September 30, 2023

THE ANTICHRIST IN OUR LIFE

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

1 John 2:18-19 NLT

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TODAY’S THOUGHT

As a spiritual father to his readers John is wanting to warn them of the false teachers that were coming. John even says there are some already functioning. The indication is there were false teachers who had come from the apostolic churches in Jerusalem and Judea. It is interesting to note that even in the early Church with all the functioning gifts of the Spirit there were those who became false teachers. They were dangerous because they came out of the mother churches and therefore caused confusion when they showed up with a different teaching. John uses the word “Antichrist” with both a capital “A” and a little “a.” The capital “A” would indicate a specific person or entity that would be opposed to the true message about Jesus. To be “anti” would mean “opposed to” or “other than.” So, the “Antichrist” would be “opposed to Christ” or “another Christ.” In addition to the specific person or entity John indicates there were other persons or entities that had come up opposing or taking the place of Christ. While we think of antichrist as a person it can be anything that takes the place of Christ in our lives. Anything that takes priority in our lives is an antichrist. Work, children, money, success, popularity, and other things can be an antichrist in our lives. This spirit is prevalent in our American culture. Even in the Church there seem to be a lot of antichrists. People sing about Jesus being the Lord of their lives while they spend a large percentage of their time and money on other pursuits. It would be like me telling Cindy, my wife, she is the most important person in the world to me, but then when I get my paycheck, I take half of it and give it to some other woman. Even if I took twenty percent and gave it to another woman Cindy would not be happy—rightfully so. My love for Cindy means I commit to an exclusive relationship with her. Our love for Jesus should mean we commit to an exclusive relationship. We should never allow anything else to consume our time, energy, and resources. As time winds down for earth there will be more and more antichrist who sound good and offer some temporary pleasure, but the end will be destruction.

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TODAY’S PRAYER

Holy Spirit help me to examine my life and see if I have allowed some antichrist into my life. Help me to commit to an exclusive relationship with Jesus.

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