instead Satan's substitute: the spirit of Antichrist. The first-century A.D. definition of anti was "instead of", and this is what "antichrist" really means: instead-of-Christ. The Spirit of God confesses Christ when it enters (1Jn.4: 1-3), but in John's day some forsook the truth and began to claim that the holy Spirit could be received without that divinely ordained evidence: speaking in tongues. What they had actually received was Satan's deeply religious, "instead-of-Christ" spirit. The spirit of Antichrist denies that speaking in tongues is the sign of receiving the holy Ghost, because that essential truth exposes him to be the powerless fraud that he is.

Which Spirit do you love?

My friend, if you are professing to be born again, but have not spoken in tongues, you are dangerously entangled with the "instead-of-Christ" spirit, the Antichrist, though you may be sincere in your believing. If you have received the holy Ghost baptism, yet tell others they do not need it in order to be saved in the end, you are even more deceived. Multitudes today are persuaded by Satan's ministers that they are born again without receiving the holy Ghost with its heavenly witness! Millions profess to have God's Spirit, but are badly deceived by Lucifer's speechless spirit. Instead of following Christ, Christian multitudes have been seduced by the powerless christ which Satan offers them. More than any other, it is the confession of this truth which provokes a bitter reaction from those entangled in the Antichrist's religious system (2Tim.3:12)

Above Suspicion - Your "Religion"

God's children are so sincere about doing what they think is God's will, they often become the most fiercely loyal members of Christianity - but only because they think Christianity is of God! If they didn't care about pleasing God, Satan couldn't make merchandise of them (2Pet.2:1-3). Being zealous, they are very useful to Satan in his efforts to strengthen and enlarge his unordained religion. Satan accomplishes this by persuading God's children to express their love for God in ways which, in fact, dishonor and deny His truth. This is Christianity - the religion of Antichrist!

When God's children at last are convinced of this truth, and when they see how they have been misled by Christian ministers and used for Satan's glory instead of Jesus's, multitudes of God's dear children will forsake Christianity and come to Christ "outside the camp, bearing his reproach." Jesus did not suffer and die to bring about the religion of Christianity. That truth is so obvious that I marvel that it even needs to be said.

Speaking to Pharisees, Jesus said: "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Lk.16:15). If there is one thing above all else that is highly esteemed by men and held in contempt by God today, it is what is called "Christianity". A system of great religious creeds and ceremonies, but without the worship required by God that is in Spirit and truth. The tragedy is that Satan's Spirit-less religion often mesmerizes even the saints of God! Peter warned the saints of this deception (2Pet.2:1,2,19): "There were false prophets among the [Old Testament] people, even as there shall be false teachers among you [the body of Christ], who privily shall bring in [to the body of Christ] damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them . . . And many [of the body of Christ] shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of [by the body of Christ] . . . While they [Christian ministers] promise them [Christian congregations] liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption."

Christianity is the one thing which God's children least suspect of doing them harm, yet it has been Satan's chief tool for dividing the family of God. For this reason, God is calling, "Come out of her My people, that ye partake not of her sins and receive not of her plagues." Christianity is not now and never has been of Christ; and in the light of Christianity's patently evil history, the attachment which God's people seem to feel for it is astonishing. The spirit of Christianity is the spirit of Antichrist. For the soul hungering and thirsting after righteousness, the greatest danger is often Christian ministers themselves. Filled with doctrines not of Christ, they are Satan's most attractive and well-laid snare. With much zeal, but little knowledge, they routinely assure sinners seeking God that they have been forgiven - even if they have not yet spoken in tongues! If such a person is satisfied merely to be told by a man that his sins are forgiven, then that probably will be all that he receives: the assurance of a man. But the truly hungry soul can be satisfied only with confirmation directly from heaven that he has been cleansed; and in the appointed time he will come to understand by experience the wonderful meaning of John's words, "the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is truth" (1Jn.5:6).

Antichrist is in the Temple!

