The Spirit Of Antichrist

1 John 4:3 states: “And every spirit that confesseth 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.”

The spirit of antichrist was already at work two thousand years ago when John penned these words. The phrase “come in the flesh” gives the root of what the spirit of antichrist is – it is a denial that Jesus Christ is God.

There are three doctrines, of which, if any one of them is false, Christianity disintegrates into a pile of ash. Those three doctrines are 1) Jesus Christ is God, 2) the virgin birth, and 3) the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus were not born of a virgin, He would have a human father. If He has a human father, He, like all the rest of us, is a sinful creature; and if a sinner, then He is not the sinless Son of God.

If the story of the resurrection is a fabrication, if He did not raise Himself from the dead, He does not have power over the grave, and therefore, He is not God. If Jesus is not God, then His death is nothing more than martyrdom and the beginning of a religious movement. If He is not God, then His death cannot remove our sin, and no one on earth can have hope of eternal life.

This spirit of antichrist, at its core, denies that Jesus Christ is God. To spread the belief that Christ is not God, His deity must be rejected, and those who proclaim that Jesus Christ is God must be silenced.

The world has always had the spirit of antichrist working. We see that within history. The official charge for Jesus’ crucifixion was blasphemy; in other words, He claimed to be the Son of God, God in the flesh. In an attempt to cease the spreading of the truth of Christ, the killing and imprisonment of Christians have been happening since the days of Jesus and continue to this day.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, the spirit of antichrist started creeping into the church. A denial of the deity of Christ began to creep into seminaries and, therefore, into ministers, and on into the churches.

This denial of Christ is subtle. The church allowed changes to the Word of God, changing and weakening its meaning. A tolerance of sin began to grow. The church transitioned from a faith grounded in the Bible to one driven by emotion. Churchgoers will cheer when Christ tells the Pharisees that he who is without sin should cast the first stone, but we refuse to remember that He told the woman the Pharisees brought to Him, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:1-11).

The first mention of Jesus’ preaching is found in Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Sin is tolerated in the church to such an extent that repentance is no longer preached. Church services have shifted from being a place where sinners are converted to an entertainment source for those with “itching ears.” With a tolerance of sin, the purpose of the cross is removed, which in the long run is an attack on the deity of Christ. Instead of our faith and conduct being the determining factor for our relationship with God, our feelings about God are.

All of these events within the church are part of the “falling away” that the Bible tells us will happen before the rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

By looking at the actions of the antichrist, we can see where the spirit of antichrist is taking us.

In the book of Revelation, the rapture occurs in chapter four, verse one; everything after that verse takes place after the rapture.

In the fifth seal, Revelation 6:9-11, John sees the souls of the people killed for their Christian testimony during the tribulation. These souls cry out to God for judgment and revenge to be taken out on those responsible for their deaths. God tells them they will have to wait until everyone who is to be killed for the cause of Christ has met their fate.

In Revelation 7:9, John describes a crowd standing before the throne of God. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

John is told who these people are in verse 14, “…These  are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The spirit of antichrist has a goal of killing anyone who proclaims Jesus Christ. It may seem hard to believe that people will go along with this, the killing of all the Christians. But the scripture is clear, Revelation 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (the antichrist), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Everyone on earth will choose either Christ or antichrist. The knowledge of this choice is known early in the tribulation, as evidenced by the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17).

The world witnessed the spirit of antichrist in full bloom on the afternoon of September 10. Since then, we’ve seen both praise for the murder, and praise to God for the life of Charlie Kirk.

Here is the sequence of coming events. The rapture is the event when all true Christians are removed from this earth by God. No one knows the time of this event. It could happen before I finish writing this column, or it could come five hundred years from now.

Shortly after the rupture, the antichrist will sign a treaty concerning the city of Jerusalem. This treaty is the beginning of the tribulation period (Daniel 9:27).

Early in the tribulation period, God seals 144,000 Jews to preach the gospel (Revelation 7:1-8). The preaching of the 144,000 leads to a massive revival during the tribulation. These are those who are killed by the antichrist, whom John sees around the throne of God.

Throughout the seven-year tribulation, God pours out judgment upon the earth. At the end of the tribulation is the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Currently, we see lines being drawn. Being a conservative or a liberal does not make one a Christian. Placing your faith in His shed blood is what makes one a Christian. Is God allowing the spirit of antichrist to rise in people’s hearts in preparation for the coming antichrist? Is He preparing other hearts to receive Him during the mass revival after the rapture?

If the answer to either of those questions is “yes,” then the rapture is not five hundred years away. It might not be five hundred days away. If either of those answers is “yes,” the rapture is exceptionally close.