ANTICHRIST (11) | DO NOT BE DECEIVED!

1. Do Not Be Deceived!

a) These antichrists read God’s Word, but they do not shed any light on what it says. All they do is tell some touching stories and give a few quotes from other people, and pass on things they have learned at Bible school or seminary. “‘Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,’ says the Lord, ‘who steal My words every one from his neighbor’” (Jeremiah 23:30). “But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.” (Jeremiah 23:22)

b) Yet you like all these stories. You think they are so uplifting, and there is such a pleasant spirit about them. Quite true, but that is because there is neither sword nor cross in them. You have been bewitched, and you are living in blissful ignorance of how pathetic your life really is. You have been led astray from working out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12) You have been drawn away from the doctrine of Christ; you do not have the Father or the Son. When you take up your cross and deny yourself you have victory over your anger, anxiety, idle talk, backbiting, and vanity. Without that you have no reward. The word of the cross is heavy when you are under the sway of the spirit of the Antichrist. You feel so condemned. You feel there is a hard spirit present, so you run back to the antichrists – the sorcerers.

c) Beware! We need to call out this warning more now than in the days of John. We see plainly that it is the spirit of the Antichrist that is working in the harlot, and her merchants are antichrists. Of course, the vast majority is more or less ignorant of this. They have been led astray. That is why we want the voice from heaven to sound forth louder than ever before: “Come out of her my people!” (Revelation 18:4) We will make this light shine whatever the cost.