In this New Covenant, believers are the "temple of God" because the Spirit of God is in them (1Cor.3:16). The Antichrist is "in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God." The "mystery of iniquity" (already working in Paul's day - 2Thess.2:4) is that the spirit of Antichrist may inhabit God's temple with the holy Spirit (2Thess. 2:7)! This abomination manifests itself every time that a Spirit-baptized person teaches others that they do not need the Spirit's baptism. In other words, the spirit of Antichrist is he who inspires those who speak in tongues to deny the necessity of doing so.

Of course, the Antichrist cannot force himself into a believer's heart. He enters that sanctified chamber only as the believer welcomes him, by receiving his doctrines and partaking of his self-willed, carnal way of worship.

God's Spirit is with every person who has begun to follow Jesus, but it is not in him until he speaks in tongues. This was true of Jesus's disciples (Jn.14:17), and it is true now. But the vulpine spirit of Antichrist, using misguided Christian ministers, tells those who have begun to follow the Lord that they already have the Spirit even if they have not spoken in tongues. This evil, holy Spiritless religion is of the devil. Christianity may be defined as unsanctified worship of Jesus Christ, and the Antichrist is that religion's secret lord!

The spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of unsanctified religion, and that evil spirit dwells in the temple of the believer who believes his sins were washed away before he was baptized with God's holy Ghost. "Many deceivers", the elder tells us, "are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh. This is a deceiver and an Antichrist" (2Jn.7). Yes, these deceivers departed from the faith, and, as John testified, they "went out" from the apostles' fellowship into the world, declaring a subtly altered gospel. This new gospel offered an appearance of pardon without demanding complete surrender, and it won the hearts of men. In a short time, it supplanted the rule of the Spirit over the congregation with the ecclesiastical rule of carnal men; and to this day the saints are bound within the walls of that religion which Satan inspired: Christianity. Its ministers are deceived, denying that the baptism of the holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, is the new birth, and - most astonishingly of all -some of these ministers have actually received this baptismal experience from God! Are they not those of whom Peter sorrowfully prophesied, those redeemed souls who are so deluded that they even "deny the Lord that bought them" (2Pet.2:1)? My precious friend, when a holy Ghost-baptized person denies that it is that baptism which washed his sins away, he has denied the Lord that bought him, for "the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

The Doctrine of Antichrist has Stolen Hearts

Just look at how the Enemy has deceived God's dear children - those who have received the Spirit! The power and joy is departing from them as they lessen their emphasis on the holy Ghost. They themselves wonder why the glory is departing. For their answer, they need look no further than the sermons their own ministers are preaching! What they stress is, "Get saved! Get saved! Get saved!" But an empty promise of salvation is all that the Antichrist has to offer. My dear brothers and sisters, do not believe his vain words or receive his speechless spirit! Were it not for the mercy of the Father, who despite our ignorance grants us times of refreshing, we would have already discarded His Spirit altogether. Thank God for His incredible mercy! Our disrespect for His Spirit notwithstanding, He still pours it out at times on our stumbling, thirsting souls.

Peter wrote, "Baptism doth also now save us" (1Pet. 3:21), and Paul taught that we are saved "by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost" (Tit.3:5). The truth is, my brother, that the baptism of the holy Ghost not only will save us in the end, but it is the experience which gives us a clear conscience while we are on the way there.

Peter proclaimed, "We are his witnesses, and so is the holy Ghost, which GOD hath given TO ALL THEM THAT OBEY HIM" (Acts 5:32). Have you obeyed God, my friend? Unless you have received the baptism of the holy Ghost, God's personal testimony of your obedience, the answer must be no. Christian ministers under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist will teach that you are washed from your sins without this divine witness of your obedience. But you know in your heart, and God knows, when it is that "your obedience is fulfilled". Why not surrender to Jesus now, that you may receive the Promise? "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39).

Choose your leader: Antichrist - or the REAL Christ!

It is your choice: the "instead-of-Christ" spirit (with its appearance of righteousness and the praise of Christians) or the Spirit of Christ which speaks when it enters and cleanses from sin. The holy Spirit, or Christianity's "dumb" spirit. The truth of God, or the lie of Satan's ministers. Which will you choose?

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